-- fine line
two days and sixteen hours later...
THE FOUR HAD FINALLY ARRIVED IN NASHVILLE. After the explosive argument of Leo and Esmerelda half way through day one, tension had been high in the RV. It didn't help that they had eaten the last of the snacks, even the shitty ones that sat in the back of the cupboards in the kitchenette.
"We need to go grocery shopping" Vinnie said, picking at his nails. Him and Josslyn had been sat in awkward silence on the couch as Esmerelda did everything and anything to occupy herself and will herself not to go sit next to Leo, which included showering thrice in two hours, taking a fifteen minute nap and changing her outfit four times.
Josslyn however, had been taking sly glances at Vinnie every few minutes, desperately trying to get his attention. Over the course of the two days of the roadtrip, the two had become increasingly close, but Josslyn worried that Vinnie saw her as just a friend, as he basically sister-zoned her the evening of the first day.
The two were sat up front, Vinnie driving down the deserted highway as Josslyn kept him company. Esmerelda and Leo had gone off to bed a few hours prior, leaving the RV in silence. For the past two hours before they waddled off to their bunks, they had been mumbling incoherently about their argument under their breathes, and brattily stomping about everywhere they walked.
Vinnie and Josslyn had been lowly talking over the slight hum of the radio about any and every subject for the past forty-five minutes, until they eventually got onto the subject of school.
"You know, I don't know why we all stopped being friends?" Vinnie said, glancing sideways at Josslyn, who tilted her head and shrugged.
"I guess high school just came into play. Plus, you and Leo went off to that all boys school" She said, looking over at him. Vinnie just silently nodded before sucking in a harsh breath.
"When did you leave?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"When did you start skipping school and going places? Why?" He looked at her confused and waited for an answer. After a few moments of silence, Josslyn let out a confused sigh before lifting her hands in defeat.
"Well, you know my mom left, and Hunter moved out, and dad was on his own, and he wasn't very present, so I started to fend for myself. I was always home alone, Hunter never checked in, dad was always working. I guess it just all happened slowly" She explained, confusion in her voice, as if she didn't even know what happened. "As for why, I dunno. I just left without a second thought"
Vinnie nodded slowly, leaning his head back to rest on the chairs before opening his mouth to speak again.
"Did you ever think of us when you were gone? I know when I first found out you had left, all I could think about was you, where you'd gone, if you were safe, you know?" He said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
Damn it. He thought.
"Er, I guess sometimes you crossed my mind. I mean, do you ever think of old friends that much?" She asked, twiddling her thumbs and looking up at him to meet his gaze. He quickly turned his focus back onto the road and shrugging.
"I guess you're right. Maybe it's because my fifteen year old ass had had a crush on you since we were like, eleven" He chuckled. Josslyn let out a laugh and looked at him in disbelief.
"You had a crush on me? Why?" She shook her head and ran her hands though her blonde curls, and in that moment, Vinnie had sworn he had never seen anything more effortlessly beautiful than the petite girl sat next to him in the passenger seat of a stolen RV.
"Sure, everyone did. You were funny, smart, loyal. I'm telling you, every single boy we knew liked you. Now you're just like a sister to me" He nodded his head in pride, smiling at her and pulling into the rest stop that they had found online earlier that day. Josslyn looked down, pretending as if the passing sister comment didn't maker her stomach absolutely drop and her heart shatter into a million pieces
"Well, I guess that's good then, because I had a crush on you too, Vincent. Night" Josslyn replied, grinning mischievously before patting him on the shoulder and swivelling in her chair, standing up and making her way back to the bunks.
And that brings them here, awkwardly sat on the couch no less than twenty-four hours later, listening to their two best friends mumble about each other.
"There's a target round the corner, we could go there? They sell food, don't they?" Leo said from the drivers sit, turning on his indicators and taking a left turn into the parking lot and sliding into a space.
"Sure whatever, c'mon Josslyn" Esmerelda sighed, grabbing her friends hands and hauling her out the RV into the humid air. "God, I needed to get out of that van. Leo is driving me nuts!"
"What even happened?" Josslyn asked, throwing her hair up into a bun. The two looked like bums right now, but that was okay for a quick grocery store run.
"Ugh, he is just so damn protective! I mean, we're not even together and he's bugging about me texting Will" Esmerelda threw her hands up in defeat, grabbing a cart and walking in through the automatic doors into the store.
"Es, Will is your ex" Josslyn shrugged, climbing into the cart and pointing towards the refrigerated section, grabbing a carton of milk and some yogurt.
"Yeah, but so is Danny and so is Tyler and so is Eddie. He doesn't get mad about them" Esmerelda explained, stopping the cart to look over the selection of juices the store had.
"The difference is, Will and you lasted like three months. The other were probably just a fuck and chuck" Josslyn laughed as Esmerelda rolled her eyes and threw in a carton of orange juice. "Ooh, get some apple juice too, Vinnie likes that"
Esmerelda reached up to the shelf to get some juice before stopping half way and throwing Josslyn a knowing look.
"What?"
"You like him!" Esmerelda sang, passing Josslyn the apple juice and guiding the cart through the rest of the aisle and towards the freezer section.
"Do not!" Josslyn crossed her arms across her chest in protest and looked away in an attempt to hide her glowing cheeks.
"You so do! I see the way you look at him, and I heard your conversation last night" Es nodded knowingly, putting a bag of chicken nuggets and hash browns into the cart. Josslyn looked forward, dumbfounded.
"Were you spying on us?" She said, twisting her body round to look at Esmerelda, who just chuckled and grabbed a few more things to throw in the cart.
"No, I woke up to use the bathroom. Plus, I only heard about you telling him you had a crush on him when we were like, twelve. I'd say those feelings are...resurfacing" Es pushed the cart into the next aisle, excitedly looking at all the candy. "He likes you though"
"Really? You think so?" Josslyn asked, pulling a couple bags of sour-patch-kids of the shelf, distinctly remembering Leo telling her how much he liked them.
"Oh yeah, when we woke up this morning and we all chilling in our bunks, he text me asking for advice" Esmerelda looked down at Josslyn, who was looking at her in disbelief.
"Nah, that's cap" Josslyn shook her head as Esmerelda's mouth dropped open in mock offence.
"I am not lying! Would I ever lie to you, Lynn?" She asked, grabbing a multi pack of chips and dropping them on Josslyns head.
"Yes, plus he told me I was basically his fucking sister, so..." Josslyn confidently replied, lifting up the bag of chips and reading over all the flavours that were inside. Esmerelda guided the cart into the alcohol section, preparing to use her fake ID at the checkout machine.
"I can't believe you think that lowly of me-" Esmerelda stopped herself half way through her sentence. "What are they doing here? I thought they were waiting in the RV?" She pointed towards the two boys standing at the end of the aisle with their own cart filled with some stuff.
Josslyn shuffled in the cart, trying to move it forwards towards the boys, but with the weight of all the food they had picked up, she was unsuccessful. Esmerelda put a bottle of wine and some cider in the cart, pushing it towards the boys at the end of the aisle.
"Why are you guys getting groceries too?" Es asked, catching Vinnie and Leo's attention.
"We're not getting groceries, we're getting decor" Leo confidently smiled, gesturing to all the pillows and blankets covering his lap as he was sat in the cart also.
"We knew you guys would just get food, and we wanted to spice up the RV a bit. We also got new bedsheets for the bunks" Vinnie said, looking at Josslyn in the cart and grinning. "And, J, we need to talk when we get back to the RV" He smirked and pushed the cart the opposite way down the aisle, floating right past the two girls and into the depths of target.
Josslyns cheeks turned a dark crimson colour as she twiddled with a loose strand of hair falling out her bun. Esmerelda chuckled from above her, pushing the cart back through target.
"Yeah, definitely don't like him"