Carson Hughes
The anticipation of waiting for Vinny made it impossible for me to sit still. I felt like a little kid, impatiently waiting for whatever piece of excitement I was promised. It felt pathetic, but I couldn't find it in me to care. Any alone time with Vinny was enough to make me impatient for it to start and dreading the end.
My eyes shifted from my phone to the window, waiting for any indication that Vinny had made it to my house. When my eyes finally landed on him standing outside my window, I sprung up and rushed outside to meet him.
"You walked here again?" I asked once I was outside, noticing Vinny hadn't taken his car. I assumed that when he said he would pick me up he meant that he would be driving.
Vinny shrugged, his hands in his sweatshirt pocket.
"I like to walk," he told me, nodding his head in a gesture for me to follow him.
I looked back at the house to make sure all the lights were still out and I hadn't woken my mother before turning back to Vinny and walking by his side. The two of us were silent for the first few minutes, walking through the cool air in the surrounding darkness. If I was alone, the thought of walking around at night would not be appealing, but with Vinny it was calming and I felt content. The stars above us shined more brightly than I had ever seen, making the dark sky have a subtle glow.
Vinny's steps were nearly silent beside my heavy ones. He always seemed to move quietly like he could move through the world hiding in the shadows if he wanted to.
"Where are we going?" I finally asked him, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"Just for a walk," he said, not meeting my gaze. "I used to sneak out all the time and go on walks at night. I thought since we're kinda together now it'd be a good idea to have you come with me. I know it's stupid—"
I slipped my hand into his and grinned at his startled expression.
"It's not stupid," I assured him, intertwining our fingers and rubbing my thumb over the back of his hand.
I shoved the paranoia about the two of us being seen to the back of my mind. I wanted to connect with Vinny, to allow him to be vulnerable and share things with me. It was only fair that I allowed myself to feel vulnerable too.
"Where do you usually go on these walks?" I asked him as he let the tension in his shoulders fall and his hand grip mine tightly.
"Usually the path behind the park," he said, looking briefly down at our hands and then back up at me. "I used to run there too, but it's better at night."
We fell into a comfortable silence, swinging our hands together with each step. The night was cool, but the warmth from Vinny's body being so close to mine kept the chill from pricking at my skin. Vinny squeezed my hand as we crossed the street to walk into the park.
The park was empty as we expected it would be. I looked around, remembering I hadn't been here in years. It was a large green space on one side of the lake in our town. The park was surrounded by wooded area with nature trails winding around the area. I couldn't pinpoint the exact last time I had been here, but some memories flooded in.
There was a time that I was here with Logan and Archie, before we had been friends with the others, and Archie nearly drown in the lake. This side didn't have a beach or anything, so most people didn't swim over here. The swimming area was on the other side. But, of course, Archie wasn't one to follow the rules and jumped into the lake fully clothed and got his foot caught on something beneath the surface. Logan had to go in after him, and he wasn't happy about it.
I glanced over at the lake where the moonlight shined and illuminated the ripples in the water and silently laughed at the memory before turning my gaze back to Vinny. He stared straight ahead, but he seemed to be even more comfortable now that we were here. He took in a deep breath as if savoring the fresh air before looking to me and tilting his head to the side in a gesture for me to follow him.
Wordlessly, Vinny led me down a path that led to the nature trails. It was then that I understood what Vinny meant when he said the path was better at night. I looked up to see the clear sky above us, the stars more visible than ever. The lake was visible through the trees with the shine of the moon. The night around us was glowing.
"I fell out of that tree once," Vinny suddenly spoke, pointing to one of the tall trees in front of us.
The tree had already lost most of its leaves, but there were still quite a few orange and red ones that were hanging on by a thread. The rest of the leaves pooled around it like they were decorating the ground.
"That doesn't really surprise me," I told him with a chuckle. "You seem to have made a habit of doing things that others would consider dangerous."
Vinny snorted and let go of my hand, picking up his pace toward the tree. I tried to keep my mind off the sudden coldness traveling through my fingers, shocked by the loss of the warmth Vinny's hand had provided.
"You're going to climb that tree that you've already fallen out of?" I shouted after him as Vinny grabbed onto a low hanging branch and pushed his feet against the trunk.
Vinny didn't answer as he continued up the tree, my stomach tightening as he went higher and higher until he settled on a thick branch and sat down with his legs dangling.
"You coming up or what?" he shouted down at me, and if I wasn't so infatuated with him, I would curse at him.
I made the swift decision to follow him up there. I didn't want him to think of me as a coward and I wanted to spend time with him. There would be no time spent together if I was on the ground at the bottom of the tree he was currently sitting in.
I worked to keep myself steady as I used all of my upper body strength to heave myself up into the tree. I couldn't even be embarrassed at the thought of Vinny looking down at my struggle because I was too focused on making sure I didn't fall to my death.
My stomach dropped as my foot slipped, but I quickly pulled myself up and finished the climb. I let out a heavy breath when I sat down next to Vinny, gripping the branch beneath us so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
"I don't know how you find this enjoyable," I breathed out, turning my head to him to see that he was already grinning at me.
"Is it really that surprising?" he asked.
"Not really," I admitted. "But it's definitely not enjoyable."
Vinny let out a quiet laugh before the two of us sat in silence. Then, after a few moments, Vinny's hand found its way to mine, resting on top of it like it was trying to pull the tension from me.
"I haven't been here in a while," Vinny said quietly. "Not since— not since the summer."
"Why not?" I asked him, suddenly feeling more at ease with his hand over mine.
"I just stopped coming, I didn't want to anymore," he said. "It used to be my favorite place to think. I would spend hours here."
"And you wanted to come here tonight?"
"With you, yeah," Vinny sheepishly replied, his pink cheeks visible under the glow of the moonlight and stars.
I was beaming at him once his words registered in my mind.
"Sorry if that's fucking weird," Vinny continued, coughing into his elbow. "Or if it's horrible and you want to leave."
I moved my hand from under his and placed it comfortingly on his knee. Vinny tensed for a moment and let out a breath, but he didn't make any indication that he wanted me to remove it.
"No, it's great," I told him with sincerity. His eyes went from my hand on his leg up to my face. "I like spending time with you. In the ways that we can."
Vinny leaned closer to me as my other hand still gripped the branch. I met his lips with mine in a soft kiss. He felt almost timid as he kissed me slowly, like he was still worried about how I thought of him. We pulled away slightly, staring into each other's eyes before touching our lips together again. This kiss was shorter, but felt soft and vulnerable all the same.
"I wish I had a spot like this," I told him, our faces still close. "I don't have anywhere special that I can just go."
Vinny cleared his throat. "We can share this one." He looked away from me after he said it, like he was embarrassed or worried about rejection.
All I could do was smile. "I'd like that."
"You're going to have to get better at climbing trees," he told me in a low tone. I laughed at how serious he sounded.
"Luckily, I'll have you to help me," I replied.
His lips quirked up slightly at that, in a way that if you blinked you'd miss it.
Suddenly, our relationship felt steadier. We hadn't been together long, but it had already felt like we were off to a rocky start. But Vinny being so open with me, sharing this space with me, finally made it feel like we were going somewhere. It felt like we actually wanted this to work and to be freely in each other's company.
I didn't know how long we sat there. It could have been minutes or hours, but eventually we decided it was time to leave. I clumsily climbed down the tree, glancing up for a brief moment to see Vinny shaking his head at me before he started his descent.
As soon as we were on the ground, Vinny slipped his hand into mine and walked closely to me.
"Let me walk you home," I offered. "I don't want you to have to walk home alone."
"I don't want you to have to walk home alone," Vinny countered, raising his eyebrows.
"How about we walk to mine and I drive you?" I suggested. "Or you could stay?"
Vinny laughed. "Are you trying to bed me already?"
My eyes widened. "No! I just meant to sleep, like actually sleep."
Vinny pressed his lips together and let go of my hand to fish his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. He placed one between his lips and lit it, taking a long drag and then blowing out the smoke.
"I uh," Vinny started, pausing to take another quick hit of the cigarette, "I don't think that would be a good idea either way. I don't— I'm not—"
"I get it," I cut him off. "Really. No worries."
And I did get it. He was working through some stuff, whatever it was. We had just spent hours together and he needed his space.
Vinny clenched his jaw, his eyes narrowed in the way they always were when he was annoyed with himself.
"I can still drive you home though," I suggested. "If you'll let me."
He nodded, his cigarette in his mouth. I badly wanted to tell him to drop that habit, but that would have to wait until we were more serious. I would only drive him away from me if I started making demands about the ways he needed to change. I knew I wouldn't want someone doing that to me.
The walk back to my house wasn't long, but it was silent and distant. I didn't know what had happened in that short walk from the park that made any progress we made seem to disappear. I didn't want to question it, but it was eating at me.
"Are you alright?" I asked Vinny as soon as we were both in my car. "You've been really quiet."
"I'm sorry," Vinny muttered, resting his arm on the center console and staring straight ahead as I drove down the road.
"I don't know why you're apologizing..."
"Because I always do this," he said with a sigh. "I ruin whatever nice time we have."
"You didn't ruin anything," I assured him, glancing at him briefly before turning back to the road. "Stop thinking like that. All it does is make you sad and me confused."
Vinny was quiet for a moment before he let out a low chuckle.
"How are you always so perfect?" he asked me, turning his head to me as he leaned it back on the headrest.
My cheeks burned and there was nothing I could do to hide that.
"I'm not," I told him truthfully. "I just try to be logical. And understanding."
"Well, you're pretty fucking close to it," he said. "Hey, how's your mom doing?"
My eyebrows raised in confusion at his sudden question. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk about my mom with him, but it wasn't something I expected to come up in conversation. Not to mention the fact that I had yet to tell him that my mother was dating Spencer's father and I had no idea if he would be angry with me for that or not.
"She's good," I answered after my brief confusion subsided. "Still works all the time but she's been getting some time off. Why do you ask?"
"I just realized I never really ask you anything or know anything about your life," he responded. "And it's kinda shitty that I don't."
"You know stuff about me," I told him.
"Like what? That you're gay and for some reason find me attractive?"
"I think it's obvious why I find you attractive."
He just scoffed.
"Oh, how about that you can't hold your liquor and get very confessional while drunk," Vinny teased with a wide grin.
My mind wandered back to the first night I kissed him and how embarrassed I was about it.
"See? There's something you know about me," I said. "Something embarrassing, but something."
"And you're really bold," Vinny continued. "Like you just say things that no one else would."
"I have no filter," I admitted. "Well, I do, but not a very good one."
Vinny chuckled and nodded in agreement. It was only a few minutes later when I pulled up in front of his house and parked the car before turning to face him.
"I really liked tonight," I admitted and his face flushed. "We should do this more often."
"Are you sure you're not just being nice and it was actually horrible?"
I rolled my eyes and leaned over the center console to plant a brief kiss on his mouth.
"I'm sure," I assured him.
"I thought you didn't like eye rolling?" he teased with a wicked grin.
"Only when you do it to me." I kissed him again.
"I have to go to the back and in through my window," Vinny said as he opened the car door.
I nodded. "Text me when you're inside."
Vinny gave me one last kiss before getting out of the car and jogging around the house. I waited until I got his text and made the quick drive back home.
**
Hi everyone!!! I know my updates haven't really been coming weekly and I apologize for that. I'm in my last semester of college and have work and an internship so as you can imagine, it's very hectic. Thanks for sticking with me!
Let me know what you thought of the chapter! Was it what you expected? What did you think about their time in the park? How do you think their relationship is progressing?