.
.
Jonah isn’t sure what to make of it anymore. What to make of Vito, what to make of the kiss. Granted, the guy was drunk, so he can’t really act like it meant much. Maybe he didn’t even remember, maybe Jonah should act like he doesn’t remember.
But he does, he remembers really, really well. Jax always commented that Jonah had a great memory. Picture perfect.
“It a guy?”
Jonah blinks, looks up from his takeout box - the chow mein from the place down the corner was the best, he fiddles with his chopsticks, doesn’t really look at William, “...No.”
“You should work on that,” William says, pokes at his orange chicken, “Lying, I mean. You’re bad at it. Still.”
He knows that. He isn’t a fan of lying, anyway, “I mean - I guess you could say it’s a guy.”
“You do anything with him?”
“What’s with all the questions?”
“You been all quiet, thinkin’ and shit,” a pause, Jonah continues to pick up the noodles and then drop them back into the box, “You fuck Vito, bro?”
Jonah’s head lifts, “What--no! No, okay? We...” He shrugs a shoulder, looking down, “It’s nothing.”
“He hit you or somethin’?”
“No.”
“So what’s up?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
William is still eyeing him, frowning. Then he speaks up, “A’ight. Fine. You got it, no talkin’ about it. We can talk about somethin’ else. Like some work.” Jonah almost groans - the absolutely last thing he wants to focus on. It’s a priority though, he doesn’t have time to waste daydreaming. He works well with William, he knows what he’s doing, at least.
Better than fumbling Jax, at least.
But while he is working, his hands are on autopilot. It’s his brain that never shuts off, never stops thinking. Running through scenarios, things he could’ve said, things he shouldn’t have said. He should’ve said more to Vito, shouldn’t have kissed him back when he was drunk. The guy won’t even look him in the eye now. They’d had one meeting all together last Thursday, Vito avoided him like the plague. Not that Jonah was going out of his way to speak to him, but whenever he glanced at Vito even once, Vito was pointedly not looking in his direction.
Maybe he only remembered bits and pieces. Maybe he didn’t remember anything at all and he was still angry. It’s hard to tell. Either way, Jonah feels like a bit of an idiot. He always does in these types of situations.
He doesn’t talk to Vito then. Even after the next meeting that Rob calls - the last one for the month, since everything would be carried out by the end of the week. Jacob would be happy, Veronica would be happy, and Rob would stop trying to argue with them both.
Jonah sits outside by Rob’s truck - now, every time he looks at it, he’s going to be thinking of Vito. That sucks. He likes Rob’s car. To the left of him, he hears footsteps, turns his head to see Vito slowly making his way over, staring at his shoes like they were the most interesting thing on earth.
At first, he does not say anything. Neither of them do.
“About...before.”
Jonah looks up, blinks. Vito isn’t looking at him still.
“...before.”
“Yeah.”
Jonah continues to stare at him, Vito hesitantly raises his eyes. Jonah manages a half-hearted smile, looks curious now, “What happened before?”
“Yanno.”
“I don’t.”
“We--” He makes this vague gesture with his hands, looks a bit frustrated. He keeps looking at Jonah and then away, back and forth, “Outside.”
“Yeah...?”
“You know what. You know what we did.”
“Nope. Gonna have to remind me--” He stops when Vito steps closer, so close that Jonah can smell the soap off of him. Vito’s eyes are dark and intense, staring right into his, Jonah keeps his hands in his pockets, probably best to not touch him, “I’m not going to say anything, Vito.”
Vito presses his lips together, seems to be contemplating his answer. Like he doesn’t know whether to trust him or not, “...The girl. From before--”
“Casey? Don’t worry. She’s harmless. And high most of the time,” Vito still looks unsure, “If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll make sure she didn’t see anything, okay?”
“I...I just...Just forget it, alright?”
“No problem. You were drunk. Not thinking right.” Jonah’s been trying to tell himself that for awhile now. He’s got Vito’s confirmation, it didn’t mean anything. It can’t mean anything. It should be dropped, fast. “We’re cool, man. Chill out.” He tries to be casual when he touches him, one hand on his shoulder, Vito tenses underneath his touch.
“You ready to go?” Rob’s voice is a few feet away, he has his keys in his hand. Vito shies away from Jonah’s hand, moves past Rob carefully to go back inside. Rob blinks, glances back at Jonah, “Everything okay?”
Jonah watches Vito’s back, then looks down, “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
.
.
This download is taking forever. Jonah grumbles to himself, irritated and tired - he hasn’t had any coffee yet. He thought it would be finished by the morning, no such luck. With how many names are being copied onto the floppy disk, there’s only so much his laptop can do. He has to have it ready by noon, it’s already twelve.
He stands from the table, peels off his shirt. It’s way too hot in his apartment, he searches around for looser clothes - a pair of sweats that have a few too many holes in them. He’s had them for too long now, his mom isn’t around to sew it up like before either. The length of his sleeves aren’t helping either, he has to push them up to his elbows.
When he gets to his laptop, he frowns, presses his thumb to his lip. Maybe he should reduce the number of names and data, just to make sure the drive isn’t taking too much at once. It’ll corrupt it. He’s biting at his thumb when there’s a knock at his door.
Probably Veronica. Said she would be over soon to pick it up. She’ll be pissed if it’s not ready, but there isn’t much he can do to remedy that. He pulls himself off the sofa, gets to the door and opens it, “--Oh.”
It’s Vito. Of course It’s Vito.
Another week or so since Jonah has seen him. Talked to him. Touched him at all. He drops his hand from the doorknob, “Sorry - I was expecting Veronica.”
“She told me to come pick it up,” Vito tells him, he’s staring at Jonah - but it’s kind of like he’s staring through him at the same time. Like a spot over his shoulder, “It’s ready?”
“It’s only on fifty-eight percent. I don’t want to mess up the files by overloading it, might have to switch it out for a bigger drive.” Vito steps inside, takes off his shoes like before, blinking at Jonah.
“What.”
Jonah smiles, it starts off slow and then spreads across his face, “I - uh, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting, people don’t deal with stuff like this a lot. Long story short, I’m probably gonna need another hour on it. That okay?”
Vito shrugs one shoulder, “’S fine.” He stays though, doesn’t offer to leave like Jonah thought he would, “It okay if I wait here?”
Jonah sits back down on the couch, brings his computer back to his lap, “You’re fine. Sit wherever you want, man.” And Vito does - he sits on the far end of the couch. Away from Jonah. Jonah is okay with that, tells himself to be okay with that. He still doesn’t like the thought of Vito not liking him. Puts a bad taste in his mouth.
He’s typing away on his laptop, squinting while he focuses. Vito speaks up after maybe ten minutes of quiet, “You drink a lot of those?”
Jonah looks up, follows his gaze to see two cans on the floor. Jonah rubs at his shoulder, he’s starting to cramp from slouching so much, “Yeah. Love ‘em.”
“They’re bad for you.”
“A lot of stuff is bad for you.”
Vito doesn’t say anything to that, he looks like he wants to keep talking though. There’s a beep from Jonah’s computer, he looks back towards it. First side is complete, gotta flip it now. He takes out the disk, puts it back in on the opposite side. Veronica will probably find it more complicated, but it’s the only way he knows how to get all the names on the drive.
Jonah gets up from the couch, pauses for a second and looks over at Vito, “Hey, you want anythin’ to drink?”
“Hm?” Vito obviously was lost in his thoughts, looks up when Jonah speaks.
“I said do you want anything to drink?”
“Sure.” Jonah doesn’t have a lot to choose from, water and soda. It’s flat though. He grabs a bottle, almost drops it when he notices Vito is in the kitchen too. His words come out in a rush, “I know I’m bein’ an asshole to you, but - I don’t want to be. I want to be--” He has difficulty spitting whatever it is out, he motions a lot with his hands, “Friends, yanno? Shit like that.”
Jonah doesn’t say anything, licks at his bottom lip as he thinks, “...friends?”
“Yeah. Just fuckin’ friends. And I don’t know how to be--”
“‘Cause I’m gay?”
“No, because--” Vito stops there. He looks irritated, Jonah doesn’t know who it’s directed towards, “Fuck.”
“Hey,” Jonah steps closer, tries to make his tone as comforting and calm as possible - like how his mom used to talk to him when he was scared. It always made him feel better, “It’s fine, Vito. It’s cool. Stop beatin’ yourself up,” Jonah has noticed he does that a lot, only had a handful of conversations with the guy, “It’s my fault. I made it weird. We can be friends--”
Vito kisses him. Again.
Except, it’s not like before. Teeth and the hard press of his lips. It’s soft this time, cautious - lingering almost. When he pulls back, Jonah is staring at him and Vito has turned a light pink. Jonah doesn’t give him a chance to apologize or leave, he kisses him this time. Vito inhales sharply, doesn’t back up though, leans his weight up and presses into the kiss harder.
Jonah keeps his hands to himself - Vito is so jumpy, he’s scared he’ll leave again and act like it never happened. He grips the counter behind him tight, so tightly that his knuckles begin to show through the skin. Hesitantly, he parts his lips along Vito’s, enjoys the feel of Vito deepening it further, as if he’s trying to chase after Jonah’s breath to see where it’s coming from.
It makes his heart feel weird. Stomach too. Head. Everything.
There’s a small noise from the living room, takes Jonah a few seconds to realize it’s his computer. When they pull away, Vito is breathing a little too hard to be normal, leans back slightly to give Jonah room to move around him.
“It’s - uh, done,” Jonah tells him, out of breath as well. Vito is slow getting to him, takes the drive from him, careful not to touch skin to skin. Jonah tries not to take that too personally. Vito looks down at it, flipping it over to get a good look, “Thanks for...stopping by...”
Vito twists the disk in between his fingers, flexes his jaw, “No problem.”
“Cool, right?”
“Yeah. We’re cool.”
.
.
The heat is becoming stifling. Jonah works hard, though. Works for Rob, finishes his school work ( as the second semester ends, the load has become even heavier ), schedules as many tutoring sessions as he can. A few things he’s learned in college: where to get weed, you can pee whenever you want ( don’t gotta ask to be excused ), and even though you were born rich and white, it doesn’t mean you’re very smart.
Jonah tutors a lot of different people. Mostly guys - they don’t like writing notes, don’t like studying, they flunk more than girls. Jonah scribbles a doodle on the corner of his paper, his appointment is running late. He doesn’t mind as much as he should. He only looks up when his headphones are pulled at lightly.
Gavin is standing there, smiling at him, “Sorry. Class ran on longer than usual.”
“It’s cool,” Jonah hadn’t been waiting long, he turns off his old cassette player, tucks it away in his backpack, “You bring your textbook?”
“Hey,” Gavin points a finger at him, “I’m gettin’ better at remembering. Don’t tease me.”
“Uh-huh,” When he takes it out, Jonah pulls it close, flipping open to page two-hundred-forty-nine, “Right here,” he points to the map there, “The Kalinigrad Oblast, which body of water does it border?”
Gavin looks like he’s thinking, bites at his lip, “Don’t throw me shit like that, it’s only been two seconds.”
“This is one-oh-one stuff, you should have it down. How’re you gonna pass your final?”
“Won’t have to if you take it for me.”
“Ha-ha. Be serious,” He points to something else, “What about this one - which country is located between Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast?”
“Jonaaaah.”
“This is easy stuff.”
“Easy to you, yeah,” Gavin has never been very confident in himself when it comes to academic portions. To Jonah, it’s like remembering the back of your hand - too easy. He can understand though, it’s not like that for everyone. He’s patient enough to try and help, “What’re you doing this weekend?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I’m not. I swear,” he grins at Jonah, the type of grin that wins over the girls here, “Seriously, what’re you doing?”
“Nothin’. I was gonna study, why?”
“Throwing a party. You should come.”
Jonah licks at the corner of his lips, eyes Gavin, “Anything interesting gonna happen?”
“Besides me being there, nah,” he drops his blue eyes to the book in front of him, “Rashid was gonna bring his band out. Never heard them play before. It’ll be cool. Music, food, I’ll even buy a fucking pinata if it means you’ll come.”
Jonah can feel a smile forming, he quirks up his eyebrows, “You drive a hard bargain, man. Hard to say no.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
Jonah shouldn’t. He’s not the partying type. He only really goes to things like that because of William or Jax. Though, with the amount of work he’s been putting in lately, he doesn’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to take a break.So, he shrugs a shoulder, looks back down at the book.
“Alright. Yeah.”
“Really? You mean it?” Gavin’s face has lit up, “Don’t flake on me.”
Jonah doesn’t flake on him. He goes to the party, feels uncomfortable without William there. Stays huddled in the corner on his own. Whether he likes it or not, he is pretty well known around campus and people are always eager to speak to him. Around one, Gavin finds him, he takes a seat next to him, handing him a cup.
“You didn’t spike this or anythin’, right?” Jonah is only half teasing, he doesn’t take a drink, “What - not enjoying your own party?”
“Would be enjoying it more if you actually joined in,” Gavin tells him, nudges his shoulder into his playfully, “You aren’t bored sitting over here?”
He is, but he isn’t going to say that, “Nah. I’m good. I didn’t see a pinata yet, I’ve been deceived.”
“Yeah, y’got me. I forgot,” Gavin continues staring at him, takes a sip of his own drink, “Hey, wanna go somewhere quieter?” Jonah grimaces, puts down the drink to the side of him. On the clock on the wall, he follows the ticking motion. And then back to Gavin, who looks at him expectantly.
“Sure.”
He follows Gavin around his big house, past couples making out, people taking shots, some smoking. They make it to his parents room, from the balcony, Jonah can see a few guys tossing a girl into the pool, she’s laughing.
Gavin comes to his side, “You always so quiet?”
“You’re around me all the time.”
“Only when your tutoring me. Been tryin’ to invite you to shit like this for a year now.”
“I was busy.”
“Yeah, okay,” Gavin snorts, puts down his cup on the end table, “You’re fucking Mr. M, right? Economics.”
Jonah blinks, “Sorry?”
“Mr. Milverton. You’re fucking him.”
“...And that’s your business because...?”
“Don’t get all defensive. Just wondering.”
“Wondering what.”
“If you put out.”
Jonah stares at him, he suddenly doesn’t like how close he is. How his breath smells like vodka. How he’s a few inches taller. Frowning now, Jonah crosses his arms, pokes his tongue against his cheek, “There’s a reason you’re asking, I’m guessing.” This is one of the things he hates about college - a lot of people were open to opening their sexuality for the shits and giggles, didn’t take it serious or think anything through. He’s been on the end of that stick more than once, “Look--”
He’s kissed. It’s sloppy, Gavin almost misses his lips completely. Jonah pulls back, almost gets out another word before Gavin is going back in for more. It’s strange - nothing like--( well, you know what he means ). Either way, it’s not something he enjoys, he has to hold steady hands to his shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” Gavin asks, tries to lean back in, “Not good?”
“No, I just--” Jonah is currently wondering if that’s what girls are into. Being kissed like that, like by a dog with a bad drooling problem, “I gotta go.” It’s hard to detangle himself from Gavin, he has a steadfast grip and talks quick, apologizing and blabbering fast, “Thanks for inviting me.”
He’s even more crowded downstairs than it was before. Jonah has a difficult time getting through all of the people. Outside, Gwen and Jenny are there, both smoking and looking up when he passes by.
“Jonah, are you leaving?”
“Huh? Oh--” He scratches at his neck, shrugs, “Yeah.”
“Wanna ride? I was gonna take Jen home.”
He’s packed into the car with Mike, Gwen, Jenny, and Taylor. He would’ve just ridden his board, but it seems like Jonah has a hard time saying no to people nowadays. Gwen stops her mom’s minivan at a convenience store for gas, and Jonah only gets out to breathe for a couple moments, get something to drink to get the taste of beer out of his mouth.
He opens the cooler, notices someone out of the corner of his eye, “...Rudy?”
Said man looks up, cracking open a beer, even though he hasn’t bought it yet, “Oh, shit. Hey, Jonah.”
“What’re you doin’ here?”
“Too sober for it to be Friday, yanno?’
“Sure.”
“Here,” he tosses a beer at Jonah’s head, fortunately he catches it, “I’ll buy.” Even though Jonah definitely isn’t going to drink it, he goes along with Rudy. Watching as he gets into a small fuss with the shop clerk for opening the drink too early. They leave the store together, Rudy taking a quick drink and looking up when he hears laughter.
His eyes seem to zero in on Gwen - long legs, blonde hair, pretty smile. It reminds Jonah of those cartoons he used to watch on Saturday mornings ( where the protag falls in love with a girl and his eyes get all big and heart-shaped ).
“Jonah! You ready?” Gwen is waving over to him.
Before Jonah can reply, Rudy elbows him, “Who’s your friend?”
“Uh - Gwen. She’s nice.”
“She sure fuckin’ is. Introduce me,” Gwen starts to make her way over to them, straightening her walk when she spots Rudy beside Jonah, “Love blondes--hey, baby. What’s your name?”
Gwen bats her eyelashes at Rudy, plays coy, “It’s Gwen,” she looks at Jonah next, “Jonah, this your friend?”
Jonah doesn’t have a chance to answer, Rudy does for him, “Yeah. Me and Jonah go way back, yanno. Surprised he never introduced us. Think we’d make a good pair, hm?” Gwen is giggling, Jonah simply watches, curious.
“What’s takin’ so damn long...” From Rudy’s car, out steps Vito, who stops when he sees the three of them. Mostly Jonah. He looks away quickly, narrowing his eyes on Rudy, “Hurry the fuck up--”
“This is my cousin,” Out of nowhere, Rudy wraps a long arm around Vito’s neck, pulling him close, “Name’s Vito.”
“Hi,” Gwen smiles at Vito, just as she did Rudy, “We were actually...about to hit another party in Jen’s neighborhood, did you guys want to come?”
“Jen, huh?” Rudy is still holding Vito close, who’s starting to look more and more uncomfortable, “‘Course we wanna come, baby. Whatever you want.” Gwen skips away, too excited to hold to information to herself and goes to tell Jenny. Rudy lets Vito go, slapping him hard on the back, “See that? One blonde for me, redhead for you, man.”
Jonah watches as Vito goes a bit pale, rubs at the back of his neck, “Thought we were headin’ home. Jacob called, remember?”
“Little Emiliano can fuckin’ wait, okay?” Rudy is still staring after where Gwen went, “You’ll thank me later. When you get some pussy.” With that, he’s heading back inside the gas station to pay for a tank, pulling a wad of cash out of his jeans pocket.
Jonah keeps quiet, pressing his lips together briefly and then glancing at Vito out of the corner of his eye. Vito is taking out his pack of cigarettes, lighting one quietly.
“You want one?”
“No, thanks. I don’t smoke.”
“Okay,” Vito tucks it away, voice sounds strange so he clears his throat, “Those’re your friends?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“You guess.”
“Yeah. They’re nice to me.”
“So that makes ‘em your friends?”
“Makes pretty much anyone my friend, man.”
Vito is frowning at that, inhales from his cigarette, “I’m not nice to you. I don’t think.”
Jonah shrugs a shoulder, “It’s cool. I don’t mind--”
“You should,” Vito glances over at him, his voice is quiet and hushed, like he doesn’t want anyone else to hear him, “You should. Mind it, I mean.” Jonah doesn’t say anything, can’t really look away from the dark color of Vito’s eyes. When he looks in front of him again, he goes back to smoking, “...Sorry ‘bout Rudy.”
“I like him,” Vito snorts some, “No, really. He’s got character.”
“Sure.”
“You don’t think so?”
“Don’t really matter what I think,” Vito says it so quietly under his breath that Jonah doesn’t think that he wanted him to hear him. But before he can reply, Rudy is back out, throwing an arm over Vito’s shoulders again, “Fuck - Rudy, warn a guy, would ya’?”
“I’m gonna make sure you get laid tonight, man,” Rudy tells him, “Been way too long.”
Vito glances at Jonah, and then away. Laughs - it sounds a bit too high pitched, “You drunk or somethin’?”
“Nope. Not drunk. Determined.” As they begin to drift back towards their vehicle, Gwen returns to Jonah’s side, mostly staring after Rudy.
“You comin’, Jonah?”
Jonah can feel his stomach twisting up, he shakes his head, “Think I’m just gonna ride the rest of the way back.” His board is under his arm, and it’s not too cold tonight.
Gwen’s face falls, “You sure?”
“Yeah. It’s fine. You guys have fun.”
“Okay. Call me when you get back home, okay?”
“Okay.”
He watches as Gwen pulls out of the gas station parking lot, Rudy’s car soon following after hers. And again, Jonah is left alone.
.
.
He actually ends up seeing Vito the next morning. When Jonah wakes up that morning, it’s so hot in his apartment. Almost hard to breathe. It didn’t help that he stayed on the fourth floor, the highest in the building. He has to head downstairs - weird thing is, the hallway feels fine to him. When he gets to the lobby, no one is at the front desk, he’s gotta ring the bell a few times, and wait.
When he’s about to hit it the third time, the side door opens, Wallace ( the landlord ) steps in. Looks grumpy as usual. Jonah brightens, “Hey, Mr. Wallace.”
The landlord eyes him, already looks irritated, “Hell do you want?” Mr. Wallace had never been very friendly, Jonah was used to it, “I’m busy.”
“I know, but - uh...” Jonah slides his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, shuffling on his feet, “I think the air conditioner in my place broke down again.”
“How would you know?”
“...’cause I live there.”
Mr. Wallace sneers up his lip, glares daggers at Jonah, “Try turning it on and off.”
“Actually, there’s been a lack of maintenance lately. I think it might’ve blown a fuse,” Jonah has read his lease enough to know that Mr. Wallace is supposed to take care of these sorts of things. Jonah has made an attempt to ignore it the first few times, even fixed it himself once, but it was getting ridiculous, “Can you at least take a look at it?”
“LIsten, you--”
The front door opens, Jonah and Mr. Wallace both look up. Jonah’s gaze lingering for a few seconds once he sees who it is. Vito is standing in the doorway, bright light shining behind him, hair messy and a bit winded. He drops his cigarette, flicks it off to the ground before entering.
“What’s up?” Jonah looks curious, even more so when Vito stops about a foot away from him, “You okay?” Now that he’s getting a good look, he doesn’t seem okay. Doesn’t look like he slept very well. He’s guessing the party didn’t go how he planned.
Vito shrugs it off, “Yeah. No. I mean - sure,” Jonah’s eyes stay on his face, only looking away when Vito turns his head towards him, “I’m fine.”
Mr. Wallace doesn’t like being interrupted, he glares at Vito, crosses his arms. And then his attention is back to Jonah, “If you got a problem, feel free to move the fuck out.”
Jonah rubs at his neck - last thing he wants to do is argue with his landlord, “Can I at least hire someone to come and look at it? To make sure I’m not doin’ anything wrong, if I touch it, I mean.”
“If you damage property, you have to pay for it.”
Jonah can feel Vito staring, carefully keeps his eyes away from him, “Mr. Wallace--”
His voice is filled with venom when he speaks again, narrowed icy blue eyes on Jonah, “If you don’t like the way things are run around here, faggot, you can just--”
He doesn’t get the rest of his words out. It happens so fast, Jonah has a hard time following Vito’s movements. One second he’s beside him, and the next, Vito is gripping his landlord’s shirt, shoving him hard against the wall. Jonah blinks, stands up straight.
Vito’s voice isn’t like anything he’s heard before, not out of his mouth, “What did you just say? What the fuck did you just call him?”
Jonah stays where he is, watches as old Mr. Wallace sputters for words, “H-Hey...calm down--”
“Vito,” Jonah is closer now, he touches Vito’s forearm, tries to pull a bit to encourage him to let go. He doesn’t like this, “Vito, hey. It’s fine. It’s cool.” It’s not - it’s really not. But he doesn’t have the time to look for a new place and he doesn’t want Mr. Wallace in the hospital because of this. Jonah shouldn’t have been pushy with it, should’ve let it go, “Look at me,” It takes awhile, but Vito does just that, “It’s fine. Let go.”
Vito’s posture is tense, he releases the older man roughly, forcing him back against the wall again, “You call him that shit again, I’ll come back here. Break all your fuckin’ fingers, y’hear me?” Mr. Wallace nods, mouth agape, Vito moves past Jonah, knocks over the papers on Mr. Wallace’s front desk with one violent movement - it makes pens and a stapler hit the floor.
Jonah stays quiet, Mr. Wallace leans against the wall, breathing heavily. Jonah isn’t sure if he should ask if he’s okay or not. He does, gets a glare in return. Decides it’s best to leave him alone for an hour or two. When he gets outside, Vito is still there, rubbing a hand against his face, pacing.
“You okay?” Jonah asks, Vito glances over at him. Then away, like usual. Jonah reaches over, grips his arm, “Vito--”
“Don’t touch me,” Vito moves fast, yanks away so quickly that Jonah flinches a bit. His face is flushed, he’s looking at Jonah again, defensive and wired, “Just - don’t, okay?”
“...okay,” Jonah stays to his side, doesn’t touch him anymore, “You look...tired. You alright?”
“No...not really,” Vito tells him, voice soft, “Night been kinda shitty, yanno?”
Jonah shrugs a shoulder, still staring at him, “...yeah. Mine, too.” By the time Vito calms down and actually takes a breath, Jonah suggests for him to use his shower. Vito takes the invitation, surprisingly, seems like he really needs it. Jonah’s clothes would probably be a little small, but not too bad - he avoids any type of eye or skin contact when handing them to Vito.
“Thanks,” Vito mutters when he comes out of the bathroom, his hair is still a bit wet, he thumbs at his nose for a second, “For the record...I was walkin’ and...walked past here. Thought I’d...” He trails off when he looks at Jonah, “Don’t really know what I thought.”
“Hey, it’s cool. We’re friends, right? You can come over whenever you want,” Jonah sits on the couch, fiddling with his card-reader, currently replacing the antenna with a better one. Faster reading speed would be good. It’s quiet for a few moments, Vito shuffles on his feet, “Party didn’t go well?”
Vito’s shoulders tense up a bit at that, he drops his gaze quickly, “Fucking hate parties like that. They’re bullshit,” he doesn’t linger on it long, though, “You deal with that a lot?”
“Deal with what?”
“That old guy - you’re landlord. He talk to you like that all the time?”
“Not all the time--”
“That doesn’t piss you off? People calling you shit like that?”
“I’ve been called worse,” Vito scoffs, looks off to the side, “It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal. Should be.”
“I just don’t think it’s worth fighting the guy. He’s old - talks however he wants. Not much you can do about it, Vito,” Vito locks his jaw, clenching it so tight that a muscle jumps in his neck, “Can you stop pacing around? Please, man.”
Vito stops, looks at him, rubs at his jaw a bit. He doesn’t say anything else though, sits down on the couch. He still looks really tired, Jonah can’t help but worry. He bites at his mouth, unsure of what to do or say. Vito had said he didn’t want to be touched, Jonah’s used to being able to do that whenever his friends are this wound up.
He looks back down, reaches over and grabs a hold of his cassette player. Vito scoffs when he sees it, “Why’re you always carryin’ around this old--”
“You wanna borrow it?” Vito looks at him, brows furrow. Jonah keeps going, “I make my own mixtapes. William’s got most of ‘em, but...you can borrow it. Helps me calm down all the time.” When Vito hesitantly takes it, their fingers brush. Vito doesn’t snatch away like he usually does, he’s staring at the cassette player almost curiously. Jonah pulls his headphones from around his neck, pulling them apart and settling them around Vito’s head.
“So, if you need’a calm down and think for a sec. You got those.”
Vito licks at his lips, almost looks like he’sfighting a smile, “This is fuckin’ lame.”
“Hey, don’t diss those,” Jonah lightly complains, “Those’re my fa--Oh! Crap, hold on.” Jonah gets off of the couch, Vito’s eyes follow him. He’s in his room for a few seconds, returning and handing over two different tapes for Vito, “Here. These are the best.”
“I’m supposed t’take your word for it?”
“We’re friends, right?”
“...yeah,” Vito is staring at him, drops his eyes when Jonah looks back at him, “Yeah, guess so.”
“So, just trust me.”
“Easier said than done, right?”
Either way, Jonah’s smile never really leaves.
.
.
“You know his favorite color?”
“Why the fuck would I know Vito’s favorite color?”
Jonah presses his lips together, casting her a look when she crosses her arms. She hasn’t hit him yet, always a good sign. He follows her gaze - the stuffy business guy from just a few feet away is standing in front of the ATM, typing in his numbers. Veronica waits, she’s pretty impatient with this part. Last crack at it hadn’t gone so well, the device was really bugging out.
Jonah might have to try rewiring it again, or scrapping it completely and starting over. Veronica bites at her nail, grimaces over at him, “What if it doesn’t work again? Then what?”
“Wires might be pressing against somethin’ they shouldn’t. Like the reader itself. I might need a - uh, what’s it called? Twenty-two-six component. But it might make it too bulky--”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re saying,” Veronica tells him, keeping her arms crossed, “Might as well be speakin’ another language.”
“It’s the wire gauge, Veronica.”
“Still no idea.”
“Okay, think of it like this--” He peels open the back of the device, holding it under the light so she’ll see, “Red wire and blue wire, both have eighteen-six components. I need twenty-two-six to get it to work faster.”
“So where do we get that?”
Jonah shrugs a shoulder, nonplussed, “Doesn’t matter where you get it. Just gotta be right. Think of it as basic math.” The reader makes a delicate beep, and Jonah flips it over, pressing a button. Glowing blue numbers pop onto the screen, filling in blank spaces gradually, “Too slow...”
Veronica shrugs her shoulders, “Fine, I’ll buy you whatever you want. C’mon.” Jonah follows her out, tucking the reader into his pocket. Without his own volition, almost subconsciously, he reaches up and his hands close around empty air - oh, yeah - gave his headphones to Vito.
Can’t help but wonder if he’s using them.
“Why you keep askin’ about Vito?”
Jonah looks up, spots Veronica throwing him a look, “No reason. Just curious.”
“You want me to ask him what his favorite color is?”
“If you want,” Jonah tells her, “I just - I wanna be friends with him. But it’s hard.”
“Yeah,” Veronica stops walking, looks back over at him, “I know what you mean. Kind of.”
“I think he’s freaked out by me,” Jonah slides his hands into his pockets, lifting his shoulders, “Or--” And then he stops, drops his eyes down, “I don’t know. Don’t want him to be.”
“Y’think he’s freaked out by you?”
“Don’t think. Know.”
Veronica flexes her jaw, glances off to the side. And then back to Jonah, “I’ll ask for you.” Jonah’s answering smile is slow and easy, she scoffs under her breath, “Wipe that look off your face. I owe you--”
“V! Jonah!”
They both look up, catches sight of Casey and William heading towards them. Casey, more of skipping. They come to a stop in front of them both, Veronica raises her brows, “See anything?”
“Cameras. Lots of ‘em,” William says, “Security up the ass.”
“Fuck me,” Veronica mutters under her breath, presses her tongue to the corner of her lips as she thinks. She’s quick, turning her head up the street and then to Jonah, “How many cameras can you deactivate at a time?”
Jonah smiles at her again, “As many as you want, V.” Like usual, all three of them follow Veronica whenever she moves, Casey twirling a lock of her hair around her finger as she rushes behind them. She comes to stop by Jonah’s side, blowing out a large bubble with her gum, “Hey, Casey.”
“Hm?”
“You remember...uh, Mason’s party a few weeks ago?”
Casey blinks her big eyes at him, beams a smile, “I like Mason.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“What about it?”
“Remember when you were looking for me?”
She seems to think about it, blowing another bubble and then chewing quickly, “I remember I lost Veronica--oh! I do remember. Yes.” She nods her head, “You were with...um...that one - Manuel? Vito...?”
“Yeah.”
She blinks at him again, fluttering her eyelashes like she doesn’t know the point of the questions. Which is good, “Why?”
He stops walking, glancing over to watch William lean over to say something to Veronica and her swat at him out of annoyance, “If you...saw anything - you can’t say anything, okay?”
“Why not?”
“You just can’t.”
Casey considers it, pressing her lips together with a tilt of her head. Finally, she shrugs her thin shoulders, “Okay...if you don’t want me to.”
“Thanks, Casey.”
.
.
Vito is standing next to his car. Jonah hesitates, rolling his foot lightly back and forth over his skateboard. And then he plucks it from the ground and heads over, “Hey, you okay--”
“No.”
Jonah stays quiet, holds his board tighter under his arm, “Rudy didn’t mean what he said, I don’t think.”
“How would you know?” Jonah opens his mouth to reply, but Vito is already turning towards him, eyes dark and heavy, “How the fuck would you know, Jonah? You know anything about me - ‘bout my family?” He expects the anger, it’s always quick and merciless when it comes to Vito, doesn’t try to put up an argument with him. It’d just make it worse.
“I just--”
“Mind your own business, y’hear me?” He’s still staring at Jonah, not giving him room to say anything, jaw clenched tight. Jonah shifts on his feet, and Vito flicks away his cigarette, “We got an understandin’?”
“No, I don’t. I don’t understand, Vito. One second you wanna be my friend, next you’re actin’ like this--”
“If you don’t like it, then just don’t talk to me.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yeah! I do,” Now, Vito is closer to him, voice dropping to a low and careful tone. When Jonah doesn’t say anything, Vito backs off, reaches inside of his car to pull put the headphones and cassette player, shoves it into Jonah’s chest to make him take it back, “Just forget it, alright?”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“With me?”
“So - what? We can be friends in private, but we can’t talk around your cousins, is that it?”
“What’s so hard for you to understand?”
“You. You’re hard for me to understand. I wanna--” Jonah stops, it’s one of the first times he’s been loss for words. Wanna be close to you, wanna know you? What he’s supposed to say to make things better? “I don’t know how to make things better. For you.”
The anger seems to drain quickly, Vito stares at him for a long time. His eyes look a bit watery, he presses his lips together. He looks like he wants to say something - he always looks like he wants to say something, but he can’t. His eyes dart over Jonah’s shoulder.
“Everything okay?” William asks, raising his brows expectantly towards them both. Vito’s closes his mouth, doesn’t say anything, “Jonah, you good?”
“Yeah--” Jonah nods quickly, holds the headphones and cassette player to his chest more tightly, “We’re just talking.”
“Wouldn’t mind if I stayed right here, then huh?” William gets comfortable slightly behind, to the right of Jonah, tilting his head at Vito, “Right?” It’s tense, even more so now that William is there. Jonah hesitantly glances back towards Vito, he’s not looking at either of them, pressing his thumb against his nose and then pulling his keys rom his back pocket.
Jonah looks at him, “Hey--” Vito doesn’t give him a chance to say much, he’s already getting into his car without a backwards looking, lights flashing on and pulling off the side of the road quickly. Jonah frowns, waits until Vito’s lights disappear around the corner before turning his attention onto William, “I was handling it.”
"That what you call it?” William doesn’t look amused, his eyebrows crease, “Fuck is up with that guy? He buggin’, you see ‘im?”
“Vito’s fine, William. You don’t have to act like that,” William shakes his head, “I’m serious.”
“Yeah, yeah--” William waves him off, climbing the stairs again, nudging his head towards the door, “I’ll buy you a drink later, make it up to you. C’mon.” When Jonah only gives him a look, William shrugs his shoulders, opens the door - there’s the sound of laughter and light music playing when he goes inside.
Jonah stays by the street though, looking back to where Vito had gone.
And then down at his shoes.
.
.