"are you sure about this?" casie asks from shakira's bed. "if you want me to come so you're not uncomfortable, you know i will."

vinnie was on his way to pick shakira up so they could "catch up", whatever that meant, and she was currently being grilled by casie as to whether this was really a good idea.

"i'll be fine, case. it's only lunch, and i'll keep him at arms length. i promise." shakira promises her best friend.

"i don't know kira...." casie trails off. shakira whips her body around to her best friend, her eyebrows furrowed.

"what? do you not trust me or something? why wouldn't you trust your own best friend." shakira questions casie in a excusing tone.

casie rolls her eyes, forgetting shakira was easily offended. "of course i trust you shakira. it's him i don't trust. like why does he all of the sudden want to be buddy buddy with you again? and you know gavyn is at least a little bit uncomfortable with all of this." she points out. 

"he said he understood, and that he was fine with it. plus, it's not like i'm going to have sex with him. it's lunch. casie just get off my back and let me handle this. don't you have a boyfriend to go do other shit with anyways?" shakira snaps back with a sharp attitude.

casie rolls her eyes slightly at her best friends nasty, but usual attitude. "i'm just watching out for you kira. don't do anything stupid." she stands in front of shakira, her head slightly titled.

shakira notices the look on casie's face, feeling instant regret. she didn't mean to snap at her, it was just a trait that shakira had that she wasn't the proudest of. very few people knew how to deal with it, but she was grateful for them, like she was grateful for casie.

"i'm sorry, cas, i'm just a little nervous." she admits.

"don't be. as annoying as he is, i don't think he'd do anything to seriously hurt you. he's not stupid. casie reassures shakira.

that's when shakira's phone dings, and it's a text from vinnie saying he was outside.

"speaking of the devil." shakira jokes, motioning to her phone. casie hugs her one more time before sending her on her way.

SHAKIRA WALKS OUT OF her apartment building, spotting vinnie's car almost immediately. she takes a deep breath before she makes it to the car.

as she gets in, vinnie is watching her silently, his left hand rested on the steering wheel, the other on the middle console.

vinnie greets her, pulling out into the road to their destination. shakira responds back, feeling slightly awkward.

after a few minutes of awkward silence, vinnie sighs, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "look. let's not make this awkward."

"i'm not being awkward, you're the awkward one here." shakira defends.

"okay, okay i was just saying."

shakira sighs, realizing she came off a little harsh. "sorry, this is just a little weird for me, being around you again." she says honestly.

the girl had a tendency to always be honest with vinnie. maybe it was because they have so much history that it's hard to lie to him, or the fact that he really does know her so well that she wouldn't be able to lie to him regardless, but she tended to never lie to him.

"yeah, i get it. i mean it's weird for me too, i just wanted to catch up." he explains, making shakira nod her head.

vinnie pulls up to a small cafe in downtown LA, parking close to the entrance. he gets out of the car, and before shakira can go to make a move, he's already on her side of the car, opening the door for her.

he opens the door, a goofy smile on his face. shakira lingers there for a second, an amused look on her face. he urges her to step out of the car and she shakes her head, playfully rolling her eyes at the boy.

"you're corny." shakira couldn't see because she was walking slightly in front of him, but he had the ghost of a smile on his face at her comment.

the two find a table outside the cafe, not wanting to feel crowded on the inside. vinnie went back inside to order their drinks, quickly coming back out.

"that was quick."

"yeah, my order isn't special, and i still remember yours so it wasn't difficult." he explains, a small smile on his face.

shakira nods her head, trying to ignore that the fact that he still remembered her coffee order made her smile a bit.

"i see you've been busy with your youtube, what made you wanna do that all of a sudden?" vinnie asks, resting his hands on the table.

shakira stifles a laugh, making vinnie furrow his eyebrows a little.

"you want the truth?" vinnie nods his head suspiciously at her question, not even really sure if he did want the truth.

"i was really angry at you when you moved, because i didn't get it at the time, so i thought 'why not try to upstage him', so i started making videos to see if i could get famous and get back at you." she reveals, slightly embarrassed.

vinnie's eyes widen, but a shocked laugh comes out of his mouth, making shakira laugh in embarrassment.

"kira!" he exclaims at her. she holds her hands up in defense, shaking her head.

"that was my mindset at first, i eventually figured out that it's something i really loved to do, so i started taking it seriously." she defends herself.

"well you succeeded, i'm proud of you." vinnie tells her, genuineness in his tone.

"i mean, yeah, but you're vinnie hacker, the internets boyfriend." she teases. she notices the smile on his face falter slightly, her eyebrows raising.

vinnie meets her eyes to see her expression. "it's not like i wanna be. i mean when i first got here it was cool, but it wasn't what i expected it to be, now i don't really know how i feel about the whole thing." he tells her truthfully.

"do you not like it anymore?" shakira asks.

"no— well, i love my supporters, they're probably the best part of all of this, but just the industry, and the stuff that goes down behind the scenes isn't really my thing, but clearly i'm way too deep in to back out now."

shakira took in vinnie's words, understanding them completely. she knew what it felt like to want to give it all up because it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine like everyone thought. she just never expected vinnie to take it so hard, especially when this is what he wanted to do in the first place, the whole reason their relationship was the way it was.

their coffee finally arrives, and they begin to catch up on what each other missed through the two year period of their break up.

"no way miley cyrus dm'd you, i don't believe that for a second." shakira says in disbelief.

"i swear, i would pull it up, but i get way too many dms so its lost." vinnie says.

"i'll believe it when i see it." shakira shrugs, making vinnie laugh again.

they fall into a comfortable silence, the atmosphere around them taking over.

if they were both being honest, they missed this. they missed just being kira and vinnie. before they dated, in high school they were the best of friends. they were the best friends that everybody thought were dating.

shakira always went to vinnie's baseball games, and he always showed up to her basketball games (yeah shakira was a lil athlete perioddd). senior year was the year that everything changed between them. they both started to see each other a bit differently and sooner or later, they fell in love.

that was ancient history now, but some history is meant to be relived.

ʟᴇʏ's ᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴋ
kinda hate this chapter a little but i'll get better i promise and so will the story🤞🏽.