haunted

ii, wherefore art thou romeo?

chapter two. romeo, romeo, wherefore art thou romeo?

vanina begrudgingly slumped her way to tommy's house, one airpod in with taylor swift's discography playing, and her phone displaying tommy's address - a place she never thought she'd go willingly.

approaching the front doorstep, vanina couldn't help but smile. not at the idea of being at the boy she resented's house, but the fact that it truly was a small, cozy home. two stories, but still compact - the taken care of lawn, the trash cans ready to be taken out, and even the dogs barking inside.

sweet house, tom simons.

taking her small, steady steps on the stepping stones that led up to his front door, she raised her right knuckle, tucking her phone into her pocket safely. before she could even knock twice, the door opened and revealed tommy leaning against the doorway with a bright smile displayed on his face.

"you're ridiculous." vanina rolled her eyes and sighed.

"and you like it," tommy grinned. "come in, come in, welcome to my humble abode. this is - hey! walter, quit it! sorry, my dogs get a bit excited around new people."

vanina shook her head in a way to say 'it's okay'. she had a cat of her own at home, and although he definitely didn't get excited around newcomers (in fact, he hides for hours at a time), he was quite annoying and playful with her.

tommy's dogs - walter and betty - jumped all over her, licking and sniffing just about any area on her body. however, they quickly stopped when a woman walked into the foyer, someone vanina assumed was tommy's mother.

"hello dear, you must be vanina! oh goodness, tom doesn't quit it about you..." she gave a kind, warm smile. truly the older (definitely much wiser) female version of tommy.

"mum!" tommy cleared his throat embarrassingly. "jesus christ. why don't you tell her a little more about what we talk about in private."

vanina laughed softly. "relax, tommy. you've said worse. like, criminally worse. like, to the point where i consider creating a powerpoint slideshow for my dad as to why we should move away."

tommy laughed awkwardly. "ah, vanny. you and your silly jokes! mum, we're gonna head upstairs."

"okay," tommy's mother patted his shoulder. "i'll make some lemonade, or something. perhaps your friend would like to stay for dinner?"

vanina's stomach lurched at the sound of her being referred to as tommy's friend. gross.

"um, i'd have to text my dad. i'd love to, though!" she smiled in response. her dad always taught her to never reject a dinner request, no matter how much you don't want to go. "he's working late, so he'll probably be glad for me to have a good dinner instead of ordering in."

tommy's mother nodded in response and watched the two head up the stairs.

"so, why can't you just ask your mum about dinner? is she working too?" he attempted on conversation.

vanina made her lips into a flat line. "i dunno what she's doing. she left when i was a kid." she shrugged. tommy's eyes widened and he continued the long walk to his bedroom. vanina looked down at her phone and went to texts.