⌑ Eternally yours/ Vinny M X OC/ ⌑

Chapter Seventeen

▪️TW: Slight sexual harassment▪️

"Dude, how far away is your shop?" I asked, looking around us as we walked into another section of the city. This was starting to annoy me! "We've been walking for a while now."

Everything this guy was doing seemed to tick me off. He had his hand on the arch of her back; he was clearly flirting with her, and he had the guts to do it in front of me!

I don't care if we aren't officially together; the confirmation she gave me earlier was enough for me to have at least some claim to her. Maybe one day I will truly call her mine.

"Erh, it's just down this way a bit; we are nearly there," Tom replied, sounding nervous. We turned down another small road, and it was quite dark, considering it was daylight. It was like one of those back alleys you see in horror movies sometimes. It unnerved me.

So, if I hadn't decided to come, would Val have had to come all by herself, with this creep?

"It's very Gothic; I like it." She dreamily told us, "That's very much my style!" She exclaimed excitedly as we approached a "gothic" door that looked as fake as any of my kindness towards this guy.

Sometimes she is too innocent for her own good.

"Ladies first," Tom said, opening the door and letting her enter. I was kind of sad that she decided to change her outfit out of my hoodie and shorts, but getting to see her in her gothic style in an area like this was just so booklike. She looked like a princess.

As she walked in, her black lace dress trailed slightly at the back, and it rose just to above her boots, which made her slightly taller than usual. At least I don't need boots!

And as soon as that thought went through my mind, it's like she could read it, for she turned to me with a scowl on her face. But I noticed she wasn't scowling for that reason, as I just realised a certain someone was holding the door for me, and I was holding him up.

"Sorry!" She giggled, linking arms with me and making my stomach do loops. "He gets caught up in his own little world," Valerie told Tom, making me sigh sadly.

"Who is this fella anyway?" He asked, sitting down on the sofa beside Valerie as we gathered in what I suppose is the staff room. "He didn't have to tag along."

"I'm Vinny, her closest friend." I told him, leaning forward and looking him dead in the eyes from the other end of the sofa, and he didn't even flinch. "We are travelling through New York with some friends," I added, leaning back into the sofa and sliding my arm behind Valerie.

"Well, nice to meet you. Would you like something to drink, or shall we head straight into the store and look at the instruments?" He asked, looking a bit... nervous? I watched as he slowly placed his hand on her thigh, but I don't think she noticed; she didn't tense up or anything.

"Yeah lets! I can't wait to see the selection of instruments you guys have!" Valerie said, springing up quickly and following Tom into the next room...

"Um," I heard her say as I caught up to them. "Isn't this meant to be a music shop?" As the two of us stared at an empty, dust-collecting room with a single grand piano, she said, "I'm dumbfounded."

"Well, you see, we went out of business a year ago." Tom chuckled anxiously, not meeting our eyes, "I just wanted to show you my piano." He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing towards her every so often.

This guy is up to something, I swear he is!

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that, Tom. Shall we take a look at your piano?" She told him, giving him her signature smile that lights up a room. Can she not see what he's trying to do?

"Val, did you know I used to play the piano?" I asked, jumping to her side before he could even move, "Woah, really! That's so cool, Vin! Maybe you could play for us!" She grinned, clasping her hands together.

"Perhaps another time, I was wondering if you could take a look at it since you're here. It's been causing me no end of trouble, and finding someone with talents like yours around here is very rare." Tom tells her, gesturing to his piano.

"Wow, thanks!" she beams. "What seems to be the matter?" she asked, bending down to inspect the legs of the piano. It seems this guy took up the entire scene.

"Something is definitely wrong with the strings; I can't seem to pinpoint an issue, though," he told her, sighing sadly.

He moved to the opposite side of the piano from her and leaned over, trying to show her where he thought the problem was, making her lean over as well.

This guy is a pervert, I can tell. I saw how his eyes trailed over her chest as she leaned over the other side of the piano. It was so obvious.

"You have a very nice figure, Valerie," he said suddenly, as if he had forgotten my existence. "Um," she let out, glancing at me slightly, looking uncomfortable.

"Okay! I think I see the problem," I told him, pushing him away from the piano and making Val back away. "See here, the strings are too loose to make a proper sound," I informed him, and he just glared at me. Valerie looked to sigh in relief, and she sent me a thankful look.

"I can fix it; my cousin used to play, and this used to happen all the time!" I smirked triumphantly. I said that and got to work.

▪️

"Alright, place your right hand here," Tom told her, putting his right hand on top of hers to run through a simple chord, "and move your leg to this pedal and see the effect it has." He grabbed her leg and moved it to the pedal.

"Hey, this isn't as difficult as I thought it would be." She cheered, but this time I noticed.

I noticed how she tensed up, and I looked to see his hand moving up and down her thigh, going a bit too high as well.

"Hey man, watch where you are putting those piano hands of yours; you don't want to be pressing the wrong chords here, do you?" With an angry tone in my voice, I growled at him and, moving closer to Valerie's side, I forcefully put my hand on his shoulder.

He quickly removed his hand from her and looked at me with fear in his eyes.

"Sorry, excuse my... odd behavior. I am very tired." He tried covering up his behavior.

"I think we will be leaving now," I told him, pulling Valerie from her seat, and she willingly followed me out. But before we got to the door, she turned and said, "Thank you for having us, but I think in the future Vinny will be teaching me the piano." She sighed, and the two of us left.

"God, I wanted to punch him so bad!" I yelled, almost slamming my fist into the wall, but thankfully Valerie stopped me.

She took my fist in her hands and cradled it. "It's okay, we are out of there now." She soothed me, wrapping her arms around me and placing her face in the crook of my neck. "Thank you for being there, Vin. I don't know what would've happened if you weren't."

"Let's not think about it," I sighed, pressing my lips against her head. She let go of the hug and smiled up at me softly.

"Since we've got some free time, how about that date?"