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Stormella

I spent the whole day smiling. I had talked to Kylie and found out that she was not pretending to be some guy on Sweethearts.

So that meant Vic was real.

When she came home I was surprised she hadn't drank.

I told her to cut the shit and tell me the truth. We argued for an hour about how she wasn't Vic. I realized I was wrong when I showed her the picture of the sandwich.

"Kylie you didn't even try. You gave yourself away immediately." I said as I showed her the picture.

She pulled my phone out of my hand. She squinted as she stared at the sandwich and the started tapping around on it.

"Okay. So, if I sent Harvey a message at 10:14 and you got one at 10:14, how could I be Vic?" She said as she pulled out her phone, showing me the message she sent at that time.

"You log out and log in to Vic's account."

"False because I then sent Harvey another message at 10:15."

She showed me her screen again.

"Then, as you can see, I video chatted with him at the same time you got the sandwich picture."

Everything lined up.

She was not Vic.

Vic was himself.

"Holy shit, I'm so sorry." I said.

She shrugged.

"A ham sandwich will fix it."

Once I knew she wasn't Vic I felt so much relief. He was real.

I waited patiently for him to respond with a picture of what he was working on.

I went back to playing a song on my piano. I hadn't played in forever.

My phone vibrated and I grabbed it quickly.

The image he had sent was amazing.

A painting of a ship surrounded by dark clouds, men on the ship getting into a life boat. The ship was going down.

Stormella: That is amazing but dark. You're very talented.

Vic: Thank you. I made it last week.

Stormella: How long does it take to paint something like that?

Vic: Depends, usually five hours.

Stormella: That is fast. Especially for all the detail. You're gonna have to give me a class sometime.

Luke

I was sitting beside Ashton again. Still digging myself into a deeper hole.

The last line of her message ringing in my head.

You're gonna have to give me a class sometime.

I wanted to see her again.

No. No I don't. I don't want to see her.

I mentally went through my schedule in my head. We were going to be busy all week.

I don't want to see her.

Next Friday is another studio day and we have the weekend off. I could skip the studio on Friday and fly out. 

I don't want to see her, I don't need to see her.

Vic: How about next Friday? Dinner, then I can show you how to paint.

This time I physically slapped myself.

Just as a lady walked by. She gave me a bewildered look and walked a little faster.

I am an idiot. I don't even want to see her. Why the fuck am I doing this?

I joined Ashton back in the studio again. Sitting beside him and ignoring the swirling thoughts in my head.

I felt my phone vibrate.

Stormella: You wanna meet?

Vic: Only if you're okay with it.

Stormella: I don't mind, I just don't know much about you.

Vic: Ask me anything.

She didn't respond right away and we were needed for recording.

~

After three hours of recording and rerecording we were finally able to go home. I drove home as fast as I could.

As soon as I was in the door I opened my messages to see Stormella's reply.

Stormella: Where are you from?

Vic: I have lived in Miami my whole life.

Lie.

Stormella: When did you start painting?

Vic: Seven years old.

Lie.

Stormella: How old are you?

Vic: 22

Truth. The only one.

Stormella: Send me a picture.

I raised my eyebrows, how do I go about this?

Vic: Do you want me to do anything special?

Stormella: No, just smile or something.

I went to my camera roll and picked on of the pictures I stole from the Charlie kid. He had a really nice smile, and eyes.

I sent the picture.

Stormella: Aww your smile is so cute.

I would've felt happy but she wasn't complimenting me.

Stormella: So you want to meet up?

No.

Vic: Only if you're cool with it.

Stormella: I don't mind. What were you thinking?

Vic: I figured we could get dinner at the fanciest place in town and then I could teach you how to paint the city at night.

I smiled at my choice in date. It sounded really nice. I could totally pull off half of it.

You can't pull any of it off. The voice in my head said. I ignored it though and found the best restaurant in Miami. Booking it under Valator. Then I bought a plane ticket.

My brain clearly not realizing what the consequences of this would be.

Stormella

As I laid in bed that night I thought about Vic. I was actually going to meet him.

So far he seems very interesting. We haven't been talking long but the conversation flows so naturally.

Vic and I are going to get dinner at Le Seat and Eat. It is one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

I thought about the picture he had sent. His dark messy hair curling up at the ends. His perfect smile and white teeth. His eyes, the were a combination of green and a light blue.

I am of course worried about meeting him. I've heard the horror stories about dating apps. Or the classic, the person is completely different than in their photos.

I couldn't wait to tell Kylie. She was sleeping though, it would have to wait till morning. She would also have to help pick out what I'm going to wear. What do you wear to a date with a persons you've never met before?

.....

Hey guys, I'm gonna skip ahead a few. I can't keep writing these several filler chapters, that'd be no fun.

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