GAINING CONTROL |T.RAEKEN

XVIII. phoenix

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PHOENIX

"you guys kissed?!" the deep voice of blake malin turned into a high-pitched squeal as valencia told him about the previous night.

valencia let out a laugh at his change of tone and rolled her eyes sarcastically. she didn't expect blake to be so excited. "yes, otherwise i wouldn't have said we did." sarcasm filled valencia's tone.

blake took a moment to process the information he'd been given. he was happy that valencia was talking to him a lot more lately, he was finally getting to feel what it felt like to be a big brother, seen as he'd missed so much of her life.

he really wished he could've been there for her when she needed him most. he wished that he could've been there for her childhood and for her growing up. but he wasn't and there was nothing that he would ever regret more.

"and do you like him, truly?" blake asked after a moment of silence. valencia looked up at blake with a confused expression, which he noticed. "does he make you happy? does he make you feel safe? does he make you feel worthy?"

valencia took a moment to think about the questions coming from blake. she knew what the answers were but she needed a way to explain it.

ever since coming back to life, she had nobody to talk to about her feelings. she could talk to theo but obviously she couldn't talk to him about himself. she didn't have friends, mainly because she lost all her memories of the pack, the good ones at least.

she'd started getting closer to zoey but not close enough to talk to about these kind of things. but with blake, it was different. he was her brother, and although they'd only met a good few weeks ago, she felt trust between them.

"yeah i do," valencia nodded her head and couldn't help but let a smile fall onto her soft, pink lips. "i've never felt this way with anyone before. ever since he got to beacon hills... it's like i've had something magnetic pulling me closer and closer to him. it's like the moment i saw him again i knew something was bound to happen."

once valencia finished she looked down at the ground with a small smile placed on her beautiful face.

"cringe." blake called out from his spot on the other end of the couch and valencia jumped over to slap him over the head. "hey! what was that for?"

"you're annoying," valencia giggled as she sat back down again on the couch and rolled her eyes at him. blake held a hand on his head and rubbed the spot valencia hit him. "oh my god, you're such a big baby!"

blake held a hand out to valencia and turned away from her, "talk to the hand, you're a bully."

"big baby."

•••••

"you want me to put it on?" josh began to stand up straight with a shaky voice as he finished looking at the mask theo had taken from valack at eichen house.

theo looked over to tracy and waited for a response from her, meanwhile valencia sat down opposite zoey as zoey did her nails for her.

"you won't die if you put it on," tracy spoke from the corner with her arms folded over her chest.

"how do you know that?" josh asked in fear, turning around the face tracy and theo. "or is it just that you don't want to put it on yourself?" josh then turned to theo, "or you." then he turned to zoey and valencia. "or them."

"i'm not afraid to do it, josh." theo smirked at the the boy with his arms crossed. "i'm just not stupid."

valencia jumped up from her spot on the floor, zoey having finished doing her nails. valencia made her way towards josh while looking down at her now white nails. "i mean, i'll do it if you're really that big of a pussy."