𝘽𝙇𝙐𝙀, colby brock.

012.

a breath of fresh air.

"hey," kat smiled as she led the girl out of the hallway and into the semi-messy hotel room she had been staying in for the past couple of days.

"howdy," val replied uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. the girl had never really hung out with friends. asher might have counted, but the two practically lived together, so there was never any uncomfortable tension in the air.

"you can sit down, lay down, whatever you'd like," kat said with the same welcoming smile she had greeted valerie with. it was weird having someone you could call a friend now.

"so, you invited me over for.." valerie carried out, hoping the purple-haired girl would answer. hopefully, they could investigate sam's case a little more.

"to hang out," kat seemed puzzled. but her face had shifted to a more relaxed look.

"i see the way you look at him," kat said, looking down. who was she talking about? no, no, it couldn't have been him..

"colby, the way you look at him." katrina started, clearing her throat. "i can't help but think you like him; please tell me if i'm wrong,"

val's neck turned red with embarrassment. how hadn't she noticed? sure, she thought the boy had been attractive, but that was it. did she like colby? no, it wasn't a crush; she was trying to help find sam. there was no room for having a silly little crush.

"no, i don't. at least i don't think i do," valerie said, looking at the wall that separated katrina and colby's room.

"don't worry, colby's out in the town," katrina claimed, noticing valerie's paranoia. the brunette dropped her shoulders, sitting on the bed, making it groan in protest.

"is that why you invited me over, to ask?" valerie asked, looking up at the purple-haired girl. she wasn't annoyed with the girl; everyone had questions, even if some were silly or nosy or maybe even rude. she had just been looking forward to maybe talking about sam's case and then talking about whether she had a crush on colby.

"no, not at all," katrina claimed, throwing her hands up in defense.

"so, about sam's case..." valerie started, clearing her throat, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence that had overgrown between them. valerie didn't want to waste any time when someone was missing, and it may or may not have been at least some of her fault.

"can we please not talk about him," katrina whispered, her voice shaking.

"yeah, that's fine. we don't have to," val looking down at her dirty converse. she really needed to go home and wash them.  "what do you wanna talk about?"

"umm, have you always lived in tennessee?"

"pretty much my whole life," valerie smiled stiffly. "where are you from?"

"i'm from toronto but moved to la when i was 15." the girl said, sitting down next to valerie.

"what for?"

"to fulfill my singing career," katrina smiled.

"have you always wanted to sing? how did you get into ghost hunting," valerie tilted her head to the side, smiling at the girl, "did you dream about some hot hunky ghost and decided it wouldn't hurt anything to go and try to find him?" she teased.

"yeah, and then i started dating him once i found him," katrina giggled, "but seriously, no, i've always wanted to sing, and i would have never guessed i would be ghost hunting if you told me 5 years ago."

"what about you? what do you want to do?"

"well, i want to someday be like my dad, maybe help save people, help others too." val started, "i didn't always want to be like him, though, i despised everything he did when i was a teen. i was really angsty now that i think about it," she laughed, scrunching her brows together.

"why would you hate him?" katrina asked, tilting her head to the side.

"hate is a strong word. i didn't want to be around him at a certain point because i blamed him for something he couldn't control." valerie sniffed, looking down at her shoes again. of course, it wasn't her father's fault for ashers death. he had no way of saving the boy or even knowing what had happened.

"oh, i definitely did that as a teen." katrina smiled, trying to break the awkward air drifting between the two.

"how is colby doing? with his best friend being gone and all?" valerie asked, her eyes widening once she realized what she had done. "i'm so sorry; you said you didn't want to.."

"it's okay." kat cuts in, her face blank. "he's doing as good as he can."

"i'm so sorry.."

"there's nothing to be sorry about," katrina says matter-of-factly. "i think maybe we should go out in town for a little bit," she adds, getting up from the bed.

valerie stands up, agreeing with the girl to not upset her. she honestly didn't mean to upset kat; it just slipped out; she wasn't thinking.

"yeah, let's do that.." valerie says, walking towards the door.

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word count - 885

a/n: woah, it's been a minute since i've updated this story. i'm so sorry for making yall wait this long for it, and i promise to write more soon 😭