Best Part || Jamie Flatters

05

Valeria Castro

I say my final goodbyes to Sof and Faith while everyone's already out the door and waiting for the elevator.

"How long are you guys in LA?" Sof asks while holding my shoulders.

"All week." She looks excited before I speak again. "But we're going to be busy all week—interviews every day, all day." Her shoulders slump in disappointment.

"I wish we had more time, but after this, we're going to different places, some of us are even getting separated." She tilts her head in disappointment again.

I get a sudden urge.

"Sof what were you and Jamie talking about in the kitchen earlier?" Her eyes snap to mine. "Why?" I shrug, and she takes a deep breath. "It was nothing he was just getting on my nerves." She gives me an unconvincing smile.

Jamie and Sof are the worst liars. There's definitely something, and Sof wants to tell me, but she's holding it back.

"Okay." I just accept her answer. I'll eventually find out what they were talking about, if it has to do with me, it'll come up someday.

I hug her and Faith one more time before I walk out into the hall. I look at her one more time, and Faith closes the door with one more smile. If it had been Sofia closing the door, she would have never closed it.

I walk slowly and sadly to the elevator where everyone is standing. I feel Bailey rub my arm to comfort me, and I give her a smile. We all get in the elevator.

I've started to notice I'm always quiet after I say goodbye to Sof or any of my friends, and I know I won't see them in a long while.

I feel a nudge on my arm, and I look beside me and up at Jamie. I always forget he's grown some, not much, but he's still 4 inches taller than me. "You okay?" He asks with concern written on his face. I nod.

"I'm just going to miss Sof." He nods in understanding. "Yeah, me too." The elevator stops, and we all get out and walk through the lobby to go outside and wait for our Uber, which should be here in two minutes.

When the uber pulls up, they ask if I'm Valeria. I say yes, and we all get in to go to the hotel. This time, we're in a completely different order. Since Jamie and I were the first to get in, we're in the back, and Jack, Trin, and Bai are in the seat in front of us.

"You still want to talk when we get to the hotel, or do you just want to wait?" Jamie asks when the car starts to move.

"Well, do you have any plans later?" He shakes his head. "Then we can talk when we get to the hotel." He nods, and his lips twitch before he turns to look out the window.

It's already seven. We got to Sof's apartment at one, I did not think we were there for that long.

I turn to look at Jamie beside me. He's looking out the window of the car. I wish I could read his mind and just know what he's thinking sometimes. It would definitely make our lives way easier. He turns towards me, and I turn back to my window.

Him catching me staring at him is just going to make things more awkward. We do not need that.

"Hey Valeria," I hear from in front of me, and I look at Jack. I nod at him to keep talking. "You know your friend Monica?"

I squint at him. "Yes I do."

He looks at me nervously. "Yeah, well, we've been talking lately." He blurts it out after a few seconds.

I already knew this, I'm just letting him think I didn't. I nod and just stay silent for a second.

"You're not mad, are you? If you don't want us to be together or talk or whatever, I'll stop talking to her." I slowly smile, and his face drops from one of worry.

"Asshole. I thought you were mad." I laugh at him as he turns back around, angry. I hear Jamie chuckle beside me and glance at him, he's looking at me in a way I don't recognize. I'm sure it's nothing. I look at Bailey, who's smiling at me, or Jamie, I can't tell, and then she turns back around.

The rest of the drive back to the hotel we're mostly silent, with just a few words exchanged between Jack, Trinity, and Bailey.

When the car pulls up to the curb, Jack gets out and pushes the seat back so Jamie and I can get out. Bailey and Trin get out on the other side. I get out first, with Jamie following right behind me.

I hear Jamie thank the driver before closing the door. We all walk up to the doors of the hotel.

"Are you guys doing anything? We could sleep over in my room if you want." Bailey suggests. We all look at each other.

"My mom wants me in our room since I left her alone with Dad all day." Trinity says with a frown. Bailey looks disappointed but says it's okay. I look at Jamie, who's already looking at me. "Can you give Jamie and I like an hour at the most, and we'll be there." I say keeping eye contact with Jamie to make sure he agrees, he nods subtly and looks at Bailey, I look at her too. She looks between us for a second, then just nods.

"I'll be there in like fifteen minutes. I just need to change, wash my face, and grab my toothbrush and toothpaste." Jack says excitedly, and we all laugh at his excitement. "Okay, I'll see you guys in a little, I'll text my room number to the group chat, Trin, I'll see you tomorrow." Bailey says and hugs her.

"Good night, guys." We all say goodnight back, and we watch her walk to the elevator and make sure she gets in. "What do you guys need to do for an hour?" Bailey asks, looking between Jamie and I.

"We just need to talk about some stuff." I respond, she accepts my answer and nods. She nods her head towards the elevator at Jack, telling him to follow her so they can go to their rooms, they're on the same floor.

Jamie and I watch them get in and start laughing at something stupid Jack probably said.

Now, I turn back to Jamie, who's once again already looking at me.

"Should we just go to my room?" Jamie asks since we're still in public technically. "Yeah, let's go."

I really hope this conversation goes well and we don't end up being awkward all over again.

***

a/n: this is more of a filler leading up to the actual conversation and that's going to lead to some drama

thanks for reading 🫂