Valerie

Part 23

VALERIE

Daniel drives me back to the hotel when the sun sets and makes sure I'm still fine with him being around before he sits on the bed and looks over me, his eyes tracing every inch of my body.

I blush. "What?"

He sighs and shakes his head. "I'm so fucking worried about you."

I step in between his legs and take his face in my hands, forcing him to look up at me. "Don't be. I'll be fine. Days like this are fucking hard but I get through them and I carry on with life. Thank you for being there for me today."

His hands come up to rest on my forearms. "Please don't hide something like this from me. Tell me what's going on so I can be there for you. I thought I had done something to make you change your mind when I couldn't get through to your cell, and -"

A knock on the door cuts him off.

"Val, hier ist Papa. Bist du da drin?" dads voice sounds from the other side of the door. (Val, it's Dad. Are you in there?)

I take a breath and drop my hands from Daniel's face. "Ich bin hier. Ich komme." (I'm here. I'm coming.)

I step back from Daniel and move towards the door, unlocking it before I pull it open.

"Geht es dir gut? Du hast auf keine meiner SMS geantwortet." he steps around me and into the room. (Are you ok? You haven't answered any of my texts.)

"Ja, Papa. Tut mir leid, ich war bei Daniel." (Yes Papa. Sorry about that, I was with Daniel)

He looks over my shoulder to see Daniel sitting on the bed. "Ah, Daniel. Hello. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, all good Toto. Good to see you."

He smiles at Daniel, a sad look on his face before turning to me. "Do you want to get dinner?"

I sigh, but before I can protest Daniel jumps up. "I need to go see Zac anyway, I'll see you in the morning gorgeous."

He kisses the top of my head before nodding at my dad and walking out of the room.

I stare at the back of his head until he disappears out of sight. My dad clears his throat to get my attention.

"Dinner?"

I nod at my dad. "Yeah, okay."

We walk in silence to the restaurant.

The waiter serves our drinks before one of us breaks the silence.

"What did you do today?"

I smile at my dad. "We went to the beach. And got a cake for Marcus."

He nods slowly. "I'm glad you got out. I was worried about you all day. I didn't come earlier because I knew Daniel would be with you."

"How did you know I'd let him in?"

"Because I know he would've sat outside in the hallway until you opened the door." he laughs.

I roll my eyes and laugh lightly.

"Er ist ein guter Kerl, Valerie." (He's a good guy, Valerie)

"Ich weiss. Aber darüber möchte ich heute Abend nicht reden. Can everyone stop trying to push us together? I don't need the pressure." (I know. But I don't want to talk about that tonight.)

He raises an eyebrow. "Where is this coming from?"

"I know everyone wants me to be happy but can you and mom stop meddling? Let me figure this out on my own." I sigh loudly, giving an overly emphasized shrug.