new girl ❣️- WS

03

"So! What pizza should we order?" Heather asked, pulling me back into the conversation.

"I don't care as long as there's pepperoni" The blonde opposite me jokingly said. That was the first time i'd heard him speak, and it sounded like the interviews. He was cool and calm. Literally the opposite of what i am feeling right now.

"Ah, Val loves pepperoni too! You two can share one." Mom said, making me go a tint of red, a colour i'd preferably not try to go. I don't know why i'm making it a big deal. It's not. it's just a dinner with neighbours.

"Perfect! We will get one pepperoni, one meat feast, one veggie and one margarita! That way everyone can share!"

"Okay, i'll just order it now," Pete said, pulling up his phone.

Mom literally snapped out of whatever daze she was in, and exclaimed, "No! Here, let me pay."
"absolutely not, lilian, our treat!"
"No pete, let me pay! please!"
"How about you get the next one?" Heather chimed in, "let us get this one, since you just moved in!"
"fine" my mom playfully sighed, like i little kid and heather laughed.
"God, you guys are sooo embarrassing" Leena chuckled, earning a laugh from me.
In my peripheral vision, i saw walkers eyes on me when i laughed, though from what i saw, he looked neutral. like he was just observing.

"Okay Leena, take Valeria and the kids to the living room and talk. Maya we can talk about NYU since Pete loves to talk about his uni days!"
My name, again. i cringed, my mom thankfully saw this and spoke up, "do you mind calling her Val, she prefers it. there's some history behind her name and Val is what she likes to be called." she said, with a smile, and although she didn't see me see it, i saw a 'i'll tell you later' look appear on my moms face, as heather nodded.
"of course! i'm sorry, Val"
"That's okay mrs scobell!" i beamed back, trying to make myself look as nice as i could, i was known to have a rbf.
"ah please! Call me heather!"
"haha, okay, heather!" i said laughing and turning away to where leena was sitting, in the living room.

We all sat on the floor, leena pushed the coffee table to the side and so we sat in a horseshoe shape, leena opposite me, tanner to my left and walker in between leena and tanner. Not that i was looking, or cared, but walker was on his phone texting.

"Val by any chance do you play fortnite??"
Tanner asked, with a grin on his face, totally expecting me to say no.
Leena laughed when i nodded, a smile tugging at my lips.
"you do????" Tanner said in shock.
"i used to be really good when i played, like a couple years ago. I guess i haven't really played since so i'd probably be bad. I used to play on my ps5"
Tanners jaw reached the floor, "YOU PLAY ON CONSOLE???" He exclaimed, making walker put down his phone and finally enter the conversation. "VAL THATS LIKE SO HARD"
"Yeah, but keyboard is even harder, i never understood the hype."
"Walker is like THE best keyboard player ever, mostly because he doesn't leave his room much."
Leena and i laughed, earning a playful scoff from walker.
"tanner you literally beg me to come whenever i go meet my friends."
"shut up walk"
I laughed, shifting to a more comfortable position, they continued to argue, and Leena turned to me.
"Sooooo, since your like my little sister now, any boyfriends?"

my heart ached. i've always wanted to be in a relationship, but i found myself always ending things before they got serious, and i have no idea why. My friends constantly said that it was natural, and that i was waiting for the right one, but they all had boyfriends. I was the single one, and i felt like there was something wrong with me. Whenever anyone got too close i'd push them away, whenever someone would like me back, i'd reject them. Break their heart. Maybe im not made for love.

She saw my pained expression, as i got entangled in my thoughts, and smiled reassuringly. "Hey, you know you can tell me anything."
i really felt like i could. so i did. partially, realising i was venting about my love life to a girl i just met, hoping walker wasn't listening and that tanner was good at unintentionally distracting him with their banter.

Our conversation came to close when we heard the words-
"KIDSS PIZZA'S HEREEEE"

tanner and leena paused, looked at each other, then raced off to the kitchen, leena shoving tanner, and tanner holding her back by her shirt; both trying to grab the first slice.
I laughed a genuine laugh at their antics. It was so wholesome to see this family function normally, and gave me hope. maybe i could have a future like this. However, the kids running off left me with walker, who was stood up and watching them too, leaving him beside me. How awkward.
I looked at him and smiled, and said a polite 'hi'. He looked at me, gave a picture perfect smile before walking towards the kitchen. He obviously did not want to get to know me.

As we sat round the dining table, Heather engaged in conversation with me.
"So honey, what are your interests at school?"
"Mom, she probably doesn't want to talk about school" Leena interjected
"No,no. it's fine, really." I said, giving heather a small smile before continuing.
"I enjoy sports, soccer, volleyball, and i do track."
"Wow, Leena does soccer, and walker does track! that would be a fun activity for you all to do together!"

We ate dinner, and it was amazing. I felt so much more comfortable, ignoring the watchful eyes of the teen actor sitting across from me, speaking whenever i could. Even he joined in, making jokes and commenting on his parents stories. There was a lot of laughter, and the environment was buzzing, like a genuine group of families that loved each other, like we had known each other for ages. After we ate, people had started filtering back into the kitchen, then to the living room. I was one of the last ones to finish, as me and leena were having a great conversation about soccer, maya joining in when she could.

I walked to the kitchen to put my plate in the sink, when i looked back at our families, all sitting in the living room, the adults drinking wine and the kids were playing uno. except for one. Walker.
Leena came up to the kitchen to grab a soda.
"Hey V, come join! we're having so much fun."
"Yeah, i will in a sec. Do you mind telling me where the bathroom is?"
"Yeah, of course. The downstairs one is currently broken, since Tanner decided it would be a good place to secretly throw his vegetables at dinner. The upstairs bathroom is the second door on the right."
"Thank you leena!!" I smiled, walking up the stairs, finding the bathroom. I didn't need to go, i just needed a second to myself. This whole day felt like a fever dream.
I met my celebrity crush, who was nice to me first, but then soon became dry. He probably hates me, and thinks i'm some fan. now, if we go to the same school it's going to be so awkward, and if he doesn't like me, then nobody will.
great.

I sighed, pushed the negative thoughts out of my head, for me to overthink about tonight, and fixed my makeup, smoothed down my hair.
I unlocked the door and stepped out into the hallway, when i heard a voice, coming from down the upstairs hall, the door on the  very end.
yes, im nosy, so i crept down the hallway to listen.
i heard a voice. it was Walker. and he was talking about me.