"Recent wildfire in California-" The lady on the news began, only to be cut off by the changing of a channel. Valerie tossed the tv remote to the side when a certain show caught her eye. She lay back against the cool leather of her mother’s couch, getting comfortable as the opening credits for a rerun of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air began. She pulled her iPhone from the pocket of her sweater, checking her notifications.
It didn’t take much time for Valerie to get distracted by her phone, tapping the twitter icon with her fingertip. Scrolling down her timeline, she noticed Tyler Posey had tweeted about finally being finished with the shooting of the final half of the season. She clicked on his profile. Interested, Valerie read a few more of his tweets. How am I not yet tired of this guy?? Heading to the club for some very much needed drinks with my man @dylanobrien
Valerie’s heart hammered in her chest. She wasn’t so sure why she was upset; there was no need to be. Dylan was a grown man, if he wanted to see her, he would have made an effort to speak to her. Pushing the childish thoughts from her head, she propped her feet up on a few pillows, half heartedly paying attention to the show playing on the television in front of her.
"Val? There’s somebody here for you!" Her mother’s voice called, waking Valerie from her sleep. "What is it?" She mumbled, throwing the blanket off her body and trudging to the door. "If it’s Dylan tell him to come back later, I’m tired." Her mother’s laugh was followed by a higher pitched voice giggling, revealing that it was not Dylan. "Hey girl!" Holland squealed in excitement, pulling her friend into a tight hug. "Oh my, you look terrible." Valerie couldn’t help but laugh.
"It’s nice to see you too, Holland." She replied sarcastically. "I thought I’d stop by because I missed you too much. I wanna take you out tonight." Valerie glared at the strawberry blonde, her mouth open and ready to decline. "Oh come on!" Holland groaned, crossing her arms over her chest, her bracelets noisily clashing together. "It’s been so long."
Valerie rolled her eyes. She was never really one who enjoyed going out, she didn’t know how to enjoy herself. She would much rather be at home curled up on the couch wearing an oversized sweater while watching a movie. If you could convince Valerie to spend the night out, you were considered special in her books. “There won’t be any surprises tonight, just you and me! Please?” Holland pleaded, sticking out her bottom lip. It was difficult to say no to a face like that. “I swear, if you make me regret this.” Valerie replied with a chuckle, running a hand through her knotted hair.
"Perfect! Hurry and go get ready, you look- just go." Holland exclaimed, gripping tightly onto Valerie’s shoulders as she hauled her towards the stairs. "You said we were going tonight!" She hissed, jogging up the stairs. "We’re going to buy you a dress, silly, and it’s on me."
"Are you feeling this one?" Holland asked, holding up a ruffled magenta off the shoulder dress in front of her, emitting a scoff from Valerie. "Good. Cause I’m not either." She giggled, her hazel eyes lighting up as she placed the dress back onto the rack. The two stalked around the store for awhile longer, not yet finding a dress they could both agree on. Seconds later, Holland let out a gasp, her fingers grabbing at a deep blue strapless dress with a black lace sweetheart neckline. Valerie bit her lip to hold back a smile as she took the dress from her friend’s hands, holding it out in front of her. "Okay, I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely feeling this one." She breathed, earning a nod from Holland.
"Look no further, my friend. We’ve found the one."
-
It was 6 pm. Valerie paced around her room before stopping in front of her tall mirror, shoved in the corner of the small room. Her thin fingers grasped the bottom of the dress and lightly pulled at it before letting it drop. Valerie was beyond nervous about going out and being in the crowd, surrounded by strangers. On the drive home, Holland did her best to reassure her about how fun it would be to go out and just have some fun, even though she knew how Valerie would much rather spend the night in.
