Connections | ✔️

Six

Carter P.O.V.

I couldn't stop the endless thoughts of Valerie popping into my mind after seeing her twice within the week, especially after Thursday. She was this unexpected arrival in my life, a big exciting mystery that I wanted to unravel. The way she spoke and carried herself confirmed what I felt when I first saw her. Valerie was different. It threw me off.

The way she stood on the patio garden balcony at Alec's parents' house, basking in the moonlight and gazing up at the sky, it made me feel more than physical attraction. I wanted to get to know her. She left me stunned as she walked off, masterfully rejecting me and slipping away. I hadn't experienced that in a long time. Girls always approached me and had always wanted my attention and the attention of the world I could give through my exposure. But there she stood, not even knowing who I was, and not wanting an ounce of my attention.

It was like fate wanted us to meet again as we stumbled across each other on the set of The Chase, out of all the days we could have come to visit our respective friends. As I caught her, I felt dozens of tiny butterflies fluttering across my skin. She was tiny, barely reaching the tip of my chin, but her body felt like a perfect fit in my arms. We connected so well and everything flowed naturally as we chatted for a little while, her laugh was like the gentle twinkle of wind chimes. I can't believe how totally captivated I was.

It took a whole lot of willpower, but I gave it a solid four days before I had tried to call her late Monday afternoon. I didn't want to text her first, I had always preferred to call or FaceTime, and let's just say she had a habit of pulling the rug out from under me...

"Hello this is Grace from Bean Crushers speaking, how can I help you?" an unfamiliar upbeat voice came across the speaker.

What the... ?

"Uh hi, sorry I think I may have the wrong number," I responded utterly confused, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Wait did you say Bean Crushers? Are you a coffee shop?" I perked up, remembering that Valerie had previously said she worked at one.

"Yep we're a small café just bordering the UCLA campus."

It was all slowly coming together. I shook my head and chuckled in disbelief at how she had played me. Technically she gave me a number to contact her, but it wasn't necessarily personally hers. I knew she had her own cell too, because she used it to talk to Ellana. Weird. She was being evasive.

"Oh right. do you know if Valerie is working at the moment?" I asked to confirm my theory.

"Uhhhh sorry who's this?" She paused hesitantly.

"My name is Carter Bryson, I met Valerie a couple days ago and she gave me this number," I explained, hoping to come across not too strangely.

"Wait! Like... the influencer?!" She said excitedly. "Carter Bryson you said?"

"Um yeah..." I laughed rubbing the back of my head.

"Oh okay wow... so Val normally does the lunch shift on Mondays. Just missed her."

Bingo.

"Can I take a message?" the girl pressed on.

"Let her know to expect me."

"Uh sure thing." Grace laughed. "Bye."

"Great, thankyou! Have a good day." I wasn't going to let her slip away again so easily. My mind raced with ideas of what I could do to get a little payback for her earlier deception. Maybe I'll toy with her just a little.

So that brings me forward to today. Lamely sitting here on a Wednesday night waiting in anticipation to see whether Kean had successfully gotten Valerie's number from Ellana yet.