"Yep!" Valerie's voice was thick with forced enthusiasm, a wide smile splitting her face. To someone who wasn't paying attention, it looked genuine. She slammed her hands down on the desk to push herself up. "I'll see you Friday, Emma. Have a nice day." And with that, she quickly left the room.
"Tomorrow," she said back to her, smiling softly before beginning to talk to Lucas once again, waiting for him to get packed up. She watched through the hallway window as Valerie left, her lip tucking in her teeth.
Friday, 15:27
Emma just finished up in her literature class and was now at her locker, putting away everything into her back and slinging it over her shoulder before closing her locker and beginning to walk to her bus stop.
Valerie got out of biology at the same time, smiling cheerfully as she spotted Emma in the hall. "Yo! Emma!" She waved as she slipped over. "I'm heading home with you, right?"
Emma looked up and around smiling when she spotted Valerie. "Yeah! If you want you can ride the bus with me?" she asked as she watched her walk over, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight in the window and door the was standing next to.
"Sounds great!" Valerie finished jogging over and linked her arm with Emma's. "Can I borrow bus fare? I promise I'll pay you back, I'm just kind of broke right now. Expensive habits and all that jazz." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Pretty please?"
"You don't have to ask twice" she replied, bumping her with her hips as they walked outside and began the block walk to the bus stop. "So, any theme to the party on Sunday?" she asked once they were halfway, pay for two bus tickets in her left hand.
Valerie smiled gratefully at her, bumping back with a quiet laugh. She hummed consideringly at Emma's question, tapping her lips with her free hand as she tried to remember. "I think it's a… what's the word… a mask… maskeraid?" Her accent twisted the word. "Like… the one where you dress up and put on a mask and kiss random strangers in the hallways on accident."
(I'm going to go to bed but I'll respond in the morning!)
(night!)
(Oh, and have you yet seen the France Skam? Cause there was sort of a masquerade there too)
(Nah, just the original one. I finally got around to finishing season three and damn was it good! But anyway, if you wanna incorporate some points from the France Skam masquerade episode, go right ahead)
Valerie smiled gratefully at her, bumping back with a quiet laugh. She hummed consideringly at Emma's question, tapping her lips with her free hand as she tried to remember. "I think it's a… what's the word… a mask… maskeraid?" Her accent twisted the word. "Like… the one where you dress up and put on a mask and kiss random strangers in the hallways on accident."
"Fun! I've always loved mystery" she replied, smiling softly as she jammed her finger in the crossroad button that would bring them to the bus station. "Casual dress code?" she asked, hoping she wouldn't have to go out and buy something.
~
"I mean, kinda." Valerie shrugged. "Sexy stuff is always encouraged, but you shouldn't have to go out and buy a ballgown or anything. I think I'm going to dress up."
"Sexy stuff huh? I'm sure I have something or other, I don't know though" she replied, biting her lip in thought before beginning to walk again when the cross sign lit up. "Maybe you could help me pick out a few options?" she asked, hoping she'd say yes.
Valerie smiled brightly at the prospect, rushing forward to follow Emma across the street. "I'd love to! Wanna do it tonight while I'm over at your place? Oh! And how late do you want me to stay with you? Because I'm fine staying over all night but if you have stuff to do with Lucas," her enthusiasm dimmed at the mention of his name, "I'd be perfectly fine taking a late bus home."
"Lucas and I were planning on going out to a party with a few friends at 23:00" she replied, checking her watch. "If you wanna come that's cool, but it's really intimate, close friends that moved a few years back and shit" she replied, sitting down at the bench at the stop when they arrived. She pulled out a cigarette and her lighter, lighting one and placing it to her mouth, closing her eyes as she inhaled.
"I might check it out but… close-knit parties aren't really my scene, y'know? I prefer loud and impersonal." Valerie shrugged as she plopped down on the bench. She tapped Emma on the shoulder once she was seated. "Mind lighting me one?"
"Um, expensive?" she teased, handing her over the one she'd just used for a second. "Just use this one" she replied, taking one more inhale and exhaling through her nose. "Loud and impersonal huh, I don't think I've been to too many of those" she hummed, leaning back in the plastic seat another bus pulled out of the parking lot.
Valerie giggled and took a long drag of the cigarette, blowing out a long cloud of smoke as she handed it back to Emma. "You have no idea. And… yeah. I like being unknown. It's freeing. Those tiny personal parties are so cloying, you can't ever act out without being judged."
"Huh, I guess I never thought of it that way," she replied, taking another drag before blowing it out of her mouth slowly, letting the feeling linger on her tongue. Even for all the smoking, she did she still had perfectly white teeth, even though she had ash stains and marks on her middle and index finger.
Valerie rolled her eyes, making grabby hands towards the cigarette. "I've had three years to think. Honestly, I just want the freedom to dance on tables and make out with random guys." And girls. But that was something kept strictly secret. "But you do that at a private party and suddenly you're some kind of idiot slut, y'know?" She shook her head with a soft laugh. "It just annoys the hell out of me."
"Ah, well I guess it is supposed to be a free country right?" she replied, chewing on her bottom lip before getting up, seeing their bus pull up. "Shall we?" she asked, letting her take a drag of the cigarette before she put it out in the cement and put it into the garbage.
Valerie let out a stream of smoke, rising to her feet alongside Emma. "Let's go!" She smiled cheekily before sprinting full tilt towards the bus. "Last one to the bus is a rotten egg!"
She let Valerie win, walking the rest of the way and paying for admission before walking back and sitting next to her, placing her head on her shoulder as the bus began to drive once more, her eyes following the trees that disappeared behind them.
They were soon at her house, Emma with her keys in hand as she began to unlock the front door. Her apartment was small but amazing decorated, with her artwork up on a wall in front of a desk including an L-couch on the opposite wall of a window. "Welcome to my humble abode," she said elegantly, throwing her bag down in the entryway as well as taking off her shoes. In the far corner from the door, there was a small piano that seemed to be clean and taken care of, a little bit unlike the rest of the room which was littered with art supplies and other things.
Valerie gaped at the apartment, running up to the desk to stare at the art up close. "This place is amazing!!" she squealed, moving from the art to the piano before she finally collapsed onto the comfortable couch. Even the view from the window was nice! "How can you call this place humble, it's like a hotel room!"
"Well, I spend a lot of my time in here, so I guess it doesn't seem that grand to me anymore," she replied, sitting down next to her before lighting another cigarette, taking a long drag before blowing it out in a couple of rings, sitting back on the couch as she watched her in her excitement.
"You're so lucky," Valerie whined, face pressed up against the window. Her every time she breathed out, a small circle of fog formed. "My dorm room looks like shit and my roommates smoke inside all the time so our ceiling is stained. How'd you get such a fancy place?"
"Well, I do tend to smoke on my balcony" she replied taking another drag before letting her eyes rest on Valerie's face. She was nice to look at, especially when she was smiling. She ignored her other question, not wanting to bring her parents into the picture.
"So that's why your living room doesn't smell like shit!" Valerie smiled like she had solved a pressing mystery. "At least, it didn't before you started smoking in here. Y'know the air is gonna smell ashy for days, right?"