౨ৎ.   i used to love this restaurant
real life.

THE MORNING AFTER CAME, KALI AND char had gotten up long before valerie chose to wake up. apparently her injury and yesterday as a whole had tired her out more than she thought. it was now almost 1pm, and she completely forgot about what she was going to do today.

valerie hated waking up late because it was just a waste of time, especially when she has things she needs to do. like take out the trash, do some dishes, maybe clean her room, or go get her ice skating bag.

her bag—

hurriedly, she checked her phone. there was a couple instagram notifications, but she only had one dm. it was from thirty minutes ago.

"are you kidding me?!" she whisper-yelled, immediately jumping out of her warm comforter. the sharp pain she suddenly felt in her foot almost made her scream. walking as carefully as she could, she got over to her dresser to pick out a random, but decent looking, outfit. its not that she wanted to look nice, but she couldn't go out dressed like a slob.

she tossed on a random pair of jeans, and a quick shirt with no bra. there was no way she was going to waste any time or foot power trying to find one somewhere in her room. thankfully, there was always the sweatshirt option. it wasn't like she was staying out there either, so she didn't care.

after she finished getting ready, she somehow maneuvered down the stairs in hope of finding some quick breakfast, or lunch at this point, before she left.

the sight of char and kali, who were sitting at her kitchen island talking to her mother, was far more shocking than it should have been. with being in such a rush, she must've forgotten they stayed over. how could she possibly have done that? their makeshift beds were literally smack dab in the middle of her room.

"good morning, sleeping beauty!" her mother called from the far end of the island, a sarcastic tone in her voice because she knows how much that nickname annoys valerie.

"yeah, good morning. how was your twelve hour rest?" char questioned, clearly a joke was made that valerie wasn't quite filled in on yet. and did she really sleep for twelve hours?

"it was fine, but i really should be going."

"where to?" her mother asked.

"i was supposed to meet up with somebody— i mean that sounds— i'm just picking something up." she obviously didn't lie, but there sounded to be a lot of confusion within the statement. it was like she didn't even know where she was actually going, and that would be because she didn't. nick told her that he would let her know exactly where when they decide and he hasn't yet.

"oh that's—" kali started.

"it's nothing really, i should be back in like an hour?"

"okay, well, char and i were going to be leaving soon, so bye!" valerie was met with a quick and meaningful hug from kali, and then another from char.

"yeah, girl, see you soon!" the smile on char's face said everything. she couldn't wait until the next time they were together, and neither could valerie.

"see ya guys!" she carefully turned on her heels and started toward the front door, making sure to keep majority of her weight on her right foot. so much that the muscles in it were starting to hurt from the constant use.

in the car, it wasn't as scary as it was when she first attempted to drive home with her foot. now that wasn't the worst part about the drive. the new, worse part was the reason she needed to drive. something in her didn't even want to go, but she needed her bag. and no matter who had it, she will get it back.

all of a sudden, nick finally texted her the exact address of the place they were at, when before she just had an approximation of where they were looking earlier.

valerie texted him back letting him know she was going to be on her way. with that, she pulled out of her driveway, "would that i" by hozier playing through her speakers.

౨ৎ

IT TOOK VALERIE FIFTEEN TO TWENTY minutes to drive herself there. and while she was trying to find the place, that she did not recognize the name of, she was also trying to find a parking spot. it was then when she caught sight of the building that was owned by her absolute favorite childhood diner. only, the sign was now blinding in a bright neon color and the name looked a lot different. coincidentally, it was the name that was on her maps. the one nick had sent her.

her whole mood took a turn for the worse, after discovering most of her childhood has been replaced by another random restaurant.

she attempted to look into the windows to see if she could spot three people who looked exactly the same, shouldn't be that hard right?

eventually she found them, getting out of her car and made her way over to the building at her own little pace. valerie could quite literally scream right now, like she told char and kali she would.

when she walked in, she felt this weird since that someone was watching her. literally the second she stepped into the restaurant.

distracting her from that feeling, and almost scaring her, one of the workers, someone valerie sadly couldn't recognize, greeted her, "good afternoon!"

"you too."

"will it just be you tonight?"

valerie instinctively got offended by the question she was asked. she could never imagine herself going to a restaurant alone. but isn't that what they were supposed to ask anyway?

"um, no i'm just meeting someone." she refused to say the whole group, one was fine.

"oh, okay. let me know if you need anything!"

"of course," valerie responded politely, before turning to where she had first saw them in the corner of the restaurant. they were all talking, but the longer-haired one, chris, was the only one facing her direction, and he was already looking at her.

so that's where the stalky feeling was coming from... valerie mentally rolled her eyes.

she walked over to the table, avoiding any eye contact with chris as she could manage, it was just very awkward for her.

he must've alerted his brothers of her presence, because she noticed that they all watched her walk up to the table. where she kept a good five foot proximity from them.

"hey," she started, hoping nick would immediately tell her where her bag is. there was this since of fear that she would have to go all by herself to get the bag out of their car. she was hoping that he had already brought it in.

"hello!" was all he said in return, there was definitely something else he wanted to immediately say but didn't act on it.

"what brings you here?" matt asked.

"uhh... my bag?" valerie lead with an even more confused voice, as if that wasn't the exact reason she was here in the first place.

she noticed that chris wasn't paying attention to anything, acting as if her being here was the biggest burden. it was like he's impatiently waiting for her to get her bag and leave. though, that's just what she gathered.

"oh, right!" nick stood up, "i've got it in the car. one second." he started to walk out.

valerie wasn't going to be the one left in here with his brothers while he gets the bag for her. she also didn't want to feel useless. so she, with no hesitation, followed him outside. it took her a few hurtful steps to catch up.

once he realized she was now walking with him, he tried to stir up a conversation, "have you ever been here before?" nick said, landing on an actual decent question. one where she had a lot to say.

"actually i just found out they remodeled this place. new name and everything. i used to love this restaurant as a child. it kinda makes me sad."

"no way! us too. that's why we're here actually. we wanted to try the new place out for a video idea."

"wait— that kinda sounds like fun. do you think you'll like it?" valerie was surprisingly trying to keep the conversation going. maybe it was the alternative utter silence they would be in if not, but she didn't mind talking to him.

"well we all filmed our predictions at home earlier." he unlocked the car and pulled open the truck. her bag being tucked nicely into the corner, they treated her bag better than she ever did.

"and yours was?"

grabbing the bag from it's corner in the back, he said, "i can't tell, you'll have to watch the video on wednesday." then handed it to her with a knowing smile. 

valerie stopped to do the quick counting before saying, "but that's four days from now."

at that point she wouldn't want to know, better yet, she'd forget. all this wouldn't matter to her in the next two days.

"or—" he cut himself off, putting details together in his head.

it was taking a bit too long, and it was starting to feel really cold outside. "or what?"

"would you consider being in our video?"

"i what?!" she was flabbergasted at the thought like it was absurd to even think something like that. her? in their video?

"it would make sense, i mean a lot of our fans know you already from that one post. it will probably get more attention because of that!"

"i'm—"

"i mean, you don't have to. i just thought it'd be a good idea." she could tell he didn't want her to immediately feel pressured to do the video, but at the same time he really wanted her to say yes.

"what do i get from this?"

valerie wanted to know the whole cost of her decision. if there was nothing in her favor, then why would she? she hardly knew the guy.

"our fans are very interactive with like new people. majority of them will probably follow you, you may get a few fan pages?"

"what if i don't want followers?" a bigger following would be cool, but it's not exactly what she'd always wanted.

"if this video blows up like i think it will, ill give you part of the pay for it, promise."

"wait— am i hearing this right? you're going to pay me to do a youtube video with you guys?" there was a doubtful tone in her voice, like there was no way this could possibly be happening.

"yeah, i really think this collab has potential."

"okay fine." she gave in.

"but i have to say 'with ice skate girl.'" the condition almost made her want to opt out because what the fuck?

"why?"

"no one will know you as valerie... you just have to trust me."

as she stood with her reclaimed belongings at her original departure point, she had two choices. one was to go back to her car and leave this mess behind her, or the other to follow him back into the restaurant and film the video.

"fine." she said after a moment of thought, choosing the second option and walking herself back into the restaurant.

money was money, and if all he wanted her to do for it was rate a childhood restaurant then she was in. it also sounded like a lot of fun if she was being completely honest, but she'd hardly admit that.

౨ৎ
nat's notes !

nat, try to leave char and kali in a chapter
for more than eight paragraphs challenge, GO!

i feel like im making her grudge towards
chris too much...? but maybe there's something underlying the hatred? 🫤🤷‍♀️

wrote half of this like thirty minutes
before i passed out lmfao 🤯