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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: set the past on fire and run _______________________________ OH, HOW DEEPLY VALERIE DESIRED TO PUT A PAUSE ON HER LIFE.
Her summer was supposed to be stress-free, but.. I guess that was not the plan that the universe had for her. Yes, Valerie enjoyed having a busy schedule sometimes! It kept her entertained and gave her something useful to do with her time. But the level of busyness she had on her calendar was far from normal. One, she had to take care of the whole 'evil Russians' situation. Two, Nova Delarouz was back in town, and had already created hell on earth. And three, her mother had been receiving money from God knows who. It was just too much for Valerie! She almost died last year, and the universe shoves this into her life? Is this really what she gets in return? Valerie thought the universe needed to fuck all the way off. _______________________________ "I refuse to believe that each one of you actually believe that there's 'evil Russians', or whatever you wanna call them." Selina knitted her eyebrows together. "Did you not just hear everything about the tape? Or how Robin literally cracked the entire code?" Valerie questioned. "Oh, I heard every word." Selina answered. "Okay, well, you have to admit that it makes sense, right?" Robin asked. "Yeah, it makes sense. But y'all are all full of bullshit." Selina shrugged, popping an M&M in her mouth. "Whatever. We'll prove it to you." Valerie suggested, looking towards Robin and Steve. "How?" Steve asked. "Well.. we can go to the back of the building where the silver cat people go." Valerie suggested. "Silver cat people?" Steve asked, referring to Valerie's choice of words. "You get what I mean. The people in the silver cat shirts." Valerie specified. "Shouldn't you be doing your job, and closing this place for the night?" Valerie asked, raising a brow at Steve. "Well, a little help would be nice." Steve looked to Robin. "Nope. I took care of your shift while you went on your little spy craft journey, and cracked the code. I think I've done enough for today." Robin shook her head. "I'm not cleaning up by myself. Too much work." Steve added. "Oh, my God. You do nothing but complain and argue." Valerie sighed, getting up from her seat to help him tidy up. "That's such a lie." Steve replied. "Is it? Cause it seems that every person in this room agrees with me." Valerie added, which made the other three nod in agreement. Steve opened his mouth to speak, but Valerie cut him off. "Don't prove my point, Steve." Valerie held a finger up to him. Steve sighed in defeat, accepting his loss. Meanwhile, Dustin kept teasing and laughing at him, which was only unappreciated by Steve himself. What a surprise.
"You owe me now." Valerie looked to Steve, pushing the chair underneath the table. "Yeah, yeah." Steve sighed, turning to look at Valerie. "Okay, I've tried to remain patient but the heat in this place is killing me." Selina whined, rushing through the door. "Tell me about it. Doesn't help that he had me doing dirty work that I'm not responsible for." Valerie nudged her head towards Steve. "It's not like I dragged you here to help. You followed me on your own." Steve shrugged. "Followed you?" Valerie scoffed. "Yes, followed me—" Steve began, quickly being interrupted. "Why does it matter? My God. Just come on." Selina shook her head, walking out of the room. She didn't seem to have any sarcasm in her tone.. weird. Valerie and Steve shared a look, both shrugging in unison at Selina's antics.
