Connections | ✔️

Eleven

Valerie P.O.V.

During Sunday, Carter had called me, and as sort of promised- I answered. Constantly trying to evade him was making me grow tired... and I had nothing better to do anyway, I told myself.

Yeah rightttt, Val.

"Favorite color?" He asked me as I laid in bed staring up at the ceiling.

"Hmm, probably pink, you?"

"Interesting... mine's blue."

"Wow we're so basic," I chuckled.

"Yeah that's so stereotypical," he laughed.

"What's your middle name?" I couldn't see him, but I could basically hear the smirk in his voice as he asked.

"... it's Eve." I reluctantly admitted.

"Damn, I really wanted to make fun of you. That's actually nice, Valerie Eve Delwood."

I scoffed and shook my head, of course there was some ulterior motive... But nevertheless, I liked the sound of my name rolling off his tongue. It was like ASMR for my ears. I'm helpless.

"Mine's Adam," he said jokingly.

Dead silence rang through the phone as I laid there with a flat look on my face.

"Hilarious."

"Okay, it's actually Lee... kinda matches yours actually if you just switch the E and V, maybe I'll start calling you Vee," he chuckled.

"Hmm you know what, I'm going to start calling you Carlee B then, as in Carter Lee Bryson and Cardi B," I burst into giggles at my ingenius.

"Ha-ha very funny." He retorted sarcastically.

We deep-dived into hours of endless conversation on all sorts of random topics after that. Weird Phobias. Childhood stories. Favorite movies and books and songs. Me finally "admitting" my "attraction" to him because I had followed him back.

I could recognise his talent and he whole-heartedly deserved the millions of followers he had garnered. His profile was filled with some pictures of himself (I silently cheered for the eye candy) or others he had taken himself of scenery. A few funny skits were present, as well as thought-provoking images, captions and quotes on the issues the world faced. He even had a few short IGTV videos of places he visited and time spent with friends.

It was cool to see the incredible variety of content on there. It was also a clever way of letting people see into the life he lived and the kind of character he possessed. Carter had the platform to raise awareness and to create change, and I think he utilised it expertly to spread happiness and positivity. It made me feel for him even more, knowing that the person he was online was like the person I interacted with offline. He was genuine. That was rare.

We bid each other goodnight after a while, as he needed to pack before heading off to Hawaii for a three-day brand collaboration later that night. Despite my efforts to deny the attraction, I really did enjoy his company. With a content smile, I closed my eyes and drifted off into peaceful slumber.

~

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

I kept glancing up at the clock on the wall at Bean Crushers, praying the time would go faster so I could go home and have a good ol' binge session in bed. Only 20 more minutes. Come on stupid clock!!! All you have to do is move your hands to 5:30pm!

It was a relatively quiet evening with only two staff members on, as our rushes were generally in the mornings and lunchtimes. Luckily, I wasn't on close tonight, but I thought I would give Terence a headstart on packing up. I stacked a few of the chairs up for cleaning, before strolling towards the entrance to bring in some of the pot plants and things sitting outside the café. Just before I could pick up the chalkboard sign, I felt two large, somewhat rough hands close over my eyes and a familiar voice whisper shout; "Boo!"