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?"
"Well then, would you like to come outside with me and smoke in the freezing cold?" she asked, taking another drag and blowing it out in another loop before giving it to Valerie, looking up at her from under her eyelashes, not knowing how seductive it looked when she did so. "I'll just open a window in the morning" she hummed, biting her lip as she lifted her face, still never breaking eye contact.
Valerie was taking a drag of the cigarette when she turned to look at Emma and immediately started coughing on the smoke. Grey clouds puffed out of her mouth, doing nothing to conceal her burning cheeks. Fuck! Here she was, trying to hang out with her friend, and these dumb feelings were making her look like an idiot.
She burst out into laughter, patting her back as she hunched over in a coughing fit. "Don't die on me now! Good lord, you have to take it in slowly!" she said through laughter, taking the cigarette from her so she wouldn't drop it on the floor and burn the wood. She smirked softly before taking another drag, closing her eyes and humming as she tilted her head back and blew out the smoke.
Valerie hacked for a few seconds longer before she could breathe again. Emma wasn't looking at her like she wanted to fuck anymore, which was definitely helping. She shoved her playfully. "Don't talk to me like I'm new at this, Em. It's your fault I started choking, you surprised me!"
"Suprised you how exactly?" she asked, getting up and walking over to the piano stool, sitting on it to try and give her some space to breathe without breathing in the smoke. She was oblivious to the way she looked at people, but not to say the insinuations weren't true for Valerie.
"Y-you were giving me that look!" Valerie blushed just thinking about it, shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of the embarrassment. It didn't work. "You can't just walk up to someone and start doing that shit! I could've died or something!"
"Look? What the fuck are you talking about?" she laughed, standing up and walking over to the window before walking into her room. "Are you going to help me pick out something to wear or what?" she called out, taking another long drag before putting the smoke out in an ashtray on her dresser.
"What the fuck are you talking about," Valerie murmured quietly, hopping up off the couch to follow Emma into the bedroom. She plopped down on the bed and gestured towards the closet. "Yeah, I'm here for you. Grab the most revealing stuff you've got."
"Calm down. I didn't do anything" she called back, watching her as she walked into the bedroom. "Ugh, I don't like revealing things" she whined, rolling her eyes as she opened her closet doors, rustling through them to try and find something.
Valerie laughed and laid down on the bed. "Suck it up buttercup! We're looking for sexy shit and everyone knows step one to looking hot is to show some skin." She rolled over so she was looking at the closet, head propped up in her hands. "C'mon, you have to have something."