Connections | ✔️

Twelve

Smacking his hands away with a laugh I responded; "Um nothing really, I just shake it out and don't brush it."

"Really? Let's go suss this out for ourselves," he turned the camera on himself with a wicked grin as he ran to my bathroom. Shaking my head at him, I followed him to make sure he wasn't causing too much mayhem.

"My my, you're a naughty boy playboy carti!" he said mischievously as he picked up a box of aspirin from the cabinet. "Oooh! Extra-small," he joked.

"You're an idiot," I snorted, catching on to what he was doing. I kept condoms in the nightstand thank you very much, and they were definitely not XS. He was probably going to edit an over-the-top fake label on to it to make it interesting for the lols, alongside other scandalous items. Luckily though, he never made it look legit, otherwise it would tarnish my reputation and he was responsible enough to know not to go too far.

"Hey the viewers love it when you're on and I give em' juicy deets!" Xavier had a YouTube channel with millions of subscribers, where he posted prank videos and a ton of vlogs. He was very popular with his endless supply of energy, humour and happy-go-lucky personality that made his videos entertaining to watch.

Another knock on the door came, as Xavier made his way towards it with his vlog camera, probably so he could also mess around with Alec a little as well.

"Hey man," I greeted him, doing the typical bro handshake as he came into the living room.

"Hey. Nice video you just uploaded by the way," he looked at me with a smirk. "I noticed Valerie pop up a few times, she looked good."

Okay... maybe I didn't hide her well enough as I thought. Woops. And he seems interested in Valerie, I frowned.

"How do you know Val?" I asked him, wincing at the slight bite in my tone.

Alec had such a smug look on his face, as Xavier snickered from the lounge. "I don't, we just chatted about you that day," he grinned. I invisibly smacked myself. Alec's not a snake and I know that. "Jealous Carter? I think you're in deep man," he raised his eyebrows at me amusedly.

I groaned. Don't I know it. "Shit was I that obvious?"

"Nah, the video was okay. It was mostly cause we all know you have a thing going on with her," he chuckled. "Relax dude," he said, grabbing my shoulders and giving them a strong shake as we made our way to chill on the couch.

"Oh I haven't seen it yet." Xavier commented as he set the camera down to take out his phone. "This was Sommer's right?"

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on filming, but it was a good op." I replied.

"Ugh I wanted to come, but she purposely had it on the day I would be busy," he rolled his eyes. We both sniggered at his remark.

Sommer and Xavier were like the two people that irritated each other to no end, but at the same time they obviously had feelings for one another. Maybe they'll both figure it out one day.

~

Valerie P.O.V.

I ended up telling Ellana everything that happened the next day when we went to go for a walk together, grab lunch and get our nails done. During the day, she even showed me the video Carter had just uploaded on his Instagram, where I was featured more than once. I couldn't help but smile and blush the whole time as I watched how he captured certain angles of me, and the fun that we all had on that day. Ellana was absolutely ecstatic, leaping up and down with so much vigour, she could probably go run a marathon if she wanted to. I on the other hand, was walking around in my own happy little dream state, trying to ignore the tinge of anxiousness that accompanied my growing feelings for Carter. I have no idea what this whole thing was between us.

~

It was now Friday night, and I was cosied up doing some leisurely reading in the living room.

"Valll," a distressing call from Ellana rang through the apartment. "Could you come in here please?"

I promptly put my book down and walked down the hallway before popping my head through her bedroom door. "What's up?"

"Please help me find something to wear tonight over the lingerieee," she looked at me with sad, round puppy dog eyes, hopelessly sprawled out on the ground amidst piles of clothing. Tonight was her big fancy dinner date with Kean, in honour of his birthday. He was also having a pool party on Saturday as well, but this was their own little intimate celebration.

"Yeah sure no problem." I laughed at her current state. She could be so dramatic sometimes, but that's why I loved her.

"Thankyou! You and your sixth fashion sense are a lifesaver!" she cried as she jumped up from her position.

"All good," I quickly scanned over the clothes on the floor to see if anything stuck out to me that she could wear. Finding nothing, I opened up her walk-in to flick through the racks. "I'm thinking we should keep it simple, so the lingerie will really be a surprise. Do you have any plain dresses?"

"Oooh yes! That's a good idea," she said as she entered the closet to pull out some options.

Spotting a plain black slip dress with thin straps and a V neckline, I decided that was the one. I made her try it on and pop the lingerie underneath so we could see how it fit. The dress curved over her waist nicely and fell elegantly over her slender figure to mid-thigh, luckily covering enough to hide where the garter belt attached to the sheer black stockings. I added a thin satin, cream waterfall coat she could wear slouched in the crook of her elbows, or fully on her shoulders in case it got chilly. I also teemed it up with some black suede skinny high-heeled sock boots, a belt to accentuate her waist, and a thick diamonte choker to finish off the look.

Observing herself in the mirror at the chosen outfit, she turned to me and squealed excitedly; "I love it! You are seriously so good at this Val, I never would have been able to style the stockings without looking like a boring office lady."

"You're welcome!" I chuckled. "I think you should also do a half up, half down hairdo with big bouncy curls on the end- kinda like the Ariana Grande look?" I suggested. Nodding keenly, Ell took off the outfit and set it aside before we proceeded to do hair and makeup.

After just over an hour, Ell was ready. "You look incredible!" I clapped my hands excitedly.

"Thanks to you!" she said with a grin, gracefully twirling around in a circle. "Do you mind taking a few pics for me?"

"Duh, of course! What else am I here for?" I exclaimed, flicking my hair over my shoulder dramatically, as she passed her phone over to me.

"I'll make sure to tag you as styling credit & photographer," she responded humorously.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her after we ended the mini photoshoot.

"I'm pretty nervous, I hope tonight goes well," she said as she made sure Kean's gift was ready to go, and her cards and apartment key were tucked into the invisi-pocket of the coat.

"I'm sure Kean's going to love it." I smiled at her for reassurance.

Kean arrived about 5 minutes later, absolutely gob-smacked at Ellana's appearance. Boy, he was going to be in for a big one tonight. Ell properly introduced me to him for the first time in person, as I pretended we hadn't totally been gossiping about him for the past couple of weeks.

They were absolutely smitten with each other, I had no doubts he seemed to genuinely like her, which made me very pleased. A happy Ell made the world go round. I couldn't help but take a few candid pics of their interaction, and offered to take a few more posed ones before they set off.

"See ya tomorrow Valerie, you coming right?" Kean asked me as they were leaving.

"Yep I'll be there," giving him an affirming nod.

"Thanks so much again Val, love you!" Ell gave me a quick hug that I returned.

"Have a good night guys," I smiled and waved as I shut the door and made my way back to the sofa to continue my literary escapade on this fine evening.