"MOM, STOP CHANGING!" FIONA sighed when her mother went back into her closet to change. "Annie, please tell her that she's just overreacting and Tom won't care how she looks."
Annie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest to see clothes flying all over the place. "Val, love, you're creating such a mess-"
"I'm not changing for Tom!" Valeria yelled from her closet. "I'm dressing for myself and I look like shit!" she search through the clothes that hung around her, trying to find something that would truly pop.
Fiona grumbled and walked into the closet before pulling out a dusty pink colored dress with lace from the hanger. She placed the dress in her mother's hands before ushering her out of the closet. "Wear that one."
"Oo, it is very cute." Annie grinned.
"Are you two sure?" Valeria went towards the body length mirror in her room and held up the dress to her body. It went to her knees but the lace went over them, plus it didn't look too bad. "It isn't too much?" she did like the way it look, with all the lace and such.
"Just put it on!" her daughter exclaimed loudly, leaving her mother to pout lightly. But the older woman sighed and turned around, walking towards the bathroom and began grumbling about how annoying her own daughter and best friend were being. "My own daughter-"
"GO!" they hollered at her as Val looked over her shoulder and sent them a glare.
It took ages for Annie and Fiona to get Valeria ready. The woman was so antsy and kept changing her makeup every three minutes until Annie practically had to force Valera to stay still and just accept that she looked fine the way she was. And with a final sweep of her brush, Annie stepped back to admire her work.
"There we go," Annie grinned widely.
Valeria blew out some air from her lips and sighed worriedly. "Am I dressing up for nothing? For all I know we're going mini golfing and I look ridiculous-"
"Mom! Tom is here!" Fiona yelled from the living room. "And he has flowers!"
Her best friend look at her with a wide grin. "Your boyfriend has impeccable timing."
"He's not-" Valeria sighed once again before staring at Annie with wide eyes and bolted up from her seat. "Holy shit he's here!"
"Yes, Val he is. Now don't keep him waiting, that's just plain rude." Annie smirked and led her friend towards the doorway. "C'mon, he has flowers Val. Flowers!" she exaggerated.
"Annie!"
"Flowers, he brought you flowers!"
"I swear to God-" Valeria muttered as she walked down the hall, her heels clicking against the floorboards. Her eyes laid on Tom in a light blue dress shirt and dark navy blue plants and her heart leaped out of her chest at the very sight.
"Wow..." Tom said breathlessly as he stared the woman in front of him. Fiona giggled from the kitchen as she put the flowers in a vase as Annie grinned from the hallway.
"Is that a good wow or a wow I should be worried about?" Val chuckled, her palms getting clammy as looked down at herself before she smoothed out her dress. "I can change-"
"No, no." Tom shook his head, taking a step closer to the woman her cared for so deeply. "You look- absolutely magnificent."
She blushed, her face reddening quickly as she slowly walked up to him and kissed his cheek. "You don't look too bad either."
Annie cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest before speaking in a mockingly serious tone, "Now I want her home before 10 and no funny business going on. At least five feet away from each other-"
"And I believe that's out cue," Valeria said hurriedly, leaving Tom to be laughing at her comment. The woman quickly walked over to her daughter, not wanting to stay another minute or else Annie would embarrass her even more. She placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead and smiled, "When I get back I expect your history project to be done."
"Yeah yeah, I know." Fiona sighed and kissed her mother's cheek. "Love you,"
"And I love you," Valeria grinned, looking at Annie who mouthed 'Have fun.' before walking towards Tom who was waiting patiently. She softly grabbed his hand once he opened the door for her and grinned.
"Ready?" he asked, giving her hand a quick squeeze as they walked out the door.
"Eh, ready as I'll ever be." she smiled softly at him, ready for what the rest of the night lead for them.
¤ ¤ ¤
"I'm not entirely fond of being lead around like a dog and blindfolded. Although, I'll be honest, I didn't imagine on being blindfolded just yet." Valeria chuckled as Tom held her hands and carefully head her to their mysterious date location.
"You're adorable when you're flustered." Tom laughed lightly, looking around to check if everything was as perfect as he planned it to be.
"Hey!"
"I'm just stating the truth, love."
"You know what-" she tried to pull up the tie wrapped around her face but her hand was lightly slapped away making her pout. "Ow!"
He grinned and tucked her hand in his before kissing her knuckles. "It's suppose to be a surprise."
Valeria grumbled as she continued to walk, her body colliding with his and let out a small groan with the collision. "Whoa, has our adventure come to a stop?"
"Because," Tom moved behind her and started to undo the tie over her eyes before saying into her ear, "We have arrived to our destination."
When Valeria's eyes opened, she saw bright colorful lights and large playful structures. Her lips curled into a wide smile as she saw the scene in front of her. "I love it, Tom." she leaned against Tom as he planted a kiss to her head.
"Oh thank god," he mumbled under his breath and gave her head another kiss then started to smile. "I was so worried you'd hate it."
"Who would hate a carnival?"
"I don't know-"
"Exactly!" she pointed out and turned her head to kiss his cheek before grabbing his hand, tugging him towards a stand with a smile painted on her lips. "Now let's stop talking and get some cotton candy."
Tom grinned as he followed after her, interlacing their fingers together. "Oh alright."
As they approached the cottan candy stand, someone jumped up from behind the counter. "Ah, finally! Customers!"
Valeria's eyes widened as a small shriek came out of her mouth, "Tessa?"
"Hello lovebirds." the woman grinned and laughed softly as she started to turn on the cotton candy machine. "I assume you two would like some cotton candy?"
Val turned to Tom with a surprised expression. "Who else do you have up your sleeve?" then she took the pink cotton candy that Tessa handed them as Tom smirked.
"You'll have to find out." he took a piece of cotton candy and smiled mischievously.
"Oh no, you have that Loki look in your eyes. I don't know whether to be worried or turned on. Or both."
"I want death to take me now." Tessa muttered behind them as they began to walk away. "Because shit, they are fucking goals."
The couple laughed as they left the cotton candy stand, only to encounter another one of their many friends. "Step right up! Hey, you young man! Come win your beautiful girlfriend a wonderful prize!" Chris hollered at them with a top hat on his head.
"Oh my god-" Valeria couldn't hold in her laughter at the sight of him as Tom turned red.
"You wouldn't pass up winning this woman prize, would you dude?" Chris grinned, enjoying making his friend uncomfortable and red.
"Of course I wouldn't!" Tom replied and stepped forward. "Give me a dart, Hemsworth."
"That's the spirit!"
"Ooo! Go Tom! I want a giraffe!" she cheered him on.
And as the night progressed, Valeria has seen every familiar face she knew and met some new friends. Annie was at the food concession stand wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. Surprisingly, Chris Evans was there to work one of the swing rides. Sebastian Stan painted a butterfly on her cheek and hearts on Tom's. Robert Downey Jr. was working the carousel ride. And Valeria was in awe to find her own daughter, Fiona playing one of the many carnival games with both of the Chris', Tessa and Robert. But she was most definitely not ready to find the last face working the ferris wheel.
"Oh finally! I thought you two didn't see these big lights! I was going to have to buy a huge sign that said: Val and Tom where are you?!" Taika exclaimed as the couple came forth, hand in hand and large smiles on their lips.
"I was wondering where you were hiding." Valeria laughed softly, fixing the Mickey Mouse ears that Annie gifted her on tried to make sure that stayed on her head.
"Oh honey," Taika chuckled before deadpanning, "I'm everywhere."
"That's... that's worrying." Tom chuckled.
"Now ahem, I believe you two would like to ride this bad boy. Am I right?" the director said playfully as he patted the control panel.
"Oo, I like that idea." Valeria grinned.
"I think you two know how to strap yourselves in, and I think I know how to operate this..." Taika said the last part of his sentence silently as the couple started to sit down and pull the bar over them.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Tom asked nervously as the ferris wheel started to move slowly.
The woman next to him laughed. "Don't worry, he was probably kidding. Like 90%." their fingers remained intertwined, feeling a new type of euphoria washing over her as the ferris wheel began to ascend from the ground.
Valeria hasn't been this happy in a long time. She's endured many years of being alone, and the only other person she's had in her life was Fiona. In her future, she only saw herself and her daughter and never thought of having someone as amazing as Tom entering her life. He's changed her life for the best and made her realize that there were more people out there who were willing to care for them, and it wouldn't just have to be 'Valeria and Fiona,' but maybe 'Valeria, Fiona and Tom plus etc.'
So as they got to the top of the ferris wheel, Tom clutched Valeria's hand tightly. She turned to him, a small chuckling leaving her lips. "I like it here. With you." he said her head fell onto his shoulder as he wrapped his other arm around her waist to pull her closer.
"I could get used to this," she said softly before removing her head from his shoulder and looking at the man next to her before taking a deep breath. "You make me so happy, and I just want you to know that." Valeria smiled wide before continuing on to say, "This has to be the best date I have ever been on. I loved meeting everyone and seeing everyone else here. Being here with you, it makes me realize that my future has changed and I'm okay with that." she chuckled quietly as Tom cupped her chin and pressed his forehead against hers, softly rubbing their noses together as she continued to speak in a softer tone. "You have thrown my life into a million different directions and I just want to thank you for that. So, yeah- thank you so much, Tom."
Tom chuckled as his lips hovered over hers. "If anything, I need to thank you." and as their lips inched closer to each other he said in a small whisper, "I love you so much."
Valeria's eyes started to water at his words and instantly pressed her lips against his into a soft yet passionate kiss. She pulled back slowly as she leaned her forehead against his, her hands cupping his cheeks as she smiled widely while joyful tears fell from her eyes. "And I love you too, but so much more."
☆☆☆
i love this chapter so much guYS YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND
This has to be the longest chapter I've ever written for this book and I love it!
#TaleriaIsInLove