we make it to the convenience store and walk inside. a girl slightly older than us, maybe nineteen or twenty, stands at the counter. she's really pretty, with straight dark pink hair and bright green eyes. she wears an oversized graphic t-shirt and dark blue baggy jeans. she looks up at us gives us a quick welcome when we walk in.

"what are we doing here again?" i ask tommy. he laughs.

"let's try these on," he says, leading me over to a sunglasses rack. we play around and try on a bunch of different sunglasses, take pictures, and end up choosing a pair to buy. we also grab a few random things, like clothes and snacks. when we walk over to the cash register, the girl starts to look tommy up and down. he shifts uncomfortably and i raise an eyebrow.

"that'll be $15.98," she says with a smirk. tommy pays for our stuff and we turn to leave, but hear her voice again.

"do you come here often?" she asks. tommy and i stop in our tracks.

"i, uh, me?" tommy asks while turning back around to face her.

"yeah."

"no, we just came here... randomly..."

"at one in the morning?"

"mhm."

"well, you don't just come to a convenience store in the early morning not looking for some... you know." she bites her lip seductively and tommy inhales sharply.

"uh, no, i disagree... we're just looking around..." i narrow my eyes at the girl and feel tommy grab my wrist.

"okay okay, sheesh. i get it, you're not into that. maybe instead, we could, you know, exchange numbers first, and a date later?" she winks.

"well, uh, actually..." tommy practically mumbles. i sigh.

"i'm his girlfriend," i say quickly. she turns her glance to me for the first time and looks me up and down. she scoffs.

"you? his girlfriend?" she looks from me to tommy, then back to me.

"yeah. so please stop flirting with my boyfriend."

the girl's eyes widen and her lips curl into a snarl. i hold back a laugh.

"exactly. she's my girlfriend. so..." tommy says while taking my hand.

"don't you think you could do better?" she asks. i groan.

"just ignore-" i start to whisper to tommy, but he interrupts.

"no. i can't do better than her. NO ONE is better than her. and with that, we're going home." he leads me out the door and sighs. we cross the street back to the parking lot and he pulls me into an embrace.

the hug is desperate and sad, and he hugs me as if this will be the last time we ever see each other. he buries his face into the crook of my neck and hugs me tighter.

"i'm so sorry, val," he says. i laugh.

"don't worry about it," i respond.

"she was acting like a bitch. nothing that she said was true."

"it's okay, tommy. really. i've heard worse."

"you have?"

"twitter exists, you know." i laugh slightly.

we stay in the embrace for another minute before my phone starts buzzing. i pull it out and see niki calling, so i answer.

"hello?" i say, putting the phone to my ear.

"val!" niki exclaims. "where-"

"SHE'S FUCKING-" i hear a voice yell. "give me the phone."

"VALERIE AMELIE DAVIS," wilbur shouts into the phone, reminding me of what lindsay did when she found out i was going on love or host. "WHERE THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU?"

"in the parking-"

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU IN THE PARKING LOT?"

"uh, long story. but why are you losing your shit over it?" wilbur sighs.

"because we heard security guards talking about two kids that were in the music booth, and i know for a fact it was you and tommy, because who ELSE would start playing my song at full volume, and they're looking for you and you two are going to get in serious trouble for breaking and entering and then running. i was worried they had you two in custody or something." i laugh.

"no, we ran and escaped."

"clearly. god, don't ever do that to me again."

"okay, dad."

"shut up. anyway, everyone's going to head back to the van now, so can you two just go over there and stay put for three minutes?"

"i don't know, maybe we'll run off and live on a farm by ourselves instead."

"you have fun with that. bye val."

"bye will." i hang up.

"what was that about?" tommy asks when i put my phone in my pocket.

"security is still looking for us. we gotta blast," i say. he laughs.

"i don't regret doing that, though. it was fun." i nod and we make our way to the van.

once everyone gets to the van, we all drive home. everyone is tired, so the car is filled with only the sound of soft music playing on the radio. when we all get home, everyone heads to their rooms immediately, and before i go to sleep i post on twitter.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

valerie :) @valeriedavis: hi there @tommyinnit

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TommyInnit @tommyinnit: Please go to bed

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valerie :) @valeriedavis: you're not asleep either???

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Tubbo @TubboLive: WHERE ARE MY PIC CREDS??!

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valerie :) @valeriedavis: SO SORRY first pic was taken by @TubboLive

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sapnap @sapnapalt: Did you cry on the ride

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valerie :) @valeriedavis: absolutely not

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George @GeorgeNootFound: i didnt either

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valerie :) @valeriedavis: whatever you say, grog

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dream @dreamwastaken: *googie

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valerie :) @valeriedavis: SHUT UP