TOLD YOU SO

“Well its nice to have you in town! I really thought I wasn’t going to see you again, but I was wrong.” She said, and paused for a moment. “Oh.not that I am complaining or anything, I love seeing your face around here. It’ll be nice to have you as a neighbor.” Usually so calm and collected, she was anything but in that moment. Why was she such an idiot when it came to talking to Stacie, the blonde must of had some sort of hold on her. Or something. Valerie moved to sit on the other side of the couch and smiled over at Stacie as she talked about all the boxes being everywhere. “You’ll get everything sorted I am sure. Do you want any help in trying to unpack? I’m free this weekend.” She offered, mostly just so she could get to know Stacie without all the cameras around them.

Stacie wished she didn’t feel so... how did she even feel? She wasn’t sure, but it was a feeling, that was for sure. Could she blame the feeling on Val? Yeah. She’d go with that instead of blaming it on herself for moving across the country like an idiot. “Stevie didn’t do a tooooon of begging me to stay home, basically pushed me out the door, so I mean, if you like clingy twin deprived me and didn’t get enough of it already, being neighbors will be totes awesome,” she joked. Half joked. She couldn’t tell. Stacie already went hella stalker so she didn’t know how to turn off or on her creep factor apparently. Trying not to fidget with the hem of her shirt was a fail, maybe she needed one of those fidget thingies? Could basically adult women get away with carrying those around? “No!’ Stacie squeaked when Val offered to help her unpack, “Or not no, yes, help is nice,” she scrunched up her face,”I got to hide my nerd from you for like so long, right? but my whole nerd life is currently sitting in boxes.” Stacie was pretty sure she wanted to sink into the couch and disappear... “You can help me put together my new bed? I usually make Stevie do those kinds of things for me.”

“My favorite..” Val said, a smile on her lips as she looked at Stacie. She couldn’t remember if she had told the blonde her favorite of really anything, but she liked chocolate chip cookies anyways. Maybe she just took a shot in the dark and she happened to make her faves. Valerie could sense the weirdness in the room, but was trying to ignore it. This shouldn’t be weird, she liked this girl. And maybe it was a little odd that she just so happened to show up on her door step. But she was trying not to question it that much. 

“New scenery? That’s always nice, I’ve lived her pretty much all my life..so I haven’t really moved because of scenery” she laughed. Maybe that was part of her reason for going on the show, it was somewhere new. It was something exciting. And it was also something that brought Stacie into her life which now turned to her being her neighbor. It was funny how things worked out. “How do you enjoy your new place so far?” she asked, sitting down on the couch. Motioning for the blonde to come join her.

Favorite. Hm. That was good, since Stacie had ended up debating for an hour about what kind of cookies to make, or if she should make brownies instead, so she was happy that she had ended up going with the cookies. You’d think being in a house with someone for so long would have helped Stacie get to know about Val’s favorite things, but that wasn’t exactly what went on in the house, so Stacie ended up being thrown for a loop, which might have been why she thought it was appropriate to move across the street from a girl she was only supposed to be in PR love with. Stacie probably should have just gotten a therapist. Gosh.

She nodded. Still kind of smiling to herself since she’d gotten the cookies right. “You’d think I would have gotten that outta my system being on tv and all but apparently not! Nope, had to come move here, too, then realized wooooah Val lives right across the street what a coincidence!” Stacie stop trying so hard, she mentally scolded herself while she sat down on the couch, this was such a disaster, she was so awkward, “It’s nice,” her eyebrows furrowed, “I mean, I haven’t seen much of it over the boxes that are everywhere but it seems nice and it doesn’t have a weird smell, so I’m winning.”

Val was at a lost of words. Stacie was her neighbor now? Not that it was a problem or anything, she very much liked the blonde standing in front of her. But she hadn’t talked to her in a week. How was she supposed to feel about this? Also, was she here because of her? So many question, and yet so little time to process it all. Stepping aside after she invited her in, she smiled softly closing the door behind Stacie.

“What kind of cookies did you make?” she asked, trying to make casual small talk. Not sure what else she was supposed to do or say in a moment like this. “Uh thanks, it’s not that great, But thank you anyways! So what brought you here..are you from here or something and I am just an idiot?”

Okay so this was Stacie’s confirmation that she had made a ridiculous decision to base a move off a PR relationship. Because one, they hadn’t really spoken since they left the show, which was partially Stacie’s fault because she had planned to move right away, spontaneously dumb, but like, whatever, she was there, it was happening and she couldn’t change it now. “Double chocolate chip,” she got out after a second of minor panic.

The blonde took in a breath and was at least comforted by being around the other girl. If anything, the fake relationship had gotten Stacie out of her shell. She knew the reason she got onto the show was because her tape was all about how she was recently outed to her family and that she needed a new start. It’s why they wanted her to have a fake relationship on the show; to make a big deal about her being gay and to see how people would react. It was barely Stacie’s fault that her and Val actually liked each other. “New scenery?” she lied. Was it okay to lie? Or did that make her look like more of a stalker? Stacie couldn’t even tell.

Valerie had been home for just about a week now from the moment of a lifetime. She was one of the few people that could say she had been on a reality show. And to be quite honest, she had forgotten that she had ever submitted an audition tape to the show, until they called. It was a chance she’d never had again. She could say that again. Expecting to just go on the show and have some drama, she hadn’t expected to start liking one of cast mates.

Stacie and Val were only supposed to be an item for the cameras, and everyone loved it. Stacie and Val, loved it just a little too much. She’d be lying if she had said that she wasn’t upset about how they had to part ways. The brunette had only heard from the blonde for a few text messages, and then nothing. Maybe their romance wasn’t real at all to Stacie. The thought had ran through Valeries’ head quite often in the span of a week.

Her doorbell rang, and the girl was pulled from her thoughts of a romance now long over with. But she wasn’t expecting anyone, so she was curious as to why her doorbell had went off. Opening the door to expect someone selling something, she was met with a familiar face, her bright blue eyes catching her off guard. Was this a dream? Was Val actually sleeping right now and dreaming about Stacie standing on her porch? She almost wanted to pinch herself, but decided against it.

“Neighbor?” she question, a small, confused smile on her lips. “You’re my neighbor? When did this happen?” she asked, her eyes glancing down at the plate of cookies she had in front of her. “Oh, you made cookies for me too? Must be my lucky day. Do you wanna come in…Neighbor?”

Stacie nodded. Like... she nodded a lot. This was probably a weird idea, right? Moving in across the street. Yeah, it was weird, but it happened, she was there. “Uh, officially like an hour ago?” she wasn’t really sure what she was doing but that seemed okay since that was her life now, why not embrace it. Stacie was still trying to keep her cool, except when was she ever cool? She grinned, and again, nodded, knowing she’d have whiplash later, “Sure, yes, come in, that’d be cool!”

So she hadn’t thought this out as much as she should have, but whatever, she was there, now walking into Val’s house, across from the house she had just bought. It was a thing. This was a thing. “Your place is really nice,” Stacie cringed, that was so awkward.