What We Do in the Night (Day to Night #1) - Stylo Fantome Page 0,43

him that evening, when just the night before, she'd screwed his brains out in the middle of her job.

In his world, everything had become somewhat boring anymore. In comparison, she was just so ...

Interesting.

“You're staring at me.”

Her blunt voice pulled Ari out of his reveries. He gave her a tight smile.

“You're easy to stare at,” he replied, and smirked when her rosy cheeks turned almost crimson. “And who knows, maybe I'll stop by for some 'Parcheesi' later. Or maybe I won't.”

Then he reached across the passenger seat and yanked the car door shut before peeling away from the curb.

VALENTINE WASN'T SURE what to do with herself.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd been home in the early afternoon, at least not for any real length of time. Both Nurse Grace and Bailey looked at her like she was out of place. Like she didn't belong there.

Every day for the past five months, there'd always been something to do. A job to be done, money to go out and hustle. She hadn't been lying to Ari – all her time was either spent in school, working, or helping her grandmother.

But now she was done with classes for the weekend, she need to be at Caché for hours, and her grandmother was taking a nap. Nurse Grace stayed upstairs with her, quietly watching her favorite soap opera.

So Val decided to do something she'd never done before.

She tried to hang out with Bailey.

“What're you up to?” she asked casually after knocking on the girl's bedroom door.

“... what?” Bailey seemed confused by the question.

“Just seeing what you're up to,” Valentine repeated herself.

“Oh, did you need to go out? It's cool, I don't need to go out for anything today, I'll be here all night,” Bailey assured her. “Just grab me a large pepperoni from that place down the street.”

“No, no,” Val laughed. “I don't need you to do anything, I'm just ... saying hi. Seeing if you wanted to hang out, or whatever.”

Bailey stared at her.

“... what?”

“I know we're not like 'normal' roommates,” Valentine actually made air quotes with her fingers, and instantly cringed at herself. “And I'm sorry about that, I'm always busy trying to keep a step ahead of things around here. Well, I finally got ahead, so I thought maybe we could, like, get to know each other a little better.”

The other girl looked like she wanted to run screaming from the house. Like she'd rather pour hot wax directly onto her eyeballs. She glanced back into her room, looked at Valentine, then looked back again. Eventually, though, she sighed and opened her door wide.

“I'm doing some coding, but you can come in,” Bailey grumbled, then she stomped back to her computer desk.

Valentine moved slowly across the room, trying to subtly look around as she did so. She'd never been in Bailey's room. There were posters on the wall for an anime show, and for some band she'd never heard of. A pile of dirty laundry sat at the end of the bed, and next to the computer desk, a bunch of Red Bull cans had been stacked together – or glued? – into the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

“Impressive,” Val chuckled, gesturing to the cans. Bailey glanced at them, then shrugged.

“I have trouble sleeping.”

“Maybe because you drink Red Bull?”

“I drink Red Bull because if you can't beat something, join it. I do my best coding work at night,” she replied. Valentine nodded, then looked around. She spotted a tiny step stool, so she grabbed it and put it by the desk. After she'd taken a seat on it, she looked back at Bailey.

“That's what you're going to school for, right? Computer programming?” she asked.

“Gaming,” Bailey corrected her. “I design video games.”

“That's cool. Really cool, actually. I go to school for design, too,” Val said.

“I know. Fashion,” her roommate snorted.

“Hey, I didn't knock your chosen profession. And I'm majoring in design management, not apparel design. Totally different areas in the fashion industry.”

“Fair enough.”

Valentine felt awkward, but Bailey was engrossed in whatever it was she was doing on her computer.

“Oh!” she thought of something. “I wanted to tell you – I'm gonna hire another nurse.”

That got Bailey's attention.

“Are you kicking me out?” she asked, turning away from the computer, her eyes wide. Valentine held up her hands.

“No, no, I'll still need you. Nine at night to six in the morning, just like usual,” she repeated their schedule.

“Good, because I literally can't afford to go anywhere else. Please don't kick me out. I