"OKAY, BUT I knew you would win the argument," John said to Valerie as he pocketed the £20 that Mary had lost in their bet.

"That was two hours ago. How did you even know?" Valerie asked as she sat down next to him on the roof. They had escaped the noise of the house to look at the view of the city. Their legs were touching, and Valerie was clutching his sleeve lightly for fear of falling.

"Because you're always right. And you always win if you're involved in them." John replied as if it were obvious.

  "I sure hope it wins if I'm involved with it," Valerie laughed a bit and rolled her eyes, taking the cigarette that John was holding and taking a drag.

   
   John watched her, taking note of the way she held the cigarette, and how she licked her lips before taking a drag; he noticed her posture, and how it seemingly relaxed when they were together.

She handed the cigarette back to him and sighed. "Can I ask you something?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"Why did you ignore me?" She asked, and John coughed a bit,smoke flying everywhere, looking at her. Her beautiful green eyes were slightly wide with question, and John sighed a bit, trying to figure out how to lie to her.

  "I didn't want to interfere with your and Roger's relationship." John said. That was definitely a lie. He had been jealous.

  Valerie laughed a bit and watched John take a drag from the cigarette, noticing how his uniquely coloured eyes wouldn't meet hers. Perhaps from embarrassment.

   "Roger and I were never a thing. We had sex one time,  and that was it. I think it blew over more than it needed to. Brian is still very protective of me." Valerie responded,  taking the cigarette that John handed to her.

  "Brian sees you as his little sister. Of course he's protective of you." John responded, and Valerie sighed.

  "I literally don't date anyone because of him. Well, mostly. It's a mixture of him being very protective, and literally no one liking me." Valerie said jokingly, and John shot her a look.

"Who doesn't like you?! I'll go slap some sense into them!" John said, letting out a puff of smoke as he spoke. Valerie laughed again, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, please. What are you going to do? Whack them with your bass guitar?" Valerie teased as she took a drag from the cigarette.

"No! I'll have you know that I have an amazing physique." John said, teasingly flexing his muscles just to get Valerie to laugh.

   "Oh, yes, sure. Great noodle like physique. John Deacon, my personal bodyguard." Valerie said, squeezing his arm and laughing as he brought it down to poke her in the stomach; just where she happened to be most ticklish.

  "I'll always look out for you," John said. Valerie smiled, looking up at John.

  For a second, she thought he was going to kiss her. Or maybe she hoped. But she panicked a little bit.

  "I want to take you somewhere. There's something cool I want to show you." Valerie said suddenly, and John raised his eyebrows, backing up a bit, slightly disappointed.

   "What's this something you want to show me?" He asked, standing up after Valerie did, making their way back down the ladder and into her apartment.

  "You'll see," She said. They weaved their way in between Chrissie and Mary, who were talking and sipping drinks in a corner, and through Evan and Brian, who were talking about space and lightly bopping in place to the music. Roger and Freddie were locked in a very aggressive game of chess that involved a lot of cursing.

  Valerie grabbed her keys before she and John slipped out the door, unnoticed by anyone else in the apartment.
*****

  "Why'd we have to walk? We couldn't have taken a car?" John asked, his feet aching from his poor choice of wearing clogs.

  "You don't get the full effect of the country if we drive. It's only forty minutes away by walking," Valerie said, as if it were nothing.

  "We're still in the city!" John protested, and she rolled her eyes.

  "Fine, we'll rent bikes. Just promise me that you won't complain when your bell bottoms get stuck in the tires?" She teased him as she turned around and started to walk toward a bike rental place she knew was nearby.

"My bell bottoms are the epitome of good fashion sense." John said, tugging at the sleeve of her eclectic sweater she had stolen from Brian: it was very loose and had many stars on it. It was knit by his mother.

"You on the other hand need to rethink your wardrobe." John told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She smacked it away jokingly, and the two had a short match of poking and prodding before John managed to intertwine their fingers.

  "Alright, I won. Now shush," he told her. She smirked and laughed a bit, swinging their hands between them as they walked.

   "See? I don't always win everything." Valerie chided, and John stuck out his tongue at her.

"Alright, we're here. Want me to rent you a bike with training wheels, grasshopper?"

  "No! Val, I'm 23." John said, and Valerie laughed a bit.

  "Training wheels it is!" Valerie said as she raced into the shop, laughing as John hurried after her.
*****

     "So, want to tell me where we are?" He asked her as they came up in front of a house. It was rather big, but there was something modest about it. There were a lot of windows, and the property around it was very lush and had a lot of trees.

     On the front lawn, there was a slightly faded FOR SALE sign. They rest their bikes on the grass that was slightly dried. Valerie went past the small, run down fence that had chipping white paint, and she walked over to the house.

      "This is the house I've had my eye on for a while. I'm about to move out of my apartment and into here. Rental price. No one wants it, I suppose, because they don't want to maintain the gardens and the blueberries." Valerie said as she walked on the cracked side walk to the front of the house.

  "It's abandoned, now, but it's been maintained pretty well by me. I come by here all the time." Valerie said as she jammed her hip into the door and it swung open.

     "Well, you can always wait until you have a steady job to actually buy it." John told her, tugging her back by her sweater.

  "What?" She asked, looking at him, her hand still resting on the brass doorknob to the house.

   "It's dark,"

   "Want me to hold your hand, love?" Valerie teased, though faintly blushing because yes, she wanted to hold his.

    "Sure," John said, maybe a bit too hurriedly, as he intertwined his fingers with hers.

John was always unsteady in the dark. He had never liked it. Even now, it still unsettled him.

She fished around in the pocket of her jeans until she found a lighter.

And since she knew the place so well, she lit a candle that just happened to be right next to them.

He did take time to look around the house, and was impressed by its spaciousness. It had high, cavernous, ceilings with a chandelier. The doorway that he expected lead into the living room was very tall, and the door was intricately decorated.

From what he could see, there were many rooms downstairs, and probably even more upstairs.

"It'll be okay. I'm here. Come on, I want to show you around upstairs!" Valerie whispered excitedly as she took the candle and walked upstairs, the floor creaking underneath her feet.

By now, John was very worried. "Well, it's a bit of a fixer upper." He said, trying to lighten his mood a bit as he followed her upstairs and turning the corner she had turned around.

He ran into a cobweb and yelled loudly, falling backwards and causing a lot of commotion.

"John! Are you okay?" Valerie asked, rushing out of the room she had walked into to.

"I'll just say yes, but I'm really not. Tell me again why I came with you?" He asked with a wry laugh as Valerie helped him up.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Hush, you, or I'll leave you on the floor." Valerie threatened teasingly.

"Alright, alright. I surrender." He said, holding up his hands in surrender once he stood upright, his bum aching a bit from the fall he had taken.

"Thank you. Now, come on. I want to show you my favourite room." She said excitedly, going down the hallway and back into the room that she came from.

John walked in and caught his breath. The ceiling was fairly tall, and the room was surprisingly well lit by a mini chandelier. But what was most impressive were the walls: on each one was a piece of their solar system, and it all fit seamlessly together. Each planet was painted intricately, and it was simply breathtaking all together.

"I come in from time to time. I have keys for when I drop by. Anyway, this is what he called the music room; he was a pianist after all, and his kids played music as well.

"But he said that since it's right under the attic and not of use, that I could paint it and even renovate it so that it connects to the attic. I have a vision of the attic maybe having a window that I can stargaze through." Valerie said, rambling on and on.

John spaced out a little, but not in a bad way. He was watching her, always in awe whenever she talked about things she loved and the plans she had for the future.

   "But alas, I probably will never buy the house anyway." She said, taking her keys from her pocket and swinging them around her finger.

   John watched her, a slight smile on his face. "Ye of little faith. Regardless of whether you own it or not, the owners will always have your art to experience in this room." He told her, and she smiled a bit,  tucking a piece of her fiery red hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek.

   "Maybe I'll buy it after I pay off my college debt. God,  I'll have so much debt by the time I die that my grandkids will be paying it off." Valerie said quietly as she took his hand again and walked out of the room, him following along.

  "You ever think about how lonely it'll be up here? No Brian or Payton to accompany you?" John asked as they walked down the stairs, averting the conversation from what was really weighing on his mind.

    "It's crossed my mind. I'll probably get a dog. I suppose I'll settle down eventually," Valerie said. She shrugged, as if the idea wasn't really her top priority.
   
   John could never figure her out; he could never tell if she was actually pretty worried about settling down or if she never wanted to. He could never tell when she was flirting or just teasing.

     Then again, he was pretty bad at flirting himself.

     "I haven't found the one for me, I suppose. I mean, I can never tell if a person will ever love me for me." Valerie said. But it wasn't really hard to love Valerie. Not from John's viewpoint anyway.

     As they made their way out of the house, John couldn't help but wonder if there was a chance that Valerie could ever love him.

     It was a possibility, as they spent a lot of time together, but Valerie and him were polar opposites in a way; she was much more social, and he was shy. She was very open, and he was reserved.

    And John would be lying if he said that he didn't feel anything for Valerie, because he did. He'd be a liar if he said that he didn't envision he and Valerie dating at least once in the past year, because he had. It wasn't that hard, as they had gotten much closer.

    But John always denied his feelings for Valerie. And so that's what he was: a liar.