Valorie was a gentle soul, preferring quiet places and quiet activities. Sudden changes, loud noises and too many people made her nervous although she had gotten good at masking her worry with a perpetual blank face. Thankfully she didn’t have what many called resting-bitch-face, but she was rather emotionless in appearance. She had friends, although they were busy with moving their lives forward. One was having her second child, the other ran her own salon and the third enjoyed traveling. That left Valorie to figure out her young adult problems by herself.<br/><br/>By all meanings of the word, she thought she lead a normal life. It wasn’t easy, nor perfect, but it was normal, average and without much excitement. From Monday to Friday she worked at a small office doing secretarial work, which meant mostly running errands for her boss. Thankfully her boss was a kindly older woman who saw Valorie as a daughter at times and never asked her anything without saying please and thank you. Was the job interesting? Absolutely not. However, it paid well and she enjoyed the environment and the people she worked with. For now she was fine with moving horizontally.<br/><br/>On weekends she would follow her usual routine. On Saturday she would sleep in a little bit, then go on a morning walk. Usually she’d pick up a bagel and coffee on her way home. Then she’d do chores, laundry, dishes, then would relax for most of the afternoon. Valorie wasn’t the partying type, so on Saturday nights, she didn’t usually go out anywhere special. But this afternoon, she had finished her predictable mystery novel and had nothing else to read. She decided to go out for something new, and maybe get a bite to eat.<br/><br/>Valorie dressed in a simple navy t-shirt dress, with a thin brown belt. Over that, she wore a thin cardigan which was worn from years of use. For shoes, she simply wore a pair of soft canvas slip on flats. It showed off her foot tattoo, which was album art from her favorite band. The tattoo was a sketch outline of a child facing away, holding a balloon in her hand. The only color on the album art was the balloon, which was a faded pink. It looked cute on her, she thought. Since she wasn’t planning on meeting friends, or seeing anyone she knew, she didn’t bother with a glow up, only her every day make up of mascara, black eye liner and foundation to smooth over her features. Her lips were glossy with chapstick. Valorie had deep red hair, which was dyed. Naturally it had gentle waves in it and when left down, it came just below her shoulders. However, she almost always had it up in a messy bun, like now. She also had bangs that framed her face. At one time she had loved to dye her hair all sorts of colors, but now she had to keep it respectable for work.<br/><br/>After the book store, she stopped in a diner down the road, deciding that she had no motivation to cook for herself, besides, this diner served breakfast at all hours of the day. Since she was by herself, she took a seat at the bar, next to some business woman. The older woman behind the counter brought over some coffee for the two of them and took their orders, separate of course. Valorie didn’t use her phone much, rather, she just sat there and enjoyed her coffee while she waited for her meal. She watched as the older woman took her apron off and switched shifts with a young man.<br/><br/>Their food came shortly after he arrived. Valorie hadn’t noticed right away that she had accidentally received the order of the woman sitting next to her.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff"><b>“O-oh? Uh? Hm, I think they mixed up our orders. I got the omelet with rye…”</b></span>She half pointed at the woman’s plate, which was a large spinach, tomato and cheese omelet with swirled rye toast.  Valorie was usually the last person who would talk to a stranger, but the server was currently wiping down the counter at the other end of the bar so she didn't want to bother him. It's not that she went out of her way to not talk to people, it was just that she never knew what to say. With her friends so busy, she was feeling a bit lonely lately, so perhaps this woman would make for good company while she ate. Chances are she would never see her again after that.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff"><b>"This place is great huh? Can get breakfast any time of the night."</b></span>Valorie swung her feet a bit, carefully thinking of a question that might interest the woman. From the looks of it, the woman just got off of work.<b><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff">"It's great to come here after work. I usually come here if I have to work overtime."<br/>
</span></b><br/>Valorie looked up at the small, single tv in the corner of the diner. Playing on it were news clips and video of the concert from tonight. She had no idea that the singer was sitting right next to her. She sighed a bit, wishing she had enough money for tickets. They showed video of the lines to go back stage and interviewed one person who had paid a small fortune for the tickets to get back stage. The woman's jaw shifted, but other than that she didn't show much emotion.<b><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#9999ff">"That must have been some concert..."</span></b>She mumbled under his breath.