Chapter Text
Juliana woke up with the soft sound of her phone buzzing besides her. She struggled to reach the object as the sun between the curtains peeked through the room, slightly blurring her sleepy vision. She tiredly unlocked her phone and saw two messages from her mother — one asking about her trip and the other being a religious text as usual. She skimmed through it, not really paying attention to the actual content. Her sleepy state was suddenly disturbed by a small shuffle besides her. In the corner of her eye, she saw Valentina move in her sleep and she suddenly remembered where she was. She closed her eyes and tried her best to center herself back into reality. Bits and pieces of the previous day began to flood her mind.
She remembered small moments of the previous dinner that she had with Valentina and Lucho. She tried her best to piece together the random bits that came to mind. She recalls memories of Lucho being a brat and Valentina scolding him, and also of Juliana herself daring the other guy to continue being a little shit in her presence. A particular scene gained the spotlight in her mind.
“So, Juliana… it’s been a while, eh? How is life? Do you have a boyfriend?” The sound of Lucho’s annoying voice sent a shiver down her spine. She knows that no matter what tone of voice he uses, he would always have a secret agenda to discredit everyone who wasn’t him when they were around Valentina.
Juliana swallowed hard, not knowing exactly how to talk about her love life. She could easily say that she had no boyfriend because she simply had no interest in men but something about the entire situation made her wary of announcing her sexuality to both of them. She could not pinpoint exactly the reason but the lump in her throat was an indication that the fear of being rejected by Valentina played a big part in her answer.
“No, no boyfriend as of right now. Just… going through life, I suppose,” she said shrugging, hating how much she was not being able to be true to herself. Juliana had accepted her own sexuality a long time ago but something about being in front of Valentina and, unfortunately, Lucho, made her recoil into her previous fearful self. It’s not that she was ashamed of herself. She was just absolutely terrified of being treated differently by her friend. She could handle stupid comments and weird behaviors from anyone, except from Valentina. That would break her, for sure. Deep down, she knew the other girl wouldn’t treat her any differently and would support her. Nevertheless, her fear of rejection was stronger than any logic.
So, she lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, she convinced herself later. It was an omission, and no one could blame her for it, really.
“Ha! So, it’s back to sharing my girlfriend wi-” he stopped mid-sentence, sending a crooked smirk at her direction, “Sorry, my FIANCÉ, with you again, huh?”
Juliana swallowed hard the implications of his tone, trying her best to maintain her composure and not lose her cool on the first day already. She glanced quickly at Valentina, who looked like she was about to stab Lucho with her fork.
“Just like old times, right? I’m sure you won’t mind, will you, honey?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. It was clear that she was trying to be as civil as possible, trying to show a better side of her relationship to Juliana.
“Sure! I can handle sharing a few days knowing I will have you for the rest of my life.”
Juliana knew she was being provoked. However, as much as she wanted to consider herself to be above this childish back and forth, the petty side of her could no longer be quiet because of how much she knew her mere presence was a bother to the man.
“More than a few days this time, Lucho!” She did her best to put on a fake, sweet smile. “I don’t know if Valentina mentioned anything but I’m back for good this time! I guess we gotta share her for a while longer,” she chuckled lightly, feeling satisfied seeing the smirk on his face falter. After all, two could play this game.
“What do you mean?” He asked dryly. Juliana tried her best not to react to the incredibly unpleasant facial expressions Lucho was trying to hide. She looked at Valentina, thinking this information would be better delivered by her.
“Juliana just told me that she is actually moving back to the city! Isn’t that great, Lucho? She is finally going to study fashion design, like I always told you she would. Isn’t that amazing?” Juliana tried her best not to be bothered by how much Valentina tried to seek his approval, rationalizing to herself that this is normal behavior for couples, especially if they were about to get married. Remembering the wedding made her stomach shift uneasily.
“Really, now?” His voice sounded strained, not bothering at all to disguise his discomfort.
“Yes! It’s been a long time coming, actually… but this time I’m here to stay. So, better get used to sharing Valentina, I guess?” She knew she was shamelessly provoking him, but seeing all the shades of red on his face was definitely worth it.
Juliana quietly giggled to herself, remembering the scenes from the previous dinner. Valentina’s sudden shuffle in bed made her scold herself for the noise. She stared at the other girl who is still peacefully sleeping. A few strands of hair fell on Valentina’s face and Juliana struggled to not to fix them. She just stared at the other girl, allowing herself a few selfish minutes to just admire the beauty in front of her. After a few moments of overthinking and watching Valentina sleep, she decided that fixing the other woman’s hair wouldn’t be a big deal. Friends can do that for each other. Anyone would do that, right? She needed to stop overthinking every one of her moves — some things were just natural between friends, no matter how much her heart pounded inside her chest just at the thought of it. She slowly moved her hand to adjust the hair on Valentina’s face, feeling herself tremble at the sensation of the other woman’s smooth skin beneath her fingertips.
Juliana adjusted herself in bed to sit up and gather her own thoughts. She was once again getting lost in ideas that would do nothing but hurt her in the long run. She had to remind herself that her endgame of this trip was to finally get over Valentina, not to fall even more for her. So, how on earth did she find herself feeling this much already on only the second day?
She stared at the sleeping girl once more, trying her absolute best not to lean down and kiss her temple — an action that would be a step too far from friendship. Juliana wanted to slap herself over how much she was still feeling. She clearly was unable to think rationally and even worse, act accordingly. Her plans to get over Valentina were falling exceptionally short.
She thought back to how she ended up in this current situation, sleeping on the same bed as Valentina and pining for her all over again. After dinner, Valentina insisted on spending some quality time with Juliana and Juliana only . Lucho tried to put up a certain fight, claiming that he also wanted to spend time with Valentina but she wasn’t having any of it. She hasn’t spent one-on-one time with Juliana. It had been years and she deserved to have that alone time with Juliana. Juliana can’t help but smile to herself after remembering how pissed off Lucho acted after that. It was clear that after all this time, he was still not used to hearing “no” from Valentina. Juliana tried her best not to pride herself on feeling like she was always the exception to that particular rule but who could blame her for beaming at that feeling? It’s not like she thrives seeing other people miserable, it’s just that she thrives at seeing Lucho not getting what he wants. Honestly, he deserves it.
After the marvelous dinner that Chivis had prepared for them, Juliana decided to go to her room and finally take a shower to wash off the day.
Afterwards when she was drying her hair, Valentina knocked shyly on her door and asked if Juliana wanted to chat for a bit before going to bed.
The quick chat ended up being a conversation that went on for hours. They catched up on their lives and just talked mindlessly about anything that came to their minds. Just like old times. They snuggled in bed together and acted as if there was nothing in the world that could ever disturb their peaceful bubble. Before either of them noticed, they were both drifting off to sleep in the same bed, not even bothering to change into proper sleepwear.
That’s how Juliana found herself waking up in the morning — peacefully listening to Valentina’s light snores. After battling her own feelings for so long, Juliana got up to freshen up for the day. Before she made her way to the bathroom, she pulled the covers to warm up the other girl.
As soon as she walked to the bathroom, she heard a low mumble coming from the bed. Juliana stopped in her tracks as she thought she might’ve heard her name.
“Juls…” Valentina lowly said in her seemingly deep sleep. Was she awake? Juliana looked back at the bed and saw Valentina still with her eyes closed.
“Val…? Are you awake?”
“Juliana,” she once again said, this time a bit louder.
“Val?” Juliana tried again, stepping closer to the bed. She was about to shake the other girl awake when she heard it — a low moan coming from the other woman. That definitely made Juliana freeze in her spot. Was she imagining things? Was Valentina still sleeping?
“Yes, Juls… please…” The desperate and breathy tone of Valentina’s voice left very little room to doubt at this point. Juliana felt her face get incredibly hot. She took a step back and suddenly felt like she was intruding in a very private moment, even though it was her own name being called out. No, it can’t be.
A series of low moans woke Juliana from her stupor and made her run to the bathroom, locking the door behind herself. Her back firmly placed against the door as she tried to gather herself, her chest heaving up and down. Was Valentina having… a sex dream about her? No, that couldn’t possibly be happening. Valentina was getting married to Lucho. Why on earth would she be having a sex dream about Juliana ?
She forced herself to the bathroom sink and splashed some cold water on her face. Surely, she was still dreaming or being incredibly delusional to the point of imagining things.
After taking some deep breaths, she tried to rationalize things. Having sex dreams about other people didn’t always mean they were sexually attracted to you, right? She sure had her share of weird sexual dreams about odd people in her life. But also, she most certainly had even more sex dreams about the other woman sleeping on her bed at the moment. Although, she does have feelings for Valentina so ultimately, that would be expected.
But that didn’t mean Valentina felt the same for her. For all she knew, Valentina could be having one of those weird moments in life where you dream of fucking the mailman for no reason. Right ?
Every possible thought ran through Juliana’s mind as she felt herself hyperventilating. Maybe it wasn’t even a sex dream. Perhaps it was just some deep wishful thinking on her part. Was she really moaning ? It could’ve been for a thousand other reasons. Yet, here she was, locked in the other woman’s bathroom, thinking the worst of her. Some of her own self-hatred pertaining to her sexuality and the guilt from seeing her best friend as a lover started to flood her thoughts. Juliana felt dirty and gross for even entertaining such ideas.
As her thoughts started to spiral out of her control, she heard a soft knock on the bathroom. She jumped out of her bones at the sudden noise.
“Juls?” A sleepy, muffled voice came from behind the door. “I’m going to take a shower, okay? Meet you downstairs for breakfast?”
Fuck, calm down, Juliana.
“Yeah, see you in a minute”, she managed to croak out, feeling as if she was about to implode.
How on earth was she supposed to face the other girl after all of this?