Chapter Text
Hurt. Anger. Betrayal.
All of these extreme emotions run rampant through Valentina as she continues to process the scene in front of her.
She watches in an incredulous rage as Lucho and Nayeli scramble to cover themselves with the sheets as they fumble through excuses to justify their actions. Their words don’t register with Valentina. Her ears are ringing and all she sees —besides her boyfriend and childhood friend naked in bed together— is red.
Lucho finally manages to pull his boxers over himself and approaches her like she’s some wild animal he’s terrified of aggravating. Joke’s on him, because she’s already aggravated beyond reason.
“Vale—”
Valentina’s hand shoots out, effectively cutting off whatever he was supposed to say with a firm slap to his face.
“Jesus!” He shouts, looking at her in disbelief.
She slaps him again, harder. He makes a move to grab her hands, stupidly leaving his face vulnerable. Valentina sees her opening and takes it. She dodges his poor attempt at grappling her, and snaps her fist forward, delighting in the crunching sound Lucho’s nose makes when she connects with it.
He yelps in pain and holds his face in his hands, finally backing away from her. Valentina smirks when she sees the blood escaping through his fingers and trickling down his chin.
“You broke my nose!” Lucho exclaims, his voice muffled by him cradling his face.
“You’re lucky that’s all I broke.” She spits out at him. “We’re done. You understand me? Don’t call me, don’t text me. Don’t ever come near me again.”
He doesn’t say anything, and she takes it as her cue to leave. Before she exits the room, she steels her gaze towards her former friend.
“He’s all yours. Have fun with that.”
Venom drips in her voice, and Valentina watches in satisfaction as Nayeli withdraws further into herself in fear and shame. With nothing else to say, she leaves her now ex-boyfriend’s apartment.
Valentina isn’t sure exactly what happens after that. She moves on auto-pilot, and doesn’t realize where she is until the door in front of her opens, revealing the only person in the world that could help her through this.
“Val?” Juliana asks, concern written across her face.
Valentina doesn’t respond. Instead she torpedos herself into her best friend’s arms. Juliana wastes no time in reciprocating the hug. Valentina feels herself being pulled into the apartment and led to the couch in the middle of the living room. She curls further into Juliana as tears continue to stream down her cheeks.
Once she’s calmed down, Juliana cups her face in her hands to give her a once over. Her soft hands brush away the stray tears, and Valentina can’t help but lean into the comforting touch.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
Valentina shakes Juliana’s hands from her face. She brings her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them.
“Lucho cheated on me.”
“Oh, Val.” Juliana pouts, while giving her arm a tight squeeze.
Her reaction is lackluster, but it’s no surprise. This isn’t the first time Lucho has cheated on her. After the first couple of times came and went with Valentina not putting her foot down, Juliana’s rage was reduced down to sympathetic support from a distance. And Valentina understands. She knows if the roles her reversed she’d be driven up a wall with Juliana’s decision to go back time and time again.
“Yep.” She mutters.
They’re quiet for some time. Valentina thinks about how to share who it was she caught Lucho cheating on her with, as Juliana waits patiently. It’s no surprise that she doesn’t prod. Valentina would like to chalk to up to her friend wanting to give her time, but truthfully she knows it’s because Juliana isn’t eager to know the details.
“I walked in on him…” She starts, then turns to look at Juliana. “With Nayeli.”
Juliana’s eyes widen in anger. Valentina watches as the old fury her friend used to carry whenever she found out about Lucho’s infidelity resurfaces.
“What?” Juliana snaps.
She moves to stand, but Valentina is quick to stop her with a hand on her arm.
“Don’t.” She whispers, softly.
“Don’t?” She asks, incredulously. “Val, he’s cheating on you with your best friend! What do you mean, ‘don’t?’”
“It’s not worth it, Juls.”
Juliana lets out an aggravated sigh, but sits back down on the couch.
“So, what? You already forgave them, then?” Juliana asks, irritated.
“Of course not.” Valentina refutes.
When her friend doesn’t reply, Valentina faces her whole body towards Juliana, and takes the dark haired woman’s hand in her own.
“I broke up with him.” Valentina explains. “And I know I’ve said that to you before, but I mean it this time. It’s different when it’s someone I know versus faceless girls I don’t care about.”
She feels the raw emotions rising within her again. Without meaning to, her grip on Juliana’s hand tightens. Juliana looks down at their hands and furrows her eyebrows. Her thumbs gently ghost over Valentina’s red knuckles.
“I punched him. Hard.” Valentina confesses, her voice thick from wanting to cry again. “Broke his fucking nose.”
Juliana’s eyes snap to meet hers. There is shock and mirth dancing in those wonderful dark orbs that Valentina relishes in. Both women burst into laughter. Valentina cries as she laughs, but it’s not as heavy as it was before. More cathartic, more freeing. She clutches onto Juliana as she lets herself feel everything she needs to in order to fully let go.
They catch their breaths as the last of the giggles rack through their bodies. Juliana stands from the couch and makes her way to the kitchen. Valentina watches as she rummages through her cabinets and fridge. Juliana returns with a bottle of gin, two shot glasses, and an ice pack wrapped in a thin cloth.
“Here.” She says, softly.
She rests Valentina’s bruised hand on her thigh and carefully covers it with the ice pack. Once Juliana satisfied that Valentina’s hand is properly taken care of, she opens the bottle and fills the shot glasses nearly to the brim. She hands Valentina her glass before grabbing her own.
“Cheers to broken noses and finding self-worth.” Juliana toasts as she holds up her shot.
Valentina snorts at that. She clinks their glasses together and follows Juliana’s lead in downing the shot. Once the alcohol is done burning her throat, she gives her friend an unimpressed look.
“Thanks.” She deadpans.
It was a shitty toast, but not untrue. And as much grief she’d like to give Juliana for it, she’s unable to hide the smile from wanting to break free. Juliana notices it and shrugs her shoulders with a smile of her own.
“I tell it like it is, Carvajal. Deal with it.”
“Oh, you really don’t want me to deal with it, Valdés. I’ve been known to break a nose or two.”
Juliana laughs brilliantly, and Valentina takes the time to admire her friend. She’s forever grateful she met this wonderful person all those years ago. She really doesn’t know what she’d do without her.
She leans forward to pour them another shot. Juliana arches her eyebrow, but says nothing as she takes the drink from Valentina. They waste no time downing the alcohol and pouring up again. Soon enough, the conversation drifts away from Valentina’s cheating ex-boyfriend and onto other things.
“So, what about the trip?” Juliana’ questions after a while.
Valentina’s eyebrows shoot up. With everything that’s happened in the last few hours, she completely forgot about the trip she’s supposed to be leaving for in the morning. The very reason she went to Lucho’s apartment to begin with, albeit a few hours earlier than she said she’d be there, so that they could drive to the airport together in the morning.
“I completely forgot about it.”
“You should go.” Juliana encourages her.
“By myself?”
Juliana shrugs. “Why not? You deserve a vacation after everything. Besides it’ll be a great way to rub it in his face that you’re spending your anniversary without him.”
“God it’s not even our real anniversary.” Valentina rolls her eyes. “It was last month, but Lucho couldn’t take time off of work.”
“That’s not the point though.” Juliana insists.
Valentina sighs. “Yeah, I guess. I just think it’d be sad and lonely going on my own.”
“Take Guille with you.”
“On a romantic getaway to French Polynesia? I’d rather die.”
“Point taken.” Juliana laughs, then ponders a bit. “I’d say Eva, but…”
They make a face at each other and burst into giggles.
“Yeah that’s much worse.” Juliana admits.
Juliana sips at her drink as she gets lost in thought. Once again, Valentina finds herself in a position to silently observe her friend. Always so thoughtful and steadfast in her regard for the world. A gentle soul with a fierce streak in her. Valentina absolutely cherishes the woman in front of her, and thinks maybe she isn’t the only one deserving of a vacation.
“Come with me.”
Juliana snorts, and looks over at Valentina with an amused smile. It drops from her face when she realizes Valentina isn’t joking.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I am. The trip is booked, everything is paid for. Come with me.”
“Val, I can’t. I have work.”
“Quit.”
Juliana gives her an unimpressed look, but Valentina refuses to back down.
“I’m serious, Juls. You hate it there. Your boss doesn’t appreciate you or your brilliance. You’ve been wanting to leave for ages. This is the perfect opportunity!”
“And what about after?”
“After what?”
“After the trip, Val!” Juliana says with a laugh. “I’m not going to have a job. How am I supposed to pay rent?”
“You’ll have a job.”
“Valentina, no.” Juliana frowns, disapprovingly.
“Juliana, yes.” Valentina presses. “The job has been yours since you graduated. Your reasoning for not taking it is ridiculous, and I’m no longer accepting that as a valid excuse.”
“I want to earn my place in my field, Val. I don’t want anything handed to me.”
“You have earned it, though! I hate that you can’t see that.”
“People will think—”
“Exactly. People will think. They won’t know unless they care to know and if they don’t care, then they aren’t worthy of understanding you. Let them think what they want. You’ll know, and I’ll know, and everyone around you who sees your genius will know. Besides, my dad has been bugging me to let him poach you from your asshat of a boss.”
Juliana gives her a skeptical look, indecision weighing heavily in her eyes. Valentina has to capitalize on it.
“Please, Juls! This isn’t just about the job. I’m asking you to do this selfishly, because I need my best friend now more than ever. Fifteen days at the St. Regis Resort in Bora Bora, just you and me. Please don’t say no.”
She knows she’s begging and sounding extremely desperate, but it’s because she is. Valentina doesn’t want to deal with the aftermath of catching Lucho cheating on her with Nayeli. She doesn’t want to deal with the phone calls he’s going to bombard her with, with the questions from her family as to why her five year anniversary trip is canceled. She doesn’t want to deal with her friend group pressuring her to forgive his stupidity once again in order to maintain the peace.
And Valentina knows she could go alone. She could say fuck it and Eat, Pray, Love the hell out of this trip, but it’s not what she wants. What she wants is to forget about everything for a while and live it up with the only person in this world that has her back no matter what. She wants Juliana.
“Okay.” Juliana breathes out.
“Okay?” Valentina asks, giddily.
“Yes, okay!” Juliana confirms with a laugh.
Valentina squeals and tackles her best friend in a bear hug, thanking her profusely. Juliana tries to survive her attack while laughing heartily at her reaction.
“Okay!” Valentina sits up abruptly. “You need to pack! Like Now!”
“What time is the flight?” Juliana asks, righting herself.
“It’s at four.”
“A.M.? Val, that’s in like,” Juliana checks her phone, “five hours from now! I don’t know…”
“No! No, you already said yes. You can’t go back on your word now.” Valentina gets up from the couch and pulls Juliana with her. “Come on, I’ll help you.”
She drags Juliana to her bedroom and starts opening up her dressers to rummage through her clothing. It’s no effort at all on Valentina’s part to pull out nice pieces from Juliana’s wardrobe for her to pack for the trip. She’s more than familiar with the layout of Juliana’s room to be able to take the initiative to do so. Besides, there are quite a few outfits her friend has worn in the past that Valentina appreciates immensely and knows are must-takes for the trip.
She feels Juliana staring at her from her spot at the doorway. She looks up at catch her friend’s dark eyes, and shoots her a puzzled look.
“Well?” Valentina asks, with a huff. “Are you going to help me, or not?”
Juliana’s lips quirk up as she pulls away from the door frame. She saunters over to Valentina to pull the top from her hands.
“Not that one. Kenzie said she wants to borrow it this weekend.”
Valentina pouts. “But it looks so good on you.”
“I’ll have another chance to wear it.”
The image of her friend in the top jumps to the forefront of Valentina’s mind. She clears her throat and nods mutely. Yeah, another time would have to do.
Juliana just smiles at her and shakes her head. She brings out a suitcase from her closet and the two get to work on packing everything the dark haired woman will need for the upcoming trip.
They finish in under an hour and put all of Juliana’s luggage by the door. Valentina watches as Juliana sits at the corner of her bed texting Kenzie about her plans and asking her to look after her apartment while she’s away. She smirks when Juliana types out a strongly worded resignation email to her boss. There’s a mixture of relief and trepidation as her friend hits send.
Valentina gives her a hug of encouragement. She lays back on the pillows, and beckons Juliana to bed. They slide under the covers and stare up at the ceiling. Valentina turns on her side and throws an arm over Juliana’s midsection.
“I’m glad you’re coming with me.”
Juliana smiles at her. “Me, too.”
Valentina shimmies closer to her friend, and tucks herself into her neck like she usually does when they sleepover at each other’s place. Juliana’s reaction of pulling her in closer is instantaneous, much to the brunette’s satisfaction.
From the moment they met, Valentina always found this position to be the one of the most comforting places she can find herself in. As her college years faded away to adulthood, she found that the number of comforting places she had diminished significantly. As she slowly dozes off to sleep, Valentina thinks this, being held by Juliana, is the only safe space she has left. It’s not surprising to her considering who she keeps as company. It’s also not surprising to her considering who Juliana is and what she means to Valentina.
“She isn’t my best friend.” Valentina mumbles, sleepily.
“Hm?” Juliana hums out her confusion, sounding as though she’s on the verge of sleep.
“Earlier, you said Nayeli was my best friend.” Valentina explains. “She never was, and never has been.”
Valentina places a chaste peck on Juliana’s shoulder to clue her in on who she considers her best friend. She feels Juliana slightly stiffen underneath her for a few moments before her body relaxes.
“You’re my best friend, too, Val.” She whispers, softly.
A content smile spreads across Valentina’s lips. She sighs and buries her face further into the crook of her best friend’s neck. The foreseeable future is going to be rough to get through, but Valentina is glad she has Juliana in her corner. There’s absolutely no one else she wants by her side.