The Guy I Once Knew

Confrontation

The next morning, Vilu woke up to find her bed neatly made, wrinkle-free. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and got off the couch. She brushed her teeth, showered, got dressed and walked downstairs. She saw Leon and her father talking and laughing in the dining room, as Olga made pancakes in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Vilu!" German greeted her, smiling.

"Good morning dad, Leon." She said, puzzled.

"Don't worry, I told your father everything." Leon assured her.

Olga hopped into the room, holding a plate with a huge stack of pancakes on it.

"Here you go!" She said, placing the overly loaded plate on the table. She then walked over to the fridge, took out a bottle of maple syrup and poured it on the pancakes before skipping back into the kitchen.

After breakfast, Leon and Violetta were all bundled up, walking to the studio. The cold became even more unbearable when vehicles drove by at breakneck speed, stirring the air around them.

"I can't believe the studio's making us practice on weekends," Leon said, his hands shoved in his pockets, trudging against the icy wind.

"I know. It's not fair. Hey, any news of your mom? When's she coming home?" Violetta asked.

"She's perfectly fine, and your dad insisted that I go to the studio while he goes to the hospital to get my mom."

"Oh, okay."

"So, how was your date with Diego?" Leon asked, jealousy evident in his tone.

"It was...fine." Violetta said, slightly pleased at his annoyance. She didn't tell him she had a good time, not wanting to fuel his anger. An awkward silence ensued, and continued all the way to the studio. As the two of them approached the entrance, they were grateful to be greeted with a blast of warm, heated air from inside the studio.

"Hey guys!" Said the ever-energetic Fran, walking up to them. She seemed to be unfazed by the cold.

"Hey." Leon said, emotionlessly.

"What's up with him?" She asked Vilu.

"Saturday blues," Violetta said matter-of-factly.

"That's not something you hear everyday," Fran replied, chuckling.

"Come on, we've gotta practice," Leon said, walking towards the dance room .

After two hours of rigorous waltzing, the gang was cooling off.

"We should probably do some singing now," Marco suggested between sips of water.

"You're right. Do you guys have the lyrics?" Camila asked, toweling herself.

"Yeah," Leon said. "Be right back." He walked out of the room into the locker area. He took out a folder that had six sheets of paper with typed out lyrics, along with the sheet music. He walked back into the room and passed them around, asking each one of them to take one.

"When did you get so organized?" Maxi asked.

Leon shrugged. "Ah, well."

They got changed and proceeded to the music room. Just then, Diego walked up to Violetta.

"Hey Violetta!" He greeted her pleasantly.

"Diego! How's rehearsal going?"

"Great, but tiring. So, what's your theme?"

"Well, actually it's-"

"Love," Leon finished, walking up to them. "Nice to see you, Diego. I'd love to stay and chat, but we have to go practice."

"Oh, okay then. I don't wanna bother you." Diego replied. He glared at Leon, but when his gaze shifted to Violetta, it softened. "I'll see you later."

"Bye Diego," Violetta said.

Violetta and Leon walked into the music room, where the two happy couples were busy going over the lyrics and laughing and having fun. They didn't see the not-so-happy not-couple come in. Vilu and Leon quietly went into a corner of the room.

"What was that?" Vilu asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

Leon was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why were you acting all weird around Diego?" Violetta pressed.

"What? I was just answering his question."

"That's not how someone usually 'answers a question'. Is something bothering you?"

"Look, Violetta, this guy, he really likes you. And you can't deny what's between us-"

"What IS between us?" Violetta asked.

Leon was frustrated at her ignorance. "Don't say that kiss didn't mean anything to you, because it sure as hell meant something to me!"

Violetta sighed in exasperation. "See? That's what I'm talking about. You think it meant something to you, but really didn't. You and I, we were both caught up in the moment, that surreal, illogical moment that wasn't thought through-"

"You don't plan love." Leon said.

Violetta placed her hands on his shoulders. "The point is, you're just not ready yet. How long has it been since Bianca left?"

Leon's face fell at the mention of her name. All the memories came flooding back to him. "About two weeks."

"Do you really, positively think you're over her?" Violetta asked him gently.

His hazel orb-like eyes met hers. "Well...I-I don't know."

"I think you should give it some time." said Violetta.

Leon was silent. His gaze never shifted, but his mouth stayed shut.

"Trust me Leon, you have to do justice to the relationship you had with her, and I don't want to be somebody's rebound girl. So it's best if we stay friends."

"Yeah. You're right, I should give it some time to cool off. Thanks," he said, pulling her into a hug.

Violetta smiled. As they pulled away, brain was telling her that she'd done the right thing. But her heart was screaming at her, telling her to throw her arms around him and kiss him and tell him that they'd live happily ever after - she knew it wasn't right. Staying friends was good for the both of them, yet the pain inside of her was intense.

After practice, Francesca had insisted that she and Camila sleep over at her house. While the three of them were watching 'The Notebook' for the hundredth time at Fran's house, Cami noticed the glassy look in Vilu's eyes. Cami shot Fran a worried glance, which prompted Fran to turn the TV off. They turned to face Vilu.

"Okay, shoot." Fran said.

"What?" Vilu was confused.

"Something's wrong, and you're going to tell us what it is," Cami demanded.

Violetta was unsure whether or not to mention every little detail, but she figured that 1) they were her best friends and 2) they have some means of finding out the truth eventually. So she slowly and carefully narrated the whole story -from the kiss to the fight they had a few hours ago - while her two friends awww-ed along to it. They finished watching the movie after their little pillow talk session.

Violetta continued to talk and laugh with her friends as she ate Hawaiian pizza and sipped Arizona tea, unbeknownst to what fate had in store for her.