Valentina's POV:
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. What just happened???
Valentina thought to herself as she walked into the bathroom, wildly throwing her hands about in frustration. She made her way to the sink before resting her hands and weight on the counter and looking up at herself in the mirror.
What is going on with you? Why were you acting like a love-struck teenager out there?
She asked herself, looking at her reflection incredulously before sighing and looking down at the sink.
She inhaled deeply and looked back up, softening her gaze as she shook her head at herself. She was frustrated and confused.
She had never felt anything like that when she was around someone, let alone a girl. She wasn't into girls..Never had she ever looked at a woman and been attracted to them in that way.
Sure, she thought women could be gorgeous and pretty, but she had never thought them to be as sexy or alluring as she did with Juliana just now.
Valentina thought about the instant their eyes met, reliving the pure intensity of the moment. She felt her heart pounding in her chest and her breath became shaky. She reminisced looking over the features of Juliana's golden, brown skin. Her dark, arching eyebrows cascading down a perfectly sloped nose...and then her lips.
Valentina shook her head and placed her face in her hands.
Aye, Valentina..
She needed to relax before showing her face out there again...and she still had to pee. So, after relieving herself, she tried cooling down by splashing cold water in her face and then headed back out to find Juliana waiting for her.
Juliana turned around to face her with a sweet smile, making Valentina's heart flutter in her chest at the sight.
She smiled back as she continued to walk towards her, completely forgetting about her previous embarrassment.
"Lucia had to go down and check on the outfits for the shoot so far so I offered to escort you down to the studio instead, is that okay?"
Valentina's hands started to sweat as her heart continued to race thinking about being alone for only a few minutes with the girl before her. "Yeah, I'm okay with that. Shall we?" She said, trying to play it cool.
Juliana smiled again and nodded before gesturing towards the elevators. They walked in together and for the first few seconds of being inside stood in awkward silence before Juliana was the first to speak.
"So, what are you doing here anyways? At the Carvajal company building I mean...do you work here or something and maybe I just haven't seen you around?"
Valentina furrowed her brows at the question. At first she was slightly offended, but then realized that maybe Juliana hadn't recognized her—after all, she hadn't told her her last name yet.
"Uhm kind of but not exactly. My father was the company owner before he passed away two months ago.." she trailed off, suddenly feeling that same presence of sadness weigh at her heart.
Juliana jerked and turned to look at her, mouth agape and eyes wide. "YOU'RE Valentina Carvajal??"
Valentina slowly nodded, an awkward grin on her face because she didn't know what to say.
Meanwhile Juliana placed her free hand on her forehead, still keeping the same shocked expression and then laughed nervously out loud. "I'm such an idiot. I had no idea!" She mumbled something to herself before continuing. "I'm so sorry for making you feel at all uncomfortable earlier...lo siento, please don't think my behavior earlier was a reflection of a poor character, I didn't mean to at all offend you or anything I was just teasing and-" she was rambling and getting flustered as Valentina watched intently, a smirk growing on her face before she burst into laughter.
"Juliana, no! There's no need to apologize!" She managed to get out between small giggles, placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder and shutting her up.
Juliana stood there with a worried look, unsure of how to react as Valentina continued to laugh.
"Juliana, it's okay, honestly. You don't have to apologize for anything"
"...besides, maybe I like it when you tease me.." she said as she shot her a small wink.
The words just came out of her mouth without her even thinking and suddenly she was even more embarrassed than before. Heat rushed to her cheeks.
What the hell was that Valentina??? Are you really trying to flirt with her right now? STOP IT.
Juliana only smirked at her sudden boldness, dragging her eyes seductively over Valentina's body—making her feel both exposed and excited under the woman's gaze.
Juliana was about to say something when the elevator doors opened suddenly. Juliana walked out first, a flirtatious grin growing on her face as an embarrassed Valentina followed close behind.
As soon as they were out, Valentina sped up to match pace with the shorter girl. "I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from.." she said, a pink tint still evident on her face as she awkwardly played with her hands and kept her gaze to the ground.
Juliana turned her head to look at her with a cheeky smile. She looped her arm through Valentina's, taking her by surprise as goosebumps rose at the touch, and nudged her with her shoulder with a laugh.
Valentina looked back up at her through furrowed brows.
"Call us even" she replied with a wink and smiling sweetly, making Valentina blush and smile back.
They walked together in silence the short distance to the studio, arm in arm. Valentina enjoyed being so close to the girl, often glancing to the side when she wasn't looking to admire her face. She could feel her breathing grow shaky and a nervous tension building in the pit of her stomach as the dark brunette pulled her a little closer.
Once they were in the studio, they saw Lucia looking over one of the other designer's outfits carefully. Valentina felt Juliana let out a sigh before turning to face her.
"Well, I guess I better get back to work. It was really nice bumping into you. Maybe I'll see you around?" She asked, raising a perfectly arched brow with a crooked smile.
Valentina nodded and smiled back, feeling butterflies swarming in her stomach at the thought of seeing her again. "Yeah, absolutely. Ill definitely be around more often with you here."
She hadn't meant for it to come out as flirty as it did but it was too late. Juliana let out a giggle before offering her a smile and turning away to continue her work.
Valentina kept to the side, watching as Lucia made her rounds to each designer and looked carefully over each of their projects. She felt a little out of place and awkward, not really knowing what she was supposed to do as well as not wanting to get in the way.
Occasionally she would glance towards Juliana, noting how especially adorable she was when concentrating. She had pins in between her teeth, her fingers working meticulously as she gazed through furrowed brows.
You could tell that she took a lot of pride in her work and enjoyed paying attention to the finest of details. Valentina admired her for that.
After a few minutes of Valentina watching her work, Juliana looked back at her and shot her a ridiculous smile—still holding pins and needles between her teeth.
Valentina's heart skipped a beat. She smiled and did a small wave back to her with a blush on her cheeks.
God she's so cute.
Lucia walked over to her and grabbed her by the hand, leading her over to one of the other designers she still had to check with.
"I want you to meet one of our designers, Nicolo, and tell me what you think of his work" Lucia said dragging Valentina along.
She stopped suddenly in front of the man she assumed was Nicolo, taking him by surprise as he was in the middle of hemming a dress. He instantly shot up from his kneeling position and nervously smiled at them both.
"Hi Ms. Carvajal, I apologize, I was just in the middle of finishing this up and had not realized you were walking over.." he said, nervously running his hands together.
Valentina thought he was a little odd. He spoke very sophisticated and high-class, like he had gone to only the most prestigious schools growing up. He was about 5'6" with nicely trimmed, brown hair and a thin build, wearing expensive designer clothes.
Lucia shook him off, "oh no, Nicolo that's okay. I just wanted to introduce you to Valentina. I thought you could tell her a little bit about what you're working on and keeping her company for a while?" She asked expectantly.
Nicolo got a worried look in his eyes before hesitantly smiling and nodding his head. "Yeah, sure..id be happy to.." he extended his hand out to Valentina. "I'm Nicolo" he said shyly.
Valentina shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Valentina"
Lucia smiled and put her hand on Valentina's shoulder after they released. "I'm going to leave you here until I'm done looking over Juliana's things. I promise I'll try not to be too long" she said before quickly giving Valentina a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh wait, I want to go-" but Lucia was already walking away from her, no longer paying attention.
Valentina really wanted to go and see what Juliana was working on, as well as get some more time to talk with her. As Nicolo went on about his designs, she kept stealing glances in their direction trying to figure out what Lucia was saying to the beautiful brunette, hoping everything was going well.
Towards the end of their discussion, she noticed Lucia looking over one of her dresses and pointed to a few areas with a disapproving look while saying something to Juliana. She could tell that Juliana was slightly annoyed with what Lucia said, but of course she thanked Lucia before she walked away back towards Valentina.
Nicolo was trying to get Valentina's attention but as soon as Lucia was within ear-shot, she asked, "what did you say to Juliana?" her tone a little worried.
Lucia smiled at her concern. "Nothing mija, she just needed to make a few small adjustments. Other than that, her designs are looking very good"
Valentina relaxed and let out her breath.
"Now, I'm ready to go if you are?"
Valentina looked behind Lucia to where Juliana was still working and decided that she wasn't quite ready to leave yet. "I'll meet you in the car, I just want to talk to Juliana before we go"
Lucia looked at her, confused at first but decided not to ask. "Okay" she said before heading out.
Valentina thanked Nicolo for showing her his work, then walked over to Juliana who was intensely concentrating on finishing one of her dresses.
Now standing only a few feet away from her, she lightly cleared her throat as to not startle the brunette from behind. Juliana immediately looked behind her with a questioning glance, before realizing who it was and softening her gaze.
"Hola Val, what's up?" She said, standing up and walking closer to the girl with a gentle smile.
Valentina's heart started to get faster the closer Juliana got to her. She stuttered for a second, not entirely sure of why she came over in the first place, before finally thinking of a way to steer the conversation. "Uh wha-what are you working on?" Gesturing behind Juliana to her dress.
Juliana looked at her questioningly, then slowly turned around and motioned for Valentina to take a closer look.
"I'm trying to finish this dress to better fit and look more construct but nothing is seeming to work" she said, disappointed.
Valentina scanned over the dress, looking over all of the intricate designs laced into the fabric. She realized that if someone were to just glance at the dress, it wouldn't look like anything special. But, once you got closer to it and really paid attention, there was an incredible amount of detail and work put into it. It was subtly beautiful and unique, Valentina thought..
much like Juliana.
"Wow Juliana..it's so beautiful. I've never seen anything like it" Valentina said as she lightly traced her fingers over the small designs. "You hand-stitched this yourself?" She asked, completely in awe
Juliana nodded. "Yeah, it took me a long time but I think it was worth it...so long as I can get it to fit right". She huffed the last few words out in frustration as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Valentina slowly turned to her and placed her hands on both of her shoulders before looking her in the eyes. "Listen, this dress is seriously amazing. You're a great designer Juls, I know you'll get it" she said, trying to build the girl's confidence.
Juliana blushed a little and looked down at the ground for an instant before meeting Valentina's eyes again. "Thank you Val.." she took Valentina's hands in her own, making her breath go shaky from the sudden nervousness of being touched by the girl. "That really means a lot"
Valentina offered her a weak smile, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin and her heart pound in her chest as she noticed how close they were—their bodies only inches away as they stood just staring at each other for a moment.
Valentina was the first to break, moving herself slightly away from Juliana but remaining close enough that their hands stayed together, as she looked down.
She didn't understand what was happening with her. She also didn't understand what Juliana was trying to communicate with her (or wasn't trying to communicate, maybe Valentina was just reading too much into it?). All she knew was that she had a boyfriend and that she had never been interested in girls before.
A few moments of silence passed before Valentina decided to speak. She still wanted to see Juliana and get to know her better, that wasn't a crime, was it? "So what are your plans tomorrow? You could come over if you'd like and we could go swimming at my house?"
Juliana shot her a worried glance but then the next instant it was gone. "I'm probably going to come in early tomorrow to work for a few hours but I can let you know when I'm done" she said with a small smile on her face.
Valentina felt relief and excitement wash over her. "Great! Do you want my number?"
Juliana nodded before getting out her phone and handing it to Valentina. She put it in with the name 'val💛', then handed it back. "Looks like I'll be seeing you tomorrow then" she said with a wide grin. "Good luck on finishing your dress, I'm sure you'll figure it out" Juliana blushed slightly at the compliment. "I'd better go though, Lucia is waiting for me in the car" She said before hugging the girl. "See you Juls"
"See you Val" Juliana smiled and waved to her as she walked out of the studio.
Walking out of the building, Valentina felt something in her that she hadn't in a long time. For the first time since her father's passing, she felt excitement and happiness. Her chest felt a relief of the constant pressure she had from her depression and all she could think about was Juliana.
Lucia and her chatted on the ride home, discussing the hours they had spent apart. As she spoke about Juliana, Lucia recognized a familiar gleam and excitement in her eyes that she hadn't seen for a while—it was like something in Valentina had suddenly woken up.
They talked all the way home. After the car had parked, Valentina got out
...only to see Lucho's car parked in their driveway.
Her heart dropped at the sight.
Fucking fantastic.
Lucia gave her an apologetic look, then gestured for them to head inside and deal with whatever drama was about to unfold.