Valentina lives a lie every day she steps out of her house. She has built her own world, where she can be anything, where every action of her life isn't controlled by her father. A world, where she can be an average teenager! But who is she kidding...
I am in my room, sitting at my desk looking outside my window. I think about what happened earlier, the scene plays on repeat in my head. She looked scared to her death. What might have possibly scared her so much?
I'm staring at her bedroom window. Which is closed and the lights are turned off which tells me she is downstairs with her dad. Was she scared of her dad? But from what I could tell he was so sweet.
Or maybe she wasn't scared at all. She was just being rude to me on purpose. She even lied to me about her father being allergic to Casserole. That thought makes me angry. I remember what Jacob told me. I am starting to think maybe he was right. Of course, girls like her don't care about others, especially guys like us who aren't famous, we are nothing to them. I was a fool to think she was different from them.
The door to her room opens and I see some moment in the dark. Seconds later the lights in the bathroom turn on, and the room remains in dark. I sit straight. Spying in on what is happening in there. I knew spying on neighbours was terrible but I was curious, or worried maybe?
I wait. I see nothing. No moment. I see her walk back into her room. She doesn't turn the lights on, instead, she disappears into the darkness of her room. Something is not right with her. I can sense it. But I can't tell what and why. So, I decided to find out.
Spying in was already bad enough, now I was breaking in. I climb out of my window. Jump in our backyard, carefully make my way into theirs, and climb up to her room. I check If the window is open. It is. Perfect! I slide it open and I'm in.
I hear a gasp and turn to look behind me. She looks at me. I can see her eyes grow wide in the dark. Moonlight reflects on her pale face as she stands two feet away from me. I can't see her face clearly but I see just enough to tell that I was right. Something is not right with her.
"I didn't mean to..." I don't have words to explain my actions, "I just... wanted to make sure," I look at her parted lips and then at her eyes, "that you were okay." I finish.
No reply. She just stands there like she has seen a ghost. "Are you okay?" I ask. No response. I understood if she was shocked to see me climbing into her room at this hour. But that was not it. She was feeling more than that. I take a step forward and she doesn't step back this time. She stays in her place.
I don't understand what to do. I contemplate with myself if I should go or stay here. "Do you want me to go?" I choose my words carefully. Still no reply.
I see a teardrop on her cheek. I want to reach out to her and wipe it from her cheek, but I don't. I stand there staring at her. She isn't the Valentina who kissed me in the cafeteria. She was rude, mean, bold, strong and didn't seem to care about others. The one in front of me was naïve, scared, broken and fragile like she would scatter down to earth any moment now. And when that happened I wanted to be there to hold all of the pieces together.
"Did you have your dinner? Casserole?" I take a long shot at her with that question. Maybe she will talk now. Instead, she breaks down into tears.
"Hey... Hey," I walk up to her, trying my best not to touch her. "Are you okay?"
She cries more. I finally give up, wrap my hand around and pull her into me. She gasps but doesn't move. Her gasp is my favourite sound of her.
She buries her face in my chest and cries. I want to comfort her, tell her whatever it is, it will pass and I am here for her. But I don't. I just stand there, waiting for her to stop crying.
We stand like that for about ten minutes when she finally calms down and stops crying. I want to see if she is okay, I begin to pull away but she tugs on me.
"Don't leave," her voice comes out weak. I smile.
"Okay, but are you okay?" She gives a slight nod. I can smell the casserole off her. That means she had her dinner. I wondered what happened to make her this upset.
She looks up at me and a tear falls down her cheek. I wipe it from my thumb. The tears keep dropping. Her eyes are red and swollen. She starts to cry again.
"Hey... Hey, It's okay. I'm here. It's going to be alright." I speak. She nods and gives me a hint of a smile.
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