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☆✼★━━━━━━━━★✼☆
THE TV WAS lit up in Valentina's living room, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show was playing. Valentina sat with her knees up to her chest, wearing an oversized pullover and jogging bottoms, her head resting on the shoulder of her best friend, Emilia. She had come over shortly after the phone call, refusing to leave her friend alone on a Friday night, after the bad news she had received.
The table in front of them was strewn with bottles of cheap red wine, glasses that had been filled and refilled, empty boxes of chocolates, and boxes of tissues. It was the scene of a girl with a broken heart. Emilia hated to see Valentina like this, but she wanted to cheer her up the best she could. She had bought the wine and chocolates from a supermarket on her way over, and she decided to stay the night, not wanting to leave her friend alone.
Valentina had been watching the screen with blank eyes for a long time, as if she were looking through the tv. The expression on her tear stained face was emotionless, even though underneath this, she had a million feelings crashing around her body. She stood up abruptly, walking over to the TV and turning it off. Emilia looked at her with a concerned and empathetic expression. "What?" she asked, her soft tone now even more so than usual.
"I don't get it, Emilia. I don't understand why.." she stopped for a moment as a lump formed in her throat, and tears threatened to spill again. "Why he would do that to me, when he promised not to. I actually trusted him not to break my heart. He knew I was damaged. I don't understand" she looked empty when she finished speaking, her whole body felt numb and almost hollow. She didn't think she had any tears left to cry anymore.
She as she finished speaking, and Emilia opened her mouth to speak, the phone rang. Emilia looked at it with a suspicious expression. "I'll get it. It's probably Mary, she must have heard..." she took a deep breath again, reaching for the phone.
"Hello?" her voice was quiet, reluctant.
She thought it was just a wrong number when nobody spoke for a few seconds, she was about to put it down when she heard someone begin talking. "Hi, it's..it's me. Valentina, I don't know what to say apart from sorry-" it was Roger, and the sound of his voice made her stomach turn. How dare he now call her, after not having the decency to tell her what happened himself.
"You fucking asshole!" she called into the phone, "you call me now, but you didn't have to balls to tell me yourself about what you did, so you got your mate to do it for you. What are you, twelve, Roger? I fucking trusted you not to break my heart, you promised to me that you would treat me right. Is this your idea of right? Sleeping with some little fucking whore while your away on tour? Did you think I wouldn't need to know? You've put me through so much pain Rog, I don't want to hear it. Call me never" she had no idea where it all came from, but she abruptly slammed the phone back down, placing her face in her hands immediately. Emilia rushed to her friends side, wrapping her arms around her.
On the other end of the line, in Amsterdam, Roger stood out in a phone box, the cold night air slipping in and making him shiver in his large fur coat. He stared sadly at the phone in front of him, looking for answers. Thinking that maybe if he stared at it long enough, she'd somehow call back and he could explain properly and apologise one million times until they were back to the happy couple they were in the summer haze that now seemed a thousand years away. He debated calling back, but there was no way she would answer. He got what he deserved, and he had just lost the love of his life, because he had been too drunk to think straight. Tears slipped down his face, and he left the phone box, lighting a cigarette as he moped back to the hotel.
•••
It had been a week since the phone call from Brian, and Valentina had not heard again from Roger. She was glad that he must have really got the message. It wasn't like him to give up, but perhaps he wanted to respect her wishes. At least he could do that.
She had been laying in bed for most of the days, only getting up to go to the toilet, or eat a little food, but she was barely ever hungry. She hadn't showered for a while, due to lack of energy to even do the small things, and she mostly just slept. She had never been like this, even after what happened with her ex. She was the type of woman to just get on with it, but this felt different. She had really fallen head-over-heels for Roger, and she felt the saddest she had been for a very long time. She knew she couldn't call in sick to work and stay holed up in her flat forever, but she daren't face the outside world.
It was 2'o clock on a Sunday, and she heard a loud knock on her door. She dragged herself out of bed, taking a brief glance at herself in the mirror, she looked awful. Her face was pile, her eyes were dark, her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in weeks - because well, it hadn't. She wore only a very large button up shirt, and she opened the door slowly, only to see her best friend.
Emilia had been coming to check up on her every day, just to see how she was. It was depressing to see her in such a bad way, and it was starting to really make her worry. Valentina felt a little disappointed as Emilia walked in, all clean glossy hair, floral scented perfume and put together outfit. It made Valentina feel like some kind of sad swamp gremlin.
"Afternoon, beautiful lady. I came by to see how you're doing again, and well, it's clearly not very good. This makes me upset, because I know that you're capable of being a strong, brave, confident and wonderful woman. Don't misunderstand, you still are all of those things, but I don't think its doing your mental health any better to be holed up in your house, wallowing in your sadness. You are allowed to be upset, it's normal, but this is getting a little too sad. I want you to try and have a shower, put on something nice, and come for a walk through the park with me. Just a gentle walk, the fresh air will do wonders for you" Emilia smiled her perfect smile, and somehow, the idea didn't sound awful.
Valentina sighed, "thanks Em. You're so good to me. I'll go and take a shower, then I'll meet you in there" she gestured to the living room. Emilia nodded. "Good" she grinned.
Valentina took a hot shower, washing her hair and letting the water soothe her whole body. It felt good to get clean, she felt as though she were washing away everything that had happened. She got out and put on her favourite pair of flared jeans, and a little red fitted cardigan that she loved. She dried her hair a little and put it in one long braid, and left her face makeup-free. She walked into the living room and managed to smile weakly at Emilia, who had looked up as she entered the room.
"You look beautiful" Emilia smiled.
"Thanks Em. Shall we go?" She asked, still sounding rather tired.
"Let's". She put on a brown fur coat and some boots, and they left the flat, and Valentina actually felt unbelievably refreshed to leave her tiny four walls, and get out again. She had built it up to be scary in her head, but it was okay. They took a nice long walk through the park, and enjoyed the crisp, early spring sunshine. They even stopped in a small cafe for a coffee and something to eat. Valentina was beginning to feel human again.
Her heart would be broken for a long time, but maybe, with enough time, she would be able to heal from this.
a u t h o r s n o t e ! the end.... SIKE! i'm so mean just kidding friends, don't worry, there are still a few more chapters left, and a lot could happen in those next chapters! sorry for the long wait, i've had a lot of study, updates will be more regular now as i've finished writing this book🥺.
this was v angsty, but this book hasn't had much of that so it was kinda fun to write. one of the chapters that's coming up is amazing and it's full of badass Val and i'm so excited for u to read it!
