Earned It

#TheTalkAndTheTurn

Val was standing by the bar getting a drink when Rumer tapped his back lightly. He quickly spun around to check who it was. He saw that it was her and he couldn't just walk away now. He saw on her face how nervous she was and how it looked like it took all her courage to go up to him.

"Hey." She said meekly. She tried to look him in the eye but she shied away.

"Hey." He replied with the same tone also not able to directly look at her as he tried to preoccupy himself with his drink. The entire vibe around them was extremely awkward. They spent a few seconds avoiding eye contact and waiting for the other to talk. They both had something to say but it's just a matter of who wants to risk their ego first.

Rumer thought it was speak now or forever hold your peace so she made the first move. "Can we talk but not here?" She bravely asked and when he nodded she took his hand to drag him away from the crowd. Val eyed their hands but Rumer paid no attention. She directed him to the other side of the house where there was no one but the two of them.

There was a wooden bench overlooking the city and she chose to sit there. He as well sat down but there was a conscious space between the two like they were going to combust if they made any direct contact. Yet again there was silence between them. This has been becoming a routine for the night. Awkward silence.

It took them a few more minutes before one of them spoke.

"I'm sorry." Val said with remorse in his voice. Rumer looked at him. She was glad that finally they were talking. That he was finally talking.

"No. I'm sorry." She replied placing a hand on his arm. Now they were facing each other fully.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Val said before taking Rumer's hands into his. "If there's someone at fault here it's me. I totally caught you off guard. We made a deal and we both agreed to itl but I broke your trust and did what I did. I kissed you out of the blue and I know I shouldn't have done that. Even without the deal, as a sign of respect to you I shouldn't have done that. But for a moment there, when you kissed me back I thought that you felt the same way but I was wrong." This was it. Rumer does feel the same way and it's her chance to say that. She was pep talking herself in her head to just tell Val that he was wrong and that she was in love with him.

"But I do..." Rumer began to speak but Val cut her off and paid no attention to what she said.

"I know what you're going to say. You don't want anything to change. That you don't want our partnership to be affected by this and I completely get you. I want that too. I don't want my stupid mistake to ruin us. It was wrong of me to do what I did and then abandon you during rehearsals. I just really needed some time to think things over. And I want to assure you that I fully understand that we can never happen and that you and I will always be just friends and I accept that. I actually have you to thank because you've enlightened me that I might be overlooking someone around me who might be the one." She was lost for words at this point of the conversation. Here she was planning to confess her undying love but here he was saying that he found someone else like he didn't just confess his version of his undying love a few days ago.

"So you have nothing to fear. We'll be back to normal like nothing happened. We'll dance our way to the championships. I still remember my promise. We'll win that mirror ball." She knows she should probably say it now and correct him but she didn't.

"Of course." That's all she said with a forced smile on her face. She was sure that he's on the road to moving on and there's no point in saying how she feels now. She had her chance but she lost it. The universe has given her a chance to say what she feels but she took a rain check and now here we are.

"Ok." He said with a genuine smile. "So rehearsals tomorrow? We have a Viennese Waltz to perfect."

"I'll be there." She said forcing herself not to sound depressed. "Let's go back to the party. They might be looking for us." She wanted to run and hide to cry her eyes out so she needs a quick escape.

"Yeah we should. So we good?"

"Yeah. Of course we are. We're totally good!"

They started to walk towards the crowd and as soon as they got there Rumer grabbed a bottle of whatever she can and went for the quick run out of Val's sight and into one of her sister's rooms.

She sat on one corner and hugged her legs while she take occasional swigs from the bottle of brandy she quickly swiped outside. At first she was just plain out of it. Her gaze was fixed on an invisible object from afar but as everything replayed in her mind she couldn't help but let tears roll from her eyes. She hugged her legs closer to her chest and buried her head between them as her shoulders went up and down because of her sobs.

There was a faint knock on the door but she chose to ignore it. A few seconds later the doorknob turned and two people got in and rushed to Rumer's side.

"What happened?" It was her youngest sister asking her. There was worry in her voice since she was not used to seeing her sister in this state. Usually, she's the strong one who doesn't give a shit about whatever crap the universe gives her.

"I'm too late." This was all Rumer could muster in between loud sobs and heavy breathing.

"What do you mean you're too late?" Scout inquired. "What did he say?"

"He doesn't want a relationship with me anymore. He thinks what happened was a mistake and when I rejected him he realized that he's in love with someone else."

"What?" The two younger Willis said.

"That's bullshit?" Tallulah said with annoyance in her voice together with disbelief as she tries to rationalize the information her sister is giving her.

"He said so himself. He's in love with someone else and I made him realize that." She argued as she takes another drink.

"It's impossible to get over someone that fast. He's shitting you! Did you tell him you love him?" Scout reasoned. Rumer shook her head as a sign that she didn't.

"Why didn't you?"

"Because he said he was in love with someone else. So what's the point of saying it? So I can get a slap on my face when he tells me, this time, it's him who doesn't feel the same way and then we can call it even." For someone who was ranting and whining and crying she can still be sarcastic.

"You should've told him because he needs to know. What do you plan on doing now? Pretend like nothing happened and just go back to rehearsals, be all touchy with each other and expect not to feel anything and then magically move on?"

"I just want to be alone right now." The two younger girls didn't want to argue and decided to give their sister the space she wanted.

"Fine, we'll leave but we're taking the bottle." Tallulah said pointing at the bottle of brandy she was holding. Rumer was about to protest but her sister immediately cut her off. "If you want to cry, cry. If you want to scream, scream. You can have a heartbreak fest without alcohol." She grabbed the bottle from her sister's hands. "This will just make you do crazy things. Drunk calls, drunk talks, and anything done while drunk are usually the things that will further complicate the already existing complicated things."

Rumer didn't argue anymore and just sat there in silence as her sisters made their way out the door.

A/N: Hey. I hope you're liking the flow. Do comment and share with your friends. I don't know much Valenrue fans so yeah. :)))