Forever

Chapter 13 _ Estamos Juntas

As Juliana walked out her home with her backpack and a duffle bag, she had all her thoughts jumbled up. When she stepped out Valentina began bombarding her with questions and concerns. Juliana hadn't heard any of it she was too out of it to even notice Valentina standing right in front of her.

"Hello? Juls? Baby?" Valentina asked when she finally noticed Juliana had yet to even look at her.

"Hmm... oh um, actually can we do this later? I need time, I need space to think. This is too much right now. Please Val." Juliana said as her mind kept going.

Alirio had brought her car while Juliana was inside with her parents. Without waiting for a response from Valentina she went straight to her car and drove off. Driving always helped her think. She left a concerned and confused Valentina on the porch.

After Juliana left, Leon told his daughter to give Juliana some space. That Juliana needed that right now and she would call Valentina later. He insisted she head home while he tried to speak to Juliana's parents. Valentina was too worried to even think of heading home. She agreed to leave so her father could focus on Juliana's parents but there was no way in hell she would head home before speaking to Juliana. She told Alirio to head over to Juliana's favorite park. She couldn't just wait for Juliana to call her, she had to know her girlfriend would be okay. She thought that if there was anywhere she would find Juliana, it had to be there.

Juliana drove around town for a while. She drove down Florin Rd heading west until she reached the end of the street. She made a left and took that street for a few miles. She reached Garcia Bend Park which happened to be in front of the Sacramento River. She decided to stop briefly to get a bit of air. After about 5 minutes she got back into her car and began driving down Pocket Rd knowing it would eventually turn into Mack Rd leading her to the spot she felt safest.

After driving for about 15 minutes she arrived to her destination. She noticed Valentina's car waiting for her and decided to park next to it understanding it was time to face her after leaving so abruptly. Valentina noticed her right away and was out the car before Juliana even finished parking her car.

Once the girls were standing across from each other, Valentina spoke first. "I'm happy to see that you're okay for the most part." She said pulling Juliana into a hug.

They let go as Juliana began to pull Valentina by the hand towards the swings wanting more privacy.

"I'm sorry for leaving the way that I did. I just felt too overwhelmed by everything. That's what I do when I'm going through something, I run. I know that's not the right thing to do but it's what I'm used to and I'm sorry." Juliana said once they were each sitting on a swing, as she looked down towards the wood chips.

"Talk to me Juliana..." Valentina said in a small whisper.

After a quick second Juliana looked up and found Valentina's bright beautiful eyes staring back at her.

"I stood up for myself against the two people who I hoped would never turn their back on me. I honestly expected my dad to react in anger and probably even move me across the country. I expected my mom to be the reasonable one. I know she's very set in her ways and sees this as a sin so I don't know why I expected any more from her but she's my mom you know... I didn't think she's react as badly as she did. My dad on the other hand... something happened when my mom just kept throwing jab after jab. He took my side. A man who has always been against gay people, who always made fun of them. I don't know what happened but somehow he decided he didn't need to understand to love me as I am. I just... I don't know how to feel about all of this..." Juliana said the last sentence more to herself than Valentina who simply held her hand and gave it a squeeze every now and then in acknowledgement.