CHAPTER TWELVE
Whilst waiting for her friend to arrive, she went up into her room to remover her dress and have a bath. Her mascara had smeared all over her face from crying, and she was sweating.
Just as finished, the doorbell rang.
She went down the stairs and opened the door to see Lila. Her friend had a two bags with her, a promise that she was about to have a taste of all the goodness of the earth.
She turned back into the living room, and slumped into the couch. The pity on the face of her friend brought her to tears again.
Lila rushed to her side, after dropping the bag on the table and hugged her to herself, "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. Seb is such an idiot for doing this to you. I am here now, and I will always be here for you. Do you want me to beat him up?
Even in her sobbing state, she still managed to chuckle at her friend's words.
They both sat there like that in silence for some minutes, Lila's hand wrapped around her and she, nestled between her arms. Once the sniffles had stopped, she untangled herself from Lila's embrace and reached for one of the pints of ice cream on the table.
"You got pizza, too?
"Yeah, I figured you would want to stress-eat, as per that's your coping mechanism".
Val pouted, her lips trembling again, "you know me so well. Why can't Seb be like you?
"Hey, no more tears over the stupid boy. What do they say about crying over spilt milk? It's no use, exactly. Let's put on a show and bite into the goodness that is ice cream. We will talk about this later but for now, you have to take it easy".
Two episodes of 'Lucifer' later, Val had slept off, unaware of the things around her. Silently, Lila stood and went up into her room to get a cover and laid it on her, tucking her in gently.
She then cleared the table and cleaned all thay had used, knowing how much her friend valued her hygiene. When she was done, she laid on the floor beside her, using some of the covers she had gotten as a fort and pillow.
The smell of pancakes wafted through Valeria's nose, woke her up the next morning. Lots of groans stretches later, the events of last night creeper into her head again reminding her about Lila that had dropped in to check on her.
'That must be Lils in the kitchen', she wondered aloud.
She went into the guest's bathroom that was downstairs to wash her face and used one of the many extra toothbrushes to clean her mouth. Once she felt refreshed enough, she walked back into the living room just in time to see Lila placing the plates of food on the dining.
"Good morning, babes. Did you sleep well?
"Yes, I did. Thank you for yesterday and for doing all these even when you didn't have to".
"Of course, I had to. Who else if not me? Here, the table is set, you just have to clean up and eat".
"I have done that. I used the guest's room, I was too tired to walk up the stairs".
"That's alright".
They both sat down to eat and when they had finished, they did the dishes together in silence until Lila spoke up.
"So…you did not really tell me what you decided on. I have had the papers prepared since you told me to, you just have to sign them and give it to him to sign to, and submit it along with your evidence. Pleaseeee, tell me you filmed the whole thing, cause that's your only solid evidence against them".
"Not for once did that cross my mind, what am I gonna do? She confessed. Truly, all she had in mind was to get home and sleep, she totally forgot she needed concrete evidence to submit to the court. 'Damn, I am dense'. She thought in her mind.
"Okay, I know you are beating yourself up in thatbhead of yours, don't do that. Most women wouldn't remember to document anything too, it's not your fault and you are not dense", her friend reprimanded her.
"We just have to hope that Seb will sign the papers and not give us problems. But, if worse comes to worse, we have to find a way of getting evidence. Now, I know they are not dumb and would have probably made provisions to have tamper with the CCTV during that time. There's only one way, which is to catch them in the act again, but this time, has to be filmed".
"WHAT? NO. NUH-UH. NAH. NA-DA. I was lucky enough not to be caught yesterday, what if they catch on to me? Val said, her face full of worry and anxiety.
"Hey, hey, hey. What did I tell you? I am here for you and if that includes going with you, then imma come with you. We will cross that bridge when we get there".
Throughout their conversation, Lila had been using 'we', 'our', and 'us'. She handled the problem like it was hers and for that, Val was grateful to God for giving her such self less best friend.
"Again, thank you, babes. Thank you so much. Honestly, I don't know whether I would survive without you. I am so grateful to whatever entity made us cross paths".
"Yeah, you can't do much without me, that I know", she said while smiling cheekily, and they both shared a laugh.
Once they had finished, Val cleaned up whil Lila prepared for work. Some minutes later, she was at the door ready to leave.
"Alright, let me know how things go, keep in touch. Byee".
"Bye, babes. I will do just that".
After sharing goodbyes, she went back into the living and sat in the couch, scrolling mindlessly on her phone.
Just then she heard the door open, thinking it was Lila, she didn't bother raising her head up from her phone and said, "did you forget something?
Not hearing a response, she lifted her head and it wasn't Lila standing in the living room.
Seb stood there, a scowl on his face.