I love this gifset so much because it shows the slow steady progression of Juls’ understanding of her feelings.
I think up until the moment in that first row, Juls didn’t know what she was feeling. She had already started to fall for Val, but so much of that was just the foundation of friendship. Of discovering a connection with someone and the realization that you matter to them. Juls says she had never gotten a gift from anyone before, and Val gave her a necklace like it was nothing. But far more valuable to Juls was when Val noticed she was gone and cared enough to call her up. When Val showed up at her door with a pie and told Juls that she mattered and her problems were important too – like that was so huge.
But I don’t think Juls was in love with her yet. She didn’t feel nervous or was unable to look Val in the eyes for long periods of time before this. Not when Val helped her float in the pool, not when they hugged without any shirts on. Not even a few seconds earlier in the scene, touching Val’s waist or asking for her hand.
Nothing sparked until this little moment, when she realizes JUST how close their faces are and that she is going to be tell Val to look into her eyes like THAT. And her brain stops, stumbles, restarts. And from that point on, she’s hyper aware of how, where she touches Val.
Interestingly the camera doesn’t focus on her face after that in that scene but on their hands, the places they touch. That was the spark of recognition. Of want. That is beginning of the fall.
And by the time we get to the second row? Juls knew how she felt. It took almost losing Val and Val saying i love you – only to immediately hang up on her and deal with Lucho- that Juls realized, it was more than just friendship that she felt. Because we cut to her in the next scene and she is so angry, so upset that she goes on a rant about why God decided that some people get to have the things that they don’t get to have. She’s jealous.
And it is a bit jarring when we watch, it because what does she have to be angry about when Val apologized, until you realize who she is jealous of: Lucho.
Juls probably heard Val tell her “I love you” in a really NOT PLATONIC WAY that even Lucho recognized, and Juls realized how much wanted “te quiero” to mean “te amo.” And for Val to then immediately hang up on her, for Juls to be reminded that Val had other priorities like a boyfriend? HELLO MUTUAL PINING TROPE.
I never noticed how bittersweet and affected Juls was in that second row until now. Towards the end of each gif, there’s a bit of sadness in her face when she just looks away and feels Valentina close. In a small flash, you can see her struggling, thinking that she was alone in her feelings, thinking this is probably the closest she would get to Val looking at her like THAT. That if Val were sober, she would surely see how in love Juls was with her and how much she wished Val would look at her like that for real, and pull away. And Juls kind of hates herself for loving the feel of Val’s smile against her cheek and the small huff of breath on her neck…yet she is unable to pull away from Val and stop herself from melting against her touch when she is RIGHT THERE looking at her LIKE THAT. So she just looks way and lets herself feel.
And then you get to the third row where they’re both on the same page? Where Juls is so secure in her feelings and knowing that it is mutual. The way she is constantly seeking Val’s eyes, her gaze so freaking steady? *chef kisses*
