Follow Your Broken Heart
Summary: Kristina confesses to Michael what happened between she and Valerie.
Michael reached out to tug his sister gently out to the empty balcony, grabbing two glasses of champagne on the way out.
Once they were alone, he handed one to her and raised an eyebrow. "So...what happened between you and Valerie?" He asked curiously. His sister and cousin were close last he thought, but the way they'd behaved around each other and the way Valerie had gotten away from them so fast alarmed him.
Kristina laughed bitterly and took a large gulp of her champagne. "I screwed up a couple of weeks ago." She whispered with a shake of her head, brown hair bouncing on her shoulders with the movement. "It really freaked Valerie out and she hasn't spoken to me since."
He narrowed his eyes at that. "Wait...what could you have possibly done?"
His sister sniffled and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "She came into Charlie's and we started talking about ourselves. I ended up kissing her. I wasn't even planning on it. I was just looking at her and...it happened. Anyway, she didn't react well at all. She got mad at me and she left."
Michael cringed at that. "I'm sorry. Did you try and talk to her at all?"
Kristina shook her head miserably. "No." She whispered. "I tried to give her space. I hoped that eventually, she'd talk to me again. God, I am such a screw up!"
Michael sighed and wrapped her in his arms. "You're not a screw up, Kristina. You kissed someone. You're allowed to have feelings. There's nothing wrong with that."
She pulled away and looked at the night sky. "Come on, Michael. You have to admit, I don't make the best choices when it comes to romance. I mean, Kiefer? My entire crush on Ethan? How I tried to piss dad off by pretending to be involved with Johnny. Don't even get me started on Parker. And now Valerie? Maybe I'm destined to be alone."
He leaned into the balcony and then reached out to take her hands in his. "Hey, you're not destined to be alone, okay Krissy? You have a big heart and that's a good thing. Kiefer wasn't your fault. He abused you. And you were attracted to Ethan because he was so different from Kiefer. You might not have reacted in the best way, but that doesn't make you a bad person. Johnny...the Johnny thing is complicated. I mean...you wanted to hurt dad but his actions were his own. And Parker made you happy. She made you realize your sexuality. Just because things didn't work out with these people doesn't mean no relationship of yours ever will."
Kristina threw herself into his arms once more, lifting herself onto her toes to bury her face into his shoulder. "It just hurts so much." She mumbled sadly into his neck. "I don't get it. She kissed me back. She's kissed me before to make Parker jealous. I don't know how to fix this."
Michael felt his heart clench at the helpless tone of his sister's voice. He wanted so badly to fix things for her, but knew that he had to let Kristina do that on her own. "Listen, the only thing you can do is...talk to her. Tell her how you feel. Go from there."
"What if I lose her?" She asked. "She's my friend and I miss her."
"Then I'll help you through it." He promised.