VAL DAY-SANCHEZ

Copyright © 2016 Val Day-Sanchez

All rights reserved.

Steph chased me to the stairwell. She didn’t grab at me, she didn’t raise her voice, she just smiled at me and slowly walked closer to me. My entire body relaxed as she wove her hands around my waist. How could these be the same hands that had swung at me? She pulled me close, gently at first and then so tight we were pressed up against each other. Her lips landed upon mine and I kissed them hungrily, my arms and legs wrapped around her. She pushed me back over the side of the thirteen floor railing and I only kissed her harder.

My body upside down, my life in her hands but that was nothing new. She pulled me back over the railing and pushed my back against the wall.

“Don’t you ever leave me.” She begged, her eyes soft and sad. Her cheeks were plump hiding her dimples. She was so beautiful. She was sweet and funny and she loved me.

“I can’t go back in there.” I pointed at the apartment, the door was wide open from when she’d run after me. I felt my knees go weak as I imagined how’s she’d literally chased me. That’s how much she loved me.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Stay here and I’ll pack us a bag. We’ll go away. Let the bad spirits move on organically, without us in the way.”

I cling onto her hand, afraid that if she leaves, this side of her won’t return. That ugly person, who had left me for four days will take her place. The person who had drawn blood with her fist. She squeezes my hand and then disappears into that horrible place that ruined my girlfriend.

***

Steph’s idea of a make-up weekend is to take us to her mom’s house upstate. After train ride with two connections we arrive in Poughkeepsie. The frigid air is somehow colder than the city. An opportunity that Steph uses to increase body contact.

Steph’s mom is Trish, she meets us at the train station. She has big dyed red hair that is not moving an inch in the wind that is bellowing into us. She hugs me and a series of perfumes, essential oils and scented lotions fight for my attention.

“Steph, girlfriend, both yous get in the car. It’s fuckin freezing.”

It’s always strange being at your partner’s parent’s house. You’re almost comfortable because you see traces of your partner there. You get glimpses of who they are but then you are reminded that you have only one connection with these people, your partner. In the back of your mind you know that if they had to; they would choose your partner over you, no matter what. You don’t fault them for it because you know how basic human nature works. At the same time you hope they don’t fault you for never really trusting them. I respect this, only kissing Steph when Trish is out of the room, pretending not to mind sleeping in separate rooms, even to the point where Trish rolls her eyes. I don’t tell her that I hate mustard after she insists on pouring it on my potato salad. I don’t bore her with my doctoral research, offering to talk about reality shows and sports instead. By the time we’re sitting under a blanket on the porch with our hot cocoa and peppermint schnapps I think she likes me. She sends Steph inside to find her stash.

“You seem nice.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s not a compliment.”

I sort of buckle, bracing for impact.

“Steph doesn’t know what to do with nice, she’ll beat it out of you. She’s like her father that way.”

Steph had never mentioned her dad. I assumed she never knew him. I sit down the cocoa and realize my hand is shaking. Before I can respond, Steph is back on the porch, holding a joint.

Valerie Day-Sánchez enjoys reading and writing across genres, although young adult is her favorite at the moment. Threshold and its companion novel, Peak are her first attempts at Sci-Fi. Her other work consists of YA Fantasy Trilogy, Harlow Whittaker and contemporary fiction novel, Green Chile Cheese Fries. She received both her B.A. and M.A. in Communication Studies from New Mexico State University. Her love of the desert Southwest keeps her close to home although she loves to travel, especially when she gets a chance to try the local cuisine. Playing with her two sons and the family’s Boston Terrier, Winston, are how she occupies her time when she’ not writing.