On paper, Pete and Valentina are perfect for each other. Their friends used 'soulmates' when describing them and at one point they were. As they reflect on the last five years of their relationship, they try to understand the complexity of their lov...
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The rest of the night was spent gorging on homemade tamales and catching up. The sound of forks scraping against the ceramic dinner plates, the clinking of wine glasses, and raucous laughter filled the three bedroom apartment.
It is three a.m., New York time; the stars, though barely visible, are twinkling under the black night. Hardly a soul is out on the streets of Washington Heights at this time, daylight savings adding that one hour to everyone's clocks.
Normally, Valentina and Mateo would be dying to sleep at this time. With their strict schedule, the young ballerina and pianist would be in bed by nine p.m. in order to get their full eight hours of sleep. Pete, on the other hand, was unfazed by the time; his circadian rhythm is so out-of-whack, he's lucky that could get some sort of shut-eye.
Christian and Lucas, funnily enough, have forgotten that time difference was a thing. When they looked at their watches, the couple profusely apologized to their daughter and godson for keeping them up so late; they start clearing the table and washing the dishes.
Taking his phone out of his pocket, Pete tries to figure out if he can catch the last train back home. It'll be tight but if he left now and sprinted to the station, he might just make it.
"Cielo, did you hear anything at all?" Valentina asks. Pete directed his attention to the tired girl and raised an eyebrow. He noticed that her parents stood right next to her. It's quite comical how they are standing together, as if they were the quintessential representation of the modern American family.
"You're spending the night," Christian instructs.
"And no objections. It wouldn't be right to let you leave at this hour," Lucas explains.
"You can take my room," Valentina offers to her boyfriend.
He did not like this, not one bit. As much as he loved Val, he just did not want to be here. You see, throughout the night, Pete marveled at the small family unit: two happy parents and a beautiful daughter. When observed them catching up, they did not leave a single detail out. From Mateo informed Pete, the Perez men were very involved in their daughter's life. He saw how they were untouched by traumatic life-changing events.
Does a part of him envy what she has?
A complete family?
Despite what he was feeling, he accepted the invitation.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Out of all the times he has been over to Val's apartment, he's never seen her room before. The walls were painted a pastel pink; glow-in-the-dark stars were meticulously placed on the low ceiling. Up against the window is a bed with lavender sheets and crisp white pillows, a stuffed teddy bear comfortably sitting on top.
In the corner, a tiny dresser stood tall; a small sewing basket, nail polish, a potted cactus (which he was mesmerized by for some reason, maybe because he's never seen one in real life before), photo frames, and a blue music box are arranged on its surface. Pete opens the music box and hears the classic Swan Lake tune play. The corner of his mouth slightly pull up when he looked at the pictures. One was of a teenage Val and Mateo dressed as Hermione and Harry. Another is of Christian and Lucas holding a baby Val. The third one was of her and Pete, it was taken after celebrating two months of dating.
He picked it up to take a closer inspection, remembering that Val had asked a stranger to take a picture of them. The ballerina has her arm around his neck and looks at him affectionately, Pete has the same lovesick expression and smiles broadly back at her.
He puts the frame back in its spot when he heard a soft tapping on the bedroom door.
Opening the door, it revealed his five foot two girlfriend; she was dressed in a oversized white t-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants, her hair in a messy bun and a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of her nose.
"Can I come in?" she whispered.
He nods and lets her in. The ballerina quietly steps into the room but then picks up her pace. She lightly jogs and jumps onto the bed, letting out a soft "oomph" when she lands.
Seeing her getting comfortable in the bed, a weak chuckle escapes from Pete's lips. He always imagined that when they would first sleep together, it would be a product of a sexy and romantic night that he had planned. He also certainly did not think that her best friend and parents would in the rooms next to them.
After brushing his teeth, Pete takes off his shirt to which Valentina mimes throwing singles at him, making Pete suppress a laugh. The Staten Islander peels the covers off and slides in with his girl. Valentina moves to face him, the moonlight accentuating his beauty. She soaks in the sight in front of her; she runs her hand through his hair, traces his jawline with her finger.
The feeling of her touch allowed serenity enter Pete's body.
In this state of peace, his mind revisited the resentment he felt towards Valentina. He felt guilty. It shouldn't bother him, he was seven when his dad died and you don't understand things when you're seven. After deciphering his feelings, Pete ultimately decided that he's not going to let that get to him or to his relationship with the girlfriend.
No, he will not.
He has to move on and focus on the present. Pete kisses Val's forehead and re-positions their bodies so they can be spooning.
His relationship with Christian and Lucas demonstrated to him that even with our profound losses are survivable. Even moreso, it's the ability to turn that loss into something positive. Pete misses his dad tremendously, but as long as Valentina is in his life, he'll have two surrogate fathers.
As the years passed, the Perez men treated Pete like a son. When Pete needed advice, he would call them. They showed the comedian how to properly dance to Latin music. They even went with him to buy his first suit for his first comedy special.
The New Yorker came to realize that it didn't matter who his dad was, what mattered was how he remembered him. He'd go on to share stories about him with Valentina. She'd listened to them carefully, like a child hanging onto every word of a bedtime story. What made it even more special was the ballerina asking him to share more memories of his father with her.
That's what he loved about Valentina and made her different from the other girls he previously dated. She took the time to listen to him and ask how he felt about it.
If he only did the same for her, then everything would've been fine.
They would've been fine.... right?
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hey y'all, i'm back!
first of all, thank you for being so patient with me as i grieved over my dog. thank you for the messages, it meant a lot to me.
second of all, 2.3k reads?! holy shit guys! i can't believe it, thank you.
anyways, we're starting to see the stressors of their relationship and i'm really excited (as a writer lol) to explore this theme that i have yet to reveal. it's a theme, well, a life lesson that is very dear to my heart that i think everyone should know.
