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    Nostalgia and Deal Breakers: A Short Story Collection
    Nostalgia and Deal Breakers: A Short Story Collection
    Nostalgia and Deal Breakers: A Short Story Collection
    Ebook109 pages1 hour

    Nostalgia and Deal Breakers: A Short Story Collection

    By M.P. Capellan

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    About this ebook

    This is a collection of standalone short stories. They can be read in no particular order as they are not connected. The general focus of the entire collection is, however, deal breakers, romantic love, lust, breakups, and bonds.

    Highlights from the book:

    "From my eighth floor, I usually have a fairly decent view of the city. Not today. Today, it looks chaotic. The sky turns a darker gray with every passing cloud. The only people out on the streets are running for shelter. The cool breeze curls my straight hair and I close my eyes, taking it all in, as every rain drop evaporates on my face. This must be what peace feels like."

    "You might call it a desperate loser move; I call it survival skills."

    "It is one of those weird mysteries of life, that when you're not looking for something that's when you find it. I didn't seek love. But one day, there was this open path leading to it and, without hesitation, I took it. And when I got there, it was beautiful and I felt...jazzed. Life suddenly made sense. Someone warned me that it was like a highly addictive drug, and I said to myself, 'I think I want to be high.'"

    "I’d been invisible to guys like him even after introduction."

    "They never talked about the rules of their relationship. At the same time, she wasn’t sure that having any rules would be better than having none."

    "Whoever said no one dies from lovesickness must’ve never felt this way. The stress you go through? I’m sure it leads to some serious health problems, and that’s when you die. I’ll try my best to stay alive."

    "What is it about being rejected that makes us feel even more drawn to the rejector? It should make no sense, but it’s our tragic human nature."

    "I offered her a tissue and a hug, both of which were well received."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherM.P. Capellan
    Release dateMar 2, 2018
    ISBN9781370230785
    Nostalgia and Deal Breakers: A Short Story Collection
    Author

    M.P. Capellan

    A linguist, illustrative storyteller, and a passionate human rights advocate, M.P. Capellán fell in love with words at a very young age. In addition to writing, she loves arts and crafts, reading about world history, traveling, and dancing.Her writing style is undefined, but for the most part she writes short contemporary romance stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Visit her online at www.marciacapellan.com to learn more about her and all her projects.

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      Book preview

      Nostalgia and Deal Breakers - M.P. Capellan

      Author’s Note

      WHILE THIS IS A WORK of fiction, some stories are based on true events. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

      Each story is standalone; however, the general focus of the collection is romantic love, lust, breakups, fate, bonds, and deal breakers. Note that one of the stories, When in REM, was previously published digitally, but it is now part of this collection only.

      The stories can be read in no particular order, as they are unconnected with one another.

      Past Midnight

      BRECK WAS WAITING BY the door when Valentina Rusafella pulled up to his driveway. He waved to get her attention and directed her to park next to his car, not behind it, since his roommate wasn’t home and there was room for two. Valentina mouthed an OK and did as instructed. She was nervous about meeting with Breck for the first time in three years, even though to her it felt like a decade.

      The two years prior, their encounters only lasted a couple of hours. She never understood why he would sometimes avoid her when he was in Boston, their hometown, but always demanded they got together whenever she was in Chicago, his home base. When Breck found out that she was in town, once again, he begged her to come see him at his apartment—an invitation Valentina never learned how to reject.

      She glanced at the clock on the dashboard as she turned off the headlights. Then, subtly, since Breck was still standing by the door, she grabbed her purse and readjusted her floral romper, combing her hair with her fingers at the same time. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve looked at herself in the mirror and touched up her lip gloss before getting out of the car. She knew how much Breck loved her full lips. She would’ve wanted to polish them for him. But she wouldn’t dare do that while Breck stood there gawking. Not Valentina. To her, everything had to be or at least appear to be natural.

      Wobbly knees and heart pumping out of her chest, she walked the ten feet to the door where Breck stood waiting with open arms.

      Hey you, he said, tenderly.

      Breck-freaking-Cameron, she said, disbelief in her tone.

      There, standing before the man she’d been infatuated with from the moment he kissed her, six years earlier, Valentina couldn’t hide her ear-to-ear grin. They were finally reunited.

      Breck chuckled. How’ve you been, baby? They hugged as if wanting to compress in one instant all the years they hadn’t felt each other’s skin. He then put a hand on her lower back and led her into his apartment.

      As soon as she walked in, Valentina was flooded with memories. She scoffed when she remembered how she met Breck’s roommate the first time, as she accidentally walked in on him and his girlfriend. After that night, she never got the two bedrooms’ doors mixed up again.

      The furniture and the paintings on the wall were all still the same, and so was the couch where she and Breck fell asleep in each other’s arms for the first time; and the small kitchen, the loud air conditioner, his scent...nothing seemed to have changed.

      She noticed only one small change: everything looked more organized. Picturing Breck running around, tidying up because she was coming over, put a smile on her face. He cleaned up his place for her and that made her feel special.

      Is that a new TV? Valentina asked of one of the only items in the room that looked out of place.

      Surprise on his face, Breck looked at her and then at the TV, and then back at her again. "When was the last time you were here, Miss?"

      She wanted to tell him the specific date and hours, but she didn’t want Breck to know that she’d been keeping track of the only few times they saw each other in the past since the time they first met.

      It’s been...quite a while, she said. That was the exact moment when she realized they never got together under normal circumstances. They never went out anywhere as friends, either. It was always his or her place, always after midnight. Valentina was now coming face to face with her reality; their friendship wasn’t a normal friendship, neither were they a couple. She ended up in his bed way too often to call their friendship normal. It was evident to her that intimacy was the only connection between them. She couldn’t deny that fact anymore, so she decided to play along. It’s two fifteen in the morning—show me a good time?

      Breck smirked. Wrapping his hands around her small waist, he pulled her closer. I always do, don’t I?

      The truth was Breck loved Valentina’s company, but only on his own terms. She was eager to grant him that wish because she loved his company just as much, if not more.

      Valentina waited three years for this moment—three agonizing years. She’d played their reunion in her head more times than the universe would’ve liked to allow. She remembered thinking, how would he react? Would the chemistry still be there? It turned out, for Valentina, fantasy played out better than reality. She stiffened when Breck held her close to his body. To her surprise, she was being shy and guarded around him. It’d been too long.

      Breck, the intuitive man that he was, could sense she wasn’t being herself and slowed things down. We need to loosen you up a bit, he playfully said. Come here. He brought her up to his lap as they both sat on the couch in the living room. What can I do to make you feel at home again?

      Valentina wanted to go into details and remind him that he knew just what to do, but she was starting to have reservations. Was she being easy if she allowed herself to be in a strictly sexual relationship with this man? They never talked about the rules of their relationship. At the same time, she wasn’t sure that having any rules would be better than having none. She perceived that Breck expected her to know what he wanted out of those encounters, and what he wanted was definitely not romance.

      He was clear with his actions, his intentions; just not with his words. She wondered if the feeling was, at any point, mutual; if Breck ever thought of her as anything other than a friend. Her mind was clearly too cluttered all of a sudden to engage in anything other than a conversation at that moment, so that’s what she did.

      You know what, I’ll have some alcohol if you have any, and we’ll go from there, she said, twirling her hair. Breck laughed and kissed her on the corner of her lips before getting up. It bought Valentina some time to rethink what she was doing—and to check him out. Barefoot, wearing a white tee and blue jeans, there was her enigmatic hippie; an ocean of mysteries she sometimes wished she hadn’t swum so deep into.

      His light brown wavy hair looked glossy and messy and she couldn’t wait to get her fingers tangled up in it. Valentina struggled to understand why, if they barely kept in touch, Breck was the only man in her twenty-five years of life who captivated her from the start and effortlessly stole her heart.

      Staring at the items in his fridge, Breck gave Valentina some options.

      Beer O.K.?

      Sure.

      He pulled two bottles out of the fridge, one for each.

      Valentina wrinkled her face at the first sip. Beer was never something she’d personally pick from the shelves, but it was alcohol nonetheless, something that she trusted could help with shutting down her anxiety for the night.

      Thirty minutes into their conversation, Valentina recalled why she enjoyed Breck’s company so much. He always listened to her ramblings attentively. This time, she let him do most of the talking as she was hypnotized by his furry lashes and fiery hazel gaze. She thought there couldn’t be anything better than drinking bitter beer if it meant she’d be making out with her all-time old flame all night.

      As the night progressed, it occurred to her that, although they’d talked about their lives in the

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