Poached Pear #14, Sangria #30
Author: winebabe
Title: I Would Do Anything
Story: The Gemini Occurrence
Rating: PG-13 (vague mentions of drug use)
Flavor(s): Poached Pear #14: dazed & confused; Sangria #30: nothing happens unless first a dream
Word Count: 2,439
Summary: 2026. Jo doesn't know what it's like to live life above the underground, and Adelina is sparkling and pristine.
Notes: Johanna Montemayor/Adelina Garland, Isidro Montemayor. (My return-debut is all about exploring some minor characters. Fun!)
Johanna wakes after the sun has set, her face pressed into the one pillow she owns, breathing in the scent of stale smoke and alcohol fumes from the leftover rum in the glass beside her bed. There is day-old eyeliner smeared under her eyes, blending into her dark skin with all the grace of a 2007 emo kid. There's black on her pillow, black on her fingers, and when she opens her eyes, the room around her is black.
"Jo!" The door shakes with the force of Isidro's pounding.
"I'm up!" she shouts back, and that gets the pounding to cease. In the calm that follows, she finds her phone in the folds of her comforter and turns on the flashlight to make her way across her room. The screen is cracked around the upper left corner, and Johanna absently picks at the glass as she unlocks her bedroom door.
Isidro is standing there, arms folded across his chest, looking too good to set foot in her building, let alone her apartment. He's still in his suit, with that stupid mustache she hates, looking more like a mayor in the 1970s than a man with a cushy government job. He leans back when she reaches up to pinch at his upper lip.
"Shave that," she demands. "You look old."
"I am old." He's too stern, too fatherly as he pulls a wad of cash out of his jacket pocket and hands it over to her. "Your allowance."
"Thank God," Johanna sighs. She runs her thumb against the edge, unconcerned with the amount so much as the weight of it. She's not ungrateful; whatever Isidro gives her, she'll take. It just feels nice in her hands after a week with little more than pocket change.
"You need to lock your front door," Isidro tells her, shaking his head. "I walked right in. You don't care?"
"I don't care about what?" She pushes past him to pad her way into the kitchen. He follows behind her, his footsteps heavy on the wooden floor, and leans against the counter while she starts making coffee.
"Your safety," he answers, drumming his fingertips on the counter top. "You're unconcerned about people just walking in."
"Because they won't," she argues. Isidro rolls his eyes when she glances over her shoulder at him, and she sighs to herself as she continues filling her coffee pot with water. "Isi, you see where I live! No one is going to break in here, expecting me to have anything of value."
"Your body is of value," Isidro says, and she almost gags.
"You're disgusting! What kind of thing is that for a brother to say?"
"It's the truth!" he shouts, motioning at her with both hands. "That's what these men do! Do I have to tell you how many rapes have--"
"No," Johanna cuts him off, "you don't. In fact, you really shouldn't mention it at all, Isidro. Thanks for the concern, but I can take care of myself."
He glares at her with all the intensity of a frustrated parent. "Just because I got you a gun does not mean you can throw caution to the wind, Johanna!"
"Yeah, yeah," she says and leans across the counter to pat him on the chest, "I hear you."
"I don't think you do," he says, but Johanna's already walking away from him and into her bedroom.
"Can you go, please?" she shouts from behind the closed door. "I'm having company soon!"
"Company!" Isidro exclaims in return. "You just woke up!"
"My girlfriend is coming over," Johanna replies, and that seems to shut him up for a minute. "My Soulmate, if you want to get technical," she adds, just because she knows the shock value is going to disarm her composed brother. He hasn't seen the heart on her inner wrist; he didn't even know she was involved with anyone.
Isidro's stunned silence lasts just long enough for Johanna to tie her hair up, and he's still gaping at her door when she opens it to show him the glow.
"See?" She giggles when he gingerly takes her wrist in both hands, looking down in shock at the radiant crystalline object. "You worry too much. I'm doing just fine for myself."
"Madre de Dios," Isidro says, very quietly, and then looks up at Johanna. "Does Mamá know?"
She knew the question would be asked, but Johanna is still frustrated by it. "Yes," she says, and rolls her eyes. Their exceptionally Catholic mother did not, unsurprisingly, accept the news of her daughter's newfound lesbian romance--at least until she saw the heart. "Mamá can't deny a Soulmate," she says, glancing down at her wrist. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."
"Good." Isidro nods. "Good. Well--wow."
"Yeah," she breathes. "Wow is right. Now, can you leave me alone so I can get ready? I don't really want Adelina seeing me like this, alright?"
"You need to call me more," Isidro insists as she ushers him towards the door. "You tell me nothing about your life, and then when I come by to visit, you kick me out! That's no way to treat family, Johanna."
"I'm locking the door from now on," she says, smiling as she slowly shuts the door on him. "Just so we can avoid nights like this! Thanks, bro!"
"Johanna!" Isidro says, but the door clicks shut and she does lock it behind him. His footsteps retreat down the hallway after only a brief pause, and Johanna can hear him muttering to himself in Spanish as he walks away.
"Jesus Christ," she whispers to herself, shaking her head as she walks to the bathroom to wash up.
There is only so much Johanna can do to clean up in the ten minutes before she hears Adelina knock on her door, but the smeared makeup is gone from her face, and she's at least in clean clothes, wearing vanilla body spray. She's clean and smells nice and it's more than she could ask for.
Her apartment is an embarrassing wreck compared to the mansion that Genevieve lives in, and she's self-conscious as she opens the door for Adelina, knowing her girlfriend's friend has so much more to give her. All she has is a wealthy brother and a number of seedy connections, and she's convinced that maybe, despite their Soulmate ties, Adelina will come to her senses and leave.
But when Adelina steps inside the apartment, she only smiles and says, "It smells like coffee in here. I hope you plan on offering me some."
"Of course!" she nearly squeals, and reaches up to cup the face of the beautiful girl in front of her. "Welcome," she tells her, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
"Thanks for inviting me." Adelina's hair is lighter, more of a golden brown color now, and Johanna can't put into words how lovely it looks on her. She looks like a goddess, kissed by the sun with her golden hair, her tanned skin, and when Johanna does speak, all she can manage is a feeble compliment.
"I like your hair."
Adelina's hazel eyes seem to sparkle as she smiles. "Thank you! I thought it was time for a change, with everything going on, and--well." She stops speaking abruptly, pressing her lips together. "I shouldn't talk about it, right? That's not...romantic."
"You can talk about whatever." Johanna pulls two mugs down from the cabinet and sets them on the counter. "I'm serious. Besides, I'm not so good at being romantic. So, I'm not even going to try."
"Jo," Adelina says, smiling and rolling her eyes in a way that is just too cute for Johanna, "don't act like this is so high-pressure. We're just hanging out."
"Right," she replies, bringing the coffee pot over to the counter. Adelina looks too comfortable there, leaning over the counter, cupping her mug in two hands like this is a routine for them. Like it's something that she's used to, instead of it being her first time in her new girlfriend's apartment. The way she seems so at ease only makes Johanna more nervous. "Creamer--shit."
"I got it," Adelina tells her, and Johanna stands there like an idiot while she watches Adelina go into her fridge, push around a few containers and liquor bottles, and finally pull out two containers of creamer. "Any preference? I think I'll use the french vanilla one."
"Me too." The Cinnabon creamer is suddenly infantile and embarrassing as Adelina gives it one final glance before shoving it back into the fridge. She wishes she could say she drinks her coffee black, and doesn't know why she's so worried about her imagine all of a sudden.
"So, how are things?" Adelina sets the creamer down on the counter and circles back around to the other side, directly across from Johanna. She pushes her mug over to her so it can be filled with coffee, one hand still wrapped around it. "What have you been up to?"
"Working," Johanna answers. "Hanging out with you. Um, things have been okay. How about you, though? How's Gen doing?"
Johanna curses herself in the moments that follow, because she didn't want to broach the subject. In fact, she had been mentally making notes to avoid talking about Genevieve, Jude's death, and everything else involved but somehow the words come tumbling out of her mouth, anyway.
"I'm fine," Adelina says, carefully pouring the creamer into her nearly-full mug. "Geni is...well, she's good and she's not good. I don't think she was prepared for the aftermath--I don't think we were," she corrects herself. "Jude is gone, and that's good. But you can't just erase someone with no consequences."
"I told her to think carefully before she used it," Johanna insists. "I told her there was no going back, and she had to accept whatever came after, and that--"
Adelina reaches across the counter to place her hand on Johanna's. The action immediately silences her. "I'm not blaming you. I was a part of this, too. And Geni wanted it."
Johanna nods; the desperation she'd seen had been part of the reason she was so eager to help. Any man who made a woman that miserable deserved to die, there was no doubt about that. "What about the police, though? Are they looking into it? Do they think it's suspicious?"
"I don't think so." Adelina sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. "She hasn't said anything, and she would have told me. He's already been buried. The family is just upset, and who wouldn't be when someone dies so young?"
"Right." Johanna takes a moment to pour her own coffee, adding in some creamer and stirring it with her finger instead of dirtying a spoon. She doesn't know what to say, really; how can you feel like you've known someone forever, but still toe the line of having just met? It doesn't feel like Adelina's first time at her apartment, and it doesn't feel like they've known each other only a little more than a month and a half.
Adelina is so perfect, though. So composed, just like Isidro, always knowing what to say and how to act. She's not awkward or uncomfortable, but when she speaks, she doesn't have the same familiarity in her tone that Johanna wants to hear. She can lean over her counter and rifle through her fridge like she's done it a million times, but when she opens her mouth, she sounds like an acquaintance, and Johanna doesn't know how to act.
"Do you want to sit down?" Adelina asks, motioning to the small loveseat by the window, and Johanna cringes.
"I'm sorry. I'm an awful host. I was supposed to ask you that."
"Oh, shut up," Adelina laughs, "you're too hard on yourself. Come on, let's sit down. We have a lot of catching up to do, after all."
Johanna smiles. "Okay," she says, and finally relaxes a little. It's easy, even, when Adelina reaches out to take her hand, and they walk together to the loveseat, balancing their full mugs of coffee while navigating the cluttered space that Johanna calls her living room. "This is weird, right?" she asks as they lower themselves onto the worn cushions, cupping the mugs for their warmth.
"What's weird?" Adelina replies. "That we're just casually hanging out after you helped my best friend murder her husband, or that we're Soulmates and relative strangers?"
"Probably all of the above." Johanna takes a drink of her coffee, just to give herself something to do.
"Yeah." Adelina gently blows at the rising steam. "It's all weird."
"Do you want to get high?" Johanna blurts out, and hides behind her mug. The steam lightly clouds her vision as she watches Adelina over the rim, looking like she's seriously considering the offer.
She keeps the solemn look on her face when she turns and tells Johanna, "Yes."
If Johanna knows anything, it's that drugs can very easily change the mood of a party, and she knows well enough how to use drugs to change situations to fit her needs. Adelina is a willing participant and accepts anything offered her which, to Johanna, feels dangerously like trust. The needles stay tucked away in their case, far from Adelina's eyes, but they smoke and they pop some pills.
Before either woman knows it, they're tangled up in Johanna's bed, cocooned inside her covers. Johanna's hair is down and Adelina's running her fingers through it, gingerly fingering each strand of curls like she's trying to separate them all. Her golden goddess is pink, high in her cheeks and on her lips, and Johanna can barely stay awake to savor it.
"Not so weird anymore, huh?" Adelina asks, breathless and suspiciously lucid, and Johanna tilts her head just enough to press her lips against the pulse in Adelina's neck. "It was never gonna be love at first sight, honey," she continues, and Johanna feeds off the vibrations from her vocal cords. "All of this takes time. Always. It doesn't matter what a little glowing heart accessory tells us."
"Mhm," Johanna agrees, brushing her eyelashes against Adelina's skin with every lazy blink. "I know that."
"Then stop acting so hurt when things are weird between us." Adelina is even radiant when she's lecturing her, and Johanna watches, enraptured by the authoritative way she speaks. "They're going to be, no matter what. Just...just follow the course. Go with the flow. Whatever."
"You are...incredible," Johanna says, wide-eyed and dizzy.
Adelina smiles so, so gently. "We'll work on it," she whispers, and lifts Johanna's chin up to kiss her.
Title: I Would Do Anything
Story: The Gemini Occurrence
Rating: PG-13 (vague mentions of drug use)
Flavor(s): Poached Pear #14: dazed & confused; Sangria #30: nothing happens unless first a dream
Word Count: 2,439
Summary: 2026. Jo doesn't know what it's like to live life above the underground, and Adelina is sparkling and pristine.
Notes: Johanna Montemayor/Adelina Garland, Isidro Montemayor. (My return-debut is all about exploring some minor characters. Fun!)
Johanna wakes after the sun has set, her face pressed into the one pillow she owns, breathing in the scent of stale smoke and alcohol fumes from the leftover rum in the glass beside her bed. There is day-old eyeliner smeared under her eyes, blending into her dark skin with all the grace of a 2007 emo kid. There's black on her pillow, black on her fingers, and when she opens her eyes, the room around her is black.
"Jo!" The door shakes with the force of Isidro's pounding.
"I'm up!" she shouts back, and that gets the pounding to cease. In the calm that follows, she finds her phone in the folds of her comforter and turns on the flashlight to make her way across her room. The screen is cracked around the upper left corner, and Johanna absently picks at the glass as she unlocks her bedroom door.
Isidro is standing there, arms folded across his chest, looking too good to set foot in her building, let alone her apartment. He's still in his suit, with that stupid mustache she hates, looking more like a mayor in the 1970s than a man with a cushy government job. He leans back when she reaches up to pinch at his upper lip.
"Shave that," she demands. "You look old."
"I am old." He's too stern, too fatherly as he pulls a wad of cash out of his jacket pocket and hands it over to her. "Your allowance."
"Thank God," Johanna sighs. She runs her thumb against the edge, unconcerned with the amount so much as the weight of it. She's not ungrateful; whatever Isidro gives her, she'll take. It just feels nice in her hands after a week with little more than pocket change.
"You need to lock your front door," Isidro tells her, shaking his head. "I walked right in. You don't care?"
"I don't care about what?" She pushes past him to pad her way into the kitchen. He follows behind her, his footsteps heavy on the wooden floor, and leans against the counter while she starts making coffee.
"Your safety," he answers, drumming his fingertips on the counter top. "You're unconcerned about people just walking in."
"Because they won't," she argues. Isidro rolls his eyes when she glances over her shoulder at him, and she sighs to herself as she continues filling her coffee pot with water. "Isi, you see where I live! No one is going to break in here, expecting me to have anything of value."
"Your body is of value," Isidro says, and she almost gags.
"You're disgusting! What kind of thing is that for a brother to say?"
"It's the truth!" he shouts, motioning at her with both hands. "That's what these men do! Do I have to tell you how many rapes have--"
"No," Johanna cuts him off, "you don't. In fact, you really shouldn't mention it at all, Isidro. Thanks for the concern, but I can take care of myself."
He glares at her with all the intensity of a frustrated parent. "Just because I got you a gun does not mean you can throw caution to the wind, Johanna!"
"Yeah, yeah," she says and leans across the counter to pat him on the chest, "I hear you."
"I don't think you do," he says, but Johanna's already walking away from him and into her bedroom.
"Can you go, please?" she shouts from behind the closed door. "I'm having company soon!"
"Company!" Isidro exclaims in return. "You just woke up!"
"My girlfriend is coming over," Johanna replies, and that seems to shut him up for a minute. "My Soulmate, if you want to get technical," she adds, just because she knows the shock value is going to disarm her composed brother. He hasn't seen the heart on her inner wrist; he didn't even know she was involved with anyone.
Isidro's stunned silence lasts just long enough for Johanna to tie her hair up, and he's still gaping at her door when she opens it to show him the glow.
"See?" She giggles when he gingerly takes her wrist in both hands, looking down in shock at the radiant crystalline object. "You worry too much. I'm doing just fine for myself."
"Madre de Dios," Isidro says, very quietly, and then looks up at Johanna. "Does Mamá know?"
She knew the question would be asked, but Johanna is still frustrated by it. "Yes," she says, and rolls her eyes. Their exceptionally Catholic mother did not, unsurprisingly, accept the news of her daughter's newfound lesbian romance--at least until she saw the heart. "Mamá can't deny a Soulmate," she says, glancing down at her wrist. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."
"Good." Isidro nods. "Good. Well--wow."
"Yeah," she breathes. "Wow is right. Now, can you leave me alone so I can get ready? I don't really want Adelina seeing me like this, alright?"
"You need to call me more," Isidro insists as she ushers him towards the door. "You tell me nothing about your life, and then when I come by to visit, you kick me out! That's no way to treat family, Johanna."
"I'm locking the door from now on," she says, smiling as she slowly shuts the door on him. "Just so we can avoid nights like this! Thanks, bro!"
"Johanna!" Isidro says, but the door clicks shut and she does lock it behind him. His footsteps retreat down the hallway after only a brief pause, and Johanna can hear him muttering to himself in Spanish as he walks away.
"Jesus Christ," she whispers to herself, shaking her head as she walks to the bathroom to wash up.
There is only so much Johanna can do to clean up in the ten minutes before she hears Adelina knock on her door, but the smeared makeup is gone from her face, and she's at least in clean clothes, wearing vanilla body spray. She's clean and smells nice and it's more than she could ask for.
Her apartment is an embarrassing wreck compared to the mansion that Genevieve lives in, and she's self-conscious as she opens the door for Adelina, knowing her girlfriend's friend has so much more to give her. All she has is a wealthy brother and a number of seedy connections, and she's convinced that maybe, despite their Soulmate ties, Adelina will come to her senses and leave.
But when Adelina steps inside the apartment, she only smiles and says, "It smells like coffee in here. I hope you plan on offering me some."
"Of course!" she nearly squeals, and reaches up to cup the face of the beautiful girl in front of her. "Welcome," she tells her, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips.
"Thanks for inviting me." Adelina's hair is lighter, more of a golden brown color now, and Johanna can't put into words how lovely it looks on her. She looks like a goddess, kissed by the sun with her golden hair, her tanned skin, and when Johanna does speak, all she can manage is a feeble compliment.
"I like your hair."
Adelina's hazel eyes seem to sparkle as she smiles. "Thank you! I thought it was time for a change, with everything going on, and--well." She stops speaking abruptly, pressing her lips together. "I shouldn't talk about it, right? That's not...romantic."
"You can talk about whatever." Johanna pulls two mugs down from the cabinet and sets them on the counter. "I'm serious. Besides, I'm not so good at being romantic. So, I'm not even going to try."
"Jo," Adelina says, smiling and rolling her eyes in a way that is just too cute for Johanna, "don't act like this is so high-pressure. We're just hanging out."
"Right," she replies, bringing the coffee pot over to the counter. Adelina looks too comfortable there, leaning over the counter, cupping her mug in two hands like this is a routine for them. Like it's something that she's used to, instead of it being her first time in her new girlfriend's apartment. The way she seems so at ease only makes Johanna more nervous. "Creamer--shit."
"I got it," Adelina tells her, and Johanna stands there like an idiot while she watches Adelina go into her fridge, push around a few containers and liquor bottles, and finally pull out two containers of creamer. "Any preference? I think I'll use the french vanilla one."
"Me too." The Cinnabon creamer is suddenly infantile and embarrassing as Adelina gives it one final glance before shoving it back into the fridge. She wishes she could say she drinks her coffee black, and doesn't know why she's so worried about her imagine all of a sudden.
"So, how are things?" Adelina sets the creamer down on the counter and circles back around to the other side, directly across from Johanna. She pushes her mug over to her so it can be filled with coffee, one hand still wrapped around it. "What have you been up to?"
"Working," Johanna answers. "Hanging out with you. Um, things have been okay. How about you, though? How's Gen doing?"
Johanna curses herself in the moments that follow, because she didn't want to broach the subject. In fact, she had been mentally making notes to avoid talking about Genevieve, Jude's death, and everything else involved but somehow the words come tumbling out of her mouth, anyway.
"I'm fine," Adelina says, carefully pouring the creamer into her nearly-full mug. "Geni is...well, she's good and she's not good. I don't think she was prepared for the aftermath--I don't think we were," she corrects herself. "Jude is gone, and that's good. But you can't just erase someone with no consequences."
"I told her to think carefully before she used it," Johanna insists. "I told her there was no going back, and she had to accept whatever came after, and that--"
Adelina reaches across the counter to place her hand on Johanna's. The action immediately silences her. "I'm not blaming you. I was a part of this, too. And Geni wanted it."
Johanna nods; the desperation she'd seen had been part of the reason she was so eager to help. Any man who made a woman that miserable deserved to die, there was no doubt about that. "What about the police, though? Are they looking into it? Do they think it's suspicious?"
"I don't think so." Adelina sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. "She hasn't said anything, and she would have told me. He's already been buried. The family is just upset, and who wouldn't be when someone dies so young?"
"Right." Johanna takes a moment to pour her own coffee, adding in some creamer and stirring it with her finger instead of dirtying a spoon. She doesn't know what to say, really; how can you feel like you've known someone forever, but still toe the line of having just met? It doesn't feel like Adelina's first time at her apartment, and it doesn't feel like they've known each other only a little more than a month and a half.
Adelina is so perfect, though. So composed, just like Isidro, always knowing what to say and how to act. She's not awkward or uncomfortable, but when she speaks, she doesn't have the same familiarity in her tone that Johanna wants to hear. She can lean over her counter and rifle through her fridge like she's done it a million times, but when she opens her mouth, she sounds like an acquaintance, and Johanna doesn't know how to act.
"Do you want to sit down?" Adelina asks, motioning to the small loveseat by the window, and Johanna cringes.
"I'm sorry. I'm an awful host. I was supposed to ask you that."
"Oh, shut up," Adelina laughs, "you're too hard on yourself. Come on, let's sit down. We have a lot of catching up to do, after all."
Johanna smiles. "Okay," she says, and finally relaxes a little. It's easy, even, when Adelina reaches out to take her hand, and they walk together to the loveseat, balancing their full mugs of coffee while navigating the cluttered space that Johanna calls her living room. "This is weird, right?" she asks as they lower themselves onto the worn cushions, cupping the mugs for their warmth.
"What's weird?" Adelina replies. "That we're just casually hanging out after you helped my best friend murder her husband, or that we're Soulmates and relative strangers?"
"Probably all of the above." Johanna takes a drink of her coffee, just to give herself something to do.
"Yeah." Adelina gently blows at the rising steam. "It's all weird."
"Do you want to get high?" Johanna blurts out, and hides behind her mug. The steam lightly clouds her vision as she watches Adelina over the rim, looking like she's seriously considering the offer.
She keeps the solemn look on her face when she turns and tells Johanna, "Yes."
If Johanna knows anything, it's that drugs can very easily change the mood of a party, and she knows well enough how to use drugs to change situations to fit her needs. Adelina is a willing participant and accepts anything offered her which, to Johanna, feels dangerously like trust. The needles stay tucked away in their case, far from Adelina's eyes, but they smoke and they pop some pills.
Before either woman knows it, they're tangled up in Johanna's bed, cocooned inside her covers. Johanna's hair is down and Adelina's running her fingers through it, gingerly fingering each strand of curls like she's trying to separate them all. Her golden goddess is pink, high in her cheeks and on her lips, and Johanna can barely stay awake to savor it.
"Not so weird anymore, huh?" Adelina asks, breathless and suspiciously lucid, and Johanna tilts her head just enough to press her lips against the pulse in Adelina's neck. "It was never gonna be love at first sight, honey," she continues, and Johanna feeds off the vibrations from her vocal cords. "All of this takes time. Always. It doesn't matter what a little glowing heart accessory tells us."
"Mhm," Johanna agrees, brushing her eyelashes against Adelina's skin with every lazy blink. "I know that."
"Then stop acting so hurt when things are weird between us." Adelina is even radiant when she's lecturing her, and Johanna watches, enraptured by the authoritative way she speaks. "They're going to be, no matter what. Just...just follow the course. Go with the flow. Whatever."
"You are...incredible," Johanna says, wide-eyed and dizzy.
Adelina smiles so, so gently. "We'll work on it," she whispers, and lifts Johanna's chin up to kiss her.