she's an angel. @carmendeluna - Tumblr Blog

pcmpiliu:

It was hard to focus on anything else in the room while the only girl he had ever loved stood at a distance looking more beautiful than he could’ve ever imagined. People were rowdy, and incredibly thrilled to see PJ around but he didn’t make too much of a deal to talk to anyone unless they pulled him aside. As he was walking over to Carmen, people definitely tried talking to him but let PJ go when they could tell that he wasn’t interested in their conversation at all. It felt like Carmen was miles away when he was walking in her direction, but that mostly had to do with his huge loss for words.

PJ had no idea what he was supposed to say to her. Part of him was confused, the other part was hurt as his mind filled with the countless memories the both of them shared. Carmen was the only person that ever hurt PJ, although he knows it wasn’t her fault directly. With time, PJ began to realize the position he had once put his girlfriend in was rather messy. He had practically begged her to marry him, and didn’t act okay when she had said no. Looking back on it now, PJ came to the consensus that things were never going to work out between him and Carmen. It sucked – but that’s how life was. He was proud of himself for growing with time, and learning from the mistakes that he once made. Sometimes it was hard, though, because Carmen was always the girl on his mind.

Their relationship was beautiful. The ending was a bit tragic and not the way PJ wanted things to unfold, but he had to deal with what he got. He missed Carmen with all his heart, but was grateful she was once apart of his life and thankful for the way she made him feel. Carmen taught PJ how to love, and gave him the kind of love you only see on the movie screens.

Carmen was the last person PJ expected to see at the reunion, but he knew it was a possibility that he’d run into. Although him and Carmen hadn’t been in contact for a while, he heard from mutual friends about her success. He figured that this kind of event wasn’t really her scene, but thinking that was a bit stupid because she was just as involved in school as he was. When he saw her, he could tell that she didn’t seem too interested in the scene around them. She was sitting near the bar, which is probably the spot he would’ve been at a little after he arrived. Once he got near Carmen, he politely ordered a beer while taking those last seconds to himself to figure out what the hell to say to her.

“I find it interesting that you’re here, Carmen. I thought this kind of thing was way too cheesy for you.” He said, taking a sip from the cold glass in his hand. PJ glanced back over in Mikey’s direction, and could tell Mikey was already chatting up the same girls he used to back in the day. Part of him still felt uneasy with Carmen, but he figured that was a feeling that was always going to be there no matter how much he talked to her.

The way her voice sounded when she spoke his name easily made him remember why PJ only ever let her call him by his full name. It was so utterly attractive when she said it, and the tone made his heart skip a beat. “I’m glad to see you. It’s been.. way too long.” He smiled sweetly at her. PJ’s fingers went to his hair, pushing back long black strands so they were removed from his face. “We have a lot of catching up to do, to put it nicely.” If there was one thing PJ hated more in the world it was small talk. Especially with someone he could talk to for hours and never be uninterested, asking Carmen how she had been just seemed pointless. He wanted to have a conversation with her, but a real one, not some tacky generic bullshit explanation about how they both have been good.

This warm wave washes over her when he remarks how these kinds of events he figured were too cheesy for her, the warmness coming from the thought of her son. She couldn’t deny that her son had made her very cheesy, if not for anyone else for him. She was cutthroat in the workplace, a master in her field, intelligent and striking. All it took was one look from her darling boy and she melted. She turned into straight-up goo. He possessed the same effects his father once had on her, though she didn’t know if could ever love a man, even PJ, as much as she loved her child. People always talked about how a mother’s love is over exaggerated or over stimulated, but Carmen could literally, and without a problem, say her son was her world. The world had stopped turning when she had found out she was pregnant and lost the first love of her life, but as soon as she had the small bundle in her tired arms. That all changed. Six hours of labor, less than a second to fall completely in love.

“I learned to like a little cheesy, every now and then.” She shrugged with a secret smile as she took a sip from her drink. She shudders a bit when the memories of her child go a little sour, in the presence of PJ. He didn’t know. He couldn’t. He’d hate her more than he likely already did, worse, he might want to take him from her. She swallows her worries, she had to play it cool. She has never prayed for a medical emergency to get her out of something, but she might just start as her silent pager sits in her purse. Turning slightly, Carmen faces him as she tucks a loose strand behind her ear and peers up at him with her moon-kissed eyes.

“You could say that. Or you could start with what on earth made you guys think wearing those jackets was a good idea?” She says through a cool laugh, she wants to be guarded. She ants so bad not to speak at all. But, it's so easy. So easy to want to laugh, to want to smile. She peers at him through her lashes, hoping he can take her joke instead of viewing it as an insult. “I don’t think I’d still fit in my old uniform.” She offers with a soft blush, she’d filled out a lot since High School, that was for sure. Half womanhood, half motherhood.

#thread 001.

pcmpiliu:

To say that the last few years of Pompiliu’s life were easy would flat out be a lie. It was straining to live a life he never truly wanted to live, and investing so much time and energy in a career that he did not want to pursue in the first place. PJ had always been a wandering soul. He loved trying new things and exploring unknown terrains, but his parents didn’t support that kind of lifestyle. He never would’ve imagined the influence of his parents would cost him a leg, literally. He was so optimistic at one point, but things have changed drastically since the last time PJ was in town. For the last ten years of his life, PJ has been traveling the world through the United States military. A few months ago, PJ was involved in a tragedy that changed his life forever and was honorably discharged from active duty. He was lost, angry, but returned to his hometown to focus on recovering and nothing else.

Now that he was no longer serving, PJ figured that now would be the best time to try out different careers and potentially try one that was always in the back of his mind – teaching. He attends night classes and is currently studying to become a history teacher while going to endless therapy sessions during the days to heal the muscles on the left side of his body, which were the most injured after his accident. When word got out that Pompiliu was discharged he went back to being the golden boy among his friends. Nearly everyone came to his aide, including his old best friend from high school, Mikey St. Peters, who even offered PJ a room in his apartment so he’d have a place to stay until he was back on his feet.

Mikey and PJ loved living together – their shenanigans were incredibly similar to Joey and Chandler’s from Friends, if there was a way to describe it. Once there was a notice of a high school reunion, neither of them even argued, it was already decided that the two would be attending with excitement. Mikey and PJ reminisced on the days where the two ruled the school as co-captains of the varsity football team, and were more than willing to return to the halls to check up on the people that once seemed like the most important in the world.

When reunion day came around, a sudden fluctuation of nervousness filled PJ. It was a feeling he had never felt; he was never the shy or embarrassed type, but something about the change to his body really seemed to bump down his confidence. For once, he was worried about what people would think of him and what they would think about the new way he looked. PJ didn’t get around easily, to put it sensitively. The new prosthetic leg he wobbled on was something he hadn’t been used to quite yet so it was pretty hard to hide, especially from people that knew him once as so graceful and full of pride. Doing his best to ignore uneasy feelings, PJ dressed himself to the nines. He wore black slacks, Saint Laurent shoes, a white button up shirt, with his short dark hair parted neatly to the side. He cleaned up incredibly well. Before Mikey and PJ arrived at the school, them and the guys agreed to show up in their varsity football jackets – for old time’s sake. PJ went along with it just for the fun, and wanted to do his best to mask any insecurity he had. PJ and retired teammates were the last group to arrive to the reunion, and of course caused the biggest scene once they walked into the room.

The joy and exhilaration that filled Pompiliu’s body while he chanted along with his buddies to ancient pregame battle calls was interrupted when a familiar brunette caught the corner of his eye. There was no way it could be her, no way, he swore to himself. PJ felt the color from his face physically drain away and his throat began to close, causing him to choke out a quick gasp as he stared at the girl woman from across the room. PJ couldn’t stop himself from staring. It was her, it had to be. That was his Carmen, his moonlight. And he couldn’t believe there was a way for her to have gotten more beautiful than she was when he knew her, but somehow she managed. As much as PJ tried to walk over to her, he was stuck. His stomach was uneasy and it was so hard for him to move, as if his own little world was stuck in slow motion. Mikey got PJ to snap out of it, but then Mikey saw exactly who PJ was staring at and immediately understood. “Peej, you’re going over there. You’re talking to her.” That was the last thing PJ remembered hearing before Mikey shoved him toward Carmen. The walk over to her began, and it seemed like forever, but he braced himself for what was bound to happen next.

Carmen looks down at her cerise drink, the smooth taste resting on the back of her throat. It was strange being surrounded by so many from her past, people who she used to consider endless and cherishable. It wasn’t that she didn’t like some of these people, it was just such a distant memory now. No one but Gail and Scarlet, a former cheerleader, know about her son and even they don’t know who the father is. Carmen wasn’t denying her child, she simply had not kept in contact with any of these people. Scarlet had spotted her so long ago pregnant and 18, she’d turned away like she hadn’t seen her and Carmen couldn’t find a fuck to give. So what, she had a beautiful boy in her life, she had a successful career, she had done what she had always wanted with her child on her hip along the way.

Her dainty fingers play with the lemon wedge alongside her martini glass and she makes small talk with the bartender as he pours her another. He’s 25, cute and paying his way through law school, Carmen makes a note to leave a good tip. She knew better than anyone what it was like to work yourself dead for your dreams. They’re on the topic of medical law when she hears all the commotion, the bartender excuses himself to attend another patron when her eyes move to the event’s entrance. Carmen feels her throat go dry as she watches them come in, one by one, rowdy as always and wearing those god awful letterman jackets. It isn’t until she sees him with Mikey does she want to all of a sudden fall apart. He’s aged, they both have, but he looks as handsome as ever.

She feels those damn butterflies creep into her gut just like they did when she was a teenager. Her mind flashes between him and the very first day they met, he was as smooth as ever and she fell so quick her knees were shaking like a lovesick fool. She’d wanted him to want her so bad, she had never wanted something so much until she had met him. Carmen had never been that girl, she’d always been so focused on her studying, all the extracurriculars, college. Then he happened. Just the way he said her name had driven her fucking wild and now here she is, ten years later. Ten years after their devasting separation, ten years after she had carried his unknown child in her womb, ten years with a new title to her name, doctor. Their eyes lock and suddenly Carmen feels like she’s on that dumb roller coaster her son had convinced her to ride with him and she had been at the tippy top, now she was slamming down the deepest and most gut wrenching slope.

He makes his way over and it's with difficulty that she notices the unease in his stroll, her eyes connect to his own everything else just becomes a blur and background noise. As a doctor, Carmen had seen a lot of stumbles and struggles, the body was a magnificent machine, but it was not invulnerable. Carmen tries to break the intense gaze as her eyes shoot down to her phone, act natural, she thinks to herself. Looking down at the touch screen adorned with a picture of her son smiling and so perfectly oblivious to his mother’s secrets. Carmen tucks an elegant curl behind her ear as she turns to him again, this time even more striking than the last and with one thought in mind, don’t let him find out about Lucian.

“I have to admit, I didn’t think you would be here tonight.” She offers with a soft hesitation, he has to know she doesn’t mean to offend him, she was just genuinely caught off guard. Gail hadn’t thought he would be coming, but then again Gail hardly knew if she was going. Across the room, she was already six glasses of wine in and Carmen could practically taste the regret in the room around them. How had she not considered he could be here? He hadn’t died when he left, he had simply broken a part of her that even she never could fix.

“I’m glad to see you, here. Pompiliu. Even if you’re wearing that ridiculous jacket.” She offers with a smile, it’s sincere and she’s trying to make the encounter less intense but the way his name rolls off her tongue like it used to makes her shake down into her heels. He’d only ever let her call him by his real name and it still leaves her crimson lips like water.

#thread 001.

Carmen had a long work week, she’d done several surgeries through out it and tended to several patients in between. A co-worker had gone off on vacation and she’d been working double in an attempt to keep everything balanced. After having hardly rested, Carmen had finally been forced to take the night off. It had been so long since she got a night completely off. That, of course, would’ve been great if Lucian had been home to cuddle with her, but no he had to go fishing with his grandpa. No matter how much his mom begged him to stay, he kissed her goodbye and ran off with his grandpa for the weekend. So Carmen found herself whining on the phone as her high school gal pal Gail reminded her about the dusty reunion invitation that sat somewhere in her mess of a mail drawer.

It didn’t take much convincing before she was getting ready, Carmen hadn’t had a night off like this in a while. After Lucian had grown up a bit, she still hadn’t had time for dating or the night life. You don’t become a surgeon drinking Brandy with some dude trying to take you home. Factoring in her school, her crazy work our busting her butt to provide for her child and ultimately her child who meant more to her than the world. Yeah, Carmen probably needed this, as Gail tried to make it seem important. So she styles her dark mane and dotes on her face with mascara and lipstick as crimson as the blood she encountered daily.

It’s with confidence that she throws on the little black dress that had been in her closet for over a year with the tags still firmly in place and the stilettos the color of her striking lips. She wants to look good, she wants to look as confident as she feels. Carmen had never liked the word sexy when she was young, now she wanted it to be engraved on her skin. She wanted to feel womanly, confident and dare she say it, sexy. After it all comes together, Carmen grabs her purse, her phone, and races out to her car.

She’s not the first to arrive and she’s certainly glad she’s not the last. Someone would assume that she would feel embarrassed to be walking in alone, no date, no ring on her finger. That all, of the course, washes over when she realizes just how much attention she waivers, she wants them to know, if she wanted a man, she could have had him. Carmen was a single mom sure, but she was a provider. She was a doctor and she was going to be damned if society made her feel like she didn’t measure up. The woman catches up with old friends, floats around the room like she was the bell of the ball. She watches the eyes and the snickers, the looks and the whispers.

I guess high school will always be high school, she thinks to herself as she magnetizes towards the bar. She’s going to need a drink or two to manage the rest of the evening. As she sits herself down in front of the sleek counter top, she orders a cosmo with a bright smile and it doesn’t take long for the cute bartender to plop it down in front of her. Carmen takes a deep breath, envisioning her younger self and the differences she now holds. With a prideful smile, Carmen takes a drink, still not believing she even came to this thing.