First, Marta tries to convince Fina to fight then realizing the depths of Fina's turmoil Marta relents. The way Marta is broken by seeing Fina plead for escape from such a desperate place. The way Marta moves to protect Fina when she understands how vulnerable she is.
I love going trough the notes every time bc there’s always someone in the notes insisting we’re all mean and that you can just wear thick dish gloves over your fake nails as if I wouldn’t assume you’re going to Patrick Bateman my ass if you walked into the bedroom with claws and yellow rubber gloves
Marta tried to shake the words and actions of her contemptuous roommate but she couldn't.
Not when she misplaced her keys and was ten minutes late for rounds.
Not when she spilled coffee all down her scrubs and wound up doing rounds in wet socks.
Not at the vending machine when she pressed ‘E5’ instead of ‘E6’ and wound up with beef jerky instead of granola.
Not even when she nearly made an incision on the wrong limb.
“They were at it for another hour,” Marta continued over their lunch in the hospital cafeteria.
Luz looked up from her textbook, images of cut viscera during a botched thoracic surgery sat next to the salad she had ordered at the beginning of the study session. She shot a special smile to Begoña who arrived juggling three cups of coffee, a stack of books, and a set of flashcards written in Luz's illegible handwriting.
“Another hour?” Luz shot Marta a look.
“What are we talking about?” Begoña asked.
“Fina had sex for two hours straight last night.” Luz caught her up.
“Two?” Begoña joined them with a concerned expression trained on Marta.
"Exactly," Luz continued. “I'm just saying, you have to admire her stamina. What sport did you say she played?”
Marta spat the words. “Roller derby.”
“Mm, yeah. Rollerderby is a comprehensive workout for the glutes. That explains why you're obsessed with her backside. In the medical community we call it ‘derby-booty’.”
“Uh…” Marta chuckled incredulously, crossing her arms. “I am not obsessed with her… backside.” The protest was laughed out by her coffee addicted ‘friends.’
“Roller Derby?” Begoña considered. “Isn't that the one where sweaty buff women wrestle on skates?” Luz nodded affirmatively. Marta narrowed her eyes at Luz, shaking her head in dissent. Begoña concurred. “Oof, yeah. I bet she's got legs made of steel.”
Marta didn't want to admire anything about her roommate. Not her stamina, not her ‘backside,’ and certainly not the sound of her moans.
---
"Carmen!” Fina wailed then melted, dejected, into the bench at Carmen’s side. “It happened again.”
Carmen shut her locker's door as their teammates all geared up in the locker room.
“Fina? Did you bring another girl home to make Marta jealous?”
“No. Worse! It was Mari Nieves… again,” Fina huffed. “And I don't do it to make her jealous.”
“Then why do you do it?” Carmen pressed. Fina’s answer was hiding her face under her arms, a high pitched whimper escaping her like a deflating dog toy.
“Fina…” Claudia chastised. “I thought we all agreed that girl is very… How do I say this? Not smart?”
“She's actually very nice when you get to know her. She does magic in her free time, not well but still.” Fina sheepishly mumbled into the fabric of her shirt. “She's a good cuddler too.”
“So what?” Carmen pressed. “Did you get bored and decide to piss off your roommate or…?”
“That's not what happened.” Fina sighed, sitting upright, shoulders sagging over like a sack of potatoes. “I saw Marta leave the bar with a really handsome guy. Like model handsome. They were linked arm and arm. Like they were more than friends, you know? And the way her face lit up when he whispered in her ear.”
Fina thought of that smile, broad, so strong that her top lip curled, all scrunched up. Perhaps Fina's favorite smile.
“Fina?” Claudia checked in on the daydreamer.
Fina shook the thoughts loose from her skull, “So I had a couple drinks. Next thing I know it's almost midnight and Mari Nieves is working out her repressed feminine rage inside of me. A little too roughly, if I'm honest. Like way too rough.”
“Oof.” Carmen’s face tightened, imagining.
Claudia crossed herself in solidarity before she continued. “Fina, she’s not very bright. She might not understand and think there's something more than “cuddles” between you.”
Carmen nodded in agreement before adding, “You haven't been on a real date since Esther. Now you're friends with benefits with, God bless her soul, Mari Nieves? Fina! She failed her driver's exam four times.”
“Five times.” Fina corrected. “She failed again last week. If I'm honest, I think that was the source of the aggression in bed.”
Carmen and Claudia’s mouths parted in protest.
Fina cut them short, “And before you two start, I want you to know that she's going to be in the stands tonight. She bought a team jersey with my number on it and everything so play nice.”
“Oh my god!” Carmen’s disbelief left her mouth on hinges. “Matching jerseys? Seriously, what's gotten into you, Fina?”
Fina wanted to protest. To deny she was going crazy and they were the ones blowing things out of proportion. Tell them how she had broken things off twice since last night but it had gone completely over Mari Nieves empty little head. Tell them that really, anyone could misinterpret, “I don't want a solely sexual relationship anymore” to mean “come be my personal cheerleader.”
Or, better yet, she wanted to tell them to mind their own damned business.
But when she was honest with herself and confronted the facts, she could name the exact moment she'd become possessed by this blue-eyed demon.
It happened the first time she’d met up with Marta in person. She'd refused to believe the elegant woman approaching her door was the woman she had been texting with for the better part of two days about the intricacies of owning houseplants.
A chain of plant memes that would have sent most girls running had elicited a return of “medicinal” plant puns.
But something had happened to Fina when Marta had extended her hand and said simply, “Doctor Marta de la Reina.”
Fina had hesitated, realizing at some point her own hand had started to tremble, sweaty, at her side. She resisted the urge to wipe her hand off on her soil stained jeans before offering it. “Fina Valero.”
There, hands clasped in one another's, maybe it had been the lingering eye contact or how Marta’s delicate, shy smile made Fina’s breath catch in her lungs.
Whatever it was, from that moment forward, Fina had lost her damned mind and she hadn't regained her senses since.
Not when she stepped onto the round banktrack and the first whistle of the first jam sounded.
Not when she looked over to see Mari Nieves with two extra-large fountain drinks mounted on her head, bouncing up and down, waving a massive sign overhead that read “LEZ RIOT!”
Not when she heard Carmen’s demanding voice calling out to her, “Go! Fina! For God’s sake, Fina, go!”
Not even when Bitchin Betty whirled unexpectedly on Fina, slamming her shoulder into Fina’s sternum with such force Fina lost her bearing and went tumbling. An announcer's excited voice filtered to Fina's ears even over the commotion of squealing wheels, Carmen barking, and flailing limbs:
“Lez Riot took a nasty blow from Bitchin Betty! Lez Riot is going down and she's taking half the defensive line with her! Lez Riot is being absolutely trampled! Maybe she can get some help from- Oh! Ooooooh! Lez Riot just took a skate directly to the groin! Lady or not, that's the kind of crotch shot that gets passed through the family lineage.”
On Fina’s way down she thought about the meticulous woman surrounded by books at the dinner table. The occasional smile that touched defensive yet kind eyes. Pretty shimmering blues even when planted within a mask of venom. The hurt in them when she saw Fina with another woman. Fina’s glimmer of satisfaction -if she could call it that - had been utterly smothered by her guilt.
She thought of the distance between them and how it brimmed with impotent yearning.
And somewhere in the far and distant recesses of her mind, Fina understood from all her years learning how to absorb hits and safely fall, that everything about her fall had gone horribly wrong.
I loved your AO3 Mafin story, “She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not”! It brought me so much joy. I noticed it’s no longer up — if you ever felt like sharing it as a PDF or otherwise, I’d be thrilled! Totally fine if not. Thank you for creating such a sweet, tender story!
Aw. Thanks! I'm actually writing a new short story for Mafin and was gonna re-upload a bit of my previous works when I put that out. I'm just super busy with life rn. But it's always nice to hear someone enjoyed my writing! 🤭
Shooting this so that Marta exists both as a part of the shadows as well as resembling the potted plants around her. The moment she realizes the full cruelty of her captivity within the golden cage and how she too is the decoration on the life and legacy of Pelayo.
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