By the time I left Redding, twilight had filled the morning sky with deep hues of rust and amethyst as emerald treetops whipped past me. I slipped away before my father awoke and left a note on the fridge saying I had to leave early. 

For four hours, the hair I ripped from his scalp burned a hole in my pocket as I drove back to San Francisco. Then I handed it off to Moses with a sample of my own, and he promised to take care of the rest.

But now I sit here on the couch in the living room, with an envelope in my hand from Julian. He pushed it under the door while I was gone, and it says, please open it, in his perfect penmanship. So I’ve been avoiding it for the last few hours while trying to watch Netflix. 

Except, I’ve gone through three episodes of Breaking Bad and have no idea what’s going on, so I might as well confront this mysterious envelope. My skin crawls as if locusts have swarmed my limbs as my finger slides across the flap, severing the seal. 

Folded squares of paper fall out when I shake the envelope over the coffee table, and I sit back as if they’re laced in arsenic. 

I wish Moses were here. 

Glancing at the window facing the courtyard, I spot the closed drapes on his apartment. 

I miss him already.

Holding my breath, I unfold the pieces of paper. One is a photo of me from my first year in high school. I don’t even remember taking the picture, yet I am cheesing at the camera with two Princess Leia buns. I look like a child, but it was Star Wars Day, and Julian is standing next to me as Han Solo. The other photo, however, makes my stomach reach for the core of the earth. It’s a snapshot of Javier, Amelia, baby Rosalinda, and four-year-old Valentina at Yosemite Falls. 

Although I’m significantly older than her in the photo, we look like twins as Valentina stares back at me with two buns atop her head. 

This is too much.

However, not as much as the next photo, which is a mugshot of my father as a young man.

“What. The. Hell!?” 

The photos slip from my fingers and land on the fluffy area rug at my bare feet, so I bring my knees up to my chin, not wanting the images to touch any part of me. What the hell is this? Julian has some explaining to do.

With each screen swipe, my fingers tremble while punching out a text message. I used to believe our friendship was infrangible, but these days we’ve never felt further apart. Julian was the only person to pay attention to me when I moved to San Francisco, and I began attending Balboa High. 

The morning we met, I arrived late, and it was my first time attending a real school after being homeschooled while growing up, so I got lost. When I finally found the classroom, the door slammed behind me, and like a slingshot, all eyes catapulted toward me. 

With one scrutinizing glance, the girls let me know I wasn’t welcome. They were glamorous in tight jeans, heels, and crop tops. But I was an insect in a plain white tee, straight leg jeans with rips at the knees, and my wild curls tossed into a messy bun. 

Then, I found a seat next to a cute boy with a deep natural tan and a tight fade. And then that boy said something to me in Spanish, except the only thing I understood was his name—Julian.

Even to this day, he won’t tell me what he said. Instead, he throws his head back in a laugh when I ask. But from that day forward, he and I were sewn at the ribs. So, this chasm between us needs to shrink. 

The phone beeps in my hand, and the screen says, be there in fifteen mins. 

However, more than thirty minutes pass by when I hear the knock on the door. To my surprise, Julian isn’t alone as he pushes into the apartment with Moses in tow. 

“What is this?” I motion between them.

“I bumped into your boyfriend on the way up the stairs,” Julian replies while heading for the fridge. 

Heat floods my cheeks when Moses flashes his eyes to mine at Julian’s remark, so I dart my gaze. But, I did catch the slight lift at the corners of his mouth. Julian is oblivious as he rummages through the refrigerator, grabs a Tupperware, and wiggles it at me. 

“How old is this rigatoni?”

“From last night. I made it at my dad's.” 

“Coño!” He tosses it into the sink. “Don’t be bringing that bad juju here. You should’ve burned it!” 

“It’s just food, Julian. Now explain the photos! Why can’t you leave things alone?” 

 “Because you’re my best friend, and I’ve always had your back, and ever since this whole thing started, I just have this sick feeling in my gut.”

“Because you keep poking the bear! Stop.” 

“I know that, Val!” Julian stomps a few steps forward, and from my peripheral, Moses moves closer to me. This causes Julian to shift his attention from me to him. “Seriously, bro? You think I’m going to lay hands on Val? Don’t be ridiculous!”

“I don’t like your tone with her.” 

“Well, I don’t like you. Period.” Julian claps in Moses’s face, and I flinch.

It doesn’t phase Moses as he folds his arms and widens his stance. In return, Julian’s gaze rolls over him as he lifts his chin, sizing him up. My best friend isn’t one to get into physical altercations, but when he does, it frightens me. Something snaps and no one can stop him until the other person’s face resembles dog meat. 

I don’t want that for Moses.

The air vents whoosh as the heat kicks on, and testosterone fills the kitchen along with it. Saliva gathers in my mouth as I clench my fists so tight I might break my fingers. I know better than to wedge myself between two rams locking horns, but I’ll do it.

“Valerie wants you to drop this whole Valentina thing. She wants to move on. You should respect her wishes, not send old mugshots of her dad,” Moses says cooly. 

“Oh, so you’ve known her for five minutes, and you think you know what’s best for her?” 

“I know that for the past week, the situation has done nothing but create anxiety and stress for her. So yeah, I do know what’s best for her.”

Julian begins nodding his head while glancing around at nothing in particular and cracking his knuckles. “Oh, you think screwing her for a few days makes you a hero.”

Perhaps I’m still running on adrenaline from discovering my dad's horrible girlfriend, but my palm thwacks across his face.

“Shit, Val!” He holds his cheek.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Julian!” 

“Me? What is wrong with you?”

“You can’t be serious?” I reel back with brows cranked to my hairline. “You keep ignoring my pleas to drop the Valentina situation, and now you’re looking into my father?”

“Because I’m worried! What if your dad is a serial killer or something! What if he killed your mom?”

“Ahhhh!” I scream, causing Julian to stumble backward into the refrigerator with hands slapping the surface for balance. A few magnets clatter to the floor, and regret is already splashed across his face, but I don’t care to hear his apologies. “You are way out of line, and you don’t know when to stop!”

“Val, I’m sorry. I’m an asshole for saying that, but it’s a legit worry.”

“Just stop.”

“No. Hear me out.” He holds up his hand in prayer. “We’ve been focussing on Valentina, but maybe we should be concentrating on your dad.”

“Yeah, well, Moses is already taking care of it.”

“Taking care of it? How?” Julian’s face sours in disgust.

“Yes, taking care of it. I got a sample of my dad’s hair, and Moses is getting it DNA tested for me. So until the results come back, I don’t want to think about this Valentina stuff anymore.”

“Speaking of the DNA test,” Moses announces with hands shoving into the pockets of his slate grey scrubs. They compliment his eyes, and something about that is soothing. “My buddy said their lab will have the results in about a week.”

“A week!” Julian and I exclaim at the same time. 

“Their lab is backed up, and he’s doing me a favor, so we can’t exactly be picky. But either way, we’ll find out the truth.”

“Well, I guess that means it’s all taken care of, and we can go back to normal, even though your dad has a secret mugshot none of us knew about.” Julian rolls his eyes before plucking the magnets off the ground.

Golden rays from the sunset seep past the blinds and cast stripes across him as he takes a deep breath while returning them to the refrigerator. This argument isn’t over. I know he has more to get off his chest, but I won’t probe. 

Instead, I look at Moses and mouth, I’m sorry.

For what? He mouths back. 

There’s a knock at the door, so we all whip our attention towards it.

"What now?" My shoulders slump.

One of us should answer it, except my feet are cement, and I’m just so emotionally drained from the drive, discovering my dad’s girlfriend, and being at odds with Julian. I hate what Valentina is doing to us.

“I’ll see who it is,” Moses announces and squeezes my side before crossing the room.

There’s a second where I forget about the lingering tension as a smile tugs across my lips, but when I catch Julian looking at me, I’m reminded. We’re so distracted by a stare-down that neither of us hears Lisa until she’s standing in the apartment.

“Well, you two look miserable.”

She’s wearing black faux leather leggings, pink Converse, and a knitted poncho that looks like a cat puked cotton candy. However, her bleach blonde waves look cute in a high ponytail.

“Hey.” I toss her a half-smile.

“So…” She teeters on her heels with thumbs hooking through the loops on her pants. “I was going to invite you guys to a bonfire tonight, but it looks like I’m interrupting something serious.”

“Where?” Julian’s face lights up. He loves bonfires. 

“Well, it’s going to be at Ocean Beach, and we shouldn’t be hard to miss since we’re bringing Casanova to the sand, just a tad more low-key, but it’s a fundraiser for a coworker who’s fighting Breast Cancer.”

“Oh, hell yes! I am so down,” Julian replies.

“Maybe next time,” I say.

“Oh, come on, Val! It’s for a good cause. Don’t be lame. You can’t be mad at me forever.” 

“You can’t just brush things under the rug, Julian.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing with the Valentina sitch?” he throws at me. 

Touché, Julian. Touché. Clenching my jaw, I fold my arms and seethe silently, but my best friend has never been one to hold his tongue.

“Whatever. You do you, Val. Be stubborn, and by all means, cling to your latest security blanket instead!”

“Excuse me?” However, the rest of my thoughts catch on my tongue like bitter persimmons as he makes his exit with a slam of the door.

What the hell is he insinuating with that remark?

One thing I do know, I’m beginning to resent Valentina Moreno for turning my life and relationships upside down.