Jay E. Tria's Blog, page 4

Daily Grind #9: Roses in the Rain

Today was kinder than the day before. There was more cloud than sun, but the sky was not without light. The wind not without heat. The kind that hovers over your skin and grazes the crook of your nose and lights up the ends of your fingertips. There is a song playing inside your head. Over and over. You sing along with a smile in your eyes, ready to gift to a stranger. You imagine dancing like you don’t care who sees. But you don’t do it. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow will be even better than the day before. You look up as the clouds hug the sun and rain meets the ground, soft as a memory.         October 13 for the prompt.

Daily Grind #8: Math

When asymptotes fall in love, how tragic. Two lines coming closer and closer and never meeting. He leaps out of the graph and finds the angle that computes you. Adds his devotion, undivided attention. Affection is irrational, the limit does not exist. But only for today. Tomorrow it’s a new page. You add your fears, his time is halved. Multiply love by the power of all the things you should have done. Two lines collide then come apart, asymptotes to the end. Never to meet again. *** The problem with love is that the equation is never balanced.         October 12 for the prompt.

New Book! You Out of Nowhere from #romanceclassFlair

This book is the output of awesome team work and lots of feelings. #romanceclassFlair is a new imprint, an ongoing project, backed by a team of super talented people. I’m so happy/thrilled/grateful they took a chance on me and my babies. We’ve been working on this book for months and finally, finally it’s here omg yay! Here’s what it’s all about: At 31, Kris’s dating life is starting to resemble a reality show. So when she strikes up a conversation with a nerdy but gorgeous stranger on the train, getting serious is the last thing on her mind. Been there, done that, and she has the emotional baggage to prove it. At 24, Ringo knows what he wants—and when a train flirtation turns into a night he can’t forget, he knows he wants Kris. But it’s clear she has other plans, and they don’t include him. So when they find themselves on the same flight to Seoul, it’s Ringo’s chance to turn up the heat, and convince Kris to take a risk. In a new city, with someone new—the right someone—what could change? Maybe nothing. But also, maybe everything. It’s older girl, younger guy steamy romance. Train meet-cute, accidental travel […]

Daily Grind #7: Crying in Public

There is a light somewhere that flickers before it bursts into flame. Wildfire. It consumes and it hurts worse than darkness. You walk half a mile seeking escape, but the voices follow. Nagging. Relentless. You lay down and breathe in and out. In and out. ‘Listen to the sound of your breathing,’ she says. ‘Throw everything else away. Focus on mindfulness.’ ‘Isn’t that redundant?’ you think. But that’s a thought about words again, isn’t it? And you need to throw that away. At least right now, in this slow, short hour. In this quiet room full of strangers each carrying their own burden. Breathe in. Breathe out. Your body is a tight ball, your mind unraveling. Everything is a fight and you figure, this time, winning is in losing.  Breathe in, twist this way. Stretch out. Ease. Ease. Ease. You feel the warm floor beneath you, the sharpness of your elbows against your ribs, the feel of your tongue against the roof of your mouth. It’s salty. How strange. Twist this way, grow long like so. Close your eyes. Reach out, expand. You will win only if you keep up the fight. Open your eyes. The darkness will not hurt […]

Daily Grind #6: Yes

“Your shower isn’t working.” “It is! Let me–” “No! I mean I can figure this out.” “Are you sure?” The sound of knuckles light against the door. “You pull and twist to the left for warm water–” “Got it. I’m fine!” If he had said anything else you didn’t hear it, not with the rush of water from the shower. His shower. His bathroom. His house and last night his bed. Why? You asked yourself again, flattening your forehead against the wall as warm water fell and wrapped around you like an overwhelming hug. “Why?” This time out loud and with a little groan trapped in your throat. You made a grab for the shampoo–his shampoo–and started slathering it through your hair. It smelled of mint and something else, something sharp yet sweet. It smelled like him, and his pillows and his sheets. You laughed, you couldn’t help it. This was so absurd. He was your friend, had been for a quite some time. Friends don’t sleep together. You didn’t do that. Not this. Whatever this was. You weren’t even drunk last night. Neither was he, though that was a rule he’d always had. To not drink beyond a bottle or […]

Daily Grind #5: Blind

You love him. You love him. “I know. I heard you the first bajillion times,” your best friend scoffed beside you. You were saying it out loud, apparently. It was dark and you didn’t turn to see his face, but you knew his eye roll followed. He’d done it a bajillion times before too. “Sorry,” you said, grinning, though you weren’t really. “I mean look at him.” That was what you were here for, precisely. In this dark, smoky bar on a school night, two hours of traffic away from where you and your friend both lived. Standing at the back behind rows of other patrons and other fans, all faces turned to the front of the room and all gazes locked to the boy singing, swaying, sparkling onstage. You were here for him and his beautiful face and beautiful sound and not much else. You’ve loved this artist for as long as you’d loved his genre–synth pop funk R&B swag–and you’ve seen him perform live (yes) a bajillion times. But your love was enduring, escalating, even. To the unending gripe of your constant companion. “Why do we keep staying at the back? If you love him so much.” Your […]

Daily Grind #4: Hello

“Hello.” You weren’t crying. You weren’t. Maybe you were sniffling a little bit, but no one around here should notice that. You’re in a train station so early on a weekday morning, rush hour, it looked like. People in these parts were polite, even to strange foreigners like you. But it was rush hour, the whole lot of them were milling, streaming in different directions, with no reason to pay attention to you, the lost, starving, little thing burdened by luggage and standing all alone in a corner. “Hello?” You heard it this time. It came from much closer. You turned your head and saw his eyes first. Small but wide, then he backed up and you saw his face, high cheekbones, sharp nose, lips parted with the questioning end of that hello. “Are you okay?” he asked. Somebody who spoke English, thank dear lord in heaven. Your heart pounded against your ribcage in joy. Saved! But then it was yanked back by something stronger, tougher. The same force that had kept you standing there for half an hour now. You made it across oceans, didn’t you? You got on that plane and you got off, no incidents. You made […]

Daily Grind #3: Bae Bae

He’s like that hot guy who’s your friend. Your hot guy friend. It’s a weird thought to have right now, after watching the guy rip off his shirt and show off his hard, slick abs while swinging his hips and crooning 22 songs in all the ways it’s possible to melt your bones. His concert was two hours of his smooth voice and cool hip hop swagger, ending with you as a puddle of satisfied fangirl on the floor. His voice belonged with the stars. His songs were earworms that lived with you for days on end. Price of admission was worth it, definitely. You might have even underpaid. But yeah, you thought he was beautiful and sexy but in that let’s-be-friends kind of way. Like if this was a marry-bang-kill game he’d be the kill shot by sad default, a shiny boy but maybe not shiny enough to get to you. You felt proud of these thoughts, of your ability to fall in love with the love song but not with the lovely boy who sings it, not necessarily. A mature, logical fandom. Compartmentalization. Maybe it came with age. You were still basking in the glow of that realization […]

Daily Grind #2: Late

It was the howling wind. You’ve heard it said that way before, how the wind howls during a storm. But you didn’t understand it until last night, or was it already morning, when the sound, angry and cold and demanding, hurled through the gap in your window and pulled you out of slumber. Did it save me from a bad dream? Was it a chase or a free fall into an abyss or a scuffle with zombies this time? You think about crawling out of bed to shut the windows, secure the bolt in the door, because of course the wind wants in from there too. You finally make the decision and do it. Untangle yourself from your sheets. Peel yourself off your warm mattress. Lock the windows, bar the door. You settle back into your bed, back under the blanket, legs bent, arms around your knees, gripping and rocking. Eyes shut, brain whirring. Listening to the howling of the wind as you wait for sleep to reclaim you.         **** Typhoon Maring for the prompt

Late

It was the howling wind. You’ve heard it said that way before, how the wind howls during a storm. But you didn’t understand it until last night, or was it already morning, when the sound, angry and cold and demanding, hurled through the gap in your window and pulled you out of slumber. Did it save me from a bad dream? Was it a chase or a free fall into an abyss or a scuffle with zombies this time? You think about crawling out of bed to shut the windows, secure the bolt in the door, because of course the wind wants in from there too. You finally make the decision and do it. Untangle yourself from your sheets. Peel yourself off your warm mattress. Lock the windows, bar the door. You settle back into your bed, back under the blanket, legs bent, arms around your knees, gripping and rocking. Eyes shut, brain whirring. Listening to the howling of the wind as you wait for sleep to reclaim you.