The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

by Mariana Zapata

surprised—okay, I was shocked as hell—to see him.

“Are you… are you on drugs right now?”

“Stop looking at me like that. I’m not on anything,”

Why not? Men. It was only freaking men who would be so… so dumb

I could have smacked him in the face right then.

“Marry me.”

He was on drugs. He was seriously on fucking drugs.

“I like you as much as I like anyone.”

“How about, what you’re asking me to do is a felony? I could go to jail and you could get deported? What about that?”

“It’s only illegal if you get caught.”

When I was a kid, I learned the hard way how expensive the truth was. Sometimes it cost you people in your life. Sometimes it cost you things in your life. And in this life, most people were too cheap to pay the price for something as valuable as honesty.

“You’re being weird with me,”

That had me slamming my mouth closed and my frown growing.

We might not be doing this for the reasons most people do, but I made a vow, Van. And I promised you we would try to be friends. Friends don’t let friends wander around alone.”

“Shut up, Vanessa.”

“Handle it for me, would you, Muffin?”

“You and me. Team Graves-Mazur. We signed a contract together. Sort of.”

He could take his real wife and shove her up his ass.

“What are you smiling at?”

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, trying to give him an innocent look.

“Oh, nothing, su...

“I like your smile. That’s all.”

“Please don’t leave yet.”

“I won’t,”

Life was all about choices. You chose what to make out of what you had.

“Thank you for coming.”

His careful expression slowly melted into a flat one. His words were clear cut.

“Shut...

I didn’t know what it said about me that I carried snacks around for him, but whatever.

“Tough shit, sunshine. It’s mine now.”

“Just because you’ve made me mad doesn’t mean I ever stopped caring about you, dummy,”

“The only people in the world who can hurt you are those you let have that ability,

I reached up with the hand furthest away from him and put it behind my head, extending my middle finger in hopes that the idiot yelling would see it.

i laugh soo hard imagine Vanessa doing that

“I know, Van.”

His thumb massaged me again for all of about three seconds.

“You know more about me than anyon...

“Touch my wife again, and I’ll break every bone in your goddamn body.”

It was right then, in that instant, that I realized I might be a little in love with Aiden.

Yep, im squealing

“The amount you know about committing crimes is terrifying, Van.”

His mouth twitched under the rainbow of whatever he was thinking.

“It scares the hell out of me, and I don’t get...

“Your face is making me mad.”

“I’m starting to understand that you can always make time for the things that matter.”

He was so dumb sometimes I couldn’t handle it.

“What are they going to throw? Bookmarks?”

In that moment, I don’t think I had ever loved anything half as much as I loved Aiden.

“She’s mine.”

Because fuck it, what was life if you didn’t live it and make the most out of it?

“Home is where you are. I would go anywhere for you if you wanted me to be there.”

“I don’t know anything about relationships, Van, but I know I love you. I know I’ve waited my entire life to love you, and I’ll do whatever I have to, to make this work.”