Welcome to Trainwrecks, a free-to-read fiction serial that follows a group of six Seattle-adjacent friends from the year 2004 to the year 2015. Join Luna Cruz, Sebastian Velasquez, Dimitri and Victoria Hale, Duke Kingston, and Jasmine Nolan as they stumble their way from adolescence to adulthood, falling in love, making mistakes, overcoming their pasts, and staying together through it all.
For series introduction, character profiles, relationship charts, and general orientation, check out the Table of Contents!
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Every spring, tourists and locals alike flooded the University of Washington’s downtown campus to admire the quad’s flowering cherry blossom trees. This was Luna’s seventh time going. Her mother and Dimitri’s Auntie Leila often brought them down to get their energy out when they were younger, and they’d run around under the pink flowers until they were hot and hungry and exhausted.
This time, they had Victoria with them, and she was so in awe of the trees that she hardly spoke at all. Every now and then, she stooped down and picked up a flower that had fallen from its branch and ran her fingers over its delicate petals.
Luna surveyed the scene in front of her. Sebastian, Jasmine, and Dimitri were across the quad checking out the student organizations’ tables. Jasmine had worn a navy-blue knit sweater over a pair of white jeans and strappy sandals, which made her look like a rich man’s wife who’d just stepped off her yacht to fraternize with the plebians. The college guys at the tables almost tripped over themselves to talk to her. Luna wished she could be so effortlessly cool, but alas, she’d been built for cuteness instead.
Their parents had spread a picnic blanket under a tree and sat around talking and eating snacks. Even Dimitri and Victoria’s parents had shown up: Makoto Hirashima, who rarely ever left the house, frowned as if she very much wished she were still at home, until her ex-husband pointed something out to her that made her chuckle. For his part, James Hale looked happy to be there—more specifically, he looked happy to be there with Makoto, and Luna wondered how Dimitri felt about that. Every time she’d brought the subject up to him, he’d claimed he would kill his father if he laid a hand on his mom. But surely, he’d warmed up by now?
The Kingstons strolled around the quad, gazing at each other adoringly. Their cranky son, however, stood off by himself, taking photo after photo of the trees and their blossoms. Luna spotted Victoria not too far away. Alright, she’d given them more than enough space to avoid each other. Time for action.
She hurried over to Victoria, who wore a long-sleeved green turtleneck and a maroon knee-length skirt over tights and a pair of Mary Janes. “Hey! Enjoying the flowers?”
Victoria nodded. “They’re breathtaking. I can’t believe these trees are so old!”
Luna waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, great. Have you talked to Duke yet?”
Ah, there was Victoria’s trademark blush. “No…”
“Well, now’s your chance! Look, he’s by himself.” Luna pointed to where Duke scowled at his father’s digital camera’s display. Outside of school, he dressed in his usual band t-shirts, frayed jeans, and sneakers, but wore a parka with a fur-lined hood because it was never warm enough for him. Luna gave Victoria a gentle nudge in his direction. “The faster you do it, the faster you’ll feel better.”
Victoria whined. “That is true…” She took a deep breath and put on a determined expression. “I’m going.”
“Good luck!” Luna cried as she trudged towards Duke, avoiding people and dogs along the way.
“Good luck with what?”
She turned around. Dimitri had separated from Sebastian and Jasmine and now stood behind her, wearing a shirt that said “Kiss Me I’m Irish” even though there wasn’t a drop of Irish blood in his body. Luna smirked. “Oh, nothing much. Victoria’s just realized that Duke is a good person and she’s been treating him badly, so she’s going to make peace with him.” She examined her chewed up fingernails. “All part of my grand matchmaking plan.”
Dimitri smiled down at her. “Is that so?” He stepped forward. “I’m going to go interrupt them.”
Luna seized him by the back of his shirt. “Oh, no you’re not, mister! This has been a long time coming!”
“Forget it, those two are terrible for each other!” Dimitri jerked free of her grip and glared at her. “Do you really think they’d make a good couple? They can’t go more than five minutes without arguing!”
“People argue in relationships all the time!”
“Yeah, but they’re not just normal people, Moon. They’re two hotheads who like to express their anger through violence. One of them is going to end up in the hospital and I’m not going to let it be Victoria!” He started in their direction, and Luna followed, her cheeks burning.
“Duke would never hit her, and if you think he would, then you don’t know him at all!” She grabbed Dimitri and used all the strength in her body to manhandle him away from Duke and Victoria, who were engaged in conversation.
“Let me go!” Dimitri cried as she dragged him behind a nearby tree.
Luna held him by both arms. “Shh!” She was lucky he hadn’t gotten much stronger; she still had a weight advantage over him and kept him subdued even as he struggled to get away. She peered around the tree. Victoria was in full fidget mode, playing with the strap of her bag and staring at the ground as she spoke.
“It would appear that in my anger, I set out on a campaign to purposely misunderstand you. As others pointed out to me, you made valiant efforts to smooth the bumps in our relationship, and in return, I was thoughtless and cruel. I treated you poorly. It wasn’t fair.” She glanced up at Duke, only to immediately look down again. “T-Therefore, I would like to apologize for my behavior. You were good to me when I didn’t deserve it, and I’m grateful for that, even though I don’t have a right to be.”
Dimitri had gone still, listening as well.
Duke uncrossed his arms and scratched the back of his head. “Geez, V, no need to be so dramatic.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry, too. For hitting you with the door.” He looked away. “I felt really bad about it.”
“Even after I called you a Neanderthal?”
He snorted. “Believe it or not, I don’t enjoy hurting girls, even when they’re calling me names.”
“No, of course not!” Victoria wrung her hands anxiously. “Then… we’re alright?”
He lifted his hand and laid it on top of her head. “We are the proper definition of friends,” he said with a gentle smile.
“Aww,” Luna cooed, her heart swelling with joy even as Dimitri continued to glare at her.
“I should also thank you for the flowergram,” Victoria said. “It made me happy, even if it doesn’t mean I have a secret admirer out there somewhere.”
Duke let his arm fall to his side. “Oh, yeah. Uh… you’re welcome.”
“Rats!” Luna hissed. “Just tell her you like her already!”
“Excuse me?” Dimitri yelled, which drew Duke and Victoria’s attention to them. Luna sighed, let him go, and walked out from behind the tree.
Victoria put a hand on her hip. “Luna Alexis Cruz, were you spying on us?”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she replied, giving Dimitri a rough shove. “Hey, look, you’ve got bigger fish to fry. I think your dad’s trying to put his arm around your mom.”
Dimitri looked between Duke and Victoria and his parents like he was trying to solve an unsolvable problem. Then he curled his lip at Duke, who gave him the stink eye in return, before stomping off to try and put his father in his place. Luna heaved a sigh of relief. That boy had serious control freak tendencies. Not that she blamed him.
She slung her arms over Duke and Victoria’s shoulders. “Now that you guys have finally apologized to each other, what say we commemorate this historic day with a picture?” And before they could protest, she whipped out her disposable camera, turned it around, and snapped a photo of the three of them.
“Luna!” Victoria cried.
“Don’t worry, half her hand was covering the lens,” Duke said. He held up his father’s digital camera. “At least let me take a nice one.” Luna helped fix Victoria’s hair while Duke directed them to move closer to the tree, then set the camera on the tripod and got a timer going. He came running back and stood on Luna’s other side. “Say aloha!”
Luna beamed at the camera. As soon as the shutter snapped, she broke away from Duke and Victoria. “Now one with just the two of you! Duke, scooch closer. She’s not going to bite.”
“I have bitten people in the past,” Victoria admitted. Luna captured the exact moment where both she and Duke must have realized how that sounded: their eyes widened, their faces reddened, and their postures stiffened. “Not without reason!” Click. “I was five years old and angry and didn’t know better!” Click. “I wouldn’t bite you! Goodness!” Click.
“It never even crossed my mind,” Duke said in a way that suggested it might have crossed his mind two or three times.
Luna put her hands on her hips. “Will you guys smile already?”
She hoped Duke wouldn’t delete the other pictures later. She desperately wanted to include them in their wedding video.
Author’s Note: And just like that, Victoria became V! Now if only Duke can get them a little past the proper definition of friends…
Guess where I was back in April?
Of course I had to write about it.
Loved Victoria at the end. This was a fun chapter :)
Woohoo Duke and V are reconciled!! And now they don't have any excuse not to get along or hang out, so that should make things interesting... 👀