Black Sunshine

Chapter 2 - In a Fleeting Moment of Joy, Two Ways of Life Meet in the Warmth of a Shared Meal

Solana had only known for three hours that her parents were going to be visiting. Of course they wanted to meet her new girlfriend. Of course her roommates all had a nasty flu. And of course this left only Nera’s apartment for dinner. Her parents had offered to take them out to a restaurant but the chances of there being an incident due to Nera’s former career were too high for Solana to risk on a first meeting with her parents. So she had spent the last two hours scrubbing Nera’s kitchen, dining room, and living room, while Nera ran to get supplies for dinner.

Not that the space was especially dirty. Nera was hardly a pig, but she did have weapons openly hung on hooks on the wall, dirty magazines on the coffee table, and some questionably risque decor. All of this was part of Nera’s charm, she was unabashedly herself, but that was hardly the best first impression for meeting your girlfriend’s parents.

Nera was her first girlfriend and the only partner she’d had who was meeting her parents. In the past she’d dated some men, but nothing really came of it. They had all been lackluster and as soon as anything got physical she became uncomfortable and broke things off. She had felt like she was broken for some time.

She had thought that the sparks people were talking about were just metaphors until the moment she laid eyes on Nera. Everything kind of clicked into place, and she understood the idea of love at first sight. The romance of it all was admittedly slightly dampened by the fact that she was bleeding out at the entrance to a dirty alley.

Her stomach ached with nervousness. She wanted everything to be absolutely perfect. The front door opened up behind her a little too forcefully and startled her.

“Damn, sorry. Hands full,” Nera said apologetically around a bouquet of flowers hanging from her mouth, while precariously balancing paper bags, and dry cleaning. What really caught Solana’s attention was the slow stream of blood dripping down Nera’s face from a clearly broken nose.

“Nera!” Solana exclaimed in shock, grabbing the bouquet out of her injured girlfriend’s mouth, “What happened to your face?”

“I know,” Nera said sheepishly, “Don’t worry, I’ll snap it back into place in a minute.”

“What happened?”

“I had a disagreement with the florist,” Nera said after a moment’s pause, “Can I set these down?”

“Right,” Solana shook her head, and grabbed the groceries and dry-cleaned dresses, “I’ll take the groceries to the kitchen. Go to the bathroom and fix your nose.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nera flashed one of her boyish grins that could make Solana forgive just about anything. She laughed as she brought the groceries to the kitchen.

“What time are they supposed to get here?” Nera called from the bathroom.

“In about an hour, so we have to hurry,” Solana said as she passed the bathroom on the way to the bedroom, she paused, turned back and peeked her head in, "now what is this about the florist breaking your nose?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“It’s not a big deal, I promise. I’ll be all cleaned up and presentable before your parents get here,” Nera leaned in to give her a kiss, but Solana pushed her face away with a giggle.

“Not until you aren’t covered in blood, Nera,” Solana tried to sound serious, and was failing, “Do you need a hand getting patched up?”

“Ha, you just want to practice those nursing skills,” Nera lightly teased, sliding past her and going down the hall to the bathroom.

“Oh, right, I got a call back from the hospital on 12th street.”

“Isn’t that the job you really wanted?” Nera called from the bathroom. Solana could hear the clatter of the much used first aid kit from under the bathroom sink.

“Yeah, and I got it! I start in 3 days.” Solana stood at the open door, watching as Nera grabbed her nose between her thumbs and was bracing to straighten it, “No, stop. Let me do it.”

“Thanks, I hate setting my nose myself.”

“Did you use the numb patch?”

“No,” Nera pouted, adorably, “it always makes my nose run.”

“I got the ones that only last 10 minutes, you’ll be fine.”

“Fine.”

Solana grabbed the numbing patch from the open kit, and ripped open the package, setting it against Nera’s broken nose. She was careful to only touch the safe areas as she counted to ten.

“Is it numb?”

“Yeah.”

Solana threw the used patch into the bin by the toilet. She grabbed Nera’s nose between her thumbs, and set the nose with a nasty sounding crack.

It almost disguised the knock that came at the door.

“Shit,” Solana swore, grabbing the brace that would heal the nose into the proper alignment, “they’re early. Hold this on your nose for five minutes, then get changed into your clothes. I’ll distract them.”

“Hey,” Nera said, pulling Solana into a kiss, “It’s gonna be okay. I promise.”

“Okay, I just really want tonight to go well.”

“And it will, once I’m done cleaning up and dressed, I’ll help you with dinner. There’s chilled wine in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever.”

“Your nose is dripping by the way,” Solana teased, as she left the bathroom.

“I told you!” Nera exclaimed as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand and ran to the bedroom.

“Solana!” her parents exclaimed simultaneously when she opened the door.

“Mom! Dad!” She hugged them both tightly in turn. It had been just over a year since she had seen them last, “How was your trip?”

“We managed to spring for the fancy suite on the ship, so it was actually delightful once we got our sea legs,” her mom said with a big grin, “and we brought souvenirs from some of the stops along the way! We weren’t sure what Nera would like, so we grabbed some generic things.”

“I’m sure she’ll love it. Please, come in. We haven’t started dinner just yet, but make yourself at home here on the couch. Would you like something to drink?”

“Oh, I know we’re a little early, dear, but the ship made good time, and we just couldn’t wait,” her mother said, setting their bags on the coffee table and flopping onto the couch.

“Oh, what’s this?” her father said, pulling a gun clip from between the couch cushions.

Everything stopped as he held the offending item between thumb and forefinger. Solana held her breath for longer than was probably healthy. She forced a smile on her face.

“Ha, ha,” she laughed nervously, taking the clip from her father, “so that’s where that got to.”