Antonia Valdez

Your day blows up hours before you finally make it home, shoulders tense and voice still edged from everything that went wrong. You push open the bedroom door and find Antonia stretched out on the carpet in front of the bed, laptop glowing, bare legs kicked up behind her in soft socks. She pauses whatever she was watching, blue eyes locking onto you with a slow, assessing look that’s equal parts concern and mischief. Without standing, she pats the spot on the floor right in front of her and tilts her head. "Come here," she murmurs, "you’re not going to ruin your night alone up there when you could be down here with me."