Prosebuds (Issue 2: Aug. 2025)

The next chapter of "Falling from the Inside" + Prosebud Nayna Agrawal

Aug 04, 2025

Article voiceover

0:00

-12:58

Note: 🎧 For accessibility, I provide a reading of every Prosebuds issue audiobook-style. Listen by clicking the play button on the above “Article Voiceover” tab.

Hey, ‘buds!

I hope you’re faring well in the high heat of summer. I myself am a couple of weeks post top surgery and being doted on by my wonderful wife and dear friends. I’m grateful for the privilege (PWGA health insurance + gender affirming care + major love/support) to make this longtime wish a reality, especially in the midst of our eerie political hellscape. ENORMOUS kudos to my amazing community for showing up for me in such a real way. Thank you! I’ve honestly been overwhelmed by all the love and support.

Look at me, flat-chested and fancy free! I’m still tender, but my child self is grinning ear-to-ear:

Me, one week post-op, impatient to try this rad new shirt from my SIL, though still in recovery mode!

If you’d like to contribute to the recovery fund, feel free to Venmo me (@quintanatown) or, even better, you can support me and my work by signing up for a Prosebuds paid subscription! I’m glad to be back sharing more writing and blasting one of my fave prosebuds, too.

Thanks for being here!

xCQ

p.s. Major shout out to one of my favorite humans, Doreen Tinajero, for being a beta reader for the past two issues. I love you!

CQ Serialized Fiction | Falling From the Inside: Chapter 2

“The Spirit of Lower Mid-City” is a public art installation, an art walk of 22 laser cut Corten steel panels, created collaboratively by artists Monica Rose Kelly and Nik Richard.

Welcome back for the August installment of Falling from the Inside.

Been thinking about dear Romero’s ghost? Wondering more about this man’s story, and the implications of his visitation on Laura? Or maybe you’ve been considering our main character a little more deeply — what exactly does she need to change, as per the ghost’s warning?

In this month’s chapter, we’ll go back in time and meet another major player in our tale, though her direct part in the larger picture may not be clear just yet…

If you’re new to Prosebuds, feel free to check out last month’s inaugural issue to catch up on the first part of our saga. Otherwise, enjoy, and if you like what you read, feel free to pass the merry word on.

Chapter 2: Reconnecting with Marie
It had been Laura’s idea to open their marriage, though the arrangement began as a discussion between her and Mark long before that. A conversation they revisited every year, only now set into motion. They established their ground rules, of course. Safe sex, scheduled check-ins, no long-term relationships, no hook-ups or rendezvous whatsoever at the house. The whole plan felt very organized, very adult—the way Laura liked things.
While her best friend, Sophie—now the only other person in the know about Laura and Mark’s new setup—wondered whether this shift might lead to a fissure in their marriage, Laura remained convinced it would do the opposite, sealing their bond, highlighting their extraordinariness as a couple.
“We’re totally on the same page about this,” Laura told Sophie over a Bun Cha Delicious signature phorito, rice noodles perfectly packed into each bite, before the lunch crowd poured into her childhood friend’s funky Bywater eatery. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?”
Sophie’s nose scrunched up in the way it always did when something smelled off. “Um, is that saying really applicable here?”
“You know what I mean! I think this will be really good for us,” Laura said. At this point, Laura and Mark’s lives were a little too entwined—even the more monogamous-minded Sophie Nguyen, who’d been with her boyfriend Reg since her mid-twenties, could appreciate that.
“Well, good for you, then,” Sophie said behind a giant cup of black coffee, hair pulled back in her signature blue handkerchief-turned-head scarf.
Laura eyed her as she wiped her hands. “Come on. I know there’s more. Tell me what you’re thinking…”
Sophie paused meaningfully as she set her coffee down on the bar. “I mean, I know this is so basic,” Sophie said, unconsciously rubbing the line-drawn cat tattoo on her arm, “but what if you fall in love with somebody else?”
“It’s all an experiment, anyway,” Laura quickly countered. “If we want to change things again, we can. That’s the beauty of all this.”
“Well, I look forward to the play-by-play.” Sophie leaned in. “There are no good shows on TV right now.”
“There are, like, 5 million shows streaming on TV right now.”
“Well, who needs ‘em when I’ve got you?” Sophie smiled. “I get the feeling this is going to be very entertaining…”
*
Laura hadn’t seen Marie in years. Her jaw dropped when Marie’s barely aged face popped up on her phone screen. What were the odds? On her first try with the app, Marie’s easy smile stood out immediately. They both attended LSU as undergrads twenty years ago and somehow managed to meet among the thousands living on the same floor of their freshman dorm. Both Honors College students.
“Interested in women” read the line below Marie’s name. As far as Laura knew, she always had been—out and proud at 17 years old. Laura admired that, especially knowing that Marie was also first generation like her—Marie Etienne, the daughter of Haitian parents. Laura, on the other hand, always knew she herself would end up with a man. She hated to admit it, but the choice seemed easier, more practical—and she’d always been a practical person. Maybe too practical. Still, she couldn’t deny that tug she so often felt when an attractive woman caught her eye. Lately happening more and more. She remained undeniably bisexual, and Mark genuinely accepted that fact about her from their beginnings. Despite his own issues, Mark truly proved deeper than his good-old-boy exterior.
Only ever casual acquaintances, Laura and Marie lost touch years ago. Had they ever even exchanged phone numbers? Laura scrolled through her contacts, delighted to see Marie’s name pop up—a holdover from so many years before. Laura had no idea Marie moved back to New Orleans, let alone when. She remembered vaguely Marie grew up in the East somewhere, and her parents had returned post-Katrina. If nothing else, it would be a nice meal, a decent nostalgia trip, a proper catch up. Above all, Laura needed a break from her life. From her constant role as boss, mother, “capable one.” She imagined Marie never had children. There was no mention in her profile, at least, but maybe she had? Laura loved her boys, of course, but that didn’t stop her from fantasizing about what her life might look like without them.
Laura and Marie met at a new stylish, Black-owned restaurant in Mid-City on Marie’s suggestion. Laura, ever the punctual one, arrived 10 minutes before their reservation. She had a brief flash of Mark overseeing the bath time ritual as she sat down for a cocktail, but the image quickly dissipated as Marie approached their table. Still remarkably good looking—even more so than her recent photo. Something in the way she carried herself, a confidence and directness about her that Laura found incredibly sexy. Hair short and natural now, a difference from the braids she sported in their college years.
“You know, I almost didn’t come tonight,” Marie said after she’d ordered her own drink, an old fashioned, from their easygoing waitress. “But I wanted to see you, so I made an exception.”
“Oh, yeah?” Laura grinned; she couldn’t help it. The cocktail certainly helped.
“I saw your profile, and yeah, I don’t mess with that shit. Married people—”
“We’re open,” Laura confirmed, a scratch hitting her throat. She took another quick sip of her drink.
“Yeah, yeah, but I’m not. It’s too complicated.”
“But you’re saying you’re interested...”
“Now, I didn’t say all that, L-ow-ruh.”
Laura loved how Marie emphasized her name. So many people got it wrong, pronouncing the word as a flat Lor-uh. It had been so long since she’d done this—been on a date, if they could even call it that—but their easy flirtation felt good, beyond the buzz of the cocktail. “Well, the timing’s not great, I’ll admit,” Laura said. We’ve got this big new project, so things are about to get really busy.”
“What’s the project?”
“The new Jazz and Blues Hotel on Canal.”
“No shit! That’s amazing.” Marie lifted her cocktail to toast. “I’m actually over at Tulane right there, so—”
“You’re a nurse now, right? If I read your profile correctly...”
“You did, you did.” Marie chuckled. “I actually help run this little clinic for immigrants and undocumented folks—that’s my real passion, beyond the main gig at the hospital, but I gotta pay the bills somehow!”
“That’s amazing, Marie,” Laura said, genuine, feeling a slight pang of guilt for not being more involved or volunteering more of her time. “Still a bleeding heart, I see.”
“Guess so…” Marie shrugged.
“So, how the hell are you still single?” Laura asked abruptly. She wished she hadn’t.
“Well, my ex and I split about a year ago—”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too. And the city’s about the size of a safety pin. Not a whole lotta options in the single queer women department, I’ll tell you that much.”
“So…you’d consider seeing me again?”
Marie chuckled again. She had a sweet, quiet laugh. “As friends. Sure. I’d love that.”
Laura cocked her head at Marie; she wasn’t one to back down easily. “Friends is a great place to start.”
Marie shook her head, but Laura could see in the way Marie looked at her that she, too, was interested in more…

Nik Richard’s artwork for NNU’s @nationalnurses 2024 Visionaries Conference.

Featured Prosebud | Nayna Agrawal

As a reminder, in this section I feature living multi-genre writers with a bio + mini interview, including: a rose (something great about their process right now), a thorn (something shitty about their current writing life), and a stem (an artist/writer/work that changed their life and/or sustains them).

August’s prosebud in the wild is the wonderful playwright, screenwriter, television and animation writer, Nayna Agrawal, whom I adore. Nayna and I met as the two playwright staff writers on ABC’s rom-com television series The Baker and the Beauty back in 2019, and I’ve been a serious fan of her comedy on the page ever since.

Our *The Baker and the Beauty* writers room holiday party circa December 2019.

Nayna Agrawal is a former mediocre investment analyst, a tortured lobbyist associate, and ruthless international aid director. She got her start in Hollywood as a Grey's Anatomy P.A. where a writer made her keep track of her menstrual cycle. A first gen South Asian gal, Nayna grew up in India and Virginia. Her plays have been workshopped, commissioned, awarded residencies and featured on stages across the U.S. She is a Sesame Street Writers Program alum (2018), Disney Writers Program alum (2019), a South Asian Salon alum (2021), and an Unlock Her Potential alum (2022). She has written on eleven shows and worked on Disney's Encanto.

ROSE
NA: I just finished an outline for a comedy-horror feature that I'm excited about.
THORN
NA: I just went through the longest span of writer's block that I've ever gone through. BROOO-TAAAAAL. I had to ultimately trust that it would dissipate, but man, it was a doozy.
STEM
NA: When I was 12, I read Gone With the Wind. In three days. I couldn't believe something so brilliant could have occurred to someone, put in writing, and shared with me.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?