?
Is this consideredco-writing?
August
“Hmmmmm…” December—perfectly princess—lies sprawled on a store display mattress that cushions her every inch, pulling her deep into the soft plush.
“I’m glad Lynn was able to get Micheal over so quickly to assess the situation with your electricity,” I tell my brother, while heglaresdown at my bestie.
Grunting, he glances at me, then he resigns. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Really rough what happened to your mattress, though.” I saw the charred remains out in front of his house this afternoon, when I walked over with December to meet up for this shopping event. Not pretty at all. It practically looks like someone dumped gasoline on it, then threw a match. “A relief your bed frame didn’t get too caught in the flames. Or Dominic, for that matter.”
December rolls over, and her skirt tugs up, ever so slightly.
My brother’s jaw hardens, and he drags his attention across the store—to Dominic, who is lying face-down on a different mattress. “Yeah. I guess.”
Heguesseshe wouldn’t want thelovely individualhe was helping out to go up in flames? Well. How benevolent of him.
“How’re things going with…” He gestures, vaguely. “…all that?”
I hum.
If I ignore the fact that Ali still hasn’t replied to me, everything isfine. After my pretty pink casket arrived, Dominic slept in it, and he only seemed mildly disoriented this morningwhen I asked if it was comfortable over the chocolate chip pancakes I made. To suggest that things have been positivelydullseems mean, but things have been…positively dull. “Nothing interesting has happened yet.”
“Oh. My condolences.”
December sighs again, and rolls again, and this time my brother’s heart leaves his body. He marches a step forward, grabs the hem of her skirt, and yanks it down over her rump. “Dece, have some self-awareness. There are men here.”
Perfectly calm, December juts her lip and peers up at Wynnter with her giant eyes. “Men where? The clerk is a woman, and Dominic is too busy having a crisis to leer at me.”
I glance toward Dominic. He’s not moved a muscle. Tilting my head, I do conclude that it appears he’s having a crisis over there. Maybe his guilt from eating a penguin army and returning to devour the innocent families and children last night has finally caught up with him.
I wonder if he’s still breathing.
“I—” Wynnter grits. “—am a man.”
December sits up in an exaggeration of shock. She scans my mountain of a brother from head to toe, then from one broad shoulder to the other, then faux terror ripples through her eyes. “You mean…”
Eye twitching, Wynnter says, “It shouldn’t be that alarmin—”
“A man touched my wee rump?” She slaps her hands to her backside.
Wynnter flinches.
“I’m unfit for marriage now.” Graceful as a tiny evil monster, December rises, and Wynnter stumbles back a step, desperate to evade her. “You’ll have to take responsibility, Wynn-Wynn.”
His Adam’s apple bobs, and I open the notes app on my phone. Man in distress. Violently flirty lead. There are elementsI can surely use here. I wonder if my vampire boy’s girlie should be as bold as December…
Would that result in smut, though?
I don’t know that I want my vampire lead to be particularly shy. Maybe my female lead could lose her hubris and flee when she’s flirted with in return?
If Wynnter were capable of forgetting that December is like another little sister to him when she gets like this, he’d find out pretty fast that she’s all talk and tease.
Am I going to tell him that, though?
No. Absolutely not.
