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While taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she pulled her lower lip through her teeth a couple of times and absently fiddled with a button on her blouse. Parker wondered when those two insignificant, subconsciously feminine gestures had become so goddamn sexy.
“A prank is one thing,” she said. “But Todd’s joke had a meanness about it that was unmistakable. It wasn’t harmless. It couldn’t be undone as easily as buying a new toothbrush. He was tinkering with Roark’s future. This practical joke could damage Roark’s grade, compromise his capstone, affect his writing ambitions, and possibly even crush them. He can’t let it pass and do nothing.”
“True. Roark won’t fold. He won’t easily forgive the experience, but it’ll sure as hell motivate him.”
“Yes, yes,” she said excitedly. “This will fuel his determination to succeed.”
“To reach a level of success that Todd will—”
“Envy,” she said, finishing the thought for him.
He grinned. “Per your suggestion, I’ll let him blow off steam, land a few punches, which Todd will concede he deserved.”
“So they remain friends?”
“It wouldn’t be a book if they didn’t. If their friendship fell apart here, the story would be over.”
“Not necessarily. It could be just as powerful if they became bitter enemies at this point.”
“Wait and see, Maris.”
“What?”
“Give me time.”
Her eyes widened marginally. “You’ve got it plotted already, don’t you?”
“For the most part,” he confessed with a negligent shrug. “There are some details still to hammer out.”
She tried, but failed, to looked piqued. “You’ve been stringing me along.”
“To get you excited.”
“I’m excited.” Her animation proved it. “May I make another suggestion?”
“I don’t promise to take it.”
“Agreed.”
“Then fire away.”
“Could we see Roark falling in love?”
“With the girl who went back to her boyfriend?”
“Yes. You told the reader that he fell in love, but we didn’t get to see it. We didn’t experience it along with him. You don’t even give this girl a name. I think it could be very poignant, as well as useful toward developing his character. How he handles the disappointment. That kind of thing. And what if…”
“Go on,” he said when she hesitated.
“What if Todd were somehow involved in their breakup?”
Frowning, he thoughtfully scratched his cheek, reminding him that he hadn’t shaved that morning. “Wouldn’t that be too much antagonism too soon? In those first few chapters, I’m trying to establish that these two guys are truly friends. Eventually the friendship is overtaken and then ultimately destroyed by their competitiveness. But if Todd interferes with Roark’s love life, then screws him over with Hadley, that immediately makes him out the villain and Roark the hero.”
“Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? I think of them tha
t way.”
“You do?”
