Welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Each morning I spend fifteen minutes writing on a singular story line. Each morning starts with the last line of the previous day. The goal is to get a (very) rough draft out of the simple story idea and to avoid letting the story idea languish in limbo forever, actually writing it out. This is the third year I have done this writing experiment and each year I learn just a little bit about myself and the way I write as well as creating a framework for the story. But without further ado…
Day 50: Gwen shook her head. “Lisa thinks I am helping her plan her wedding to Toby.”
Gwen shook her head. “Lisa thinks I am helping her plan her wedding to Toby.” She stared at the phone in shock. “Why would she think that?”
For a moment Gwen’s mind went blank. It was just a blank void. Then thoughts started to creep in. She and Lisa were best friends since kindergarten. Under normal circumstances she would have helped Lisa plan her wedding and in fact Gwen planned most things. ‘Lisa decides what she wants to do and Gwen makes it happen.’
The thought slid across her mind. It was a joke Mr. Lewis, Lisa’s father often made. He and Lisa always laughed and Mrs. Lewis always made a strange face at the comment. She was never quite able to interpret the look. Gwen never thought about it much. Lisa just wasn’t a planner. That was always Gwen’s role.
“Maybe because I didn’t throw anything at her during graduation she thinks I’ve gotten over the betrayal?” Gwen asked herself. She snorted. “She can’t possibly think that.”
Gwen shook her head and checked the time. It was early, too early to expect her grandparents to be awake. She set the phone to the side and decided unpacking would be her best option. “That way I can see everything I brought and be ready for whatever activity we end up doing.”
Gwen wasn’t exactly sure what she would be doing. She knew her grandparents wanted to get to know her and spend time with her, but she wasn’t sure how much time, or what that would entail. Her brain flashed to the dream of the game show and she found herself smiling, pushing thoughts of Lisa to the side. She doubted that she and her grandparents would be playing such a game.
“Although they could probably answer more of the questions than either Toby or Lisa,” she thought as she opened up the closet door. She was pleased to see hangers already in place. She moved to her suitcase and started taking out her folded garments. She shook out the folds before hanging each garment in the closet. Some she suspected would still need to be irons, but most would have the wrinkles from folding fall out quickly enough.
Gwen suspected that her game show dream had Toby and Lisa failing to answer even the most basic questions like her hair color wrong because deep inside she felt that they ignored her in order to commit their selfish act of betrayal. Psychology was one of her senior year honors classes and she did very well in the class.
“I’m sure they at least know my hair color,” she decided. “The dream just brought up my inner feelings.”
She paused halfway between the closet and the suitcase, a summer dress in her hands. Did she feel that way, deep down? She blinked, staring into space. There was the betrayal. That was hard to get over, but before? She dated Toby a long time and knew Lisa most of her life. She sunk down on the bed, the dress still in her hands. She focused on Lisa and then Toby.
‘Lisa decides what she wants to do and Gwen makes it happen.’ She thought. She could hear the sentence echo in her head now.
Ten til Midnight 