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 169: Lisa jumped and turned.
Lisa jumped and turned. ”You scared me,” she said. She looked Gwen up and down. “What were you doing out in that?” she asked.
“I was running,” Gwen answered. Her steps paused on the pathway up to her front door, Lisa standing between her and the door.
Lisa snorted. “I thought you gave that up.”
“No,” Gwen said. “I didn’t. What do you want, Lisa.”
Lisa smiled widely. “I brought Bear Claws,” she said. “And I figured we could talk about what a total rat Toby is.”
Gwen sighed. Lisa loved Bear Claws while Gwen found them too dense and heavy, but Lisa never seemed to remember Gwen’s dislike. “I have things to do.”
Lisa lowered the bag and her face drooped. In the past it was the face she gave Gwen when Gwen wanted to do something Lisa wasn’t interested in doing. Usually Gwen caved.
“Maybe we can talk while you work?” Lisa suggested.
“Are you going to apologize?”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, I should have known not to go out with Toby.”
“Why,” Gwen asked.
“Because he is a total rat. Do you know he cheated on me?”
Gwen ignored the question. “How about you’re sorry because you are supposed to be my friend? Or you were at least pretending to be my friend. While you dated my boyfriend behind my back for over a year.”
Gwen found her temper rising and Lisa frowned at her.
“You don’t have to get so mad, I said I was sorry didn’t I?”
“You are just sorry that he cheated on you, not that you cheated with him. You aren’t sorry you hurt me, you are just feeling sorry for yourself. And I have better things to do than listen to you.”
“Friends are supposed to forgive each other,” Lisa said. Her face darkened and Gwen could see her temper rising. Gwen knew that Lisa expected her to back down as she always did.
“We aren’t friends,” Gwen said instead. “Now leave, I have things to do.”
Lisa’s face cleared and showed simple shock at Gwen’s unwillingness to step back into her accustomed role.
“But …we’ve always been friends.”
“Not anymore,” Gwen said. “You should have realized that when I blocked you.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “You were just upset. I figured you’d come around once you got home. Then things would go back to how they always were. And we could go forward with our plans. Remember the plans? We were going to share an apartment and go to school together?”
“I didn’t come home,” Gwen said.
Ten til Midnight 