The Fifteen Minute Novel is an attempt to take a single prompt and use the last sentence written each day as a start for the next day. This year I had several prompts circling around a similar story, so I have combined them. However, the story starts the same way each day, with the last line from the day before and a timer set for fifteen minutes. The hope is to end up with a complete, if very rough draft by the end of the year. Some stories are better than others, but I always learn a whole lot about my own writing when I do this so for me it is not only a nice way to work out a story, but it is a tool for helping my writing get better. And so, we continue this story for 2024 with…
Day 27: ‘This way is much better,’ she decided.
‘This way is much better,’ she decided. After her quick change, Sophie joined Janine in the living room. There was a pop as Janine opened the champagne and poured it into two glasses she took out of the cabinet.
“Usual order?” she asked as the bubbles settled.
“Sure,” Sophie replied. Janine picked up her cell phone and called the order they usually shared into the nearest pizza place that delivered. It was in fact the only place that delivered to their apartment building complex due to weird geographic pizza place zonings and turf wars, but as it was one they liked it wasn’t too big a deal.
“They will be here soon,” Janine said. She picked up one of the glasses while Sophie picked up another. “So first, to you, Sophie Daniels who has an entire month off to do what you want and to think about what you want beyond the month.” They clinked glasses and each took a sip. The champagne was cold, sweet and dry as it fizzed down their throats.
“Thank you very much,” Sophie said. “Now what is your good news?”
Janine shook her head. “Nope, first you get all your complaints out and then when you are back to happy for a month off, we get to my good news. So how bad was the week?”
Sophie rolled her eyes and took her drink to the couch. She sat down while Janine flopped not her favorite reading chair. “Well, a lot extra was added to my desk this week.”
“Hence the late nights each night this week.”
“Exactly. Then Elizabeth showed up to ask if I had gone over the plan for my work with Mr. Evers because he hadn’t filed anything. Everyone was out at lunch, so I told her I would talk to him when he got back.”
“Let me guess, he was late getting back?”
“They took a three hour lunch,” Sophie said. Janine’s eyes went wide. Well technically more than a three hour lunch. They left at noon and got back around quarter after three but what’s an extra fifteen minutes?”
“Don’t you have to clock in and out of the building?”
“Yup,” Sophie took a sip of her champagne.
“Wow, I could see the occasional long lunch being justified, but doesn’t he think anyone will check? I mean they have you clock in and out so they have a record, right?”
“You would think, and I expect that someone is going to be checking soon. After all they are working on efficiency and streamlining as they get ready for that big multi year project they managed to secure.”
While Sophie didn’t know all the details, she knew it was a multi-billion dollar project and was hugely celebrated by the upper floors when they got it. She knew someone was getting a large bonus because of it. She suspected her workload would increase if there weren’t new hires once the project was set in motion. She set the thought aside as something to worry about after her month of freedom. It fetl good to set it aside and she took a sip of champagne.
“So what happened when he returned?” Janine asked.
Ten til Midnight 