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 130: “To be honest I don’t know much about them,” Sophie said.
“To be honest I don’t know much about them,” Sophie said. “Once my office was moved I stopped seeing everyone involved. Now I have people to go out to lunch with when I feel like going and no one seems to be sneakily dating anyone else,” Sophie told Janine. “Or if they are, then they are smart enough not to let anyone else know about it. There was a parking lot blow up on Friday though.”
“Oh do tell,” Janine said.
“Not much to tell,” Sophie said. She took some of the rice out of the container and put it on her plate. “Kristen and Ryan were having a tense argument in the parking lot at the end of the day and as they drove out of the lot it looked like Kristen was aiming her car at his. Linda said it looked like she wanted to hit him before they got in their cars, but I didn’t see that part.”
”So that romance is over, I guess.” Janine said.
“Yeah, but it was strange,” Sophie said. “When Kristen doused me with water Sean said something about me and Ryan which was strange and then when I had my weekly meeting with my supervisor she said that Kristen mentioned something about Ryan and Carrie.”
“I though Carrie was seeing your supervisor, Evers,” Janine said.
“She was,” Sophie said. “Which is why it is weird. Although I think she stopped seeing him before I shifted offices. It seems strange that Kristen is suggesting others are involved in office romances thought.”
“Is there a company policy against it?” Janine asked.
“I don’t know if there is an official policy,” Sophie said after a moment of thought. “But if there was it would be an even stranger thing to do. After all she is involved in an office romance so if someone started looking at who was doing what, then they would probably find out about her, even if she was trying to get other people in trouble.”
“This is true.” Janine thought about it as they watched the movie. The plot was simple and didn’t require either of their full attention.
“Do you think she just expects them to take her word for things?” Janine asked.
“What? Just say, oh Kristen says you are behaving inappropriately so clearly you are?”
“It would explain a lot if she doesn’t expect to be questioned.”
“True, but it’s weird to say anything about me as it was clear I wasn’t with the group. I never went out to lunch with them, or lied to cover for them. I was never really seen with any of them,” Sophie said.
“Maybe she said that was your cover,” Janine said. “You pretend that you don’t have anything to do with them so no one would suspect.”
“Possibly, but I hope she leaves me out of it. I told my supervisor, Elizabeth that Carrie was with Evers as Ryan was with Kristen. I didn’t really mean to, it just sort of slipped out when she brough up the Carrie and Ryan thing. I’m hoping it is the last I hear about it. I have much more important things to think about.”
“Oh, anything I should know about?” Janine asked. Sophie smiled.
Ten til Midnight 