Daniel > Recent Status Updates

How did I not know this was a thing?!? Brb ...

“Anything going on that we need to know about?”

“Nope, it’s deader than a doornail out there and if you ask why that’s a thing since doornails aren’t sentient and can’t die…”

“I’ll stop asking when you give me an answer.”

“You can’t look it up yourself?” he asks as he goes back over to the desk.

“I could, but it’s more fun to annoy you into doing it for me.”

“Why didn’t I eat you in the womb?”

“How is that even possible? How can you not hate anyone?”

“I just don’t.”

“What if someone does something unforgivable?”

“Then I deal with them in whatever way I need to, then I forget they exist and move on.”

“Bullshit.”

“Not bullshit. In order to hate someone, I’d have to care about them and their opinions, and I don’t. Hate me, loathe me, dislike me, none of that matters because they don’t matter.”

“This isn’t a date.”

“I think it is.” I push the door open for him and wait for him to go through.

“It isn’t,” he insists, his voice hushed so it doesn’t echo in the stairwell.

“What do you call going to a party together and getting up to some mischief if it’s not a date?”

“A bad fucking idea, that’s what I call it.”

“You’re freaking out.”

“No, I’m being realistically cautious.”

“You’re freaking out.”

“I don’t want you because you’re straight. I don’t get any satisfaction from flipping straight guys because that’s not a thing. You don’t have to be queer to enjoy playing with dicks, and whatever label you choose is up to you, but no one can change your sexuality. If you’re learning stuff about yourself because of what we did, then that means it was always there and I’m just bringing it to the surface.”

“Thanks for waiting,” said Nate.

“Sorry,” she said. He was wearing cargo shorts, despite the fact that there was a little chill in the air, and a T-shirt that said MY OTHER CAR IS A DRAGON.

“You really love this stuff, don’t you?” he said, sitting down next to her on the damp grass.

“It’s like you’re at murder Disney World.”

“Murder Disney World would be amazing.”

“That’s true,” he said. “I’d go to that.”

Full cast audiobook ...
just dropped today! 😁

My senior English teacher looked like that!

“Act first, apologize later.”

She felt Nate staring at her. “I don’t know if this is going to count for three chapters,” he said, digging his hands into his pockets. “We’ve only been doing this for a week.”

“What did Dr. Quinn say?”

“That she would consider it when she saw it. But she looks like she considers broken bottles to be part of your complete breakfast.”

His blinding smile when I walked into his store at lunchtime told me he was happy to see me. Maybe he felt for me what I felt for him. Though I was certain what I felt for him far exceeded his feelings. If the online definitions of love were anything to go by.

He made my heart skip a beat, my breath would catch, and my brain would stop processing . . . It was either love or a medical condition.

LOVE Deacon!!

“Tonight’s going to be fun. But we can leave at any time. If you want to leave, just give me a sign.”

“A sign?”

“Yep. A signal that tells me you’d like to leave.”

“Such as?”

I had to think. “Uh . . . tug on my sleeve. Then you don’t have to say anything, but I’ll know and we can make a run for it.”

His eyes went wide. “A run for it? I don’t think running is an appropriate social response.”

To go on a date with someone would imply dating, or was there a specific number of dates to be had before the term dating applied? I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t feel comfortable asking Mom or Dad that question. Maybe I could ask Google . . . no. Maybe I needed to ask Winter that.

“I’m going to bed now,” I said, before taking my leave. “I have a lot of overthinking to do, and I’d rather do it in my room.”

What was she? It was too presumptuous to say detective; she wasn’t really a law officer or private investigator and she had never really solved a case. Crime buff just sounded like a weird hobbyist with a high gloss. Her solution was not to give herself a title, but to state an activity.
“I study crime,” she said.
“To do it or stop it?” Ellie said.
“To stop it,” Stevie said, “but it probably works either way.”

Okay, ngl... I generally avoid female-centric stories. I need to relate to at least a few characters in my books but I am not, and have no intention of ever being, female. However, I have been totally engaged with this since page 1. Two main aspects of all stories: the story and how the story is told. I love the story blurb and I REALLY love how it's being told! Delicious writing and I'm savoring every single word!

“You going to Deacon's bedroom raises more questions than answers.”

“He showed me his bookcase.”

She snorted. “Wow. So that’s like second base for you.”

I ignored that. “And their bookcase in their house is one entire wall, floor to ceiling. And the house is all warm greens and browns. Imagine if Bilbo Baggins owned Belle’s library.”

She squinted and tilted her head as she tried to picture that. “Uhhh.”

“What do you want to do, Deacon?”

“More. I want to see you more, if that’s what you want. I know I’m different⁠—”

“You’re not different,” I said. “You’re perfectly you.”

“If I know I have something coming up, I fixate . . .”

OMG! SO many Deacon-isms that I relate to ... so strongly! Hmmm...