Writing Class

~~One Week Later~~


Miranda frowns at the sun filtering through her open window, cursing it for bringing on the heat. Her cell phone beeps from it’s charger and she reaches to the ground, feeling around for it. When her fingertips touch it, she snatches it and brings it up to stare it the screen. She sees that it’s just a text message and drops it back to the floor, not bothering to see who it’s from or what it says.

The past week has gone by fairly quickly. It seemed just yesterday when she got to meet Finn’s lovely parents.

Curling her feet underneath her, she sits up straight on the couch and turns the page of her book. She borrowed it from Vincent that night of the parental disaster. She was pleasantly surprised to see Vincent owning books himself. His collection wasn’t nearly as diverse as Finn’s, but he still had books. Vincent is an obvious lover of all things Hornby and Welsh, owning every single book the two have written. She borrowed his copy of Ecstasy and is now very quickly getting through it. She was distracted by a different book and just today realized that she still hadn’t read \'Ecstasy\'. She’s barely moved from the couch all day, her only concern is finishing the book.

Her apartment looks so bare without Stacy’s stuff littered about. Miranda is not looking forward to moving back in with her parents, but it’s really her only option. The only reason why she was able to afford the rent in the first place was because her friend, Stacy, was living with her and taking half the load. Now that Stacy moved in with her boyfriend Craig, Miranda is only biding her time until she runs out of funding. She can afford a few more months by herself, but that’s it.

Not having a job is a real hassle. She’d been using money from a settlement check from a car accident she was in the year before. She isn’t going to be able to live off it her entire life. The only job she can see herself having is one at a bookstore. So the first thing she did that morning was stop by a independently owned book store. She had heard that the owner was looking for someone to man the store. She ended up doing a interview right then and the owner told her that it’ll be a few days before she knows if she’s hired. Miranda doesn’t mind the wait, she’s pretty sure that she’ll get it. She got along with the owner real well, besides, she reads.

She is not looking forward to moving. She hates the actual moving process. Boxing up all of her books and movies is a pain in her ass and moving them just about kills her ass.

Looking down at her cell phone to check the time, she sees that she has an hour or so to finish the book up. It’ll be no problem. She told Stacy that she would help her pick out a birthday present for her brother. Miranda hates shopping, but she agreed to it and she hasn’t seen much of Stacy in months.


~~Three Hours Later~~


“Okay so what about this?” Stacy asks, holding up a black and yellow striped shirt.

“Does he like the bumble bee look?” Miranda asks with a laugh. Stacy frowns and puts it back on the rack.

Miranda is getting very tired of shopping. They’ve been to three different stores and Stacy hasn’t found anything. She’s determined to get him a shirt, saying that he doesn’t have any nice clothes. Miranda’s met Kyle enough times to know that he’s not the dressy type.

Miranda spots a rather nice looking jacket and lifts it up to show her, “This?”

Stacy shakes her head, pushes blond hair behind her ear and goes back to searching. A few seconds go by before Stacy asks, “So who is this guy you’ve been spending so much time with?”

“What?” Miranda asks dumbly.

Stacy doesn’t answer, but just sets her with a look saying that she’s not going to accept that answer.

Miranda sighs, holding back a smile that always seems to appear when she thinks of Finn, “He’s just a guy.”

“Just a guy? I‘ve barely seen you since you’ve met this Finley guy.”

“I know, but you’re always with Craig,” Miranda defends weakly.

“Yeah cause he’s my boyfriend. That’s the only reason to spend so much time with a guy Mira. I‘m gonna have to meet this stud, when is it gonna be?”

“Oh…never,” Miranda says simply.

“Why not?!” Stacy demands, hands on her small hips.

“God only knows what you would tell him.”

Stacy answers with a sly grin and walks to a nearby rack holding belts. Miranda follows with a sigh, “Why don’t you give him a gift card for the store? That way he gets what he wants and I won’t have to shop any more.”

After some convincing, Stacy agrees and they take their position at the end of the line. Miranda keeps manages to withhold her smile when Stacy is blind to the stares she’s getting from the nearby males. It’s no wonder she gets looks though, what with the short skirt and backless top. Miranda’s cell phone begins to ring and she quickly retrieves it from her pocket. Looking at the screen and seeing who it is, she swiftly leaves Stacy’s side before her friend can stop her.

Leaving the store, she flips the phone open, “Hey.”

~“Hey, what’s up?”~

“I’m at the mall.”

She smiles when she hears Finn laugh under his breath, and she asks “So what is up with you turtle dove?”

~“I’m at the airport.”~

“Running away to Fiji?” she asks with a laugh.

~“No, I’m going to London with Vincent. He wants to see his friends and family because of what happened over there.”~

The smile falls from her face when she realizes what Finn is talking about. She can’t believe what happened in London and the whole thing sickens her.

“Is his family okay?”

~“Yeah, they’re all fine. They weren’t near any of it, but he has some friends that live right around the area of where the bus blew up. They’re all fine. He just wants to be over there right now. It’s his home, you know?”~

“Yeah of course. I’m glad you’re going with him.”

~“Well even if he didn’t want me to, he would have had no choice.\"~

Miranda leans against the wall, watching shoppers walk by, paying no attention to her, “How long are you gonna be over there for?”

~“I don’t know. A few days.”~

Nodding her head, she says, “Okay, well thanks for calling.”

~“How could I not? They’re boarding, I’ll call you tonight okay?”~

“Okay, sure. Hug Vince for me.”

~“Sure thing.”~

“Bye.”

The phone goes dead and she flips it shut. Her mood was just brought down worse than before. She feels for Vincent and hopes everyone he knows is fine. There were a lot of casualties, she could never imagine being able to do that. Kill so many people for no good reason. Is there ever a good reason to kill people though?

“Who was it?” Stacy asks, walking out of the store with a small bag in her hand.

“Finn.”

“And how is lover boy?” she asks with a taunting laugh.

“Going to London.”

“Why?”

“His friend grew up there and has ties, so Finn’s going with him,” Miranda says, leading the way towards the exit.

“That sucks…” Stacy trails off. Stacy has never felt comfortable with violence, she doesn’t like talking about it and barely spoke two words about the attacks when Miranda mentioned it over the phone that morning. She still believes in world peace.

“Okay so we’re leaving right?” Miranda asks hopefully.

“Actually I was thinking about a new pair of boots.”


~~That Night~~


“So where are you now?” Miranda asks, throwing her pillow to the head of the bed and kicking her shoes off.

~“John’s place, a friend of his. We’re spending the night here and than going over to Kent to see his parents tomorrow.”~

“Everyone’s fine?”

~“Well everyone he knows, yeah. John’s filming everything. He wants to piece together a documentary about the entire event.”~

Miranda nods, than remembering that he can’t see her, lays back on her bed.

~“So tell me about shopping. I want to talk about something that can’t be connected to fuck-wits with explosives.”~

“Okay, well shopping was terrible. I thought it was over after the initial goal was met, but it wasn’t. I had to go boot shopping. Than she needed a skirt to go with the boots, so on and so on,” Miranda drones on, scratching her side. She wants to tell him that she’s worried about him being over there, with the way the news anchors are talking, but he really seems like he just doesn’t want to talk about it. She gets the impression that it’s the only topic on anyone’s mind over there, understandably so, and he just wants to talk trivial drivel. She can do that for him.

~“Did you get anything?”~

“Just a few books and a movie.”

~“Tell me all about them.”~

She smiles at his request and says, “Well I finally bought a copy of Big Lebowski.”

~“Ahhh man, the Jesus.” ~

“The bowling world was never the same.”

~“I’ve adopted some of his moves. I’ve got skill.”~

“Which moves?”

~“Does it really matter?”~

She laughs, knowing that he’s right, any move of his are priceless.

“So have you figured out where you’re going to be moving too?”

~“Probably back in with Vince temporarily.”~

“Moving is a curse and I don’t know where to get huge boxes from,” she peels her socks off, stretching her toes.

~“Where are you going?”~

“My parents’ place. I figured I should just get it over with, save the last of my money and get a job,” she says, trying to remember if she ever actually mentioned it to him. But the tone of his voice, she’s guessing that she’s hasn’t.

~“What’s brought on this happening?”~

Nope she definitely didn’t tell him. She tells him about her friend moving out and the now current money issue, the possible job and the parentals.

~“I should just move in with you.”~

She doesn’t know if he’s being serious or not, so she doesn’t say anything about that idea, instead just asking, “Didn’t like living with Vincent?”

~“Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy. But facing him alone? It’s a little much.”~

“How come you didn’t move in with Marcus?” she asks curiously, thinking that Marcus would be the easiest to live with.

~“Marcus is a solitary kind of guy. He likes his space. It’s why he made sure to get a one-bedroom apartment. I’m sure if I asked, he’d let me crash on his couch, but I wouldn’t do that to him.”~

She doesn’t bother asking about why he didn’t go with Krissy, finding the answer rather apparent.

“So if your dad isn’t funding your living arrangements, where are you getting the money from?”

~“I’ve had jobs off and on since I was twelve. I have money. I just never spend it unless I need too. I usually just use it for books and whatnot.”~

“I hate working. I don’t really hate the work, it’s just the type of work. I wouldn’t mind that book store cause it’s so small I doubt more than three people are ever in it at one time. Gives me plenty of time to read and catch up on my soaps,” she says with a smile, actually looking forward to doing that exact thing. Well everything but the soap watching.

~“Tell me something about yourself.”~

“Like what?” Miranda asks cautiously, not knowing what he wants.

~“I don’t know. Something about your childhood. How did your parents meet? Did you have any pets, well of course you did, but I want some details.”~

She thinks for a moment, smiling at his requests, “I was a naked child. My parents never clothed me. They have tons of pictures of my bare ass running around public beaches.”

~“Starter nudist? Maybe you should move to a colony and be with your people.”~

“Cute. I’m ignoring you. My parents met through friends. My mom was actually dating my dad’s friend to begin with. And yes I had pets, many, many pets.”

~“The details astound me.”~

“Fine. My mom was dating this guy…I forget his name now…I’ll call him Clancy. She met my dad through Clancy, the two were friends. Her relationship with Clancy didn’t last very long and after they ended it my dad decided to let her know that he had been enthralled by her since they first met. She made him wait a while before she decided to go out with him, but they eventually did and many years later…I’m born. Pop!”

~“You’re dad kicks ass.”~

“Why?”

~“Because I say so. Pets now.”~

“Pets. I had lots of pets. Rats, mice, turtles, fish, cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, snakes, and hamsters. They all died.”

~“Maybe you should stick with me and not have kids.”~

“Shut it. It’s not like I was a pet killer. We had a lot of pets over the years and sooner or later pets die. Some of our cats were killed by neighbor dogs. Some of the animals my parents had before I was born,” she defends quickly.

~“What did you do when your fish died? Toilet bowl send-off?”~

“Never,” she says forcefully, “That whole idea horrified me. It’s just horrible. I buried them in Tupperware.”

~“That’s pretty fancy for some gold fish.”~

“Well it holds water nicely and my mom always had tons of the stuff. Besides, I had all types of fish, not just gold. You shouldn’t assume. ”

~“You buried them all - gold and otherwise - in a container full of water?”~

“Yeah, they’re fish. How else are you supposed to bury fish?” she asks.

~“You’re right. Completely correct.”~

“Thank you, I know,” she says arrogantly.

~“Where do you parents live?”~

“By me.”

~“That’s still almost an hour from school. You must kill yourself with gas.”~

“Yeah it sucks, but I can’t do anything about it right now.”

~“Come with me.”~

She doesn’t answer, having no idea what he means. Her first thought automatically shoots to the fact that he’ll be moving to London next semester. She knows that he can’t be talking about that, it’s still some time away and he wouldn’t have brought that up randomly. She suddenly registers that he’s still talking and concentrates on listening.

~“…he’s actually clapping at the idea…which is now causing me to rethink the idea. He says hi.”~

“Hi,” she says absently, not sure who Finn is talking about but not wanting him to know that she spaced out.

~“But the more I think about it, the more I like it.”~

“Why’s that?” she asks, wanting to get him to explain so she’ll be able to catch up.

~“You’ll be closer to school, so you’d be saving money on gas. You wouldn’t need to pay rent, it’s not that important. You already know that you like his place and his Welsh collection. Yeah you’d have to live in the same house as Vince, but honestly he’s not there too often. The only thing you’d have to deal with would be his harem. I would have a lot more fun with you there, especially with the harem. And you know, my own selfish reasons.”~

She would never have thought about moving in with Vincent. The thought never would have crossed her mind. Finn does make some good points, not the rent thing, that’s ridiculous, but the other stuff. Still, she hasn’t known Vincent very long and she wouldn’t be able to just invite herself to live there. She knows he has the space, but still. And than there’s the fact that she would be living with Finn and that’s the huge neon sign blinking red.

“What selfish reasons?” she asks, not being able to resist.

~“Spending as much time with you as possible before I leave.”~

Crap, who can argue with that? She can’t help but smile. “I can’t just move in to Vincent’s house though. That’s not fair. I’m not even his friend.”

~“Hold on.”~

She hears shuffling and voices, one voice is distinctly Vincent as he shouts, “Bullocks!”

~“Now Flower, what’s the problem?”~

She laughs, “Hi Vince.”

~“You don’ want to be my flat mate? Is that it?”~

“No, I would love to be your flat mate, but,” she gets cut off before she can continue with the ‘but’.

~“That settles it than. We’ll be a happy family. I need all the help I can get, we gotta keep Finn from turning into a sorry trainspotter. It’s where the poor sod’s headed.”~

Before she can say anything, she hears the shuffling again and Finn gets back on laughing.

~“I promised John I’d kick his ass at poker, so I have to get going. I’ll call you tomorrow once we get to Kent. I’ll probably fly home without Vincent. He’s gonna want to visit for a while.”~

“Okay that’s fine. I hope you have a great night. Win me some money.”

~“We’re not playing for money.”~

“What are you pla…never mind I don’t want to know,” she says quickly.

~“Probably for the best. And I’m serious about this moving thing. I’ll talk to you about it when I get back. Don’t for a second think I’ll forget.”~


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AN: I was a slacker and I took forever to write this. I figure I’ve racked up some slack days, what with how quick I usually am. This would have been done sooner, but it seems like it’s just constant family visiting and I just haven’t gotten the chance. Thank you so much to everyone reading, I love your reviews.

Irvine Welsh (‘Ecstasy’) and Nick Hornby are the two authors mentioned. Both very good and I would recommend. The movie I mentioned is ‘The Big Lebowski’ and I would also recommend it.

To any readers who live in or around London (or anyone who has ties there), I hope you and your families/friends are all safe and well. The news hit my father in a soft spot, being that he was born there, and it’s been nothing but news stations over here. Things like this shouldn’t happen anywhere, but they keep happening everywhere. My heart goes out to you all.