Teaser Tuesday

On the Playlist: Love, Save the Empty - Erin McCarley

Before I tease, I want to sincerely thank everyone who commented on my first teaser. As excited I was to tease, I was equally nervous, but you were all so nice and helpful! I’ll go through and reply to each comment individually later today, but I just wanted to offer everyone a huge thank you :)

So, today’s tease! It’s another from my current WIP “Fall.” There’s definitely some context needed for this one. Callie (my MC), Chase (dancer dude from the last tease), and Darren (Callie’s friend-with-benefits) were all in a car crash together. Callie’s fine, Darren sprained his arm, and all they know at this point about Chase is that he’s alive. In this scene, Darren sees Callie for the first time after the accident. Also, Callie built a fort in the hospital because her and her brother, Trevor, used to build forts and hide from the world in them.

This a fairly rough draft, and pretty (possibly too) dialogue heavy:

Darren comes into my fort, nearly destroying it in the process. He fixes it with his good arm—it’s so weird that he has a good arm now—and says, “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever done, and I’ve done a lot of crap.”

Has he ever. I’d tell him it’s not his fault, but it’s better than it being my fault. “How is he?”

“All I know is he’s stable,” Darren says, like it’s a relief. It’s not. I always knew he was alive. I just need to see him move. Then, I’ll know he’s ok. “The doctors can only release details to family members.”

“That’s dumb.”

“I know.”

“How’s your arm?” I ask.

He hasn’t looked at me yet. “I don’t care about my arm.”

“Yeah, neither do I.”

“So, you’re fine, right?” Darren asks. “I mean, you look fine, but you’re not messed up inside or anything?”

There’s a loaded question. “I’m a little beat up, but I’m fine.”

“That’s good.”

“No, it’s not.”

He doesn’t question it. “I have to go soon. My dad’s here, just filling out some paperwork.”

“Your dad is here?” I ask. Darren’s dad, though technically still with his mom, is never home. It’s not because he’s some deadbeat; it’s because his wife is a mess who likes needles. Darren doesn’t blame him, but maybe he should.

“Well, my mom’s probably in a hospital somewhere too, so he’s really all I have.”

Darren and I have more in common than I want to admit. He has no one, and I have no one. Loneliness is a weird thing to share with someone.

We used to have each other.

“I’m sad, Darren.”

“I know, this sucks—”

“No. I’ve been sad.”

We’ve never been quiet for so long.

“Me too.”

“Last time I was happy was freshman year,” I tell him. “You know, when I still had you. Once I lost you, I had no one.”

Honesty with Darren, honesty with anyone, scares me, especially since he won’t look at me. But, things are different in a fort. When I was in a fort with Trevor, it was like we were the only people in the world, so we had to trust each other. It’s the same now. I have to trust Darren.

“I don’t get that, Callie. I’ve always been here.”

“For my body, maybe, but not for me.”

He still won’t look at me, and I don’t think he’ll say anything either, so I continue. “After we had sex, it was so weird, it was like my body didn’t belong to me. You took it, and left me with the rest of me.”

“What’s the rest of you?”

“Just…me.” I don’t want to say what I need to say, but I’m alone with Darren in the world, so I better trust him. “You know, my heart.”

Silence.

“I have to go,” Darren says, and moves to leave the fort.

He’s almost gone, but before he leaves he says, “I couldn’t have taken your heart. Would’ve been in the wrong hands.”

“How do you know?”

“I know my hands.”

Darren leaves. I destroy the fort. Honesty is overrated.

Tonight sucks.