I promised a sneak peek at one of the scenes from my Camp Nanowrimo project. Well, here is something that I've been working on. This scene is a special one because the apartment complex resembles a complex I used to live in several years ago. One thing I should mention is that the actual scene with the couple fighting isn't based on anyone I knew, but we did have a couple there that fought in the middle of the night all the time. They'd wake me up even though I lived on the first floor with them on the second floor and 6 apartments between us.
Anyway, jump into Mia and Sebastian's life. Remember, this isn't edited. I hope you enjoy the scene!
As they approached the parking lot
of her complex, he frowned and stared up at the three story building. Heat
rushed over her face as she took the view of her home in. Faded yellow paint. Each
trash can sat overflowing, the fallen trash scattered around its base. Unkempt
plants. A dirty pool. At least it looked better at night.
“You live here?” He shifted his
attention from the ratty complex to her.
Letting her frown match his, she
said, “Yes, why?”
“Doesn’t the casino pay you enough?”
She gave a shy laugh. “It does now.
I was on a limited budget when I first got here and didn’t have a job. This is
all I could get on my arrival to Vegas.”
“Which one do you live in?” He
stared up at the building again.
“Third floor. Wonderful, huh?”
A door opened on the second floor
and a female, her arms full of clothing, stomped to the railing and threw the
garments over. She turned but didn’t go back inside. Instead, she screamed to
an unseen person, “Get out of here you lousy son-of-a-bitch!”
A man finally stepped outside and
held out a hand. “Come in here, babe. You don’t want them to call the cops
again, do you?” He kept his voice calm and soothing as he stepped even closer
to her.
Mia held her breath as she watched
the scenario playing out before her. Would the woman go? Probably. She’d heard
this couple fight many times since arriving and watched him get hauled off to
jail once just to find him back at the woman’s place the following afternoon.
But why did this have to happen when Sebastian stood in their parking lot?
The woman took a step to the side,
dodging the man’s touch. “Get the fuck out,” she screamed. Doors all around
them started opening. Mia’s neighbors either popped their head out, grumbled
something before slamming the door shut again or they stepped outside to watch
the action. One man asked if she needed any help in which her boyfriend told
the guy to fuck himself.
Not wanting to see any more of the
fighting and feeling safer behind her locked door, Mia said, “Thanks for
walking me home. Have a good night, Sebastian.”
“I’ll walk you up to your door. I
have a proposal for you. I was going to bring it up tomorrow but now I’m not
sure we should wait.” He kept his eyes on the couple who were just getting
louder by the second.
“I won’t even pass by them. My
place is over there. What’s your proposition?” Whatever it was, Sebastian
needed to hurry up.
“I’m sure how much of the casino
you know about, but we run an escort service right out of the casino.”
She held her hand up to stop
whatever words were coming next. “If you think I’m going to prostitute, you’re
crazier than those people upstairs.”
He shook his head and laughed. “First
of all, there is a difference between an escort and a prostitute, Mia. And
second, I don’t want you to be one. I want you to be the madam’s assistant. The
pay is a lot better and we’ll go into more details if you want the job. Think
about it and we’ll meet up tomorrow. Say, noonish? I’ll pick you up and we’ll
grab some lunch.” He offered a smile and a small wave before turning toward the
driveway.
Stunned by his offer, she headed up the stairs
at the far end of the building, adding distance between her and the fighting
couple. When she reached the second floor landing, she glanced back at him and
found Sebastian at the corning of the parking lot, watching to make sure she
got to her apartment safely. Her heart swelled in her chest. Sebastian still
cared about her. Still watched over her as he’d done when they were kids. By
the time she reached her front door on the third floor, she wished she could
invite him in but never would at this place.
It's over! I had such a roller coaster of a month that I'm surprised I wrote any words. I didn't meet the goal of 50k on Dangerous Desires, but I did write 15k words. I am proud of everyone single one of those 15k words too.
We finally finished our move yesterday. We've been at the new house all week but had to return to Phoenix to finish moving stuff and cleaning the house. Turning the keys into the landlord closed that chapter of our lives. On the 3 1/2 hour trip back to our new house, Dan and I talked about what a stress relief that was. We no longer have two homes/ two rents to pay. Whew! Now it's time to get back into the swing of things!
Today is the first day of Camp Nanowrimo! And... I'm doing it. My goal is 50k in April. Think I can? Check back to see my progress.
Holy cow! Camp Nano is over. How did I do? I wrote 8k new words in the month of July. Not much for the average author, but I'm 8k words closer to finishing Lost and Found! The book was a project I had already started and had planned on finishing for Camp Nano. I've now reached about the 3/4s mark of the rough draft.
