The Queen Has Spoken - It's Time To Move on With Your Life #Literary #Romance

Bookended By Beauty Queens

by Victoria Marshal


“If Anne’s apartment hadn’t burned you wouldn’t have been calling her to see how she was doing, would you?”
“No, but this is different.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, if grandma were staying with Jess or Shay I would call to see how she was doing.”
Val folded his fingers together. “Then you should feel good about that.”
Angie felt sick to her stomach. She dropped her spoon on the table and wiped her fingers on a paper napkin.
“Well, I did until you put it that way.”
Angie sank down in her seat and shredded the edge of the napkin.
“You’re the middle child right?” Val asked.
Angie nodded.
“Then you should be used to this by now. Let me guess, you’ve always been the responsible one. Everyone always came to you with their problems because you’re close in age to your older sister and your younger sister.”
Val had hit the nail on the head. Angie had been the confidant for both Jess and Shay growing up. Not that she enjoyed the role; they forced it on her.
“So why are your panties in such a bunch?” Val gave her an exaggerated pout. “Feeling sorry for yourself?”
“Yes, damn it!” Angie slapped her palms onto the tabletop. “I have the right to feel sorry for myself every once in awhile.”
“Agreed,” Val said. “You go ahead and have your pity-party.”
Angie felt suddenly deflated. She’d expected an argument, or a pep-talk of some kind.
“What?”
“Everyone gets twenty-four-hours to feel sorry for themselves.” Val glanced at the clock. “I’d say you have eighteen left, so wallow all you want. After that honey, go buy yourself a new dress, a new pair of shoes, or whatever you need to do to pick yourself back up. Then get on with your life.”

Three teens at Deep River High. One love triangle... #YA

Crowded

by Shaina Cilimberg



Cole was ignoring the chatter of his classmates before history class started, when the cell phone beeped. Everything inside said to turn the phone off, but the unwillingness to wait until lunch period took over. A picture text message from Tanya. Her skin was tan and Cole didn’t see any clothing on her.
When Cole was baptized last month, he became a Christian and truly wanted to change everything for Christ. The moment Cole typed a message about wanting sex with her and pressed “Send”, he realized it was a mistake. This would ruin his relationship with God and with his new girlfriend. Things had been going so well between him and Emily Davis.

Last night
A candle flickered in the small, dimly lit Italian restaurant. Cole Martin destroyed the final slice of pizza and waited for Emily to finish chewing her last bite. Then, he got a wad of wrinkled money out of his stained jeans, which Emily always had compliments on.
Putting it on the table, he said, “I’ll pay for it.”
Emily asked, “You sure?”
Cole fingered the checkered table cloth. “Yeah. I had a job at the guitar shop this summer. My treat.”
A smile lit up her brown eyes. “Thanks.”
Then, Emily groaned, “I hate that summer’s over.”
Cole chuckled in agreement.. “Yeah. Maybe we should protest the start of school.”

The next day, Cole sat at his desk before class started, resting his head on skinny arms. He made sure the cell phone was turned off, just in case anyone else tried to sext him. That way, there wouldn’t be a temptation to once again fall into and lose another night of sleep over.
Emily walked up to Cole’s desk. “We should to go canoeing this weekend while it’s still hot out.”

Can a future exist when all hope is lost? #Romance

Always There

by K T King


“Are you sure you don’t want a lift Kell?” Rachel asked as Mike and Laura clambered into her car.
“I’m sure. Jake said he’d pick me up after his meeting. He must be running late.” Kelly checked the road to see if she could spot his car, the wind hitting her face and threatening to knock her down.
“Try ringing him again. If he doesn’t answer I’m giving you a lift, I don’t want you hanging around in the dark on your own, especially not in this weather.”
“Ok. Hang on.” Kelly rang Jake’s mobile for the tenth time, it went straight to answer phone. She sat in the front seat of the car and cursed Jake, under her breath, for showing her up in front of her friends. Laura smirked to herself.
“It’s not a problem Kell. There’s bound to be a reasonable explanation. Jake never goes back on his word.” Mike reassured her.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Kelly replied as she seethed and gritted her teeth all the way home, thinking that no explanation would be reasonable enough for him to forget her.
“Thanks guys, it was great to catch up again. How about same time, same place next week?” Kelly asked climbing out of the car.
“Yeah, let’s do it. We don’t spend enough time with each other anymore. We’re starting to grow apart, and I for one, don’t like it. Oh and make sure Jake comes too, I could do with some decent eye candy!” Mike answered chuckling.

From "Seeing Julia" by Katherine Owen

Julia is meeting with Dr. Bradley Stevenson, revealing what she witnessed at her husband Evan's tragic accident...

“The thing was, I knew, even then, I was saying goodbye to happiness. I felt it seeping away from me. Gone forever. Just this feeling of suspended disbelief. Suspended disbelief. You know; the feeling you get, after you’ve cut yourself, a silly accident where the carving knife goes astray. You’re cutting tomatoes and then, you’ve cut yourself. It’s stupid, really. And, you stare down at your finger and before the pain starts, you watch the hint of blood ooze from sliced skin. Then, in the next instant, it’s everywhere. The horror…spurting blood that can’t be stopped… the horror takes hold. And then, the pain comes.” I pause, take another deep breath, and glance over at the good doctor. He just regards me with those grey eyes of his, too much like Evan’s, takes notes, and watches me.

“I said to the officer. “It won’t be stopped. Will it? The happiness is really gone forever. This pain is never going to go away. Is it?”

“You should sit down,” he’d said back to me and asked me my name.”

From "I.O.U. Sex" by Sandy Nachlinger and Sandra Allen

Friends June, Kiki, and Peggy are reading June's high school diary -- decades after graduation...

Peggy hiccupped, then chuckled. “Oh, Lordy, that was a long time ago.” She crunched another handful of candy. “It’s hard to believe the three of us were really that naïve back in high school—so different from teenaged girls today. And just think of our poor boyfriends. We’d get them all worked up, then send them home with little more than a goodnight kiss.”

Kiki rolled her eyes. “Shit, if I’d known then what I know now, things would have been very different. When I think of the staying power of those eighteen-year-old guys . . .” She sighed. “Too bad we wasted it.”

Peggy put her hand over her mouth to keep her drink from spewing out with her laughter. “Please, I’m serious. Those boys must have felt as sad as a fiddle with one string. So disappointed, so . . . unfulfilled. It must have been hard on them.”

“Unfulfilled?” June grinned. “That’s priceless.”

Kiki arched an eyebrow. “That’s also an understatement if I ever heard one, but you’re sure right about the hard part.”

From "Megalodon Lives" by Flash Rex

"What are you doing?  You idiot!  Give me that damn thing!"  I grabbed the scoop out of Grimshaw's hand.  He looked up in surprise and pushed his glasses back up.

"What does it look like I'm doing?  I'm throwing the chum out!"

"Do you remember me telling you to?"

"What's the problem?  You said chum attracts sharks so I threw the chum in the water.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life on this boat looking for a shark so I decided to start.  I should be asking you what you've been doing while I've been working!"

"You moron!"  I pointed to the slick.  "Do you see that line in the water?  That's the chum you've been throwing out.  Do you see where it leads?"

"Over there.  So what?"

"That's Jones Beach, you jackass!  There are going to be thousands of people on that beach today and you attracted every shark in the area right to them!  That's what!"

"I didn't know!  How was I supposed to know?"

"You weren't supposed to know!  That's why I'm in charge!  From now on you do what I say!  Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Good.  Now pray nothing happens on that beach today."