Matters of the Heart (Marianas Trench/Josh Ramsay)

Chapter 2

“Come on, you have to come with me, please!? You know you like their music as much as I do, and it would be a good way to get you out of the house.” Becca listened to her best friend, Jenn, beg her on the other end of the phone.

Becca scrunched up her nose at Jenn’s last comment. “I do too get out of the house.”

She heard Jenn scoff. “Oh yeah? Since when?”

Becca hesitated. “Since… since…” She looked around, and kicked at some loose paper and dirty clothes at her feet before she sighed. “Since never. Fine. I’ll go to the Marianas Trench concert with you”

Jenn’s squeal was so high, Becca had to temporarily hold the phone away from her so she didn’t burst an ear drum. “I’M SO EXCITED!!!!”

When it was deemed safe, Becca laughed and put the phone back to her ear. “You do remember we are both twenty seven years old right? I think we may even be older than most of them.”

“Whatever, who cares. Good men know it’s all about the older women anyway. AND I have a surprise for you when we get there. I will see you tomorrow tonight!”

“Alright, see you then” She put the phone down and shook her head. That girl. Jenn had been her best friend since high school. They both went to college in New York City together, and Jenn eventually took a job as a finance manger in Toronto, Canada. At one point she had invited Becca to go with her, but Becca ended up staying in New York. She liked it here. There was always something going on, even if she hadn’t had the energy to participate in any of those activities. It was her home.

She went upstairs to her bedroom and began throwing clothes in an overnight bag. It was only about an hour flight to see her best friend, and since her job didn’t necessarily entail being stuck to an office all day, it was easier for Becca to see Jenn (which she did quite often). And besides, she DID like Marianas Trench as a band. They had good music and were always on her ipod, especially when she needed to write. In some inexplicable way, she would almost call their music inspiring.

Until Kevin, that is.

“No.” She said sternly to her self, and shook her head profusely. “Not today, not today.” Her eyes fell to her bed and the overwhelming need to crawl back into it. “You need to go meet with Jim. You have to get out of this house.” Systematically and without much thought, she grabbed her keys, purse, and forced herself to head out the door.

(Jim’s office)

She tapped her foot impatiently against the hardwood floor as she waited. He was taking forever. It didn’t take that long to read two more paragraphs. She was tempted to snatch it out of her editor’s hands and make him talk, but the bulky cherry wood desk prevented her from having a decent chance at getting the papers in his hand. He was paid far too much to have a desk that obnoxiously big she decided. Finally, he closed the manuscript and looked up at her with a sympathetic smile. “It’s not bad.”

She grinned bitterly and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. “But?”

Jim sighed and tossed the manuscript back on his desk. “But it’s too similar to the others.”

She rolled her eyes. She knew he was going to say that. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

“Becca, we have already had this conversation. This is the fourth manuscript you’ve given to me in a year that follows the same plot. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy leaves girl. The first one was great. It was a best seller in young adult fiction, it worked.” He paused and looked at her cautiously, as if she was four years old being told that she couldn’t sleep with her pacifier anymore. “But this… you need to come up with something else. You need a new storyline. This isn’t going to sell anymore.”