NaNoWriMo Story Snippets

71. Excerpt from book-based oneshots

I'm doing a collection of oneshots based off Becky's book. Most of the dialogue will be quoted. If you don't want book spoilers, don't read!

She's going to see right through this, Seth thought as he started to dial Becky's number—from memory, not speed dial. He made more money than she did, after all; he could easily afford a hotel. He could have booked a flight that went through Chicago instead of Los Angeles. He could have done a lot of things, but instead he called Becky and just finished taking a deep breath before she answered. "Hey, Becks. I'm flying into L.A. and I have a free day. Do you have a spare room?"

Becky didn't answer right away, but Seth could feel her suspicion over the line. "No, but I have a couch if you need somewhere to stay."

If you need somewhere to stay. That put the onus on him. He didn't need to stay with her, of course, but he had been thinking about making a move for weeks now and it was gnawing him up inside. He either had to do something about or convince himself that it was a huge mistake and move on. "That sounds good," he replied blandly.

He was fully prepared to get a rental car since he knew Becky didn't like driving, but she picked him up from the airport anyway. A workout seemed like a safe bet and, as was their way, their conversation veered a dozen different directions—just not the one needed. Eventually he brought up a relatively obscure movie and pretended to be shocked when Becky said she hadn't seen it.

He didn't have to feign anything, though, when she continued. "I don't have a TV," she admitted, "or rather, my TV doesn't work."

Seth felt his jaw drop. How could she not have a working television? WWE gave them all subscriptions to the WWE Network so they could watch old movies and be able to comment on the documentaries the company produced. "You don't have a goddamn working TV?"

Becky just shrugged. "I never watch it. I live in L.A., man, too much to do." He didn't think it was a slight against decidedly quieter Iowa when she added, "You can try and get it working if you like."

"Right, that's what we'll do tonight," Seth declared. How hard could it be? It wasn't like she had an ancient tube television like the one his mom still kept downstairs. It could just be a matter of needing a new cord or something. But he tried every cord, every connection, and no simple fix worked. "Fuck. Maybe I'm forgetting something to check. It's been a while since I watched anything on the actual television; I'm usually on my laptop." He glanced back at his bag. They could use that, and it would mean sitting closer together, which could only help matters. As he stood, he tried testing the waters a bit. "Sarah watched more than I did."

Seth waited for Becky to pick up on the past tense—he knew she was perceptive—and he was almost ready to just blurt it out when she finally said, "She doesn't anymore?"

Thank FUCK. Seth hoped his relief wasn't too obvious. "I... um, I'm not sure. We're taking a break. It's not really working out, you know? I'm on the road so much, and she wants to go on vacations and things—which is totally fair, of course, but...."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Becky looked like she wanted to give him a hug, but she stopped herself. "She seemed nice. And you guys were together for a while, right? Like... two years?"

"Yeah. Not meant to be, I guess." Clearing his throat, he reached for his bag. "I guess we'll watch it on my laptop." This has to be a sign, right? he thought. How else could everything be coming together so perfectly?