Stars by the Shore

Chapter 3

First person
--

I looked up from my desk and slammed my laptop shut, "fuck."

The guy at the desk beside me sat up and looked over at me, "uh, Sage.. are you ok?"

I deadpanned over and saw his face drop for a moment, "I'm alright, thank you Jas." The poor boy beside me was around my age but he had a kid on the way. Based on how he acted in the office, I think he'll be a wonderful dad; he never fails to stop fights in the office.

Speaking of fights, I looked over to see my coworker Vae glaring at me. Her and I have had issues for a while. Our boss actually had to move us away from each other a few months back. Our desks used to be beside each other but after a few "accidental" water spills onto paperwork, we were veto'd from sitting close.

"What do you want Vae?"

She shook her head, "you to be quiet."

My eyes widened and I raised my voice slightly, "why?! You too busy making your characters kiss?!"

Vae wrote romance. I did NOT. The main reason for our fights is our general disagreement on what literature and fiction should be. She seemed to think fiction should always have a little bit of romance. I, however, hated romance. Not everyone has a happy ending. I preferred writing hero and villain stories. But not the kind where they end up lovers...

"And what if I am?! You apparently can't even write your heros, who are you to judge-"

Jasper jumped in quietly, "Vae."

Vae turned and smiled at Jasper, "ah, sorry."

I rolled my eyes and sat back in my chair, quietly jotting ideas for how I'd continue my story. Luke was my main character, she'd just lost her friend, and I had no idea how to continue on with it.

After doodling some useless drawings on the page, I was interrupted by my boss coming out of his office.

"Vae, Sage. I need you in my office."

He quickly stepped back inside his office and left Vae and I to glare at each other.

"What did you do?"

"Me? Why would something I did cause us both to get called in? Are you stupid?"

Vae rolled her eyes and pushed herself out of the chair as I followed to the boss's office. As we stepped inside, the boss referenced us to sit. "Take a seat."

I sat down carefully at the seat next to Vae, glancing over occasionally as she spoke, "so, what did you need us for?"

"You aren't gonna like me."

I gave a fake smile, "Jordan, sir, please just tell us."

He shook his head slightly, "our revenue is down, we need a book published sooner than we thought."

I glanced at Vae, "so what does that mean for us?"

Vae chimed in, "yeah, neither of us are close to being done with our book."

Jordan smiled at us, "but if you work together...-"

"Absolutely not."

"Nope"

"No way."

Jordan laughed at us, "the choice has already been finalized. You can't tell me no here."

I spoke up, "why us? You have so many other workers."

Vae nodded, "why can't jasper and I work together?"

Jordan sighed, "Jasper works a completely different subject than you guys. He writes nonfiction. You are the only two working on fiction right now."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, "so why not make some nonfiction writers work together?"

He smiled lightly, "Sage, have you ever seen a book about the history of Moths mixed with cooking skills?

That's not exactly what they're working on, but you understand my point, right?"

Vae's eyes widened, "so you're expecting us to MERGE our stories??!"

We both glared at him as he replied, "if that's what needs to happen to get a book out." He nodded, "you guys are good to go. Vae, your belongings have been moved to the desk beside sage's as we spoke."

We both lowered our heads, "yes sir."

"Oh and you two.. don't kill each other. No choking, slapping, sabotaging. Try and bond over this. You don't have a choice anyways, make the best of it."

Vae and I looked at each other and both snarled at the thought.

We got back to our desks and I quietly whispered over, "we have to work together, but I am not going to be kind. This is work only."

She nodded, "I'll give you my story to look at, you give me yours. We can write an extra chapter for each story and swap to see our writing styles."

"So I'm continuing a chapter for your story and and you're continuing mine?"

"That's what I said, dumbfuck."

I rolled my eyes, "I might be able to hear you if you got your head out of your ass. It's a bit muffled"

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you!"

Jasper spoke up from the other side of our desks, "guys.. please."

Simultaneously, Vae and I acknowledge, "sorry!"

Vae glared and me and opened her laptop, urging me to do the same. "I'm sending my story to your email. You do the same."

"Alright."

After a quick skim, I found that her main character was a girl named Doxa. She's apparently in a relationship but she spent her entire first chapter in a bar??

Oh this is gonna be gooooodd.

--
925 words

A/N

I think the story is gonna be easier to follow now that you know what's going on. I hope so, at least. It might get confusing soon.

Tip: pay attention to the writing styles, it will help.

Ps. Only one more main character to introduce <3