The Eight-Point Arc

vii. reversal

vii. reversal

Brace yourselves.

This is an important part now. Not that all the other parts weren't important before that, but this next point is the reversal and it should be the consequence of the critical choice or the climax. The reversal should change the status of the characters. This is where the prince recognizes Cinderella.

The reversal is particularly important because it should be inevitable but also probable. It needs to make sense and also be expected.

Abrielle has realized that she might love both of her best friends. She also realizes that it's completely messed up. But she also knows that she needs to do something about this. If she doesn't talk about it, she's scared that she might lose them both instead.

So one evening, she makes General Tao chicken and while they're all eating around the table, she takes a deep breath and she just asks, "Aren't any of you worried that one of you might fall in love with me, or that I might fall in love with one of you?"

The respond is instantaneous. Both boys spit out their drinks. She couldn't have timed it more perfectly.

"Where does that come from?" Ace asks, coughing a little, trying to wipe the mess.

Abrielle answers with the excuse she's been coming up when she was trying to find a way to express her feelings. "Sammy was wondering. She couldn't understand why I wasn't dating one of you. It got me thinking, that's all."

It wasn't a complete lie. Sammy had asked her why in hell she had never been with the two boys.

"Why would we date each other? We're family. That'd be like incest," Chief tells her a little outraged, while hitting his chest to get rid of the coughing.

"We're not related," she automatically points out.

"Might as well be," Ace responds.

"We're the family we picked for each other. We're all single kids," Chief adds.

Abrielle rolls her eyes at him. "You have a sister Chief."

"A SISTER I HAVE FORSAKEN!"

Ace sighs. It's not the first time they've hear this. "She mixes hot chocolate with water. What's the big deal?"

"What... what's the big deal?" Chief looks positively outraged. "Careful, that's one strike."

Abrielle waves her hands to get their attention. They're completely diverting. They're not dealing with her feelings! "Focus guys, we're having a serious conversation here."

"About being in love with each other?" Chief snorts. "Please, that ain't serious."

She hadn't expected this. She had thought that maybe there would be the hint of worry or hope in their eyes, some kind of reaction. Not a complete rejection of the idea. "But it makes sense, dating your best friend."

"We're not friends, we're family. We grew up together. We're not going to magically start to date because we got used to each other and hey, there's no one else available around, so how about we mate now. If there was ever a chance at anything romantic between any of us, it would have happened by now," Ace says.

"Exactly," Chief agrees. And just like that the boys start eating again and Chiefs keeps speaking, "So I know there's schlong and schlort, and I've heard schliny, but shouldn't there also be schlbig?"

"You need to get hit in the face by a schlong."

"Clearly not yours. Because you have a schlort."

Abrielle stops listening to their nonsense. Instead she just looks at them.

And she realizes as she looks at them that she is not in love with either of them.

It's like with her ships. She's a hundred percent invested in the idea that Castiel and Dean are a thing. She sees the sexual tension, she enjoys the sexual tension. But when she reads posts where Castiel and Dean are actually a lovey-dovey couple, she's not interested anymore. Or maybe more like Nathan and Kelly in Misfits. There was this whole unrequited love thing that they dragged for over a season. And when they finally confronted those feelings and tried to make something out of it. Nothing. Poof. All the sparks were gone. There was no interest anymore. Because what they had wasn't like what Simon and Alisha had. It didn't transcend through time. It was just misguided attraction only fuelled by this idea of the forbidden.

Abrielle only felt attracted by Chief and Ace because of the forbidden. She could picture herself kissing both of them. But she couldn't see herself in a couple with either of them. She could imagine herself in a stable relationship with some guy out there. She couldn't see it with her friends. There were no real feelings, just good old hormones.

Her attraction also had to come from this deep rooted sense of ownership she had over the two boys. You shouldn't say that someone belonged to you, but well, the little tantrum thrower felt like the boys belonged to her. She hated any girl that claimed she knew either of them better than her. It was like she needed people to think that she knew them better, that she was closer to them, that they were her bestfriends. Like any single child that hasn't learned to share and wants to keep all the toys to themselves.

Hers.

That was the word. She wanted them to be hers. And what was the best way to have them completely to herself?

Dating them.

But that didn't come from love. She was just alone and she needed to fill a romantic void. She didn't have anyone and her subconscious decided that she had to have someone to love. And she jumped on the two closest men to her. She wasn't in love, she was just a horny misguided young adult.

There was no true interest in dating them. Deep down, it didn't even feel right. It just felt necessary.

And that was wrong.