Writing's Second Taste

Chapter Twenty-Five: Brightest Spirits

"You wrote it down, you're writing it down, and you're going to write it down anyways," Uncle Levi read out loud and I merely smiled at him, trying to contain my nervousness. He glanced up towards me before nodding, sliding the iPad back to my side of the table, "Keep it up, but you're going too slow after you had such a good pacing in the beginning."

"I'm sorry," I frowned slightly, tucking the device back inside my bag, "I wasn't able to do much when I was back home and I got kind of distracted since I came back."

He glanced up and sighed, "Although I like him for being your source of inspiration, remember that I still am your uncle and my dearest brother-in-law will not appreciate it if he learned that I simply allowed his daughter to go off with a man."

Seriously? He plays the overprotective older male relative now?

"Uncle, you know Adam," I told him, reaching over to grab a fry from the middle of the table, "He's a good guy."

"I'm aware," he nodded, "And it's not like you're a child anymore. Just be careful, Sienna."

"I think I know how to protect myself," I laughed, gently slicing my chicken, "But thank you."

"You're stubborn, impulsive, and willful," he listed off and I had to scoff. Although, his tone mellowed down as he added, "With one of the brightest spirits I have ever seen and that's what I missed most about you."

Blinking up at him, I smiled warmly before continuing with my meal. While my father was passive with these kind of things, my mom trying to think of business more than the art, and Aunt Janina looking at the technical side, my writing was on the verge of being too robotic.

But uncle made sure I didn't lose sight of what it truly was – an expression. He didn't give up on me and while I think I've dulled down a lot since when I first started, he was a constant reminder that maturing does not mean being monotonous.

After we had finished eating and he paid the bill, he went off to the university. Classes were starting tomorrow and he was trying to finish his preparation for the new semester. I glanced down on my watch and headed to the dormitories – it's been a while since I got to chat with Julia and Meg without me constantly looking at the time or being dead tired.

And besides, I owed them complete compliance during an interrogation session.

Julia even went the extra mile to grab her study lamp, close all of the lights in our room, and directed the said lamp towards my direction. Meg was facepalming beside her while I only watched on with amusement at my roommate's antics.

"Alright, talk," Julia demanded in this weird accent in a way to imitate those detective shows, but if you mixed it with her native accent and her horrible attempt, it was hilarious.

Meg rolled her eyes before pushing the curtains open and turning off the damn lamp as she mimicked Julia's tone, "Alright, stop."

Thank you for having at least one sensible person between them.

Julia grumbled some things about her being a killjoy but she turned on the ceiling lights again and sat down on the bed next to me, "But in all seriousness, how did you meet Heart Valentine? I mean, I kind of already had an idea that she and Adam knew each other because of the headline last December."

"Aren't we going to talk about the thing with Adam?"

"We all knew it was going to happen so no point in that," Meg shrugged, sitting on the carpet, gesturing for Julia to throw her a pillow, "I'm more interested on Hollywood's Princess."

"She's Adam's best friend, they've known each other since they were kids."

Julia gasped, "And nothing ever happened between them?"