Goodbye, Y'all!

This isn't a goodbye forever - not even close. Just a little one to explain why I won't be posting for a while. I'm off to a very exciting event tonight, then to my grandparents' house on Sunday, then to North Carolina to visit some friends! I won't be back on the blog until Sunday night. (I might be able to post some things, but I don't know....)

While I'm gone, be sure to check out some pretty exciting things going on over at the blog I co-author, The Day-Dream!

And to make it up to you guys for not posting my next Les Miz post... another excerpt from my novel. : ) This is one of my favorite scenes and it starts out with Alec driving Nikki home after ice dancing practice at the rink. (Again, please know that this is a first draft and it's not perfect, blah, blah, blah.) Enjoy and comment! : D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, I just thought of a great idea!"
I turned towards Alec. "What is it?" I asked a little hesitantly, hoping his 'great idea' didn't have anything to do with inviting Allie over for Thanksgiving.
"I told Allie I'd be over at her house at seven tonight because I didn't know how long this would take us." I watched him glance at the clock, then grin. He looked at me and I raised my eyebrows, wondering what he was getting at. "That gives us three hours to do whatever you want."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, fully confused.
Alec chuckled. "Must I always explain everything to you?" He glanced at me, then looked back at the road and shook his head. "Since I can't watch a movie with you tonight, do you want to do something now? Before I go to Allie's?"
I cocked my head. "You mean, you'd really spend three hours with me instead of just go over to Allie's three hours earlier?"
"Hey... that's not a bad idea."
"Alec!" I slapped his arm, still a little confused.
"Ouch!" He rubbed his arm, focusing on the road. "Of course spend three hours with you and not go to Allie's early. Even though I'd love to go to her house early, I know I made a promise to you and I want to make up for breaking it."
I stared at him. "Are you for real?"
"As real as that Bruster's over there," he replied with a smile, putting on his blinker.
Ten minutes later, I was sitting at a picnic table and licking a huge waffle cone full of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I looked up at Alec, who was trying to demolish a triple-scoop of rocky road or some such chocolate overload.
"What's the big news?" I asked. Alec looked confused now and I continued. "In the movies, people usually do stuff like this for their siblings or children right before they announce that they're getting divorced or that they're a secret agent for the CIA. Which is it?"
Alec shrugged and licked his cone. "Exactly what I told you in the car."
"I don't believe you." I lowered my ice cream and looked Alec in the eye, squinting a little. "Are you going to propose to Allie?"
Alec snorted and coughed. "Stop it!" he yelled, laughing. "You're going to make me choke on my ice cream! Propose?" He shook his head. "How old do you think I am?"
"Just asking," I muttered behind my ice cream, ducking my head a little. "If this isn't just some joke or anything...." I stared at my ice cream gleefully. "Thou hast more than made up."
"I'm glad," he said with a mouth full of ice cream. He gulped and asked, "What do you want to do when we get home?"
I watched him pull his phone out of his pocket and look at it, then stuff it back into his pocket. I smiled, but he didn't notice.
"We have about two hours until Dad gets home, so I guess we can't do anything with him."
Alec stared at something in the distance, squinting a little at the sun in his eyes, and I smiled again. People said we looked like we could be twins, but I thought that he was more handsome than I could ever be if I was a guy. "You gave him all the good looks, Mom!" I remembered telling Mom more than a few times. "Sorry, Nikki. Guess I did. I must have wanted you to be the ugly one," she would sarcastically reply with a smile and a hug.
"Well?" Alec asked, making me snap out of my thoughts.
"Hmm? Oh." I licked my ice cream a few times. Alec started humming the Jeopardy song and I rolled my eyes, still thinking. "We could swim in the pool...?"
"The pool?" I watched Alec think for a minute. "Hmm... it is indoor. Heated." He looked back at me and shrugged. "Okay, sure."
I grinned and licked my ice cream. 'Better and better.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Eowyn~