Chasing Zero

Thirty

"Trust me, mom, it will be for the best. You'll like this ending. I know it."

"I know," she exhaled. "My darling little gi- child knows best." She was trying. There was going to be plenty of slip ups, but it was the effort that mattered most to me. She loved me, and she wanted to support me and understand me. She didn't understand completely, but she trying. I couldn't get mad at her for trying. It helped strengthen our relationship every day.

"Who's Giselle?" Amy's mom asked.

"The main character of my baby's book."

The usual questions spread around over how they were astonished I was writing a book, followed by both mom and Sky talking about how it was all I ever did and that I was talented. Then there was the sudden spew of 'Can I read your book?' going around. I glared at my mom. She knew not to bring up the books I was writing until they were finished, because this was the disappointment I hated to deliver.

"Not until she's done." She exhaled. "They only let me read their stuff before it's finished." She looked at me and whispered, "I'm trying."

"I know," I smiled and patted her back before facing everyone in the room. "I have no issues with you reading my completed work, but not this book. The first draft is almost done, but I already have plans for the next draft, so maybe during peer editing you can read it if you want."

"Well, what's it about?" Bridget questioned.

"It's a love story that doesn't seem like it will have a happy ending," mom answered as she stomped back to her seat.

"It will have a happy ending, just not the kind you're thinking of," I defended. "Trust me, because you'll love it."

"Why wouldn't you want them to end up together?" Sky questioned. "Aren't romance novels supposed to have happy endings where they couple ends up together?"

"Not every relationship ends in 'happily ever after.'"

He held his hands up in defense. "Of course not. But...isn't that how the trope goes."

"Not for this book."

"But what is it about?" Bridget asked, her voice louder this time.

Before I could tell her it was a surprise, mom gasped. "Okay, so there are these two college kids, Hans and Giselle, and they meet in their English class. And there's this really cute meet cute about how he mixed Monster and coffee and almost died, and she is super concerned over his behalf.

"Anyway, he winds up asking her out after a few weeks of talking, and she's super worried because she's super muscular while he has the body of a twink. But she accepts the date anyway, and she's learning all about how to accept herself and be more confident with herself, and they go on this date to this little diner where Hans explains how he was an alcoholic throughout high school and wound up getting sober because of his two close friends that he met at a concert who were also going through hardships-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Sky asked as he locked eyes with me.

"They made such a cute couple. The whole love story feels so authentic and natural. And he keeps showing her just how much he loves her, but now she's getting second thoughts and is worrying about how she feels for him. And he claimed that he was so in love with her in such a sweet way. He was saying how she was the key to his lock and the lock to his key and wants her to fall in love with him too, but she doesn't think she will, and now I'm sad, because they had something incredibly special between them."

I was impressed over how she explained the book without taking a breath. She really was my biggest fan. I could always count on her to recite the important information in my work.