T. A. Chase

Wednesday Work in Progress…

Better late than never…lol

Okay so my snippet for today’s WIP comes from Pray for the Thunder. It’s a short story I’m sending to MLR Press when it’s finished. It’s for their Mixed Tape sub call. 🙂 It’s about two men who were best friends in high school. They drifted apart after graduation, then twenty-five years later, they meet up at their class reunion. 🙂

Pray for the Thunder copyright c. 2013

Excerpt-

His phone rang, he grabbed it then checked the id screen. “Hey Andrea, what do you need?”

Danny winced as his assistant started screaming in his ear. What is it with women screaming in my ear? “Andrea, take a deep breath, and repeat what you just shouted.”

“That red silk you ordered from Singapore hasn’t arrived yet, and we need to get the client’s dress for the BAFTAs.”

He could hear the panic in her voice, and he shook his head. “Andrea, what did I tell you?”

“Not to freak out,” she said.

“Right. The silk will be here in the next day or two. We already have the measurements and the patterns set. As soon as the silk gets here, we can knock that dress out within a day. We still have three weeks before the awards ceremony, and she’s not even in town yet.” Danny tried to soothe Andrea’s fear. “Have we ever missed a deadline?”

“No, but there’s always a first time for it.” Andrea took a breath, and Danny interrupted.

“This won’t be that time, honey. I talked to our supplier, and he told me the fabric shipped out last Tuesday. It takes a week to get to us, so we should be getting it tomorrow or Thursday.” Danny lay back on the floor to stare up at the ceiling. “I will work day and night until the dress is finished, though you know she’d look beautiful in a gunny sack.”

Andrea snorted. “Maybe we could start a new fad.”

Danny laughed. “Only if we get to dress her all the time because she’s the only one in the world who could make a sack look good.”

 “True, and her husband. We could make a gunny sack tuxedo for him.” Andrea sounded like she was starting to calm down slightly.

“I don’t make men’s clothes, though,” Danny pointed out.

“Not that you’re not doing enough all ready, but maybe you should think about looking into designing a new line. There are a lot of guys out there who would kill to have you dress them.” Andrea paused for a second, then continued, “Didn’t last year’s Oscar winner practically beg you to design a suit for this year’s ceremony?”

“Yes, but I told him I like to undress men, not dress them.”

Andrea gasped. “You’re didn’t tell him that?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Of course I did, Andrea. It’s not like it’s a big secret or anything.”

“I know, but still to just blurt it out like that? How did you know he wouldn’t beat you up or something?”

“Seriously? He’s not going to risk his reputation as a good guy by beating the snot out of me. Anyway he laughed at me, then said if I ever decide to go into men’s clothing, he’d be the first one to endorse it. Also, he’d be willing to walk the runway for me.”

“Then why don’t you do it?”

Danny shrugged, even though she couldn’t see him. “I just haven’t gotten inspired by any guy I’ve met yet.”

“I understand.” Andrea changed the subject, and they talked about other designs for another hour before hanging up.

After that, Danny packed a couple more boxes while listening to GNR, whose record Appetite for Destruction had been the soundtrack for his entire junior and senior year. His favorite song, Sweet Child O’ Mine, was the one song he’d listen to over and over again because it took him back to the most important moment in his life. The instant when he looked over at Jimmy, his best friend, and realized he was in love with him.

He’d never thought about being gay or liking men. It wasn’t anything anyone talked about, aside from teasing and joking about being someone being a fag. Suddenly to have a light blub go off in his head about why he hadn’t been attracted to girls before was like getting hit by lightning. It had thrown him for a loop, though he tried to act like there wasn’t anything different going on. As far as he knew, Jimmy never figured it out.

 Danny headed to bed, knowing he’d probably dream about Jimmy that night like he’d had for most of the twenty-five years since they said good-bye.

Filed under: Excerpts,MLR Press,Pray for the Thunder,Wednesday WiPs,writing | |3 Comments