Segment II

Now once again they found themselves conveniently at the same place at precisely the same time.

Things went almost precisely as she had expected them to go. The only thing they really had to talk about were the times they had spent together which he mentioned somewhat fondly while she remembered them somewhat distastefully. Once the regaling was over they sat across from each other awkwardly sipping their overpriced caffeinated beverages. His eyes began to wander around the cafe to the other women around them and possibly other things that she didn't notice.

For once in her time with him she took charge of things and stood up. She was too polite to just tell him off, but she said:

"I'm sorry for wasting your time. I should have known this wouldn't have been worth all the trouble it caused to set up. Goodbye."

She actually felt really good about herself for doing this and before he could say much of anything she had already left the little cafe and was walking back to her car. She drove back home to her apartment and sat smugly down in a new found sense of accomplishment.

Her relationship with him was the sort that had a nebulous beginning and dragged on way past the point in which she knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. It had been caused by a general lack of assertiveness on her part and she knew that. It was really an embarrassing part of her life and she was glad that finally she felt at peace about it. She had told him off and left him somewhere and in her mind she should have done it a long, long time ago.

Friends Meeting After Years: Danielle

Oh holy sh…why did I agree to this? she thought to herself as she fumbled with her purse, looking for her phone. No messages or phone calls. Fairly typical of him, she reasoned to herself. He was never one to show up on time or really have that much consideration for other people and their time. It wasn’t in his nature—not because he didn’t care, but just because he was never that aware of anyone else’s concerns. Taking a breath, she reminded herself of this and continued to sit patiently, sipping her iced coffee and enjoying the nice spring day.

It had been six years since they last set eyes on each other. She remembered that day vividly and shuddered at the recollection with a twinge of sadness. They both knew it had been for the best, yet it had still been hard to do so. Why, after all these years, he decided to look her up and meet her for lunch was beyond her. It’s not like they had any real connection to keep them attached. They had the same friends but never were around them at the same time. Besides that, they didn’t associate in the same circles and rarely crossed paths. Still, that didn’t dismiss the fact that he found her on Facebook about a week ago and asked to meet up and talk with her. That didn’t dismiss the fact that she had somehow managed to agree to the meeting.

It was pure insanity.

Yet, it properly defined the relationship they had. Being friends with him—being anything to him—was pure insanity. It made no sense. It was just one of those random freak accidents that happened at a point in time that seemed to work but happened to be some stupid coincidence that placed them in the same place at the same time.

This is the beginning. Preston is next, and as my husband, I am curious to where he takes it. He told me not to use this, but...I can't help wondering how silly, funny or endearing it may become.

Oh, and everyone, don't forget to read the guidelines in the beginning post.

Now Preston...ready, set...GO!!!

The Beginnings of Our Schizo Literary Venture: Guidelines

I've been currently trying to start writing again...ya know...just to get my juices flowing towards things that I want to write that matter to me...and I had this idea one day as I was looking at a story I started but, upon finding it to be too emo to possibly think of how to go on, I gave up on the story and let it sit in my story file. I wondered, "I wonder how this would turn out if other people could help the story along? What would it look like?"

So here we are. I have asked you to embark on this journey with me to see where this story takes us. Many voices telling one story. Much like those one-sentence story games we used to play as children, but on a much more insane and hilarious level.

Before we get started, a few standards must be established for this project. The following must always be kept in mind when writing or planning to write a post for ‘Our Collected Story’:

• Any addition to the story (i.e. your beginning and/or scheduled blog post) must make sense with the preceding posts. As much fun as it would be to have one or more characters abducted by vicious slimy banana peels with a vendetta for lazy, peel-disregarding humans all of a sudden, if it doesn’t make sense with the story at hand, DON’T DO IT. But if it does, then by all means, let us have angry, vicious banana peels. AS LONG AS IT MAKES SENSE!!!!

• Each contributor will be allowed one week from the last post created to complete their post and add it to the blog. This should allow enough time to create enough to move the story along in a timely fashion.

• Each contributor must write a five sentence paragraph per post. It would do no good to have the story move along a sentence at a time.

• Rotation of posting is determined by your start date. Whoever starts posting first will go first, then second and third, and so on. If someone decides to join the project, they must first join then determine whose start date was last and post after them. Hopefully, a list can be made of the rotation for easier posting schedule determination.

• Last, but most certainly not least, HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Writing is supposed to be fun, and from here on out, the world we create is our oyster.

I will be posting the beginning of the story sometime tomorrow evening, most likely. Whoever responds to the author addition first can be the next to write.

Hopefully, this won't be too lame.

Ok, really need to go to sleep...long day at work tomorrow...or rather, coming up in a few hours.