Saturday, January 2, 2010

The No Kiss Blogfest!



Today's the day for the No Kiss Blogfest going on over at Frankie Writes! A day of almoist kisses and no kisses! Here's my peice for the event, enjoy! :D

It’s just a few minutes before I go out on the dance floor and make my entrance as a real woman into society, but the air is so hot and stuffy that it’s hard to breathe and the silk material of my white gown and elbow-length gloves are sticking to my skin with sweat. I’m at the table by myself, but I look around for Aunt Jenna, who has the eyes of a hawk and would haul my butt back here in a second if she knew I was leaving. I also keep a lookout for Alden, scanning the edges of the room to see if I can spot his hunched, sulking figure walking by, but I don’t see him anywhere-he must still be miffed about our fight, earlier.
Figurers he’d ignore me, he’s so immature sometimes.
Seeing that the coast is clear, I get up from the table and weave my way through the crowd towards the exit.

Once out in the hallway, I make my way to the coat room across the hall to grab my jacket before heading outside for some fresh air. Even though I’m overheated, it’s still too cold to go outside without a jacket on. When I enter the room, I go over to the nearest coat rack and start to search for my jacket. I’m so preoccupied with looking for my coat that I don’t notice when the door to the coat room opens.
“Oh, I didn’t know anyone else was in here, I’ll just-”
I whip around. “Jesse!” I say, startled.
“Hi,” he says casually, holding up his hand in a wave. “I’ll just go…” he says, backing out of the room.
“No, you don’t have to, I was just looking for my coat,” I say quickly.
“Why?” Jesse asks, his eyebrows raised. “ Don’t you have to go on in a few minutes?”
“Yeah...” I say, sighing, turning back to the coat rack. “But I just need some air, I need to clear my head.”
Silence.
“It just doesn’t feel right, you know? Going through with all of this after Kristin…after what happened.” My voice breaks on the last word and a tight lump forms in my throat.
“I know,” Jesse says quietly, and suddenly I feel his hand touch my arm, sending hot jolts of electricity up my arm. I turn around to see Jesse standing right in front of me, just mere feet away.
“Everyone says her death was just an accident but…but I don’t know.”
“You think it was something more serious?” Jesse asks, suddenly serious. “Like…murder?”
“I don’t know…” I repeat, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. “It’s just…I was the one that found her...that day on the beach. She was so cold, her skin was blue and her throat…her throat was bruised like she’d been…like she’d been strangled.”
“Is that what you and Alden were fighting about earlier?” he asks.
“You saw that?” I ask, horrified.
Everybody saw that,” Jesse laughs.
“Oh God, Aunt Jenna’ll have me skinned if she finds out I was arguing in public,” I groan, covering my face with my hand in frustration.
“Well, for the record, I believe you.” He takes my hand in his own and takes it from my face, continuing to hold it. “Anyone who doesn’t is just an idiot.”
“Thank you, that means a lot,” I say, smiling.
“Don’t mention it, I trust you, that’s all there is to it.”
“I trust you, too…” I say, watching our hands. He still hasn’t let go, and, strangely, I don’t want him to.
He follows my gaze to our entwined fingers and then looks back at me, his deep green eyes are endless, pulling me in. As we continue to watch each other, he brings his other hand up to my face, resting it on my cheek, warm and comforting,
“Cedar…” he breathes.
“Jesse, we can’t-“ I start, putting my hand over his still touching my face.
“Says who?” he whispers.
Our faces are just inches apart now, so close that I can feel his breath on my cheek and smell his sweet, musky scent. My lips are tingling in anticipation of his kiss-
“Cedar? What the Hell is going on here?”
Alden!
Oh shit.

~Ella

18 comments:

V. S said...

Our faces are just inches apart now, so close that I can feel his breath on my cheek and smell his sweet, musky scent. My lips are tingling in anticipation of his kiss-
“Cedar? What the Hell is going on here?”
Alden!
Oh shit.

Killer ending and scene!

Lizzy Mason said...

Totally hot! I love the interruption. :)

The Blogger Girlz said...

Awww, thanks V.S. and Lizzy! I'm flattered! I'm so glad you guys like it! Your comments have totally made my day! :D

~Ella

BK Mattingly said...

Hey Ella! Thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting. :) I loved your excerpt, especially this line:
"He follows my gaze to our entwined fingers and then looks back at me, his deep green eyes are endless, pulling me in."
I really want to know more about the two, well, three people in the coat room. Great excerpt!

The covers on my blog for my books I did myself. With Beginning and Kentaura, I took the pictures and then downloaded a "photoshop" type thing called GIMP 2. It was free. I didn't take the photos for Broken, but I did adjust them with the GIMP thing. It took some practice to get them the way I wanted. After I finished them I posted them on the blog and made them link to Google Docs. I think you can google GIMP to download it if you'd like. It's an easy program to use if you don't already have that kind of thing on your computer. :D Great blog! (I too am inspired by Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling.)

Donna Gambale said...

I could totally picture how first Cedar and then Jesse look down at their entwined hands, as if just then noticing they were together. What a moment!

Elizabeth Mueller said...

So sweet! Very interesting story about Kristin and Alden! I loved the attraction you built between Cedar and Jesse. *Sigh. I want more...

Thank you for your comments on my post!
Happy New Year, Ella!!
:)

Jade said...

Uh-oh. Busted! That was awesome--I loved the interruption.

Julie said...

Oooh, I can't wait to find out what happens! Great work, I loved reading it!

kah said...

Original setting and great scene. The ending lines made me giggle. Very nicely done.
My blog

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Cedar is such a wonderful name for a character, and I really like the long moment of them both looking at their entwined hands. Nice work!

Frankie Diane Mallis said...

Oooh this was awesome I loved it, I could totally feel the heat between them when he touches her face and ohhhh soo close. This was one of the few No Kisses I read where I forgot it was a No Kiss entry and totally believed they would kiss. NICE! Also thank you soooooo much for participating in the fest and making the day so awesome. Im following your blog now:-) Can't wait to read more!

Unknown said...

Oh the love triangle! And a mystery...
nicely done.
btw, thanks for stopping by my blog.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Oh, very nice. Don't you just hate the interrupte kiss? Ahh! Nicely done. Loved the voice of the narrator.

Heather said...

I was waiting for someone to post something where the kiss gets interrupted by one of the participant's significant others...love it!

lisa and laura said...

Ella - Love the voice here! I laughed out loud at the "Oh shit" at the end. Nice work!

Hayley Lovell said...

Ella, the voice was so strong! It's an amazing snippet, and I want to know more about the murder, and Alden, so intriguing, well done!

Natalie said...

Loved it! I read your next post too, and I'm glad you're going to go on with it. I'm so intrigued by the story. There are a lot of things happening in this little excerpt (and great voice).

Eva said...

Wonderful non-kiss. I loved it. I would love to read what happens next. Love the pic. That was a hot non-kiss too :)