Xavier grabbed his water bottle during the break and thumped down on the chair next to Electra, who was working on her notebook computer. Electra’s dad had let her visit for the weekend.
“Whatcha working on?”
“A story,” she smiled.
“Can I read it?” Xavier asked, attempting to read over her shoulder.
“No.”
“Aww, why not?”
“Because.”
“’Cause why?”
“Because it’s distracting.”
“Aww. No fair,” he leaned closer and kissed her neck softly. “You won’t change your mind?”
“Nope.”
“Dang it,” he sighed. “So, what’s it about?”
“Xavier…”
“Please?”
“Okay, it’s based some many years in the future. The Earth has sent out colony ships to other planets. People who wanted to get away from all the technology have settled one of these colonies. So they’re pretty much cut off from the rest of civilisation. Enough generations have passed so that the colony has forgotten about its roots. On top of that, there’s been this alien race that’s found them and decided to take advantage of them by pretending to be gods and stuff.”
“Cool.”
“Thanks. Well, umm, the aliens give some of them – kids – these symbionts, which give them telepathic powers right? Anyway, so there’s this explosion, and they are forced to evacuate this particular centre, but in the confusion some of the kids get separated. They meet up with some kids who don’t have symbionts, and yeah… I’m having fun.”
“You always have fun.”
“That sounds like an interesting story,” Taylor spoke up. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. Would you mind if I read it once you’re finished?”
“Uhh… no…” Electra stuttered.
“Great.”
Electra stared after Taylor as he walked off. Xavier smiled.
“Uncle Taylor’s a romance novelist,” he grinned.
“Oh,” then she stared. “Him? A romance novelist?”
“Yeah. Scary huh?”
“Very.”
“He uses the name H T Jordan. Dad and Uncle Zac tease him all the time and call him ‘Miss Jordan’.”
Electra giggled.
“But umm, I’m not actually supposed to tell you that. Uncle Taylor doesn’t like people knowing he writes romance novels, so you can’t tell anyone. And you can’t tell anyone I told you that either.”
“Okay. Hey, aren’t your cousins calling you?”
Xavier looked.
“Ooh, so Mike finally stopped smooching what’s-her-name.”
“I bet he says the same thing about you,” Electra giggled, then kissed him softly on his lips. “Talk to you later.”
He kissed her back.
“Okay,” he smiled.