Teaser Tuesday

I'm going to rejoin the living! For today's teaser I went with NORMAL again, and a little snip towards the beginning of the book.

Aly, her little sister Caitlin and Aly's best friend Jeana are hanging by the pool at a resort in Mexico on a family trip.

SNIP

Teaser Tuesday

Well, I'm gonna tease again!

This takes place while Aly and her younger sister Caitlin are visiting Andrew and Tanner on tour.  They are checking out the stage when Andrew notices how happy Aly is.

“Well, I was going to tell you later, but, I got into Northwestern and the program!”  Her voice shook with excitement.  “Architectural Engineering and Design: here I come!” 

“I’m so happy for you,” he said.  He kissed her forehead and gave her a huge hug.  Andrew still had his arms around her when Aly spotted Jacob off to the side of the stage.  

Aly stood still and watched him walk towards them.  All of her preparation for this moment failed.  He looked in her direction and caught her eyes over Andrew’s shoulder.  Aly inhaled deeply, she’d forgotten the little details of his face and how handsome he really was.  Andrew let go of her and held her at arms length to look at her, noting her instant tension. 

His brow furrowed.  “Are you okay?” he asked.  

“Of course,” Aly said.  She stepped back out of his grasp and cleared her throat to regain her composure.  The last time she saw Jacob he left her standing on the beach in tears. He smiled at her now but she noticed the smile never reached his eyes.  Jacob hugged Caitlin warmly and then greeted Aly by awkwardly hugging her with one arm and a pat to her back with one hand.  The kind of half-hug a guy would give a buddy.

“I’m glad you could come.  It’s good to see you.” Jacob said.  His voice was tight, not the deep rich voice she remembered.

“Jacob, it’s good to see you too.” 

He fidgeted with the lanyard around his neck then looked back to the side of the stage.  A tall blonde joined them.  She stood next to Jacob and put a hand on his shoulder.  He looked anxiously from her to Aly and back.  Aly almost laughed at seeing Jacob so uncharacteristically flustered, but the sick feeling in her stomach kept her silent.  Jacob said, “I want you to meet someone.  This is my girlfriend Eryn.”

     “Hi Eryn. It’s nice to meet you.” Eryn daintily shook the hand that Aly offered.  

     Eryn stood formally with perfect posture.  “I’ve heard a tremendous amount about you.  Andrew speaks of practically nothing else and now I understand why,” She said with an unnaturally exact cadence. “Have you been to one of their concerts before?  It is truly wonderful.”

     “No, I haven’t.  We’re excited,” Aly responded, putting an arm around Caitlin.

     “You must be Caitlin, Tanner’s girlfriend,” Eryn said.  She extended her hand to Caitlin.

Caitlin immediately blushed. “I’m his friend,” she corrected.  Her voice was barely audible. “It’s nice to meet you.”

TEASER TUESDAY

I have five minutes left of Tuesday - so I thought I'd participate with a super small snip...


As they walked into the restaurant Jeana tugged on Aly’s hand. Her smile had grown into full-blown gloating. “You can’t escape them now, it’s fate!” She whispered.

Aly sighed. She knew that to some degree Jeana was right. No matter what she did, in just a minute she’d be sitting across the table from four obnoxiously beautiful guys. She felt her skin crawl at the thought. She pulled her hand away and walked faster, putting distance between her and Jeana. She called back to Jeana over her shoulder, “I don’t believe in fate.”

Teaser Tuesday

From NORMAL:

"How could you do this to my family?" Jacob yelled at Aly as she walked down the hall towards him.  He stood in the doorway, blocking entry to her room, with a mix of anger and pain so visible on his face, that it hurt her to see.  In that moment she knew she loved him.  She knew because more than anything else, his believing that she could do this, ripped her heart out. 


"Jacob?" She asked in a voice too quiet to have been hers.  "You believe it too?  I don't know why I thought you couldn't shock me anymore."  She stood there in front of him searching his eyes for a hint that he might believe her.


He shook with anger.  "Shock you?  Shock you? I couldn't be more shocked by you Aly.  I never would have thought you do this.  What is it?  Was it for money?  No, it can't be that, you come from plenty of money.  Were you not happy with the level of celebrity we were providing you?"  He dropped his eyes from hers and his shoulders slumped just a little.  "How could you hurt us, how could you hurt Andrew like this?"


In any other circumstance seeing him like this, so raw, so vulnerable, she would have rushed at him and pulled him into her arms to try and make it better.  Now, it was unbearable.  Even though she could see in his eyes the pain and betrayal that was causing him to say such terrible things, she couldn't take another moment.  "Jacob, please move," she asked, that unfamiliar quiet voice returning.


He raised his eyes to hers again and parted his lips as if preparing to say something else.  Without a word, he dropped his arm and walked down the hall, away from her. 


She struggled to slide the card into the door, the tears lining up to fall were blocking her vision. "Come on, come on," she said to the lock.  Two more attempts and the heavy door swung open into her room.  She took a few steps into the room to clear the door, then pushed back on it with her full weight to close it.  As soon as she heard the click, she sunk to the floor in sobs.