Cherie Noel's Blog, page 8
April 13, 2014
Autism Blog Hop: Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well. Imagine it like this. You go to help out a friend. She’s gotten mandated at work and won’t be home in time to get her kids ready for the bus. Not a big deal as you share a house. But one of her kids, a sweet little guy whom you secretly like best, freaks out when you try to help him put his tennis shoes on. Not a tantrum, there’s no I wanna get my way bull. No. His beautiful brown eyes are straining wide open, his breaths coming in gasps. He’s rocking in place and won’t answer when you try to ask what’s wrong. His twin is dressed, shoes on, waiting eagerly at the door for the big yellow bus to take him away to school.

What happened?
You offered him the right shoe first. They were the Nike’s and he only wears the Converse to school. You didn’t sing the cleanup song while you were putting the breakfast dishes in the sink, or maybe it’s just that he’s never practiced doing these things with you instead of his mom. He’s got ASD *autism spectrum disorder*, and you’ve just knocked him down the emotional equivalent of a steep flight of stairs.
Transition is hard for everyone on some levels, but for kids and adults with autism it can be debilitating. We all get that it would be wrong to ask a blind person to traverse a city block by themselves without preparing them first… well, imagine that the autistic person is blind too, but instead of being physically blind they suffer from a very specific type of emotional blindness. Asking them to make changes, big or small without adequate preparation—and the amount and type required will differ from person to person—is akin to tossing a blind person who has never been taught to use a guide dog or a cane out of your car at a random intersection in a foreign city and expecting them to be fine. The very thought is incomprehensible. It should be just as incomprehensible to fail to give those who deal daily with the challenges of ASD adequate preparation for changes.

Here are some resources you can utilize to educate yourself and get started on your journey to successfully navigating the challenges you face:
http://www.autism.org.uk/living-with-autism/understanding-behaviour/change-preparing-a-person-with-an-autism-spectrum-disorder-for-change.aspx
http://www.autismconsortium.org/families/transitioning-to-adulthood
For a wealth of related blogs on Autism go to the website of the incomparable Rj Scott!
AUTISM AWARENESS BLOG HOP: hosted by Rj Scott
Published on April 13, 2014 18:53
April 11, 2014
Fabulous Friday
Songs & videos that make me happy:
The Friendship Song by Carbon Leaf from the soundtrack for Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey (actually, kind of a cute movie & chock full of CL songs).
Mairi's Wedding by the High Kings -- not my favorite version of the song; I have a higher-energy version I like better, but still, a good song & the voices of these guys make up for it.
Tell Me Ma by Gaelic Storm
ALB is a lovely lovely lady with some great stuff to say!
What makes you happy today?
The Friendship Song by Carbon Leaf from the soundtrack for Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey (actually, kind of a cute movie & chock full of CL songs).
Mairi's Wedding by the High Kings -- not my favorite version of the song; I have a higher-energy version I like better, but still, a good song & the voices of these guys make up for it.
Tell Me Ma by Gaelic Storm
ALB is a lovely lovely lady with some great stuff to say!
What makes you happy today?
Published on April 11, 2014 07:09
April 7, 2014
The Arm-Chair Traveler
I’ve been busy trying to organize my documents and whatnot on my laptop here lately, and I’ve been rediscovering things I had forgotten – among them, the very first thing I ever did for Cherie. She was writing a story and needed to know how a person would go about getting from point A to point B in Rome, and what they would see along the way, how long it would take…that kind of thing.But it set me thinking about bucket lists. How many of us have put travel, whether to a truly exotic location, or simply to places of interest in our home countries, on ours?
I know there are a TON of places I’d love to visit – natural wonders like the Grand Canyon or Hawaii or the Alps, the great art of the world, places where people I admire lived or wrote or traveled – but the truth is I don’t want to actually GO to those places. I would have to deal with the confinement of travel (I’ve done East Coast to West Coast on a plane, pregnant, with a toddler and a preschooler, and then the reverse by car with 3 kids under 10, my husband, 2 cats, a large dog, and a U-Haul. UGH.) and I really really hate the idea of the seething masses of complete strangers I would have to put up with. I’ve read about the lines to get into some of the major art museums, thanks but no thanks.
And that’s the glory of the internet, isn’t it? We can see all those things we long to see, perhaps at one (or more) step of removal, but close enough for most of us. Many of us might manage to afford to actually make ONE of the trips we long to make (hubby and I want to go to England, mostly because there’s a tank museum), but all of them? I suppose that’s rather like reaching for the stars.
Isn’t there a saying about that? Something about reaching for the stars, but aiming for the moon? That seems apt, somehow.
Anyway, along with sorting through random bits and pieces on my computer, I’ve also been sorting through my ebooks (I suspect this will take For.Ev.Er.) and slowly trying to read them all & make teeny little reviews on Calibre (isn’t Calibre awesome? That they have a place you can do that, I mean, even besides the rating thing, which I don’t really use that much, but I’m trying to). And here lately, I seem to be accidentally reading a lot of travelers or expats or a combination of the two. It’s kind of making me want to go somewhere, but at the same time, many of the stories are all adventuresome, which, honestly? Kids and pets and hubby are MORE than enough adventure for me, along with the occasional trip to meet a friend for lunch somewhere, so that part is less than appealing.
What things are on your bucket list? And do you actually WANT to do all those things, deep in darkest recesses of your heart, or are they more a “reaching for the stars” kind of thing? What have you read that sparked a desire to explore a specific place, or fed that desire, or satiated it? Is it enough to read and maybe explore by computer, or do you need the actual physical presence?
Also, will we be seeing you in October in Chicago?
I know there are a TON of places I’d love to visit – natural wonders like the Grand Canyon or Hawaii or the Alps, the great art of the world, places where people I admire lived or wrote or traveled – but the truth is I don’t want to actually GO to those places. I would have to deal with the confinement of travel (I’ve done East Coast to West Coast on a plane, pregnant, with a toddler and a preschooler, and then the reverse by car with 3 kids under 10, my husband, 2 cats, a large dog, and a U-Haul. UGH.) and I really really hate the idea of the seething masses of complete strangers I would have to put up with. I’ve read about the lines to get into some of the major art museums, thanks but no thanks.
And that’s the glory of the internet, isn’t it? We can see all those things we long to see, perhaps at one (or more) step of removal, but close enough for most of us. Many of us might manage to afford to actually make ONE of the trips we long to make (hubby and I want to go to England, mostly because there’s a tank museum), but all of them? I suppose that’s rather like reaching for the stars.
Isn’t there a saying about that? Something about reaching for the stars, but aiming for the moon? That seems apt, somehow.
Anyway, along with sorting through random bits and pieces on my computer, I’ve also been sorting through my ebooks (I suspect this will take For.Ev.Er.) and slowly trying to read them all & make teeny little reviews on Calibre (isn’t Calibre awesome? That they have a place you can do that, I mean, even besides the rating thing, which I don’t really use that much, but I’m trying to). And here lately, I seem to be accidentally reading a lot of travelers or expats or a combination of the two. It’s kind of making me want to go somewhere, but at the same time, many of the stories are all adventuresome, which, honestly? Kids and pets and hubby are MORE than enough adventure for me, along with the occasional trip to meet a friend for lunch somewhere, so that part is less than appealing.
What things are on your bucket list? And do you actually WANT to do all those things, deep in darkest recesses of your heart, or are they more a “reaching for the stars” kind of thing? What have you read that sparked a desire to explore a specific place, or fed that desire, or satiated it? Is it enough to read and maybe explore by computer, or do you need the actual physical presence?
Also, will we be seeing you in October in Chicago?
Published on April 07, 2014 06:00
March 24, 2014
On the Big Screen
We've been busy busy busy over here lately, what with finishing up all the things necessary to get Quality Control out and available (by the end of the week, barring catastrophe) on the Cherie front and "101 Things That Can Go Pear-Shaped" on the personal front.
Frankly, Cherie is a Godsend. I would far rather wrestle her words than my kids.
Part of the "fun" this past weekend was my middle child getting invited to a sleepover and to the movie theater to go see the LEGO Movie with his best friend. This is problematic because DinoBoy was the only one invited, but since there's only 20 months between them, VelcroBoy looks on DinoBoy's best friend as *his* best friend, too, so I had a devastated child... which means, you guessed it! I had to take VelcroBoy to see the LEGO Movie. I also took Girl-child, who wasn't pleased with me at all, because if I have to suffer...
But wait! It gets better!
The movie (or the projector, or *something*) wasn't working! So we were told (there were maybe a dozen people in the theater) to go to one of the other movies with the same showtime -- which, since everybody was there with small kids, pretty much meant Mr. Peabody and Sherman -- and that we would get passes to use for any movie, any time. They were able to get the LEGO Movie up an running in time for the next showtime, so the three of us actually ended up watching two movies for the price of one, except it left me feeling exhausted. Luckily, as it turns out, I enjoyed both movies.
I'm really not a movie person. I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy watching stuff (especially now that I'm becoming a crocheter; I blame my mom!) but...I don't know. I can commit to hours and hours of reading a single book (sometimes over and over and over again... *ahem*) but the idea of sitting still and WATCHING a screen for 2 hours? Just doesn't do it for me, generally. While I would love to see some of my favorite books brought to the big screen that way, I know that some things would have to be sacrificed for that to happen, and usually the stuff that gets cut is the stuff I most cherish about books -- that chance to see inside a character's head. There's an intimacy to reading, maybe because of the way so much internal stuff is shared, while the external is left to the reader's imagination. That is reversed with a medium like film (or the digital equivalent), where the focus is on the external and you have to sort of extrapolate the internal.
That said... what are your favorite book-to-screen adaptations? Least favorite? Book/series you'd most like to see in that medium?
My answers: Honestly, pretty much anything BBC touches -- I love the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle Pride and Prejudice, Jeeves and Wooster, anything they do with Agatha Christie... But I also really love some of the 90s updates of classics -- 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless. My least favorite, probably, is the Harry Potter series -- love the books, love the movies, but I have to work really hard to mentally separate the two and try to look at them as totally different things. As for books I'd most love to see? I don't really know the answer to that yet. I'll think about it.
Frankly, Cherie is a Godsend. I would far rather wrestle her words than my kids.
Part of the "fun" this past weekend was my middle child getting invited to a sleepover and to the movie theater to go see the LEGO Movie with his best friend. This is problematic because DinoBoy was the only one invited, but since there's only 20 months between them, VelcroBoy looks on DinoBoy's best friend as *his* best friend, too, so I had a devastated child... which means, you guessed it! I had to take VelcroBoy to see the LEGO Movie. I also took Girl-child, who wasn't pleased with me at all, because if I have to suffer...
But wait! It gets better!
The movie (or the projector, or *something*) wasn't working! So we were told (there were maybe a dozen people in the theater) to go to one of the other movies with the same showtime -- which, since everybody was there with small kids, pretty much meant Mr. Peabody and Sherman -- and that we would get passes to use for any movie, any time. They were able to get the LEGO Movie up an running in time for the next showtime, so the three of us actually ended up watching two movies for the price of one, except it left me feeling exhausted. Luckily, as it turns out, I enjoyed both movies.
I'm really not a movie person. I mean, don't get me wrong. I enjoy watching stuff (especially now that I'm becoming a crocheter; I blame my mom!) but...I don't know. I can commit to hours and hours of reading a single book (sometimes over and over and over again... *ahem*) but the idea of sitting still and WATCHING a screen for 2 hours? Just doesn't do it for me, generally. While I would love to see some of my favorite books brought to the big screen that way, I know that some things would have to be sacrificed for that to happen, and usually the stuff that gets cut is the stuff I most cherish about books -- that chance to see inside a character's head. There's an intimacy to reading, maybe because of the way so much internal stuff is shared, while the external is left to the reader's imagination. That is reversed with a medium like film (or the digital equivalent), where the focus is on the external and you have to sort of extrapolate the internal.
That said... what are your favorite book-to-screen adaptations? Least favorite? Book/series you'd most like to see in that medium?
My answers: Honestly, pretty much anything BBC touches -- I love the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle Pride and Prejudice, Jeeves and Wooster, anything they do with Agatha Christie... But I also really love some of the 90s updates of classics -- 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless. My least favorite, probably, is the Harry Potter series -- love the books, love the movies, but I have to work really hard to mentally separate the two and try to look at them as totally different things. As for books I'd most love to see? I don't really know the answer to that yet. I'll think about it.
Published on March 24, 2014 06:00
March 12, 2014
Work in Progress Wednesday: Attempting Zumba for the First time...
No, this isn't a video of me. It's a video of the type of fitness training one of the mc's of an upcoming novel is going to find and fall in love with... so I figure I'd better get some hands on experience with the whole Zumba phenomena, right?
Have mercy. Class starts at 6:15 am. Meep!
Today's class will be the second one I've ever taken. I'll stop by later and tell y'all if I live to tell the tale, lol, as well as give you a sneaky peak of the story a scene very like the one above happens in. :)
Have mercy. Class starts at 6:15 am. Meep!
Today's class will be the second one I've ever taken. I'll stop by later and tell y'all if I live to tell the tale, lol, as well as give you a sneaky peak of the story a scene very like the one above happens in. :)
Published on March 12, 2014 03:00
March 11, 2014
Tuesday Newsday... Dun-dun-daaaaaaaaahhhh!
Some days you just really need a cute sloth around your waist to announce the truly important stuff with a bit of panache.
Right?
So, in the news this week:
1) I did pick up a GoodReads Story... I couldn't pass up on Angelique's amazing pic and prompt combo. I've begun plotting, and should have the story written (if all goes according to plan) by the end of the month.
*sheesh, stop snickering...sometimes my plans work out!*
2) Still working on edits to ARTBU and CRANES...
*the edits that will not end... Kidding, they will end, eventually*
3) Next up? More stuff and nonsense. I've got two sekrit projects I must wrap up by the end of the month, and two re-writes also due--that's in addition to the two edits listed above.
4) Panic and flail. That's what one does when going to school full-time *15 credits* and trying to keep up with an insane writing schedule.
Pfffttt, I got this.
*gasp*
No, really.
5) Thank my lucky stars I have such an awesome minion.
6)REAL NEWS, finally!! I am going to GRL. I am also bringing one of my *as yet to be unveiled* cover-cabana-boys. He he he. I promise to tell you when his cover goes up.
And that's it for the week. :) Unless something absolutely awesome happens midweek, in which case I'll fill you in then.
Oh, and it's my birthday today. Happy birthday to me!! I have the best job in the world, I love my kidlet, and I am having a blast in school. And, as a special it's my birthday prize, the first to comment on the thread below with the title of my latest release *hint, an anthology with Jambrea Jo Jones and Kendall McKenna* will win a cute little stuffed wolf.
Have a great day babies, and wring all the joy possible out of the moment you are in.
~Cherie Noel
Right?
So, in the news this week:
1) I did pick up a GoodReads Story... I couldn't pass up on Angelique's amazing pic and prompt combo. I've begun plotting, and should have the story written (if all goes according to plan) by the end of the month.
*sheesh, stop snickering...sometimes my plans work out!*
2) Still working on edits to ARTBU and CRANES...
*the edits that will not end... Kidding, they will end, eventually*
3) Next up? More stuff and nonsense. I've got two sekrit projects I must wrap up by the end of the month, and two re-writes also due--that's in addition to the two edits listed above.
4) Panic and flail. That's what one does when going to school full-time *15 credits* and trying to keep up with an insane writing schedule.
Pfffttt, I got this.
*gasp*
No, really.
5) Thank my lucky stars I have such an awesome minion.
6)REAL NEWS, finally!! I am going to GRL. I am also bringing one of my *as yet to be unveiled* cover-cabana-boys. He he he. I promise to tell you when his cover goes up.
And that's it for the week. :) Unless something absolutely awesome happens midweek, in which case I'll fill you in then.
Oh, and it's my birthday today. Happy birthday to me!! I have the best job in the world, I love my kidlet, and I am having a blast in school. And, as a special it's my birthday prize, the first to comment on the thread below with the title of my latest release *hint, an anthology with Jambrea Jo Jones and Kendall McKenna* will win a cute little stuffed wolf.
Have a great day babies, and wring all the joy possible out of the moment you are in.
~Cherie Noel
Published on March 11, 2014 03:00
March 10, 2014
What makes me a grumpy reader (and baker)
OK, so baking is kinda my thing (what can I say? Kneading bread is an excellent stress release, especially when your kids or hubby or cats or pups are being PITAs and you really just wanna HIT somebody...).
Anyway, I was reading something the other day (not you, Boss Lady! Promise! I would let you know if it was you before it got that far, presuming it was something I beta-ed!) where one of the protagonists came home at, like, 6:30 and his dinner date was supposed to be getting there at 7 for a home-cooked meal. All well and good, except -- well, his meat (*snerk*) was still in the freezer, and all he had that was more or less ready to go was salad fixings. Anyway, long story short, at 7 on the dot, he was showered, shaved, changed, and had a full meal, including homemade-from-scratch bread, some sort of casserole-y dish, a salad AND a homemade dessert, all on the table ready for his guest.
Does anybody know how he did this? Because seriously? I need to know! I am forever having to feed my kids sandwiches or omelets at least twice a week because homework runs over and this happens and the cat hairballs on the carpet and and and resulting me in having all of 30 min before our regular dinnertime at 6. And dinner can't be late because VelcroBoy has to be in bed by 7:30 or OMG the morning is impossible!
So, if you know a recipe for a yeast bread that goes from "pulling the flour out of the cupboard" to "fragrant rolls in the bread basket on the table" in under 30 minutes, please would you share? Pretty please?
That is one of my hugest pet peeves in reading. I'm not a gourmet chef, by any means (lack money, time, and people who would EAT gourmet if I made it), but I am pretty decent at basic cookery. Yet so often, I'll see something in a book where I just know the author has seriously NO CLUE. Like, they'll make creme fraiche, but it'll be spelled cream fresh. Or the bread will take 20 min to mix, knead, rise, shape, proof and bake. Or they'll cook something in a way in which I have never ever heard of it being cooked (although to be fair, if I'm unsure I'll usually Google it first, just to see if maybe it's a gap in my education, rather than a gap in theirs).
What about you? For the sake of future releases, what drives you batty in a book? How can you tell when the author has no frickin' clue and didn't bother to do research? Let us know!
Anyway, I was reading something the other day (not you, Boss Lady! Promise! I would let you know if it was you before it got that far, presuming it was something I beta-ed!) where one of the protagonists came home at, like, 6:30 and his dinner date was supposed to be getting there at 7 for a home-cooked meal. All well and good, except -- well, his meat (*snerk*) was still in the freezer, and all he had that was more or less ready to go was salad fixings. Anyway, long story short, at 7 on the dot, he was showered, shaved, changed, and had a full meal, including homemade-from-scratch bread, some sort of casserole-y dish, a salad AND a homemade dessert, all on the table ready for his guest.
Does anybody know how he did this? Because seriously? I need to know! I am forever having to feed my kids sandwiches or omelets at least twice a week because homework runs over and this happens and the cat hairballs on the carpet and and and resulting me in having all of 30 min before our regular dinnertime at 6. And dinner can't be late because VelcroBoy has to be in bed by 7:30 or OMG the morning is impossible!
So, if you know a recipe for a yeast bread that goes from "pulling the flour out of the cupboard" to "fragrant rolls in the bread basket on the table" in under 30 minutes, please would you share? Pretty please?
That is one of my hugest pet peeves in reading. I'm not a gourmet chef, by any means (lack money, time, and people who would EAT gourmet if I made it), but I am pretty decent at basic cookery. Yet so often, I'll see something in a book where I just know the author has seriously NO CLUE. Like, they'll make creme fraiche, but it'll be spelled cream fresh. Or the bread will take 20 min to mix, knead, rise, shape, proof and bake. Or they'll cook something in a way in which I have never ever heard of it being cooked (although to be fair, if I'm unsure I'll usually Google it first, just to see if maybe it's a gap in my education, rather than a gap in theirs).
What about you? For the sake of future releases, what drives you batty in a book? How can you tell when the author has no frickin' clue and didn't bother to do research? Let us know!
Published on March 10, 2014 06:00
March 4, 2014
SHRUG IT OFF Blog Tour

Greetings, and welcome to the third stop in the SHRUG IT OFF tour!Today I want to thank Cherie for being my host!
Heya, Mathilde. Thank you for stopping by and letting The Writing Cave be part of your awesome tour. Do you have anything you want to share with the readers right up front?
Sure, let me start by explaining how the tour works…At each stop along my way I will randomly select one commenter to receive a free ebook from my backlist, AND, at the end of the tour, everybody who leaves a comment at any of my stops will be entered for a chance to win one of two $10 gift cards to All Romance Ebooks! Just be sure to include your email address in you comment so you can be contacted if your name is selected.For my first stop I visited with my good friend Angel Martinez and I introduced Stephen and his constant companions. You can check that out here: http://angelmartinezauthor.weebly.com/1/post/2014/02/the-first-stop-shrug-it-off-blog-tour.htmlAnd on my second stop I introduced Connor at Iyana’s Rainbow: http://iyanajenna.blogspot.com/2014/03/in-spotlight-mathilde-watson.html
But maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I should probably give you a quick rundown on SHRUG IT OFF, right?…
* * * *BLURB:For Stephen, dating is more than a challenge, it’s a nightmare!All he wants is a man he can talk to, someone he can laugh with and be himself around. What he’s got instead is an incessant running commentary on everyone and everything. The meddling guides posted on his shoulders each have their own ideas of what Stephen should be looking for. From the right he’s urged to find a man like himself: confident, successful, and upwardly mobile. The little devil on his other shoulder is only interested in a guy’s face and what he’s got below the waist.The two can never agree on anything—until Stephen meets Connor—and then things get really interesting…
* * * *
In SHRUG IT OFF, Stephen is plagued by the constant interference of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. Most people can’t see or hear their guides, they only feel their promptings with what we call our conscience.Today, I’d like to talk about the inspiration behind SHRUG IT OFF.Growing up, I was a huge fan of Mickey Mouse and his friends, especially Donald Duck.

* * * *
Thanks again Mathilde for stopping by. It been fun having you here at the Cave. Can I get you a top off for your drink before you go? It really is chilly out, and I'd hate for your or any of the boys to get cold! No? Okay, then, I look forward to seeing you at the next stop!
For Info on were to find this devilishly enticing story, check out the following:
SHRUG IT OFF is available through Mischief Corner Books: https://mischiefcornerbooks.weebly.com/store/p40/Shrug_It_Off.html
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-shrugitoff-1439693-149.htmlAnd on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IQBF7SA
You can find Mathilde Watson (that’s me!) online at:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathilde.watson.author
Website: http://authormathildewatson.weebly.com

* * * *
Published on March 04, 2014 03:00
February 25, 2014
Tuesday Newsday: All this weeks shenanigans and stuff!
(retro)Monday-I dropped that darn ball again. Was supposed to put up a Monday Mayhem and Foolishness post and I got so caught up in my schoolwork I forgot to do so!
Tuesday-just typing up the news. And working out with sore legs... he he he.
Wednesday-Work in Progress... a snippet from something will be posted. *I pinky swear*
Thursday-Think Tank Time
Friday-I shall endeavor to find something FANTASTIC for you all to peruse.
Saturday-Offical day of rest. Sort of, lol.
Sunday-I'll be posting a snog...
Monday-of course, more Mayhem and Foolishness
That is all.
Tuesday-just typing up the news. And working out with sore legs... he he he.
Wednesday-Work in Progress... a snippet from something will be posted. *I pinky swear*
Thursday-Think Tank Time
Friday-I shall endeavor to find something FANTASTIC for you all to peruse.
Saturday-Offical day of rest. Sort of, lol.
Sunday-I'll be posting a snog...
Monday-of course, more Mayhem and Foolishness
That is all.
Published on February 25, 2014 07:27
February 10, 2014
Monday's Mayhem and Foolishness: 6 Days To Valentines with L. E. Franks

Don't forget, after the blurb, interview and excerpt have you panting for the book you still need to scroll down to the giveaway link at the bottom, because free stuff is AWESOME. Go on. Get you some.
Blurb:
In Nick’s perfect world, Valentine’s Day would be struck from the calendar.
Nick’s dreams of a Happily Ever After were shredded long ago and the last thing he and his customers need is a bunch of happy loving couples rubbing it in their faces.
Bouncer Fat Boy Newman is willing to bet he knows Nick’s heart better than he does. He has just six days to change Nick’s mind about romance and the holiday and the perfect man to do it.
Too bad it’s not him.
Too bad Nick’s not going down without a fight.
Too bad he cheats.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE DAY AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE
The man on the floor was hard to ignore. If I got up now, I’d be stepping on him—not that I planned on leaving anytime soon. It wasn’t every day a man fell at your feet, much less one of the pretty ones. I wasn’t complaining—I could use the distraction. February with its faux-holiday was always my own personal hell, and this week, with the tidal wave of red and pink already threatening to swamp me, things kept getting worse. Maybe my luck was finally changing. I hoped so.
I squinted in the dim light of the bar to get a better look. His strawberry blond hair was disheveled, uncovered now that the ball cap he’d worn into the bar was resting against the chrome leg of my barstool. He stared up at me with eyes like some cartoon character from a Looney Tunes classic. Comically huge saucers of Arctic blue overwhelmed a nose too pert for a man; his rosy lips forming a perfect O of shock and surprise completed the picture as he lay stunned.
I’d watched the cap spin merrily away as he landed face-first onto the industrial-grade carpet, and winced—not in sympathy for the blow to his face, per se. No, it was due to the knowledge that FatBoy Newman had thrown up on that exact spot the previous day. I groaned as unwelcome memories of FatBoy and the events of last night flooded my mind, distracting me from the blond.
FatBoy was the newest addition to our little Frisson bar family. He’d been working the door for a couple of months, doing his job by lurking in the background and monitoring the crowds stirring each other up on weekends. One minute, he would be wallpaper, and the next, he’d be hanging out at my end of the bar, playing a nightly game of twenty questions.
Last night it was a string of questions like “Marie Claire or Vogue?” and “Barbeque Beans or Pork & Beans” or, more disturbing, “Brad Pitt or Yoda?”
Normally, I would have blown FatBoy off as I do every other asshole annoying me while I’m working; even the bouncers who like to lean on the bar and steal olives and fruit don’t linger if I’m there. FatBoy was different. He might look like a giant hick with the brains the size of a pea and a case of ’roid rage, but for all I knew, he had balls the size of an elephant. He’d need them. He’d been pressuring me for weeks to date his cousin, ever since he figured out that I’m gay, and I’d been equally absolute in my refusal. I don’t date, no matter how smoky blue your eyes are when you ask.
Not that I tried to hide my orientation—it’s just none of your damn business and not a topic of conversation I usually led with. At six two with brown hair, green eyes, and a naturally muscled build, bar patrons just assumed I was straight; keeping things pleasant and light with our mixed crowd of tourists and local party boys and girls kept the mood fun and—most importantly—the tips pouring in.I also wasn’t such a megalomaniac that I thought everyone wanted to sleep with me—though working the bar, I got plenty of come-ons and come-hithers. Despite the occasional tumble with Juan, I hadn’t met anyone who inspired me to make the effort. If you want to know the truth, in my heart of hearts, I was a romantic; I dreamed of being swept off my feet by the “one”. In the meantime, I kept my head down, mixing my drinks and keeping my dreams and hands mostly to myself.
Despite the nightly grilling, FatBoy wouldn’t have known any different if he hadn’t walked in on my attempt to bareback Juan, our bar-back, during a very slow Saturday afternoon. I’m kidding about the barebacking. Juan is a good kid, and I’d never risk him or myself that way, and our relationship was more about convenience than romance, but FatBoy did walk into the cold room just seconds after a collision had wrapped me around Juan’s wiry body, forcing our lips together. Fortunately, our tongues took the brunt of the accident, ensuring no lasting damage to our libidos.
No, Mr. Newman can take the blame for that particular injury and the subsequent ‘failure to launch’ sequence that resulted from it. Instead of backing out like a normal person, he stayed—leaning against the frame of the door and watching us quietly until I pulled away from Juan.
“Why the fuck are you still here? Can’t you see we’re busy?” I snapped in frustration.
FatBoy didn’t respond beyond a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth—though he did lean slightly out of the way as Juan slipped past him, buttoning his jeans as he went. I reached down and readjusted my own cock, sighing deeply and glaring at him while I waited.
“Soooo, Nick. Boys, huh?” he drawled, settling back into his lean.
“Not boys, men. I’m not a pedophile, asshole.” As I stomped back to the bar, I was running through a list of unpleasant scenarios I could subject the prick to before I had to see him again. I was contemplating his fall into an active volcano when I felt his eyes on my back, the same silent force field I’d felt ever since he started working here.
I whirled around. “What? What! What? Did you need something, or did your calendar say it was ‘Be a dick at work day?’ ’Cuz I have to tell you, I’ve got a serious case of blue balls going on here, and unless you plan on dropping and giving me head right here and now, I’m pretty sure there is nothing you can say or do that I’m interested in.”
I might have caught a slight glimmer in his eyes when I said that—but really, who cared? It was going to be long days of skittish looks before Juan settled down enough to overcome his exaggerated fear of discovery and be willing to risk spending more time with me in the back. Something about losing his job and making his disabled mother homeless if he got caught screwing around at work—like that would ever happen…
“Blake was asking for you. I figured you’d rather I tracked you down myself instead of sending him into the icebox after you.” FatBoy smirked and pivoted, leaving me alone with the unhappy thought that I owed him one. With a silent apology to Juan’s fears, I wound my way back to the office to check on the latest from the boss.
So best efforts of ignoring the new bouncer aside, we were now out to the six five former linebacker from Tennessee—a Vol who’d majored in French poets of the seventeenth century. You haven’t lived until you’ve listened to FatBoy recite Molière in the original French, drunk off his ass, at four in the morning, in a thick southern drawl. Despite all of that, or maybe because of it, FatBoy was a bit of a prick—a trait I usually found entertaining when directed toward someone else, but after my fobbing off all the gentle nudges and hints about his cousin, he must have decided it was time to bring out the heavy artillery and press the issue once and for all.
In this case, he used his prickdom to force me into the drinking contest. He was, after all, he said, a gentleman of the South and therefore felt obliged to offer me a game of chance rather than the outright blackmail he originally had in mind—not that I believed he’d actually risk anyone’s job. But it did make me curious.
I still wasn’t sure what was so important about finding his cousin a date. I’d said no enough times that any other musclehead would have gotten a clue and dropped it long ago. FatBoy’s cousin must have been horribly disfigured or suffering from some social disease or on parole for unspeakable acts as a minor for him to be this relentlessly annoying.
More likely, his aunt was nagging him to death—afraid her baby was going to meet a big bad leather daddy now that he liked cock; I’d heard stories. I was just lucky to be the first gay he’d met. Not that I ever had that problem with my own family—I’m not sure they noticed the last time the door hit me on my way out.All in all, I wasn’t surprised when he finally cornered me.
Terms of the bet were simple. We would each drink at the same time until we stopped. First one to pass out or throw up lost. Winner named his prize.
The reason I thought FatBoy might have been juicing—beyond the imposing build and lack of neck—was he’d overlooked the fact that I had total control over the very medium that would determine the outcome of the bet.
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Published on February 10, 2014 01:00