He blinked, then moved to get out of the truck. “Yeah. Yeah. See ya, [woman’s name].” He opened the door and slid around on his seat, stumbling as he tripped over the step-bar. [The woman] scoffed and grabbed his elbow. “Get in,” she said exasperatedly.
As she lugged him back onto his leather seat, [the man] pulled the door closed again, but looked at his elbow where her hand rest. He blinked hard once more, quickly, and looked up to her face. They both stopped, motionless, as something neither could put into words passed between them and they simultaneously realized how close the other was.
After a pause that wasn’t quite as uncomfortable as it should have been, [the woman] cleared her throat self-consciously and [the man] made a couple “hm” noises to fill the void, although neither knew why.
[The man] pushed up his sleeve but only found leather glove. “You know, it’s getting kind of late…”
“Yeah,” [the woman] readily agreed, rubbing her arm up and down. “Gotta get up early in the morning. To do, you know, villainy.”
“Right, right, that takes a lot out of you.”
It was a quiet ride back to [the man]’s apartment in L.A. For some reason, though, [the woman] found herself smiling, and saw through the corners of her eyes that [the man] was doing the same. Eventually, the truck slowed to a halt, and the apartment was in front of them. [The man], his hand having been resting on the door handle inertly throughout the ride, pulled the door open and stepped out, careful to keep his balance. Seeing his arms held in the air exaggeratedly as he left, [the woman] laughed quietly behind a hand and saw him acknowledge her with a slight tug to the already turned-up corners of his mouth.
Lowering his arms, he suddenly seemed awkward again, almost curling in on himself. “Um, thanks, [woman’s name]. That was… kinda fun.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Anytime, handsome,” she said obviously teasing, but silently gasped as she realized what had just transpired. Did she just—?
But [the man] had already held up a glove in a good-bye gesture and walked into his home, stopping when he saw the smashed bits of door sprawled across the floor.
Time to leave. She smashed her foot to the ground, amused as she saw [the man]’s half-surprised and half-confused expression.
Easy there, girl, she told herself, but for once ignored her inner voice as she hummed her way home, mysteriously in a much better mood than when the evening had started.
....
Every once in a while, when the talk had begun to get dry, she would think she saw him stealing a glance at her, but when she looked up, he would be closely examining the wood grain on the table or about to speak up in an argument against [other coworkers]. Once, though, she had thought she saw a flicker of movement in his face. She took a glimpse but his head was again turned away. It happened a couple times when suddenly, their gazes met. They both stared as a smile crept upon each of their faces. [The woman] tittered, a hand over her lips, and suddenly became aware of the League’s eyes as a hot blush crept along her cheeks. She immediately put her hands in her lap and cleared her throat. “Yes, what was that about statistics, [coworker]?”
…
[After being reprimanded for her childish behavior] Chastened, [the woman] frowned, but thought she caught a flicker of a cocky, laughing expression on [the man]’s face before it disappeared.
XXX
So, although I doubt that anyone actually read ALL of that, any help? Suggestions? Tales of love won?Happily married couples: Advice on REAL romance (writing)?
I like where you are going with this. It seems real. Hollywood is all over-the-top romance. Yours seems real and very believable. The second insert is a CLASSIC. It definitely is my favorite passage. But other than that I can not give you anymore advice because I do not know the whole story. Sorry.
My husband and I are kind of like these two characters. We fell in love at first sight. Yet he had a girlfriend so things were awkward and I was so mad that the man of my dreams was taken. I took it out on him when we were at social events and was very sarcastic to him. But I secretly was in love with him (i think he knew that too). So I did everything in my power to make him notice I was better for him than she was. I made sure all of his best friends were friends of mine so that they would talk about me in front of him. If you want to know more....just ask. lolHappily married couples: Advice on REAL romance (writing)?
I admit I didn't read all of it, but it sounds like every other romance novel I have read. Not a huge fan of them, but seems like the ones I did read started with the 2 people hating each other and suddenly realizing they have feelings.
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