I’d originally planned to post the first chapter of The Haul Monitor—a multimedia choose-your-own adventure story about space bandits—today, but it’s taking longer than I expected. I’ll aim to post it next weekend instead! In the meantime, here’s a song-inspired story!
Song: “I Can Change” by Lake Street Dive
The waitress returned again and again, peddling coffee and pie and something called “chicken-fried” steak. On her fourth attempt, Cameron appeased her; the coffee couldn’t be too bad, she reasoned. Cameron hadn’t expected to sit here this long, but maybe she should have. When had Ty ever arrived on time? Twenty minutes after their scheduled meeting time, at least Ty was consistent.
When he appeared at the diner’s empty hostess station, Cameron straightened her watch and took a steadying breath. She slid her coffee toward the window and out of her way; the diner was already hot enough without this scalding dirt water.
The moment Ty spotted Cameron, he whirled toward the exit. Cameron caught him in the parking lot.
“Wait,” she said.
He did, but he didn’t turn toward her.
“I’m sorry. I thought we could talk,” Cameron continued, gripping his elbow like the handle of a sliding door.
It slipped from her grasp as he spun toward her. “By lying to me? Off to a great start.”
“I knew you wouldn’t come if you knew it was me.”
He scoffed. “I should’ve known. I really should’ve. What kind of reporter emails from a private Gmail account?” He pressed his hand against his forehead. “God, and no one even knows about the movie yet—of course no one’s gonna be interviewing me right now.”
“Yeah,” Cameron said quietly, “I was kind of surprised you fell for—” His glare flattened her, so changed course: “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry I tricked you, but I wanted—”
“What’s that, three?”
“What?”
“Three apologies. I think that’s the most you’ve ever said in your life.”
“I’m sorry. There, that’s four. I’m sorry I was so terrible to you. Five. I’m sorry I wasn’t the sister you needed—you deserved—and I’m sorry I let Mom and Dad poison us against each other. Six, seven.” Cameron paused and tried to look at her brother. She couldn’t quite bring herself to meet his eyes, so she studied the stubble on his chin. Maybe if he shaved once in a while, he’d get more roles and— She gritted her teeth. No. She was done with that.
“I never should have let them get to me, but now they’re dead, and we’re not, so can we please just sit down and have some dirt water? I’ll even buy you one of those—what’s it called?—chicken steaks. I’m sure it’s terrible, but if you want it, it’s yours.”
“I actually like the food here.”
“Okay.”
“And the coffee’s not so bad.”
“Okay.”
Cameron took a few careful steps toward the diner, and Ty followed.
Check out previous song-inspired stories here!
Miles Away 