Sunday Snippet: Hot Not Date

Had a fairly decent week with work projects coming together and the upper respiratory yuck staying solidly in the background. I continued improving and the cough is down to a manageable level with over-the-counter meds. Whew.

I'm almost finished with Batman: The Animated Series and then I'll get back to a wider variety of shows again. This week's episodes were "Love is a Croc," "The Ultimate Thrill," "Cult of the Cat," which I go back and forth on whether I like it or not. "Critters" is not one of my favorites. I do love "Animal Act" because Dick gets to revisit his circus family and it's followed by my favorite season three episode of "Old Wounds," which shows the messy breakup of Batman and Robin and how Batgirl played a role. I have a few issues with season three and one of them is the way Bruce / Batman became a complete hardass and, quite frankly, a giant dick a lot of the time.

"Legends of the Dark Knight" is fun because it's a complete departure from the norm and explores a couple of alternate versions of the dynamic duo.

Almost forgot about "Girls' Night Out," with Live Wire and Supergirl guest starring. That's a fun episode.

I finished up with "Chemistry," which is kind of a meh episode for me. I think I have three more episodes and I'll have the rewatch completed.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Hot Not Date, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

When Keefer meets Bryce, she's on a date with Mark and Keefer is bummed she's already taken. But things aren't exactly as they seem and by the end of the night, Keefer discovers his insta-crush may not be one-sided.

And a snippety peek…

Keefer Duncan hung the phone up and turned to his brother. "Yo, Reg, Matize is down with whatever disgusting ick is going around so we're minus a server." Digging into his pocket, he found a quarter.

Reggie grunted. "Told him to stay home, yeah? Don't need him spreading his germs everywhere." He came out from behind the counter and nodded to Keefer.

Keefer flipped the coin and caught it in his fist.

Reggie called his preference. "Heads."

Keefer opened his palm. "You win. I'll serve tonight. We can flip for it again tomorrow." He shoved the quarter back into his pocket, stripped off his chef's jacket, and snagged a Duncan's on the Square T-shirt.

Reggie lifted his chin. "You gonna pay for that?"

Keefer laughed. "Consider it a donation to a good cause." He swapped shirts, grabbed an apron, and logged in to the electronic server.

Reggie shook his head. "You do realize we're down a chef now, right?" He made his way back behind the line prep area.

Keefer rolled a shoulder. "Yeah, but if we ask Dylan to stick around through the rush, we should be okay. I'll have the hosts start prepping salads before the crush really starts and we can shift gears when needed." Not like they didn't have a system in place for this kind of thing.

Reggie grinned. "Good to wade out in the trenches sometimes, too. No job is too small…"

Keefer cracked a smile. "Even when you own the joint." Their shared office, a tiny cubicle by the back entrance, had the slogan painted on its primary wall.

Reggie gave a nod and went back to prepping a veg medley for the special stir-fry on tonight's menu.

Keefer liked the banter with his brother. Reg finally seemed to be having fun again after a rough couple of months nursing his wounds over a breakup. Keefer gave him space and he'd refrained from bringing anyone home since they shared a house as well as the restaurant.

Pushing through the café doors, Keefer figured he might get lucky tonight if he played his server cards right.

Keefer is going on something of a weird trip where he thinks his radar is completely broken and it's going to be fun to watch it unfold.

 

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin