Snazzy Snippets: February Valentine Edition

So, I am linking up with Snazzy Snippets for the second time (which is hosted by Alyssa @ The Devil Orders Takeout and Emily @ Loony Literate). Once again, I am featuring my contemporary romance WIP, The Mockingbird & The Hurricane. It is rather cute and squishy while also managing to be about depression and social anxiety. This is mostly the fault of my cute and squishy MCs, who are basically my favorite characters I have ever written.

So, anyways, this month the prompts for Snippets are…

A heartwarming snippet that makes readers go “aww!”

or

A kissing snippet

or

A snippet where love interests first appear together

I have never written a romance before, so I’m not quite sure how I’m doing (I’m sure my critique partner, Ellie, will get a sudden panicked email about how I DON’T KNOW HOW TO WRITE ROMANCE HELP but until that happens I think I’m doing reasonably well). BUT, here they are.

A HEARTWARMING SNIPPET THAT MAKES READERS GO “AWW!”

Someone is knocking on the door. It takes an almost inhuman effort to drag myself out of bed and over to the door, which I pry open. Rayne is standing there. She has a square of foil in her hands and a hiking backpack of all things on her back. She smiles at me, and the smile sends a little sliver of buttercup-yellow through the gray haze in my brain. She forces the foil into my hands. “My mother sent apricot scones.”

“Which one?”

“British Mum.” She shifts the weight of her backpack onto her other shoulder. “Brazilian Mom sent comedy movies an enough blankets to fill a small room.” She peeks at me shyly through her eyelashes. “I thought we’d build a pillow fort and watch movies all day.”

Another bit of yellow overtook the gray. “It is raining.”

“Exactly.” She stands on tiptoes to kiss my cheek. “I even wore my puffin pajama pants for the occasion.”

—

For those wondering, Atticus (the narrator) categorizes his depressive moods like this: gray is the heavy, emotionless mood, blue is the sad-for-no-reason mood, yellow is when he’s happy, and black is when he starts thinking about suicide.

Also, Rayne has two moms: One is from Britain, so she calls her “Mum”, the other is from Brazil, so she calls her “Mom”.

A KISSING SNIPPET

We sat, our feet hanging off the edge of the wall, the bag of candy between us. Rayne kicked her feet against the bricks, wrapping a rainbow sour candy ribbon around her fingers. Little sharp flecks of sour sugar drift down onto her skirt, but she doesn’t seem to notice as she takes a bite. I placed a chocolate covered gummy bear in my mouth and allowed it to melt, the smooth milk chocolate coating my tongue.

“Hey, Atticus?” Rayne isn’t looking at me as she talks. “Thanks. For this.” She turned to meet my eyes, a tiny smile turning up the corners of her lips.

I smiled back. “I’ve got a birthday present for you.”

The tips of her ears flush pink. “Oh, no, you paid for the candy.”

“I paid about six bucks. Besides, this doesn’t cost money.” I dug around in my pocket, pulling out a small black box. “Don’t worry, it’s not jewelry.”

Nibbling at the corner of her lip, she opened the box, setting the lid on her knee. She pulled out the key, the skin between her eyebrows creasing. “Thanks?”

I laughed. “It’s a key to the storage room in Resurrected Trees. If you ever feel overwhelmed and just want to sit and read…head in there. Mom says that as long as you don’t unpack any of the boxes, you’re welcome to be in there.”

Her smile got bigger, and I watched as she carefully tucked the key in her pocket. Then, she did something that surprised me. She reached over and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a hug. “Thanks, Att.”

She pulled away, and we were left looking at each other, and I realized that her hand was resting lightly on my leg, and my hand was resting equally gently on her waist. There were tiny freckles on her nose I had never noticed before. My heart was beating, my stomach giving funny little flip-flops.

“Hey, Rayne?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I should kiss you.”

She tilted her head. “I think you should, too.”

Then, we were kissing, perched on that wall between the pharmacy and the candy shop. Her hand was still on my leg and my hand was on her hip and her lips tasted of that sour sugar and this kiss was soft and gentle but still I was kissing Rayne and I suddenly wondered how I had never kissed her before. I wanted to pull her closer but didn’t want to scare her and she smelled of vanilla lotion and I was kissing her.

We broke away, hesitantly, and I suddenly realized how fast my heart was beating. Rayne’s cheeks were tinged pink, her eyes bright. I swallowed. “Was…was that your first kiss?”

“No.”

“Mine, either.”

And then we were laughing, clinging to the top of the wall, and I think that exact moment was when I fell in love.

—

A SNIPPET WHERE LOVE INTERESTS FIRST APPEAR TOGETHER

I flipped a page, and suddenly became aware of the sensation of someone watching me. I looked up. A girl stood at the counter, twisting a strand of dark brown hair around her fingers. She smiled uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot.

“Hi. Uh, I’m looking for the fourth Throne of Glass book? I don’t see it on your shelf.” Her cheeks were tinged slightly pink as she talked, and she didn’t quite meet my eyes, instead staring somewhere around the vicinity of the countertop.

“Okay…” I pulled up the stock list on the computer and typed in the title, waiting for it to pop up. “It says we have it.” I glanced at her before returning my gaze to the computer. “Where were you looking for it?”

“Young Adult.”

“Someone probably shelved it under fantasy.” I went to get up, but she backed up. “Oh, I can find it.” She practically fled into the shelves, leaving me half standing over the stool. I stayed like that for a second, then lowered myself back down, returning to my book.

Then, ten minutes later, there she was again, placing the pinkish red hardback on the counter, pulling her purse around and digging out her wallet. As she handed over the money, I met her eyes for the first time. They were hidden behind large black glasses, but that didn’t stop me from seeing their color. A stormy gray, they drew me in, leaving me temporarily entranced. Then we broke eye contact again, and I was sliding a bookmark under the cover.

“Do you want a bag?”

“No, it’s okay.” Her voice was soft as she pulled her backpack off her shoulder. I watched as she carefully nestled the book into the backpack, and looked up. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Then she was gone, the little bell tinkling merrily in her wake.

—

When my babies first meet. I’ve already changed it like three times because it just doesn’t seem right yet, but it hopefully will soon.

Happy Thursday,