Day 21: 38,647 Words, Jackie Desmond, and Ex Meets Current Love Interest

Plugging along, and actually a semi-pleasant writing day. I am looking forward to crossing the 40,000 word mark tomorrow, and hoping to sail through Week 4! It certainly will be a mad dash toward the finish line, with a huge, unwieldy and sprawling plot with multiple moving parts. That said, my characters mostly did nothing other than wait around Jackie's Place for night to fall. I also decided it was time to address a storyline I introduced some time in week 1 and have been neglecting ever since. Cass has an ex and a current love interest, so you knew where that has to go, right? Right. We all know. 

First excerpt- Jackie Desmond arrives at Jackie's Place, and we learn something surprising:

Parm Pettipiece had reached out to Jackie Desmond, to ask if she was willing to answer the call in case any of the teachers (or Justin Bieber) was arrested. Cass only overheard Parm’s half of the conversation, but from what she heard, it seemed that Jackie Desmond was more than happy to represent any of the teachers should they need it, but had a question or two about representing Justin Bieber. Parm leapt to the pop singer’s defense. “As a Stratfordian, I feel the need to defend the Biebs. He’s a dad now! His public indecency and dreadlocks days are behind him! Sure, he was at the Leafs painful Game 7 Round 2 Loss dressed like a f*cking clown, but it’s not like it distracted the players and was the reason they lost!” Parm’s voice was becoming more shrill and high pitched with each sentence, which was good enough for Jackie Desmond. The beloved lawyer of the resistance went one better than waiting for a call to come in; she came down to Jackie’s Place and was now occupying the Chris Kirkpatrick corner booth, surrounded by fans.

It was a well known fact that Jackie Desmond had long been battling in the court of public opinion to have Chris Kirkpatrick recognized as ‘most underrated’ member of N’Sync and to have Joey Fatone take his place as ‘most maligned’ member of N’Sync. What few people knew was that Jackie Bauer had specifically decorated the large corner booth with photos of Chris Kirkpatrick in honour of the people’s lawyer. “Jackie Desmond will always have a home at Jackie’s Place,” he often said in quiet moments to himself. Few people knew it, but Jackie’s Place is actually named after Jackie Desmond, and not named after the ever-surly barkeep. Wherever there was a need for freedom fighters to gather unmolested, a Jackie’s Place would appear, seemingly out of nowhere. But more on that later.

Second excerpt- the completely unnecessary and unrelated to plot moment when Cass's ex meets Logan.

“Well honey,” Berto said, sympathy in their voice. “I actually love that for you. But… I don’t think messy drama is done with you.” Berto cast another look over Cass’s shoulder, prompting her to turn around. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Striding through the door toward Logan, a set of bolt cutters in his hands, was none other than her ex, Tanner Barrows. She closed her eyes, hoping that closing and opening her eyes would fix the problem, much like fixing an IT problem could be accomplished by turning her computer on and off (or so she had been told many times by Brandon from IT). Like most of Brandon’s advice, it didn’t work. When she opened her eyes, Tanner was still there. Her jaw dropped and she looked rather gormless, and obviously was at risk of having a fly fly into her mouth, but Berto didn’t have the heart to point that out to her, and Cass was too shocked to care.

What followed was one of those moments that you’ve seen in countless romantic comedies. Where Ex approaches Current Love Interest, ostensibly to shake his hand in greeting. Current Love Interest, completely oblivious, moves to greet Ex. Ex, noticing Our rather gormless-looking Heroine staring at him, looks at her, rather than at Current Love Interest. Recognition. And then… a lopsided smile that everyone in this scenario recognizes as how exes flirt with each other when they run into each other years later. A lopsided smile that Our Heroine knows only too well. Current Love Interest turns, following Ex’s gaze, and sees that Our Heroine is the subject of Ex’s lopsided smile, and correctly sees that Our Heroine and Ex have History. Confusion, and perhaps hurt, crosses Current Love Interest’s handsome features.

Now, in most romantic comedies, this is the moment of The Great Misunderstanding, sometimes (but not always) combined with The Great Fall. Current Love Interest incorrectly perceives that Our Heroine is still interested in Ex, then becomes unpleasantly surly and/or standoffish, which leads Our Heroine to become confused and defensive, pushing Current Love Interest away. Quite possibly, Our Heroine might incorrectly believe that she does want to get back together with Ex, with whom she has Unfinished Business.

But, as we have just learned, Our Heroine has a dog, and a life, and a job. Our Heroine stopped pining for Ex some time ago. Our Heroine wants structure, Our Heroine wants dependability. Our Heroine is in her forties, and likes long walks with the aforementioned dog, going to bed early, and starting revolutions. Our Heroine is done with messy drama. So you know what Ex? Not today. Not to-fucking-day. This isn’t a romantic comedy. It’s a revolution.

“Oh hell no,” Cass says, rising to her feet.