Somewhat Longer than Four Post-its.

Here is a story I wrote today. A painfully obvious code, I think. I won't give any background about it, though. It may not be the best of stories, I think it's lacking in certain spots, but hey, I wrote it on the back of a post-it note

"You look awful smug," Jarrow said.

"I'm not smug," Enola said. "I'm ecstatic."

The man raised his eyebrows. "You're ecstatic because when you were drunk last night, you wrote a love letter to a girl you don't even like. Brilliant."

"It's not like that!"

"I thought you gave up on girls anyway."

"Oh, god, Jarrow. Don't make me sound straight. It wasn't even a love letter, anyway."

"And this seemed like a good idea?"

Enola just smiled. "Anything seems like a good idea when you're drunk."

"You still are, aren't you?"

"Nope. Just drunk off the thought of her."

The man just stared.

"I'm a psycho, I know."

I wrote another short story, also about Jarrow and Nol, but it's a little more dramatic than the above. Okay, a lot more dramatic. It's rated at least pg-13, maybe R, for one use of the "f" word (fun). And if you take into account the sexuality of the MC's, it's rated at least NC-25. (Although I seriously don't understand why that matters. Has anyone seen Torchwood? I saw it on Youtube, and I couldn't believe they could show that on TV!)

Ahem, anyway. The story. I was about two or three quarters finished with it, when it literally smacked me in the head. It wasn't just some dramatic incident between them, but a code. A sneaky, accidental code. (Personal antidote that most people should skip over due to content: Once, I was hitting myself in the leg with a hammer, thinking about how, though it hurt like heck, the pain was only temporary. All pain is only temporary. Suddenly I realized that "all pain" meant just that, and not just physical. I felt so much better.)

Okay, back to the story. Basically, without trying to spoil it, Enola and her friend S'mo are talking about their friend Jarrow, who has been acting strange. S'mo knows, and is willing to share, but Enola wants Jarrow to tell her. But S'mo gives her a hint, having to do with how people cover up their problems.

So, an unspecified time later, Nol goes home early from "work." (It's a long story about that, trust me.) The other "roommates" (S'mo, from above, and Ginny, the girl from the above story) are still working, but Jarrow had the day off. It's a hot day. And Jarrow is wearing a long sleeved shirt.

She mentions that he has been wearing long sleeves a lot lately. He points out the importance of modesty. She points out that he used to always wear t-shirts around that house. When she mentioned that she used to wear long sleeves all the time (apparently she doesn't anymore) and he interrupts that he is not a cutter.

And Enola says that sometimes people hide things. Or to protect themselves. Sometimes it's something tangible. And sometimes it's not.

(That particular part, about using sleeves to hide something intangible comes from my hatred of people assuming I wear long sleeves year round to hide my scars. I have nothing to be ashamed of. The reason for my fears is something intangible.)

Anyhoo. There's something of a struggle that I'll kind of skip, but then Nol finds out what Jarrow is hiding. An abusive relationship.

I can't remember off the top of my head what the code ... oh yeah. Never mind. I do remember. It has to do with keeping secrets, and all you have to do is tell somebody what's wrong. Even if they already know what's wrong, they can't do anything about it unless you speak up. Which is ambiguous, I hope.