From Romance to Fairy Tales

​On to the next challenge! There are five of us for the next challenge of Project Writeway which is to write a 600 word scene of a fairy tale retelling. What I'm trying to decide at this point is if I should use a scene from a novel I've already written or come up with something new. Another trick is to choose a fairy tale that hasn't been retold to death but is still recognizable to the judges and you. But for now, I will post my entry from last week: the romance/kissing scene. This scene is from a novel I'm currently working on called, Not of This World, about Marti, a high school junior who wants to be drum major for marching band during her senior year. She struggles with voicing her desires. When her parents announce that the family will be spending the summer at a cabin in Island Park to help her older college-aged brother recover from depression and anxiety suffered at college, Marti's dreams of attending drum major camp seem unattainable. She must speak up and choose between her family and being a normal high school teenager, all while discovering that the world may really come to an end.
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This scene was adapted from when Marti was supposed to go to prom with Dallin, but her parents leave to rescue her older brother from college, and she is left home to babysit. I changed Marti's name to Cassie for the scene so I wouldn't have to take the time to explain that Marti is a nickname for Martha.

Cassafrass
            Dallin stands on my front porch with a boutonniere box. Inside is one white rose surrounded by carnations the same color as my dress. The sun is setting behind the two story house across the street like an orange half peeled.
            “Dallin.” I don’t know what to say. I thought Mom told him she changed her mind about prom, that I had to babysit Sam instead. And my makeup—it’s run off my face from crying.
            But I’m still wearing my pinkish-melon dress with a full skirt to the knee, wide straps for sleeves, and of course, a sweater to cover my shoulders.
            “Wow, Cassie,” Dallin says. “You look…Wow.” He’s in the doorway. Sam wraps his arms around Dallin’s leg.
            I notice now that he’s not in a tux. He’s wearing a white dress shirt with jeans and one button undone. His white undershirt shows at the top. I want to give him a hug but not with Sam around.
            I try to pry Sam off Dallin’s leg.
            “I just came to give you these.” Dallin shakes the flower box. I reach for it, but he pulls back.
            “I get to put it on you.” He walks into the house, sets the box on a bookshelf, and pops off the top. Sam continues to hang onto Dallin, but tilts his head back to watch.
            Dallin’s fingertips brush the inside of my palm as he slips the flowers on my wrist. I get warm shivers.
            He smiles, showing straight teeth except for the middle top one that’s at a slight angle.
            “I should leave.” Dallin backs up.
            “You could…” My voice cracks. “Stay.”
            “Are you sure?”
            “I’m sure.”
            Mom would not approve. Except why should I do what Mom wants when she made me miss my prom?
           
            After three stories, a trip to the bathroom, and two drinks of water, Sam is in bed and Dallin is sitting next to me on the worn love seat.
            “Cassie?” Dallin fiddles with my fingers. I think he’ll hold my hand. He doesn’t.  
            “Yeah.” I keep my voice at a whisper so I won’t scare him away.
            Mom says the surest path to sex is being alone with a guy, taking clothes off, and being horizontal.
            Dallin leans forward until our foreheads touch. “When your mom called, she made it sound like you changed your mind. That you didn’t want to go.” His warm mint breath tingles against my lips.
            I almost stop breathing. “I wanted to more than anything.”
            “I hoped…That’s why I came over,” Dallin says.
            “I’m glad you did.” I close my eyes.
            “Me too.”
            My chest is tight.
            Now.
            My lips open a bit.
            He’s so close. If I move we’ll bump noses.
            I take a quick breath and his lips are on mine. Soft. Warm. Sweet.
            I may not know how my mom could make me miss prom. I may not even know exactly how it works when in a horizontal position. But I know I like kissing.