“Okay, excuse the racket, one of my neighbors is doing some renovations. What was the question?”

Mm.

I can barely gather my thoughts. Let alone find my voice.

Better to just say it.

But that’s easier.

Imagined.

Than said or done.

“I…”

“Why did you wake me up?”

“What?”

“That night. You woke me up, and insisted I go home.”

The silence is too heavy,

I listen to Kattar’s breathing ping pong back and forth between reverberating antiquated thoughts, as my mind wanders back through that library of yesteryear.

It’s not like we’d never had sleepovers before. I practically lived at his house for huge periods of time back when…

“I’m sorry? I don't even remember what day that picture was from,” he laugh-lies awkwardly.

And in high school too.

“I’m 90% sure you do.”

He can’t have forgotten either.

Last year and the tenth grade smear together into a homogenous hurricane…they were both crazy and scary and weird in every way.

I’d mostly gotten used to living with Tia Maria by the time I entered high school, but that didn’t mean it was fun. I didn’t have a lot of the conveniences and new gizmos the other kids my age had for one thing - even the things Andrew had, off where he was, living with Daddy and Tia Bella.

Don’t tell me it doesn’t haunt him like it haunts me.

It seemed I was the only kid in class who wasn’t getting trendy new sneakers and jackets - the latest sort of phone.

My cell was just an outdated flip - my aunt’s old glitchy thing she’d given me when she got herself a new one. It had no talk or text plan, but it was still good for calling 911, so she made me carry it like a cumbersome, spasmodic “life alert.”

Kattar was obviously on top of each trend as it came in, and on the first wave riding it out, so it was no surprise that he had his own laptop, his own phone, his own car, even when he only had a learner's permit. And he was more than willing to let me borrow his phone for any manner of nonsense until it unofficially-officially became “our cell” and we changed the password - even set the screensaver to a picture of the two of us-

“Oh wait, was that the day I’d been dragging you around to find you the cocktail dress and those heels you never wear now?”

Duh.

“You know I don’t have anything to wear them with. Stop changing the subject.”

I remember him complaining once for me to stop filling up our phone storage with selfies-

His breathing is almost inaudible, but I feel it, like a shaky breeze somewhere light years away.

“I mean, I guess I just wanted to be in bed sometime before midnight,” he laughs hesitantly, “I don’t really know what you want me to say...”

No. He…

Knows.

But I can’t just say it. 

“If I was gonna have to stay up to drive you home…”

“You could have just gone to bed and let me sleep on the couch, like any other time.”

At this point, the static breathing against the speaker starts to feel like morse code. But I’m never good enough at reading between the lines to divine what exactly-

“Lise...”

“Kaaaat…stop taking pictures of me.”

.

“Why did you want to get rid of me?”

.

I can still see myself mumbling babyishly, sleep-drunk on his floor - 13 years ago.

“Never.”

And on his couch…just a few months back- as he shook me out of dreamland with an expression I’d never seen before or ever seen since-

“I didn’t…”

“You complain about me taking selfies but then you take a bazillion pictures of me yourself.”

“That’s just cuz you stink at taking pictures. Here, let’s do one for our screensaver.”

“Gosh! Have you been reading crime novels lately? Why am I suddenly on trial for something that happened half a year ago? I didn’t want to get rid of you, okay? I just thought it would have been better for you to be safe at home in your own bed before it got too late.”

He laid down beside me, putting his arm around my shoulder, which embarrassed me to no end. I put my small hands over my face trying to hide from the camera as he held the cell phone up above us at arm's length.

Stop covering your face. Do a peace symbol or something.

So t…

“Rather than sleeping on the couch, I mean. It’s not really the most comfortable way to sleep.”

“I was already asleep though. If you were so concerned about my comfort you wouldn’t have pestered me awake.”

“Alright alright, I’m sorry,” he laughs again and it sounds like chills.

I clasped both my hands under my chin, doing a ridiculous little duck face like I was sending a virtual kiss, and he-

“So you were trying to get rid of me.”

I saw his eyes in the selfie cam - the way they changed for one instant when he saw me - fire -

It hurts-

-His cheeks reddening slightly.

But he kept staring, face forward at the screen like his life depended on it.

And that expression, that night when he woke me like…

Fear?

His voice comes through so quietly that I almost can’t comprehend it…

“More like I knew I shouldn’t let you stay.”

…

“What?”

The fog deepens-

“Sorry, I gotta go now. I need to change and it’s gonna take me some time without the caregivers here to help.”

-Like a thick frost creeping over the memory or black ice.

I fall into the-

“Why on earth?! What’s wrong with you? I’d just fallen asleep.”

“You shouldn’t be falling asleep here. Seriously, get up. You need to go home.”

*

ANNOUNCEMENT (Technically 3...4 Announcements?)

Hey everybody! This is Leyelle (the author, still not Alicia) with some more news.

As you may have noticed (I can't not notice because my siblings inform me basically every time my views update lol) “Damsel in the Red Dress” is approaching the 10k reads/views mark.

That means that I’ll be releasing a special bonus chapter from the perspective of the most popularly (voted) character. 

If you haven’t voted already, make sure to mention your favorite character in the comments along with a few things you’d like to see/know from their perspective. (I probably won't give spoilers, but you never know, so ask away anyway.)

We’re also nearing the novel's 6 month anniversary (I know, it’s felt really fast to me too) so please leave suggestions for what sorts of special bonus content you’d like to see for this story.

(My editor told me I should ask the readers like two weeks ago but I totally forgot to mention it in my Patreon announcement haha.)

So if you have any AUs you’d like to see, scenes/chapters from different character's perspectives, earlier in the timeline (say, what Kattar and Alicia were like as grade schoolers) or any other kind of bonus content you’d like to see related to “Damsel in the Red Dress” or just from my writing in general (I love writing from prompts, and making prompts, and writing) please leave your ideas in the comments. I’d love to hear (but technically read) them!

I’m going to try and cook up something special to celebrate 6 months of “Damsel in the Red Dress" so keep your fingers crossed.

And second to last but not least, I'm doing a DTIYS art challenge for "Damsel in the Red Dress" to celebrate 100 subs!

The rules are simple:

1. Draw either Kattar OR Alicia in your style. You can submit as many times as you want, and you can draw either or both of them.

2. Share your DITYS on the Tapas forum (the thread will be listed in the description) or on your Instagram, tagging me ("leyellethecreator") and using the #damselinthereddressdtiys

3. No AI art allowed and all the drawings should be safe for work. If your entry isn't safe for work I can't and won't include it.

4. Please keep in mind the character's ethnicities and descriptions when drawing them (I.e. Please do not change their features/hair textures or remove their melanin) but have fun with the hairstyles and outfits. They don't have to match the ones they've used before in the novel. (And with Alicia's wacky fashion sense, you could pretty much make her wear anything, but Kattar wants you to know he will not appreciate it if you put him in plaid.)

5. Two winners will be selected. One for a drawing of Kattar, and one for a drawing of Alicia.

And now for the incentives (one of which has to be weird, because, you know me.)

1. All entries will be shared on my IG and at the end of a bonus episode here in the story, tagging/mentioning the creator.

And the quirky one (because I have to be weird.)

2. The two winners will actually be written INTO the bonus episode. Yes, I'm going to make you into characters that interact with Kattar and/or Alicia, and will be relevant to a chapter. I think it'll be fun, so I'm really looking forward to the challenge lol. Don't worry, I won't make you evil (unless you want to be.)

So if that sounds fun to you, you can submit using any of the methods listed above. 

I hope we get a lot of entries, and I'm really looking forward to the challenge of writing the readers into the story, (and no longer having the right to say "any resemblance these characters bear to people living or dead are completely coincidental.")

And actually last but not least:

I have a new ongoing story called “Rigamarole!” (It’s basically a novel, but I’m not sure it’ll hit the actual 50k word mark, so I have to just call it a story until I know for sure lol.)

“Rigamarole” tells the story of 17-year-old Leia’s struggle to help her younger brother Riley recover from his eating disorder, while keeping anyone else from finding out about it.

It’s rough, but there is immeasurable power in being there for someone to help them through their hard times. 

All the same emotion you’ve (hopefully) come to expect from “Damsel in the Red Dress” is continued in “Rigamarole,” along with the unique character dynamics, and mental/emotional struggles. 

A new lead means a new narrative voice, and I’m having fun crafting the unique way Leia narrates, which is quite different from Alicia’s narrative style.

“Rigamarole” is currently available to read for all Patreon patron tiers above “Bubble,” with new chapters weekly (as long as things go as planned) starting May 27th (the sixth month anniversary "Damsel in the Red Dress") and it’s written in kind of a quirky method. 

The whole book is being written from prompts!

I pick the prompts myself, but they are from randomly flipped to dictionary pages in alphabetical order. 

Sounds weird? I think so too, but it’s also a really fun and interesting way to write a story in my opinion, lol.

The prompts are being released once a week in (free) public posts on my Patreon, and I’d love it if you all joined me in writing to them and seeing what we create. 

You don’t have to inherently make all the prompts connect to each other in one big story like I did, but if you do (or if you write to them at all) please let me know, because I’d love to see what you created.

The first three "chapters" (sections) of the story will be free to read on Patreon (the first is already released) and samples of the story will be released every week following the prompt along with the new prompt. I’m also using bits and pieces of the story for my (also free) “Happy Hump Day Writing Tips,” I release every Wednesday.

The link to my Patreon is in the description for any and everybody who’s curious. Even if you’re not interested in the new story, I encourage you to check it out, laugh at my weird posts, and just generally enjoy yourself so we can build a quirky-weird reader and writer community.

That’s all for now lol.

Leyelle.