Chapter Fourteen
Sophia
I hadn’t even returned to my dorm after leaving Jana’s office when the phone rang with a call from my agent.
I sighed deeply.
Maggie had been my father’s agent since his first book. When she found out I was an aspiring writer, she scooped me up fresh out of high school. She said if I had half the talent my father had I’d be worth it, and she’d enjoy having two Grimes on her client list.
Normally I loved talking to her, she’d become a family friend after all her time working with my dad.
But the last thing I wanted to do was take a call I knew was going to contain critical feedback about the latest draft of the novel I’d sent her.
I was still too irritated from being told I had to cover hockey for the rest of the season.
After the research I’d done for my last article, I knew exactly how long that was.
Basically, I’d be covering hockey until I died.
The only thing preventing me from tossing down my notebook and telling Jana I was not writing another damn word for the paper was when she said she recognized the time commitment she was asking for and had gotten approval for me to get elective credit, thus reducing my spring courseload by an entire class.
That was hard to say no to when I was working hard in my spare time on writing my first novel and I’d gain more free time before graduation this way.
Course credit was about the only thing that could have gotten me to agree to follow the hockey team around for the next few months, sitting on buses with smelly, loud men, and perching myself outside the locker room ready to grab sound bites for articles.
I couldn’t deny that the idea of being around Leo did hold a certain appeal.
Our night together had far exceeded my expectations, and I’d left with the impression he’d be willing to do it again.
The thought had crossed my mind, but I was pretty sure he’d be on to the next girl in no time.
Oh no, will I have to witness that? My stomach dropped. And if I do, am I even allowed to be bothered by it? No, I’m definitely not allowed to be bothered by it.
I swiped to answer the phone as I reached my dorm and pulled open the door to the building.
“Hey, Maggie,” I said. “How are you?”
“Good, Sophia. How’s school?” Her southern drawl carried through the speaker.
I hadn’t spoken to her since the beginning of the semester when I’d sent her the draft of the novel I’d worked on over the summer.
It was a contemporary romance with a little bit of a thriller vibe and I was really excited about it. I’d been anxious to hear her feedback.
“Fantastic,” I said. “You’re talking to the new hockey reporter for BU. It’s a dream come true.”
She paused before responding. “Are you looking at journalism now?”
“Absolutely not, Mags, this is just the consequence of doing good work and getting more work assigned to you.” I climbed the stairs to our second-story suite. “Did you read my draft?”
“I did,” she said cautiously. Too cautiously. “It’s really good, Soph.”
“It is?” My heart skipped a beat as I pressed my keycard to my door.
“Yes. The plot is great, the pacing is good, your dialogue is natural…” she trailed off.
“Why do I sense a but coming?” I shrugged off my backpack and flopped down on the couch.
“It’s the chemistry between the main characters,” she said quickly. “I can feel that they’re interested in each other. I can even feel some of the love by the end. But I can’t feel the attraction, Soph. The sex scenes just…fizzle. They’re supposed to sizzle.”
I groaned. “What am I supposed to do with that? How can I be a romance writer if I suck at writing sex scenes? And if you tell me to ask my dad for advice, I’ll just quit writing now. I’ve already had a terrible day, so be gentle with me.”
She chuckled. “Sophia, you’re talented. You’re writing mature work for someone your age as it is, it’s not really a surprise that the sex scenes need more work. And I wouldn’t tell you to ask Danny when I know he didn’t write his own spice.”
My father may be a good romance writer, but he’d had the women the books were about write their own spice scenes, rather than try to do it himself. It was a method that worked well for him, and each couple in our family had enjoyed being part of sharing their love story.
I laughed. “Fair enough,” I said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll keep working on it.”
“Look, I’ll give you the piece of advice I give to all my writers when they’re struggling with something.
Good writers either write from experience or they research the heck out of things.
If you want to write great sex, you either need to go have some or find a way to research it in a way that doesn’t lead to it sounding clinical on paper. ”
“It sounded clinical?” I groaned.
“A little bit, yeah,” Maggie said sympathetically. “If you tell your father I gave you that advice, I’ll drop you like a hot potato.”
I laughed and kicked my feet up, lying horizontally on the couch. “I won’t tell him, but you won’t drop me either. You’re too enamored by the selling power of having a father-daughter team on your roster. The potential to convince us to co-write some day is too appealing to you.”
“I’d think about dropping you, especially if you don’t start writing better sex. I’m a romance agent. Give me steam with the next draft. Turn me on!” she yelled with a chuckle.
“Gross,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Good,” she said before wishing me well on my hockey adventure and saying goodbye.
I hung up the phone and let it drop to the floor. This day needed to end so I could start fresh tomorrow. Sadly, it was just after lunchtime, and I had many hours to go before I could tuck myself into bed and try to forget all of this.
I lay on the couch wallowing in my misery until Alyssa texted and asked if I wanted to meet her and Jia for dinner after their last class. I figured a night out with the girls was better than continuing to think about my hockey sentence and my lack of sexual writing skills.
I pulled myself up off the couch and changed to meet them. I took a detour to Ackerson’s for an iced vanilla latte on the way. The scent of coffee made me think of Kennedy, so I called my stepmom on the walk back to campus.
“Hey, kid,” she answered on the second ring.
“Who is it, Mom?” Isaac yelled in the background.
I laughed. “Hey, Kennedy.”
She sighed. “Give me one second. Boys, be quiet and eat. No, you cannot talk to her.”
“Tell them I miss them,” I said, smiling at the thought of the twins descending on Kennedy’s café until she was done for the day.
I felt a pang of homesickness, knowing that I wasn’t there with them.
I really missed my family when I was away.
Thanksgiving break couldn’t come soon enough.
The boys seemed to age years, rather than months, in between each visit.
“We all miss you too. What’s up?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged, as the tall buildings of campus came back into view. “I went to Ackerson’s and thought of you when I smelled the coffee. Made me a little homesick.”
“I’m sorry, Soph. We can’t wait until Thanksgiving either. How was your day?”
“Terrible,” I groaned, speeding through a recap of the newspaper assignment. “And then, as if that’s not bad enough, Maggie says my sex scenes suck.”
Kennedy chuckled. “I’m sure she didn’t say suck. Maggie is direct but diplomatic.”
“Well, she said they fizzle when they should sizzle, so I’m pretty sure that means they suck.” I sat down on a bench outside of the dining hall. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You know you can ask me anything,” Kennedy said, the sounds of the espresso machine spurting in the background.
“God, I can’t believe I’m starting this conversation…” I sighed and tipped my head back. “How did you and Mom write good sex scenes in Dad’s books?”
Kennedy laughed loudly. “Oh shit, Soph.” She gasped for air. “I’m not laughing at you, I swear.”
“Mhm,” I said, imagining her wiping tears from her eyes given how humorous she seemed to find this situation.
“I’m laughing because you are not even remotely going to like my answer.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “It really is all true, isn’t it? Of course it is. All the plot points are based on real events, why wouldn’t the sex be completely accurate too?”
“Okay, well it’s not word-for-word accurate,” she clarified. “But we were both inspired by some real-life experiences—and sensations.”
I fake gagged into the phone. “Okay, thanks. Yep, this has been horrible.”
“For you, I’m sure. But it certainly was effective inspiration. I think Maggie even said your mom’s scenes with Dave were uncomfortable to read, but in a good way.”
“Okay, stop,” I demanded before sighing. “Kennedy, I haven’t had experiences worth pulling from for inspiration.”
Well, that’s not really true anymore, is it? I certainly have one I could start pulling from.
Kennedy’s voice lowered as if she wanted her next words to be too soft for the boys to hear. “Sophia, you’re in college surrounded by options. You just told me you’re going to be following the hockey team everywhere for the next few months. Go get experiences to use for inspiration.”
“Are you telling me to go have meaningless sex?” I slurped the last half-inch of my iced latte.
“I’m saying you have a year of college left and no one I know has ever regretted having a friends-with-benefits situation in college. Just be smart about it so I don’t have to confess to your mom and dad that I gave you this advice when you end up pregnant at twenty-two like those two idiots.”
I chuckled. “Kind of hypocritical, don’t you think?” Kennedy had experienced two miscarriages during her senior year of college after my dad had gotten her pregnant.
“Yeah well, Danny and I weren’t a one-night stand or friends with benefits,” she hissed. “And I was irresponsible with my birth control. You’re much more responsible than me.”
“I am. I won’t get pregnant on a one-night stand,” I said with a laugh.
We talked for a few more minutes before I hung up and went into the dining hall to find Jia and Alyssa.
Maybe this hockey situation could work out in my favor.
I was going to be spending a lot of time with the team, which included Leo, and I would certainly say our encounter last night was an experience that could inspire me to write better sex scenes.
Maybe if I was going to be around a lot, he’d be interested in another arrangement.