NaNoWriMo

is taking up all my time. Here is an excerpt:

Jordan laughs and laughs. She has a really nice laugh, one that is not too noisy or shrill, but still makes you want to join her. She also has an easy way of talking, listening carefully to what you say, but always responding quickly. Her face is interesting, not just a normal, boring face. She has those heavy lids, thick lips. She doesn’t wear too much makeup. Enough to make you look at her with purpose, but not so much that you can’t tell what she really looks like. She has watercolor eyes, liquid and moving. A button nose, turned up a little. High cheeks. She’s good looking, and people notice her. Not just because of the dreads. We walk out the back exit to the bar and she leans up against the brick wall, wet with rain. I hold her against the wall and put my hands on her high cheeks.
“You are adorable.”
“I am ethnic looking.”
“You are.” I kiss her, and it’s actually not as sloppy as it should be. She keeps her tongue close to her lips. “You are very good looking.”
“Well, yes. It’s the eyelids.” She closes her eyes and raises her eyebrows, showing her perfectly spaced eyeliner dots.
“You ready to go home?”
“Almost.” She leans in again, this time pulling me down by my neck. She kisses me along my neck, my ear, then gives me a couple closed-mouth kisses on my cheek. “Yes. Now we can go.”
When we get into my place, she has not forgotten the séance, as I hoped she might. She rummages around in my junk drawer and finds a few votive candles. She lights them on my coffee table, and I get some plates from the kitchen to set them on. No need for waxy residue. We look up séance online and find some hints about how to make them safe, but both of us are shaky, drunk, and can’t stay focused on the tips. We sit facing each other across the coffee table.
“Okay, now you say something about wanting to talk to the spirits.”
“No way. This is your deal. I am here for support. You have to talk to them.”
“It’s your building!”
“…”
“Fine. Spirits, we come to you in peace. We want to talk to you and ask you questions about yourselves. We want to see your scary spirit faces and tell you to go home.”
“That’s it. I’m sure that’s gonna make them come.”
Jordan giggles and holds her hands out closes her eyes.
“You do it, too.”
I do the same.
“If there is anyone here tonight, we want to talk to you. We want to hear what you have to say. We can help you move on.”
I can see the flicker of the candlelight through my closed eyelids. I can feel Jordan’s hands, resting in mine, twitch a bit in anticipation. It’s warm in my apartment. Jordan asked me to turn on the heater.
“Spirits, come to us. We are here for you to speak with. Come join us.”
This goes on for a few minutes. Jordan stops talking and I peek open my eyes to look at her. She has her eyes closed. I feel a little breeze and wonder if I’ve left the window cracked open. I turn to look and in a flash I see the girl from the laundry room, standing near the window, looking out.
“Whoa!” I pull my hands back from Jordan.
“What? What? Did you see something? What happened?” Jordan is on her feet now.
“No, nothing.” I look back at the windows and nothing is there. “This is too freaky, I think we’re forcing it. We should do this when we’re sober or something.”
“Did you see something?”
“No.”
“Yes, yes you did, I can tell by looking at you, you saw something! And I felt something cold, I did.”
“No, you did not. And I did see something, but it was a woman who lives in this building, on this floor. I just fooled myself. It’s nothing.”
Jordan lies down on the ground.
“Damnit. I thought we were getting somewhere.”
I crouch down beside her on the ground. She looks very symmetrical in the candlelight. She opens her eyes and looks at me.
“Thank you for having a séance in your house, Andrew. It was very nice of you.”
“I’m a nice guy.”
“I hope you’re not too nice.”