Best friendships are often tested as people age. This is doubly true when one person is a confused, possibly bisexual athlete and the other is a self-involved diva who hates serious discussions. Even worse, they both liked the same guy.
In this scene, Luke tries to clear the air with his best friend while Zach tries to avoid the conversation as always. This is from One Little Lie,where a clueless athlete learns the world is more than just gay or straight in this coming of age love story about secret relationships, friendship, and bisexuality.
~
Luke
I rarely understood the way his brain worked. There was only one thing I needed to be sure about.
“You and Ryan seem friendly again,” I commented casually.
“Yep.” He kept his eyes on the road. Okay, he should keep doing that as he was driving.
“Cool. Great.” They should definitely get along. As long as it was only friendship. “You’re over Ryan, right?”
“No, Luke,” he replied dryly. “Let us commence a fight to the death to win the hand of our fair spaz.”
“Okay, you were joking for most of that, but you said no, so it’s no, right?”
“If I really wanted him, you wouldn’t stand a chance—”
“Not sure that’s true since—” I already had Ryan. He picked me.
“Which must mean I don’t want him.”
“Awesome.”
-Grab this book as part of the One Crazy Love Story Box set, which features the first four books in the One More Thing Series.
A 16-year old boy in a boring city ponders his place in the universe in my coming-of-age novel Invisi-bi-lity.Or at least he wonders about the important things in his universe. Namely, who he is and who he loves. John has some ideas but isn’t totally sure. He could be bi or he might just love one guy, his best friend Cody.
This seemed like a good place to start the novel, right when he’s figuring out the answers to some big questions he’s been wondering about for a while. Of course, the answers won’t slap him on the face but Cody does. He snaps him out of his daydreaming, they do some illicit activities together, and John has an epiphany.
Cody and John talk about birthday wishes in this scene, and John has a realization.
(It’s extremely possible these realizations will be a lot less shocking to you than they are to John.)
~
When we emerge on his grandparent’s front lawn, Cody makes an excited noise. “Hey, don’t I get a wish for birthdays?”
“You get a wish for your birthday, not my—”
“Too bad,” he talks over me. “I already know what I’m asking for.”
A billion dollars or a new car? Ending world hunger? A date with that gay YouTuber he always says is cute?
Cody smiles, lit by his grandparent’s porch light. “I wish that this is the year you finally realize how amazing you are.”
Suddenly I feel completely sober.
Once, my feelings and the labels that best define me seemed confusing. These days, the real issue comes from my readiness to acknowledge these inner truths. Maybe I’m just looking for a sign, a push, for the truth to slap me in the face until I can’t ignore it anymore.
The sincerity in Cody’s voice, how his lopsided smile looked so bright even in the dark… there’s another option to my life-long romantic questions. Why hadn’t I considered it before? I’ve been trying to decide whether I’m bi or in love with my best friend, but the answer seems so clear on the walk home. It’s both. I am bi and I love my best friend.
To be honest, I have absolutely no clue how I came up with the idea forInvisi-bi-lity. Because it happened so long ago. This was a story I first had the idea for when I started the F.N. Manning pen name, which feels like a million years ago. It was at least three. In fact, as I’m writing this, it occurs to me I had a document with notes and ideas that I always planned to consult when writing this and… I totally forgot.
Anyway…
Our hero John is an overlooked 16-year-old in Buffalo, New York. His quest to come out as bi and confess his love for his best friend becomes infinitely more complicated when he starts disappearing from view.
In this scene, John’s taking a break from a game night with friends. He’s on the verge of telling people he’s bi but apparently some people don’t believe this is a real thing. He has a reaction to this he isn’t expecting.
~
“Bisexuality is what people say while they come out. Not something that actually exists.”
“Uh. Wha—”
My pulse suddenly pounds loudly in my ears. Everything seems to happen in slow motion.
“Of course you were fooled,” Dennis says. “People still search for the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. Myths are fascinating, and everybody wants to be the hero who proves the legends true, but it’s just not possible.”
“I’m gonna take a break,” I say.
I walk down a narrow hallway without seeing anything until I find the bathroom. One stupid comment, one opinion, it shouldn’t bother me so much. It shouldn’t. But that doesn’t stop the pain, the shame as if I did something wrong, I’m not enough…
Intending to splash cool water on my face and snap out of it, I flip on the lights and face the sink. Standing right in front of the mirror, the sight there sends me reeling all over again. I look in the mirror and nobody stares back at me. There’s nobody there.
OneLittle Word involves pretend boyfriends, secret fake relationships, regular fake relationships, and actual feelings. All of this refers to one couple. In One Little Lie, there are secret relationships and fake relationships. Luke is one of the parties involved in both scenarios, but there are three people and two different relationships. I’m not sure why, but when talking about pretend dating scenarios, I like making everything sound as complicated as possible.
In one sense, I suppose fake dating is complicated enough. But if you like fake dating stories, then you like the kind of extra drama that can only happen in romcoms.
If you haven’t read One Little Word, no worries. One, it’s included in a box set with One Little Lie. And two, Ryan will also get you up to speed:
It started when an idiot from the baseball team (Luke Chambers) got himself in trouble. There was foul language, high stakes, dire consequences, and then… things got weird. The idiot, being an idiot, decided the best way to get out of the mess he created involved pretending to date me.
Wait, Luke’s moroncy aside, the whole thing worked out great for me. The broken leg sucked, but I healed, and now I had an awesome hottie boyfriend.
Completing a box set for the One More Thing Series has been on my to-do list for a long time. Finally, I can cross it off. Check out this four book bundle for the first four books in the series.
A straight jock thought it was all pretend… until he started to fall for the gay school nerd. Will romance be his best play yet? Seventeen-year-old Luke Chambers has what every small-town boy desires: a car, varsity jacket, and phone numbers from all the pretty girls. But when a stupid mistake and zero-tolerance teacher could cost the popular pitcher everything, his only hope of redemption involves playing pretend with the school’s biggest loser.
Ryan Miller is sick of being bullied for his sexuality. And his town’s most-admired athlete represents almost everything the smart-mouthed geek hates. So when the guy proposes a fake relationship, he’s not sure cuddling up to a gorgeous straight boy will amount to anything except a huge disaster.
When sparks fly, Luke struggles with confusing feelings even as the sarcastic scientist tries to openly humiliate him. But as Ryan starts to fall for the softer, authentic side of the baseball player, he can’t decipher what’s real and what’s make-believe when their public displays of affection hit far too close to home…
One Little Word starts the One More Thing series when a clueless athlete and witty nerd go from enemies to fake boyfriends and begin an adventure that may change their lives forever.
Get One Little Word and 3 other fantastic books in the One Crazy Love Story Bundle!
Do I fully understand how Kindle Vella works? No, the internet and most modern technology confuses me even though I am not an incredibly old person who has never used technology before. Anyway, readers in Vella can like and fave stories, in which case a fancy little crown appears above the cover. For example:
Yes, this post is just me bragging that my Vella novel is now top faved. Awesome! Even if I don’t totally get what this means, I’m thrilled people loved (or faved) my book! Thank you so much, and go check out the episodes of The Boy Next Door if you haven’t yet.
Quick Description: A shy artist works up his nerve to confess his feelings for his neighbor, the boy next door. But when his neighbor’s moody, wannabe rock star brother returns home unexpectedly, his love note falls into the wrong hands.
Though the main character Sam shares some of anxious personality traits, Hunter (aka the bad boy next door) is who I have a huge soft spot for. Whether being tough or showing his softer side, he was so much fun to write.
Here’s an excerpt where Sam runs into Hunter on the street after dinner. Hunter gives him some advice.
“Hey, you barhopping too?” He nods, indicating some bars farther down the block.
“Fish tacos,” I answer honestly and stupidly.
“Okay?” He seems to regret saying anything to me. That makes two of us.
Still without his leather jacket, Hunter looks smaller. The night helps hide his surprisingly muscled arms, probably from dragging his drum set around.
“I’m not old enough for bars,” I say when we linger awkwardly.
Leaning in, he confides, “I never let that stop me.”
But I will. Because I’m not as cool and badass as him. He never lets me forget.
“Well, I should probably—” go far away as fast as possible.
“I can sneak you in,” he offers, probably because he knows I’ll refuse. Is he even old enough to drink legally? If so, it’s just barely.
“No thanks.”
“Sam,” he says, his tone strange.
His teasing demeanor vanishes in an instant. Us prey to the predators know when it’s time to make a quick exit.
“Uh, see you around, Hunter.”
When he moves, I expect him to waltz right by me to the alcohol without saying goodbye. Instead, he steps right into my personal space. As he joins me in the shadows, I can’t see the intensity in his eyes, but I feel it on my skin.
“Be bold,” he says.
Up this close, it’s hard to breathe normally without inhaling the scent of him. And I never could read those eyes even in better light, too dark with unfathomable depths.
I manage to step away. “Fish tacos were bold enough for one night.”
“No, not about your plans for tonight. Just in general.” He’s trying to tell me something. What? I don’t know. “Sounds like advice you need to hear.”
“I do fine.” I cross my arms around myself, suddenly chilly out here.
“You could do better than fine,” he insists. “Be bold. You won’t get what you want otherwise.”
“How do you know what I want?”
Something about his expression makes me wonder if somehow he sees right through me. He isn’t smirking as he always does, yet he seems sure.
A shiver wracks my body, and I hope he doesn’t see. He probably does because he sees everything, it feels like he’s viewing my soul and finding me lacking. Any second, he’s going to reveal what I try to keep hidden—but the moment ends.
“Anything worth wanting doesn’t come easily, so.” He shrugs.
“Yeah, yeah.” I take another step away, but it doesn’t feel far enough. “Bold. Got it.”
“No you don’t.” He seems… sad. Sad I’m so slow. He pities me. Nothing new there.
Kindle Vella is a thing now. Authors write episodic stories and post over time instead of delivering a whole novel at once. Which is pretty cool, and a fun challenge for me to write on a schedule and keep producing stuff.
While not totally released, one of the novels I have on Kindle Vella is finished. It’s all uploaded on the site and will be out by the end of October.
Yay! Now that I’m actually finished with my latest novel, I should talk about it here.
In The Boy Next Door, a shy artist struggles to show his passions on and off the canvas. Confessing his feelings to the boy of his dreams is a good start. But when his crush’s older brother gets his love note by mistake, life takes an unexpected turn.
This is a young adult contemporary romance featuring an ill-fated message in a bottle, sexy neighbors, and an enemies-to-lovers M/M couple.
My basic idea for this story was a John Hughes/classic romcom vibe but much gayer. So of course, the main character is crushing hopelessly on his sweet friend, and a crazy misunderstanding means a guy he hates gets his love note by mistake, but when they’re thrown together, sparks fly? Yes, they do.
When I said this is my year and nothing will stop me? I figured I’d get over my own tied tongue and confess my love for Dylan, whether shouting or mumbling how I felt. Any other obstacles were fictitious. I certainly wasn’t imagining Hunter Cruse, the asshole older brother of my crush. Did I mention he hates me?
Luke has some important choices to make when it comes to the fate of his relationship inOne Big Decision.This is the hilarious and heartwarming final novel in the One More Thing series which follows a small-town couple as they navigate fake relationships, first loves, high school, and making everything more difficult than it needs to be.
If you aren’t aware, Luke is a high school senior who is dating a loudmouth he loves, but they aren’t sure where their relationship is heading. Especially when… well, this is a romance novel, so there’s conflict and secrets. In this part, he’s trying to decide whether to walk away or not.
What’s Luke going to decide? I can’t tell you that, obviously, but here’s what he’s thinking about.
Luke
Ryan could become a footnote, a point of reference, the first guy I ever dated or was even attracted to. I might not even remember what went wrong, only that we went our separate ways for college. Our saga would end at the point where all failed loved stories did, the part where we loved each other and it wasn’t enough.
Maybe the question wasn’t what should I do, what would be best for both of us, or should we give this another chance. Did I want it to end here? That’s the question. Did I want him to become my past?
We all wish for a little more magic in our lives sometimes. And while we can’t cast spells or shoot fire from our palms, we can turn to fiction. Here’s a list of books for LGBTQ+ YA fiction readers who love fantasy worlds, witches and wizards, and even some occasional raising of the dead.
This list is to celebrate the release of Instalove, my newest paranormal romance where magic exists. Basically, the book is about a guy who never received his Hogwarts letter. So I started with other books that include magic and wizards, then I expanded a bit to include other supernatural elements for fun.
Here’s seventeen books featuring queer young men, gay romance, and magic.
A magic-infused YA novel about friendship, first love, and feeling out of place that will bewitch fans of Rainbow Rowell and Maggie Stiefvater.
Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation.
But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.
With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face the fact that the very love of magic that brought his group together is now tearing them apart—and there are some problems that no amount of magic can fix.
To save a fae kingdom, a trans witch must face his traumatic past and the royal fiancé he left behind. This debut YA fantasy will leave you spellbound.
Wyatt would give anything to forget where he came from—but a kingdom demands its king.
In Asalin, fae rule and witches like Wyatt Croft…don’t. Wyatt’s betrothal to his best friend, fae prince Emyr North, was supposed to change that. But when Wyatt lost control of his magic one devastating night, he fled to the human world.
Now a coldly distant Emyr has hunted him down. Despite transgender Wyatt’s newfound identity and troubling past, Emyr has no intention of dissolving their engagement. In fact, he claims they must marry now or risk losing the throne. Jaded, Wyatt strikes a deal with the enemy, hoping to escape Asalin forever. But as he gets to know Emyr, Wyatt realizes the boy he once loved may still exist. And as the witches face worsening conditions, he must decide once and for all what’s more important—his people or his freedom.
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.
That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.
Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
A trans boy determined to prove he’s a brujo to his Latinx family summons a ghost who refuses to leave in Aiden Thomas’s paranormal YA debut.
Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.
When his cousin suddenly dies, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.
However, the ghost he summons is not his cousin. It’s Julian Diaz, the resident bad boy of his high school, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He’s determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves.
Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage.
Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.
It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings … including his first love.
Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can’t decide what’s worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student—the handsome Allister—and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake.
Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he’s a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game—one Jake is not sure he can win.
Jack Nevin’s clever trickery and moral flexibility make him the perfect assistant to the Enchantress, one of the most well-known stage magicians in turn-of-the-nineteenth-century Europe. Without Jack’s steady supply of stolen tricks, the Enchantress’s fame would have burned out long ago.
But when Jack’s thievery catches up to them, they’re forced to flee to America to find their fortune. Luckily, the Enchantress is able to arrange a set of sold-out shows at Seattle’s Alaska–Yukon–Pacific World’s Fair Exposition. She’s convinced they’re going to rich and famous until a new magician arrives on the scene. Performing tricks that defy the imagination, Laszlo’s show overshadows the Enchantress, leaving Jack no choice but to hunt for the secrets to his otherworldly illusions. But what Jack uncovers isn’t at all what he expected.
Behind Laszlo’s tricks is Wilhelm—a boy that can seemingly perform real magic. Jack and Wilhelm have an instant connection, and as the rivalry between the Enchantress and Laszlo grows, so too does Jack and Wilhelm’s affection. But can Jack choose between the woman who gave him a life and the boy who is offering him everything?
Braden suffers from a powerful magical curse. The witch eyes allow him to see the memories of the world, to see forgotten emotions, buried memories, and to pierce through lies and deception. They make his magic unparalleled, but every use brings him closer to death.
But when a powerful vision of doom threatens his only family, Braden heads for the source of the vision, the town of Belle Dam where feuding families of witches have ruled for decades. Upon his arrival, he meets the enigmatic Trey, a gorgeous boy with motives of his own.
And by then it’s too late.
A dangerous secret puts the boys on opposite sides of the feud, and as more people realize the power that Braden is capable of, he becomes a pawn in a deadly game.
With Midwinter just around the corner, Mark’s Nanna decides that it is time he learnt more about his family heritage. Learning witchcraft shouldn’t be too difficult, right?
Balancing school, magic, and the distractions of the gorgeous new guy, should make this a very interesting winter.
Desperate to pay for college, Bridger Whitt is willing to overlook the peculiarities of his new job—entering via the roof, the weird stacks of old books and even older scrolls, the seemingly incorporeal voices he hears from time to time—but its pretty hard to ignore being pulled under Lake Michigan by… mermaids? Worse yet, this happens in front of his new crush, Leo, the dreamy football star who just moved to town. Fantastic.
When he discovers his eccentric employer Pavel Chudinov is an intermediary between the human world and its myths, Bridger is plunged into a world of pixies, werewolves, and Sasquatch. The realm of myths and magic is growing increasingly unstable, and it is up to Bridger to ascertain the cause of the chaos, eliminate the problem, and help his boss keep the real world from finding the world of myths.
Oscar Tundale is useless, or at least that’s what he’s always thought. He and his friends are about to discover that not only are monsters real, but some of them are very interested in Oscar. Now, they must find out what the monsters want, before something terrible happens to London; or worse yet, the world.
Lesser Known Monsters is an own voices queer dark fantasy featuring diverse characters on a found family adventure. Perfect for fans of action and paranormal romance seeking LGBTQ+ heroes.
Ghosts can’t seem to keep their opinions to themselves.
Seventeen-year-old Nate Shaw should know; he’s been talking to them since he was twelve. But they aren’t the only ones making his high school years a living hell. All Nate wants is to keep his secret and keep his head down until he can graduate. That is, until the new boy, James Powell, takes a seat next to him in homeroom. James not only notices him, he manages to work his way into Nate’s life. But James has issues of his own.
Between dead grandmothers and living aunts, Nate has to navigate the fact that he’s falling in love with his only friend, all while getting advice from the most unusual places.
Ghosts, bullies, first love: it’s a lot to deal with when you’re just trying to survive senior year.
Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings that are out of the ordinary for even a teenager, his life moves beyond “typical.”
Caleb is an Atypical, an individual with enhanced abilities. Which sounds pretty cool except Caleb’s ability is extreme empathy—he feels the emotions of everyone around him. Being an empath in high school would be hard enough, but Caleb’s life becomes even more complicated when he keeps getting pulled into the emotional orbit of one of his classmates, Adam. Adam’s feelings are big and all-consuming, but they fit together with Caleb’s feelings in a way that he can’t quite understand.
Caleb’s therapist, Dr. Bright, encourages Caleb to explore this connection by befriending Adam. As he and Adam grow closer, Caleb learns more about his ability, himself, his therapist—who seems to know a lot more than she lets on—and just how dangerous being an Atypical can be.
Tommy hears dead people. Okay, one dead person. His best friend, Chase. Since his death, Tommy can’t stop hearing his voice. They talk every day and Tommy even sends him texts, but it always ends the same. Message failed to send. Until one day, a stranger texts back.
Getting stuck in nowhere Georgia was not on Nick’s summer agenda, but a horoscope, a chance encounter, and a cute boy has things looking up. There’s just one problem, the boy hates him. When a broken phone leaves him with a new number, Nick is ready to write off the entire summer as a loss. But then he receives a strange text.
When Tommy and Nick’s worlds collide, the attraction is instant, but Tommy just can’t let Chase go. Can Nick use his status as Tommy’s anonymous stranger to break down his defenses or is Nick destined to live in a love triangle with a ghost?
Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune’s YA debut, The Extraordinaries, is a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.
Nick Bell? Not extraordinary. But being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right?
After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s mightiest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick’s best friend (and maybe the love of his life).
He was just supposed to be a hot hookup. Something sexy to take my mind off being poor, living in a run-down apartment, and kicked out of college due to some plagiarism I totally did not commit. Life was going downhill fast, and a hot, anonymous hookup with a guy by the handle IceFire would make my life suck a little less—or more, but in the right way.
Man, was I wrong.
Hot and charming, Guy Winters and his touches leave me breathless. One night turns into two. Then a date. Then more. Except his body is always cold. Our makeouts are almost too intense. And there’s something just not right. It takes a break-in and a murder in self-defense before I finally get it.
And the truth about Guy has me running for my life.
What’s a boy to do—in Caleb Roehrig’s YA paranormal romance The Fell of Dark—when his crush is a hot vampire with a mystery to solve?
The only thing August Pfeiffer hates more than algebra is living in a vampire town.
Located at a nexus of mystical energy fields, Fulton Heights is practically an electromagnet for supernatural drama. And when a mysterious (and annoyingly hot) vampire boy arrives with a cryptic warning, Auggie suddenly finds himself at the center of it.
An ancient and terrible power is returning to the earthly realm, and somehow Auggie seems to be the only one who can stop it.
Which books are your favorite? Are there any magical novels I’m missing? Let me know!
Avery and his little sister don’t get along in Instalove. This might be part of a normal sibling dynamic, though love spells and the hellhound she gave him as a gift are less normal.
During breakfast, the family discuss the rules for Stella’s birthday dinner. This is a different version of this scene than the one in the novel.
~
“It’s a good time to go over the rules for dinner tonight,” Dad interjected. Ah, how to behave in front of polite company. It used to be a long series of items, written on parchment paper and permanently affixed to the fridge. That didn’t quite yield results though, so now there were two easily digestible points.
“Don’t be nightmare children unless our cousins are doing it first,” Stella said. Those were their words, ‘nightmare children.’ And they called us dramatic when we got going. So unfair. To me at least. Stella was definitely the nightmare.
My family all looked to me.
“It’s Stella’s birthday,” I said the next rule. They kept looking at me. “Don’t be awful to Stella,” I finished reluctantly.
“Don’t be awful to Stella,” Dad repeated.
“I said that.” Why even have me say it if he was going to say the same thing?
“It bears repeating,” he said firmly.
Why did it even matter what I did? The remaining pastries we hadn’t eaten had abandoned their spot on the obnoxious floating platter and were doing a little dance for my sister’s amusement. Everything literally catered to her; I didn’t have to do the same. Our cutlery didn’t normally levitate, but Stella liked these little extra touches on her special day.
‘Extra touches’ were how my parents referred to them. I called them pointless and unnecessary. We get it, Stella had magic. Stella liked magic. There was nothing wrong with magic, but there was a whole world out there and magic was just a small part of it. Magic wasn’t everything.
That was a lesson I’d learned firsthand.
Anyway, these rules were useless. “Stella didn’t abide by the rules on my birthday,” I muttered. My parents exchanged ‘here we go’ looks.
“It was a gift!” Stella hollered.
“That tried to eat me,” I pointed out.
Stella rolled her eyes, like she was annoyed I brought that up again, but a birthday present from her had tried to devour me. I had the right to bring that up for, like, therest of time. “How was I supposed to know it would be so mean?” she asked rhetorically.
I answered anyway. “It was called a hellhound.” She was the supposed magical savant; she should have known. The kid had no common sense.
She rolled her eyes. “I just thought it would be red.” Also, she often put too much stock in her abilities. Sometimes she didn’t read the instructions fully; she thought she was a little magic expert that knew everything. It would be hilarious when things went wrong if I wasn’t usually dragged into the side effects with her.
And my Dad found Stella’s magical appetite so charming. He encouraged her to explore the magical world. Yet he wouldn’t buy me alcohol when I wanted to explore the regular world… Okay, I didn’t fault him for that one, but I had to try.
Stella and Mom left for school while Dad floated the serving tray down to the table. He grabbed my attention before I could make my escape to school. “Hey, really, go easy on Stella tonight.” He put a hand on my shoulder as he sat down in the chair next to me and looked me in the eye, his I mean it look.
“We already went through thy hallowed, revered rules,” I told him with only a little sarcasm. It was too early for more.
His sass game was strong, undeterred by the early hour. “If they’re so hallowed and revered, how come they never get followed?”
“Maybe tonight will be the first time?” I offered. Magic existed, so miracles could happen too.
“You’re the older brother,” Dad reminded me, turning serious again. Like I didn’t know that. Though maybe sticking my tongue out at her wasn’t the height of maturity. “Treat her with respect and she’ll do the same to you.”
Gay Paranormal Romance 