This may end up becoming a series of posts, assuming I continue on with the group that does this. The idea here is to take a set of random factors and incorporate them into a short story over the course of 45-60 minutes. It is a great exercise, and definitely had some lessons in it for me. One being, I really need to work on my ability to let myself write crap… I was completely stuck until I realized I was just going to throw this story away, and then suddenly I did not care if I wrote garbage or not, I just wanted to get something out.
The second lesson is, Erotic Thriller is a tough genre for me!
8/29/18
Place: Mars
Person: A bartender with an annoying haircut
Object: Magnet
Action: Taking over another company
Genre: Erotic Thriller
I hated Mars. I hated my company for sending me to this accursed hellhole. I hated the food, I hated the watered-down drinks at the only bar on the compound. But most of all, I hated the bartender’s stupid haircut. It was bad enough in the mid-80s, but in this day and age? Ugh… just shoot me. Better yet, shoot her… and her ridiculous mullet.
The only problem was, she was hot. And she made being stuck here for the next 371 days (and counting) even remotely bearable.
I ended up here on a contract. My company was building a mag-lev rail system to transport final-stage terraforming equipment around the surface. Colonial Mars was finally becoming a reality, and I got to be part of history… Oh yay.
“You want another, there, doc?”
Her query pulled me out of my malcontent’s reverie and right into her mismatched eyes. I’d never given it a thought before, but there was something so deeply sexy about one green and one blue eye staring out of the same face.
She snapped her fingers in front of me.
“Hey! You tryin’ to read my mind? Do, you, want, another drink?”
Shit. I lost myself there.
“Yeah… uh, please.”
She turned to make the drink, and I was pretty sure I caught the vaguest glimpse of a smile. Maybe there was something there.
When she brought the drink back, I became more convinced. It was almost pure alcohol, with just enough mix to know it was there. Could just be a heavy pour, or perhaps she was sending me a signal.
I pounded the drink and headed to the bathroom to offload the prior three, and see if I looked presentable enough to even make an attempt at her.
Hair? Check. Teeth? Check. Breath? Check. Good to go. As I exited the bathroom into the short hallway leading back to the bar, something hooked me by the waist and threw me against the wall. Hard. Her lips pressed firmly against mine, slightly parted, while her body pinned me to the wall, hands exploring my lower back. I opened eyes to find her staring back at me, tongue dancing lightly across my lips.
“Don’t move. Keep pretending until I say.”
Pretending? I was certainly not pretending. And with what she was doing with her hands and tongue, it was hard to believe she was too.
Then, over her shoulder, I noticed the two suits walking the room, peering down the hallway, looking behind the bar. Finally, satisfied that whatever they were looking for was not here, they exited, and she pulled away.
“Thanks. Sorry about that…”
“What the hell was that?! And… uh… thanks, yourself.”
She smiled at my feeble attempt to be cute, which probably did not play well on a 35-year old scientist.
“They were here for me. Just don’t want to deal with them right now. They want to take over my bar, and I am not ready to sell.”
“Ok, but that was your plan to avoid them?”
“Well, I had to think quick, and I figured you’d go along.”
I could feel the color rise in my face.
“I get done here in half an hour. Finish your drink and wait for me and we can go pretend some more.”
“Uh, ok. Where?”
“My place is close by.”
“Aren’t you a little concerned bringing a stranger to your home?”
“I never bring someone home that I am not 100% sure I can kill. Now go sit down and let me get back to work.”
Gods she was hot. But that hair…
