Kevin sat on the edge of his bed, thumbing the eye holes of his leather Fiasco mask. “Damn that dog,” he thought. The stale cowhide stench of the mask that had sat unused for months made him fight a sneeze. “The least you could have done was buy me some time.”
After they left his parents’ house, Julianna cooed in the passenger seat, “I love your family.” She laughed and brushed away black and brown hair that clung to her dress like cactus needles. “Even that crazy dog. Nothing could remove the smile that seemed permanently branded on her face after she had passed the Jordin test.
After his mother's revelation, Kevin had brought the furry Shepard husky upstairs and held her firmly by the collar to meet Julianna. The hair on Jordin's spine bristled when she caught wind of his girlfriend. It grew worse when she finally saw Julianna standing in the living room. Looking between him and his new girlfriend with eyes more yellow than brown, it was as if Jordin instantly put them together. She bared her sharp teeth like a wounded wolf, and with a deep growl, he felt her collar vibrate. Her legs tensed and spread wide, and her back arched as if she would pounce if he let her go.
His mother nearly made him take her back to the garage downstairs, until Julianna took one tepid step forward, then another, with her hand out limp so Jordin could take her scent. Jordin sniffed, short hairs on her nose tickling along her knuckles, then looked up at him. Kevin smiled to simmer her down and ruffled the fur beneath her neck, eliciting a whine and long, warm, tongue-licks beneath his chin. That interaction was all it took before Jordin was in Julianna's lap, ears pinned back and tail thumping against the carpet. Just like that, she had cowed his family’s harshest critic.
On the drive to her house, Julianna looked out the passenger window that fogged from her breath and winter air, still smiling. “I really do love them,” she said softly. “I honestly wouldn't mind being a part of your family.”
There it was. His answer to the most important variable in the equation was out in the open. There was something in her tone, subdued and a bit somber, signaling that his parents’ gambit had worked. His mother started a fire with her ultimatum, while his father poured gasoline on it during his impromptu marriage talk. A countdown had begun, and it would terminate six months from that moment when Julianna graduated.
The rest of the drive was quiet compared to their more raucous evening. It ended with a soft kiss, and a whispered bye from Julianna, who seemed to have sensed his looming depression. As Kevin pulled into his apartment parking lot, he had made the decision that the only way he could prove he was not the crab in the barrel that would pull Julianna down to his depth, was to excel at the one thing that made him unique. He had planned to succeed where he previously failed and make Fiasco someone respectable. He vowed to be someone Julianna would be proud to be with and could not leave.
Back in his room, the warmth rose as the negative emotions of insecurity and insignificance swirled within, and he loosened the tie at the top. Sliding down the side of the bed, Kevin knelt on the floor, elbows on his mattress. Ruffling the mask in his hands, he brought it to the top of his head, and his eyes closed. He mouthed a prayer, trying without success to dampen the voice that said, you will fail.
Fiasco of Adventures - Chapter 4- The Jordin Test
Fiasco of Adventures - Chapter 4- The Jordin Test
Fiasco of Adventures - Chapter 4- The Jordin Test
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Chapter 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Part 2,
Chapter 2, part 1, Chapter 2, Part 2
Chapter 3
Fiasco of Adventures
A Megacosm Story
The Jordin Test
Kevin sat on the edge of his bed, thumbing the eye holes of his leather Fiasco mask. “Damn that dog,” he thought. The stale cowhide stench of the mask that had sat unused for months made him fight a sneeze. “The least you could have done was buy me some time.”
After they left his parents’ house, Julianna cooed in the passenger seat, “I love your family.” She laughed and brushed away black and brown hair that clung to her dress like cactus needles. “Even that crazy dog. Nothing could remove the smile that seemed permanently branded on her face after she had passed the Jordin test.
After his mother's revelation, Kevin had brought the furry Shepard husky upstairs and held her firmly by the collar to meet Julianna. The hair on Jordin's spine bristled when she caught wind of his girlfriend. It grew worse when she finally saw Julianna standing in the living room. Looking between him and his new girlfriend with eyes more yellow than brown, it was as if Jordin instantly put them together. She bared her sharp teeth like a wounded wolf, and with a deep growl, he felt her collar vibrate. Her legs tensed and spread wide, and her back arched as if she would pounce if he let her go.
His mother nearly made him take her back to the garage downstairs, until Julianna took one tepid step forward, then another, with her hand out limp so Jordin could take her scent. Jordin sniffed, short hairs on her nose tickling along her knuckles, then looked up at him. Kevin smiled to simmer her down and ruffled the fur beneath her neck, eliciting a whine and long, warm, tongue-licks beneath his chin. That interaction was all it took before Jordin was in Julianna's lap, ears pinned back and tail thumping against the carpet. Just like that, she had cowed his family’s harshest critic.
On the drive to her house, Julianna looked out the passenger window that fogged from her breath and winter air, still smiling. “I really do love them,” she said softly. “I honestly wouldn't mind being a part of your family.”
There it was. His answer to the most important variable in the equation was out in the open. There was something in her tone, subdued and a bit somber, signaling that his parents’ gambit had worked. His mother started a fire with her ultimatum, while his father poured gasoline on it during his impromptu marriage talk. A countdown had begun, and it would terminate six months from that moment when Julianna graduated.
The rest of the drive was quiet compared to their more raucous evening. It ended with a soft kiss, and a whispered bye from Julianna, who seemed to have sensed his looming depression. As Kevin pulled into his apartment parking lot, he had made the decision that the only way he could prove he was not the crab in the barrel that would pull Julianna down to his depth, was to excel at the one thing that made him unique. He had planned to succeed where he previously failed and make Fiasco someone respectable. He vowed to be someone Julianna would be proud to be with and could not leave.
Back in his room, the warmth rose as the negative emotions of insecurity and insignificance swirled within, and he loosened the tie at the top. Sliding down the side of the bed, Kevin knelt on the floor, elbows on his mattress. Ruffling the mask in his hands, he brought it to the top of his head, and his eyes closed. He mouthed a prayer, trying without success to dampen the voice that said, you will fail.
Chapter 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Part 2,
Chapter 2, part 1, Chapter 2, Part 2
Chapter 3
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