Third Time's a Charm Chapter 1. When a regular girl who writes fan fiction gets a review from a real star of the her favorite TV show things start to happen for her.
Katherine gets home from a hard days work. She's a magazine editor for local magazine. On the side she writes fan fiction from her own website. Not a well deserved part time job but something that will allow her to step outside her world and into her own non-fantasy world. The stories are all about her favorite shows especially Three of a Kind. This show is about a guy who is a construction worker and lives in a apartment building. Surrounding him from all sides are three female neighbors who all have different agendas with the guy, Brandon Donavan.
Katherine drops her stuff on her computer chair and rushes over to the living room to turn on the TV. The show is about to start. She falls on the sofa as the theme song begins and she admires the main character who is played by Xander Harris, a really popular TV star.
"Brandon I need a ride," says Andrew, a teen from across the hall. "It's just two, three, or maybe four miles away."
"Sure I'll take you," says Brandon.
"Mr. Donavan," says a girl name Dawn. "Um you promise you would buy my cookies today."
"Um, I'll buy 'em tomorrow," says Brandon.
"That's what you said yesterday."
"I'll buy 'em today." Brandon takes out his wallet and pays the girl for a box of cookies.
"What kind are they?" ask Andrew as the two exit the apartment.
"Mint," replies Brandon. "Want 'em?"
"Sure."
A commercial break begins and Katherine heads over to the kitchen. She grabs a square top-a-ware and puts it in the microwave. Then she opens the frig again and takes out a bottle of water. She sets the dinning table quickly with placemats, napkins and silver ware. The microwave beeps and she gets her food. Just as she is about to sit down to eat the show starts again.
Katherine enjoys watching the show as she eats her dinner every night. Her dinning table is set perfectly to face the living room where the TV is. She enjoys even more writing her own stories about the show.
She only can dream of being in a show like Three of a Kind with her favorite character Brandon Donavan. If he only knew of her writings online he would know that…but who is she kidding. Stars don't have the time to read fan mail then alone read a story on an online site.
Meanwhile at the studio where they film Three of a Kind, Xander Harris finally finishes his scene for the last episode of his show of season two.
"Hey, Xander wait a second," says his agent, Lindsay. "I got Spielberg on the line. Says he wants you for his next project."
"Really," says Xander.
"It's the leading role."
"Tell him to send me the script."
"Yes. Mr. Spielberg he'll take that offer." Lindsay then hangs up and puts his arm around Xander. "This is great. Exactly what we just needed. Things are looking up for you."
"Thanks to you."
"No problem at all. You are like my brother. I care about you."
"Hey, do you know who walked my dog today?"
"Um, I think it was the intern. Don't worry I'll find out right away." Xander passes his hand through his hair and begins to think that if he had a normal life he could take his dog walking and not some stranger who could lose him.
After his dog is found, Xander drives home. Even with the money he makes on the show Xander likes to live comfortably and not in an over excessively big mansion on a popular street. As he arrives home, a decent apartment building just off the beach, he checks his phone messages as he takes off his shoes.
"Xander it's your mother. I know you're busy and all but could you try to come to Thanksgiving dinner this year. I would really like to know what's going on in your life. Do you have a girlfriend? Simple stuff. Give me a call."
"No thanks mother," replies Xander as he heads over to the pantry to pull out Buffy's, his dogs food.
"Hey, it's your brother. Just wanted to know if you would change your mind and come to Thanksgiving dinner. It would really mean a lot to mom. Think about it."
"Already thought about it." Xander gives food to Buffy and heads over to his computer.
"Hi, Xander. It's Anya. Look I don't think that this long distance relationship is going to work. We're both just too busy with our lives and we never have time for each other. I know it's hard but at least we tried. That counts. I hope that we can still be friends. Oh and one other thing, your mother called me and told me to convince you to go to Thanksgiving dinner. You should go. Okay, bye."
"What am I going to do Buffy?" Xander looks at Buffy the dog. She whimpers and walks over to him. Xander turns around on his computer chair and checks his e-mail. He finds out that Katblue, an online writer, has a new update.
Xander never has a chance to read his fan mail or even reply back to them in person but he does take the time to visit sites like fan fiction and other peoples private fiction sites to check out what they write. He finds this time when he gets to reply to peoples stories, very enjoyable. His favorite is a fan of the show with the screen name of Katblue.
"Xander, I like this chapter. It could be an excellent episode. I wish I was one of the writers of the show so I can offer them this script of yours if you allow me to do so. Can we share it 50 50. I find your writing invigorating. You've made my day."
Katherine gets a review for her last updated chapter and reads it. She smiles at the response then sees that the reviewer at the end of the review has left an e-mail.
"Should I…" Katherine copies the e-mail and composes an e-mail to send to her reviewer.
"Kat, Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate people who like my writing as well as my topics. As for the 50 50 thing maybe we should have coffee or I'll have my people call your people bye. We can make it happen."
Xander receives an e-mail and reads it. He is surprise that the writer he just review has e-mailed him so quickly.
"Hey, she replied back," says Xander to Buffy who is next to him. "And she has sense a humor. See that's the type of girl I want to meet." Buffy barks at him. "Okay, but you're a dog and I can't date out of my species. I know you have a sense of humor but that wasn't funny what you did to the remote control when I didn't want to take you for your walk on football night." Buffy sticks her tongue out and licks Xander's hand.
The next day, Saturday, Xander decides to take a run. He puts on really big sunglasses and a hat that covers most of his face. Grabbing Buffy's leash and the keys, he heads out of the apartment hoping no one notices him.
That same morning, Katherine decides that it is time to start that daily walk because those doughnuts at work are killing her figure. Her sweats are on and she is on her way.
Walking down the street, Katherine decides to enter the nearby park. There she sees lots of people walking dogs, jogging and couples strolling. She gets fixated on a sweet couple who are roller-blading together.
Suddenly, a guy with a dog on a leash, also fixated by the roller-bladers, gets into Katherine's way. She then stumbles on the dog leash and falls to the ground and the guy after she stumbles on the leash brings him down falling right on top of her.
"Oh, I'm sorry," they both say. "Are you okay?"
"It's my fault," says Katherine.
"No, I wasn't watching where I was going," says the guy as he gets up and helps Katherine up. He then pushes his big glasses back on his face and picks up his hat from the ground.
"Well, no harm done," says Katherine. "Maybe we should give each other our insurance card or something." The guy smiles at her comment. Then his dog starts to bark.
"I gotta go," says the guy as his dog pulls him. "Bye."
"Bye." Katherine starts to walk away when the guy turns around and pulls his dog back in her direction.
"What's your name?" Katherine stops and turns around.
"Katherine."
"It was nice bum…crashing into you Katherine."
"What's your name?"
"Alex. Hey, maybe we should at least get each others numbers. I do feel a little pain in my neck. It could be serious." They give their numbers to each other then they walk in separate directions.
"Lindsay was right," says Xander to Buffy as he begins to run again. "Things are looking up."
"I'm going to go running more often," says Katherine to herself with a smile.
