Day 4: 6,667 words

November in Florida is usually mild, maybe slightly cold in the morning. Ever since Sally started coming out to the beach to work on her novel, it was refreshing and one of the big inspirations for her novel attempt.

The moon rose over the horizon along the Sea of Dublin… She wrote that, starting another chapter, it was chapter four at this time.

"Just keep writing, just keep writing…" She mumbled to herself. Well singing it mostly.

There was no chill of the wind this morning. Everything was calm and beautiful Sally would wake up at six, get down to the beach with a coffee thermos and watch the sun come up for the day. She had a new appreciation for the beach.

"Anything interesting happen yet, Lass?" Stephen asked as he caught the long gaze Sally held over the ocean.

She smiled at him. "I'm dealing with some inner critic crap. Remember, what you write you have to keep. Do Not Delete is another motto for this month." Sally then reached for her thermos and took a big gulp of it.

"Coffee, since when do you drink coffee?"

"Since sleep is starting to be interrupted by writing. Yes I get a good amount of sleep, but last night I had a writing spree after a plot bunny hit me hard in the head."

"You seem different." Stephen said as he set up his own chair.

"How so?"

"Well, for one, you seem more bubbly than before."

"I think it's the caffeine in the coffee. Coffee is the mascot of NANOWRIMO. Do you drink coffee?"

"More tea than anything else, I'm afraid. What's your word count?"

"Eight thousand and twenty two words, a personal best." She smiled. "What about you, what's your word count?"

"Six thousand, one hundred and thirty two, and to get more words out of it, I don't you contractions."

"Ah yes, the proverbial don't becomes do not method. I like that." She smiled.

After settling in next to her, Stephen turned on his tablet and set up the attachable keyboard.

"Are you going to tell me what you're writing?"

"I will if you tell me yours." She spoke as she clicked a few more keys.

"It's a romance of sorts between an older man and younger woman. Their families are not supportive and they have go about it in secret. Think Romeo and Juliet sort of story. Now it's you're turn, Lass."

There was a silence as Sally mulled over what she was going to say. Stephen thought she was going to revert back to being skittish.

"Mine is about a prince, but not any prince, he is a fairy prince from Ireland. Set in modern times, but with a twist. He steals away a woman but she already has a boyfriend, a fiancée, and the fiancée has to steal her back before the Solstice closes the veil and they are both trapped in the faerie world for a year, or longer." She explained.

"You've been listening to my tales, haven't you?" Stephen asked, glancing at her.

She blindly reached into her backpack and pulled out a book. "And this, it's a book on Celtic Fairytales. I found it at the used bookstore where I like to go to. I still haven't heard if they are accepting me as a hire."

"Ah, that's right. You applied for the re-shelving position they had open."

Yeah, it was the first job she ever considered on having. That's why she would need her car mostly, so that she could get to the place.

"Oh, my story is set in pre-turn of the century Ireland. I loved that time period of Dublin. Loud, flamboyant people, drunks and brawlers, I learned a lot from that time period."

She laughed slightly. "The Irish love to fight, I know, and it shows in your wrestling skills."

At least she was opening up.

With it a more cool morning now, instead of windy and almost too cold to type, they sat in silence, letting the words flow through their fingers. Sally would later come to admit that she liked spending the silence with Stephen, he made it pleasing to write around.

By the time Sally had to leave for her lessons, their individual word counts had gone up a few hundred.

"I have not actively gone down the writing path in my life." Stephen said as they were taking their chairs back to their places.

"You never tried to write anything?"

"Nah, I've been too busy with my wrestling career to think about writing."

"Maybe it's a good thing that you got hurt. You can now do something with your time." She ducked her head, smiling at her comment she made to him.

Stephen laughed. "I suppose. At least I am not getting bored with myself."

"Wait until week two, Stephen."

"What happens at week two?"

"Storm cloaks and lightning, it's a difficult time for NANO."

"Why would you say that?"

"I don't say that, the book by the founder of NANOWRIMO did, in his book No Plot, No Problem."

As they got to Stephen's front walk to his house, there was a figure on the side walk heading towards them. The sun was out, it was now warming up to a traditional Florida autumn day, but this day started to cloud over, in the form of Sally's older brother, Daniel.

"I need your keys, Sally." Daniel said, not looking at Stephen.

"What? No."

"Come on, Sally. You don't drive much anyway."

"No, you took my car without asking. I worked hard to save up for it. I don't need you wrecking it." She tried to walk around him.

"Dang it, Sally. I want your car. Give me the keys now." He reached out and grabbed her arm, the one that was carrying her lawn chair.

"Oy, let her go, fella." Stephen called, getting the nineteen year old to look at him. "I don't know what your problem is, lad but harassing your sister ain't the way to go. I said let her go."

Daniel instantly dropped her arm. "Fine. Whatever."

He walked away, heading back towards the house where he and Sally lived.

"Oh kay." She said slowly. "This is getting strange. I'm sorry, Stephen, I don't know what's wrong with my brother. But thank you." Sally smiled as she bent to pick up her fallen lawn chair. "Hey, I think there is an evening Write In at the coffee shop on 62nd after hours tomorrow. It's mostly for adults, and…"

"And you would like to go, wouldn't you?" He smiled at her.

"Yeah, the teen write in is okay but…not really my thing."

"Well, we can go. When do you work next?"

"Uh, Today is Monday so it will be Wednesday after my morning lessons."

"How about I come to pick you up? It's not a problem. Tomorrow I have a morning appointment for physical therapy for my shoulder."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to try to get more words in today after my lessons."

"I'm gonna do the same. I'll be seein' ya, Sally."

She smiled, walking away with her things.

Stephen had to remind himself that she was eighteen. Granted an adult legally, but she was still a young woman. Just thinking about her, and all that she had to deal with being afraid of people, relying on him to be there and a friend, falling in love with someone nearly twenty years younger than he was propelled his need to write his emotions out into a story that popped into his head the other night.

"So you're writing now?" Stu Bennett, a friend and fellow coworker of Stephen's within the WWE, asked seeing some loose leaf papers with Stephen's handwriting on them. They were strewn out on Stephen's table.

"Something like that. Gallagher's daughter, Sally, is writing for a month." Stephen said as he reached for a whiskey glass in the liquor cabinet in his kitchen. "It's National Novel Writing Month. I never heard of it but she seems intent on writing a rough draft for the month."

"There is a sound in your voice, Mate." The Englishman said, crossing his arms.

"Sound, what sound?"

"You have some feelings for this Sally?"

"Oy, come on. She's only eighteen. She wouldn't think of me, old man as I am, like that."

"It's a new time frame, mate." Stu said as he accepted the glass from his friend. "In this age, sugar daddies are normal."

"She doesn't treat me like that. You're just pushing it."

"Well, not really. I was just busting your balls, Mate." Stu laughed as Stephen started cleaning up his paper mess. "So you're really going through with this novel thing, aren't you?"

"It's something to do with a bleedin' bummed shoulder that I can barely do anything with. Actually, it's quite fun."

"Well, as long as you're happy."

"I am."

"With her."

"Damn it, Stu. There is nothing going on between Sally Gallagher and meself." Anger Stephen Farrelly, his accent gets thicker. Stu only did it to see if he could get a rise out of his friend.

Taking the last gulp of his whiskey, Stu laughed. "Just making you squirm, Ste. Don't think I have it in me to beat up a grandpa like you."

Still, Stu's badgering about Sally hit a nerve in him.

All sorts of questions kind of bombarded Stephen when Stu left for the day, like was Sally using him.

"I'm no bleedin' school boy."

He decided that he didn't need to do anymore writing for the day. Stephen would leave it for his writing session in the morning with Sally.

Yes, four days down and twenty six to go. It was longer than I expected but that's okay. How do you think it's going?