Page 26 of Red Flag, Green Light

They’re next-door neighbors. He’s been obsessed with her ever since she moved in. He’s not a stalker, because stalkingis wrong, but he does have an array of security cameras pointed at her house for the express purpose of catching sight of her hair in the sunlight when she’s tending her garden.

(And also, possibly, for the purpose of learning how to be good enough for her, but that’s just because he’s a poor insecure baby who never learned how to talk to people.)

He loves her. Deeply. He can’t express how often his mind strays to her, unprompted. He reviews his security footage when he misses her, which is often, but that’s not important. He doesn’t know what to do with his feelings, and since he’s a planner to a fault, he’s unwilling to take a chance on telling her about them without more information.

(Precious little information about compatibility one can obtain via security cameras alone, I’m sure you understand.)

So anyway, he concocts what might be a seventy-two step scheme that starts with only a little coercion and ends with a modest wedding. (Unless she wants a big wedding, but he is presently doubtful of that, given that she seems to be something of a recluse.)

Throughout the story, he struggles with his unhealthy tendencies (insecurity, fear, guilt, etc.), which resulted in the security camera thing and the scheme thing. She probably struggles to fall in love with someone so mentally unwell when, as far as he can tell, she’s content on her own, and he’s really something of a bomb going off in her perfect life.

Blah, blah, blah. They live happily ever after, the end.

:D

Rouge

I blink at the email Rouge has just sent me and suspect she wrote it in the five minutes since we stopped messaging. It is…terrible. Just utterly horrible. Where’s the plot? What’s even going on?

Guy loves girl. Girl doesn’t know guy exists.

This isn’t a dark romance; it’s a common tragedy.

Today, 7:45 p.m.

FROM: [email protected]

TO: [email protected]

SUBJECT: RE: Project pitch

Rouge,

This sucks.

What if he kidnaps her by mistake around step three in his egregiously long plan? Then we can see his descent into madness over what he’s done as she slowly Stockholms, discovering that his brokenness calls to something deeply messed up inside her.

His commitment is both chilling and comforting, providing a twisted sense of security throughout the ordeal until she—finally—gives in to all his manic charms.

And also he’s so big, she’s so small,

Sara Pond

I barely have to wait for a response. It comes within three seconds.

Today, 7:45 p.m.

FROM: [email protected]

TO: [email protected]

SUBJECT: RE: Project pitch

Why does he have to be “so big”?

Today, 7:46 p.m.

FROM: [email protected]

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