Tuesday Tales: From the Word PLUG

Good morning. I hope you’re all having a wonderful time. Not only will this be the last post from It’s a Match, it will be my last post for the next three weeks. I’m taking a break but will be back on August fifteenth with a brand new story. This week, our word prompt is PLUG. Enjoy!

“Knowing Marissa, she has a bolt hold here somewhere. A hiding place where she can disappear for a few minutes to recharge. She’s always hated these kind of things, and we both know it,” Karen stated. “Remember the prom? She disappeared for a good hour. Where did we find her? The library, reading a book about circuits. God. Why was I always so mean to her? She was the closest thing I had to a sister and in my envy and jealousy, I pissed it all away.”

Karen had been envious and jealous of me? I found that hard to believe. She’d been the popular one with all the friends while I’d been the oddball.

“This place has to have a library,” Matt said. “Let’s start looking for it. If she’s not there, then we can try the conservatory. It could provide a quiet oasis for her.”

“Good idea. I’m sure one of the staff can point us in the right direction.”

“I agree,” Ken said. “In fact, one of them might know if she’d found another spot.”

“Are we friends again or do you still hate me?” The concern in Karen’s voice was real.

Ken chuckled. “I could never hate you, no matter what a bitch you can be. None of us is perfect. Yes, you lied to Marissa, Zak, and me about that night, but we weren’t exactly innocent. As you spoke, some of the night came back to me, specifically what I said to her. I may even have recalled some of it when I saw her in Brockton when she mentioned that horrible Ice Queen nickname I gave her.”

“I doubt she ever was an Ice Queen,” Matt said. “It seems to me that girl was simply shy but determined to pursue her dreams, which back then wouldn’t have been easy ones to achieve.”

“Yeah. She was always working her ass off, getting top grades, and ignoring the fun and games we considered critical. Then, out of nowhere, Zak turned up and everything changed. Marissa blossomed, and while Zak was my friend, I was jealous of the way Marissa looked at him and how happy they were. When he proposed and she accepted … Maybe I’ve always been a little in love with her and never realized it, but as much as I care for her now, she needs to know the truth about that night as does Zak. Once everyone knows what actually happened, we can all move on. Until then, I’m going to pull the plug on my plans to pursue Marissa. I don’t want to be her second choice.”

That’s it. Stay safe, and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.