Dave and Scott (Two Writing Bursts)

(In this piece, with the starting line "What the hell is t---!", I tried to emulate a piece of teenage/young adult fiction, in particular the tone of the narrative - taking a limited third person perspective. The ending - as much as I hate the whole idea - is ambiguous and is written with the intention of leaving the reader guessing as to what it is that is outside behind Dave.) 


"What the hell is t---!" Dave's mother yelled at him as soon as he stepped through the door. Quite the over-reaction he decided, it was only a tiny little bit of metal. It just happened to be pierced through his lip, that was all.

"Oh calm down Mum, it's only a tiny little bit of metal." Dave said to her. At this, his mum was still speechless. It was as if her mouth was moving and she was trying to formulate words, but no sound could quite come out.

"It didn't cost very much at all, Nick's cousin in the market did it for me, gave me a well good deal."

Shock. Horror. Silence.

"Okay, okay. I get it. You don't like it."

More silence as she stared towards him. He didn't say anything. Wait a second. He followed her noiseless gaze and realised that in fact, her silence was not directed towards him at all. He turned around, wondering what exactly could be worse in her eyes than her eldest teenage son coming home with his lip pierced. Then he saw it.


(This piece was intended to be the beginning of a short story with no specific theme or stimulus. Ideally, it would have been longer, however due to a lack of inspiration/concentration and a probable hangover from yours truly, the entire thing was only three quarters of  page. So I guess it still is the beginning, it's just the very beginning, that's all. :p)


Scott remembered the very first time he saw her. She was virtually covered, head to toe, in splatters of white Dulux paint - on her hands, arms, face and even her messy blonde hair had unintentional white highlights in it. The oversized mens shirt and sweat pants she was wearing were covered in paint too, a pair of distinct feminine handprints smeared down the sides of the trousers where she'd wiped her hands. Despite all this however, she was one of the most beautiful people that Scott had ever laid eyes on, and he couldn't help but notice how her warm eyes met his in a shy gaze and then moved away again, a small smile playing about her lips. She also happened to be his wife's first cousin.