Lost in the Scenario

Nina North sits on her bed, fingers tapping at her laptop. She's building her first novel and starring as the lead. In the scene, her sprained ankle has her waiting in a hospital bed. The door opens and Valentina Nappi enters looking like a fantasy in scrubs. Nina explains her injury, and Valentina slides both hands along Nina's calf and thigh, checking for damage with slow, deliberate fingers. Back in her room, a knock at the door yanks her out of the story. She answers. Her doctor from the page is standing there. Nina slams the door, then rewrites. Mexico. A jail cell. Indecent exposure. Tiffany Watson sits across from her, bored and restless, so she crawls over to pass the time. Their mouths meet, hands reach under cheap cotton, heat rises fast. Another knock. Nina opens. It's Tiffany in the flesh. She slams the door again and dives under the blanket. Minutes later both women push into the bedroom asking why she left. Nina swings at them when they start pulling her clothes off. She shouts that she writes the rules and they freeze. The new order sticks. She lets them kiss each other. She watches, then decides if the characters are real, she might as well make them useful before she completely loses her mind.