The Writing Conference | Conneree AU || ✔

Chapter III

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Conner woke up to his alarm with a start.  It took him a moment to realize he was actually in New York. When reality set in, he was filled with adrenaline. Pretending he was a character in a montage, he got ready at top-speed, doing each thing as quickly as possible.

He was out the door of the hotel room in 15 min. A new record for him. He was down the stairs before he realized he forgot his phone. He raced back upstairs and unlocked his room, grabbed his phone off the nightstand, and ran back down the stairs.

He grabbed a little breakfast from the buffet. The food looked good, but he wasn't all that hungry. He was pumping with adrenaline, ready for the day ahead of him.

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Conner arrived at the front desk of the Williams Press building on time. A first for him. Not to the Williams Press building, but for being on time.

He walked up to the lady checking people in and waited for his turn.

"Next!" The lady said, motioning him forward. He stepped forward. "Name, please?"

"Conner Bailey,"

"Conner Bailey, Conner Bailey," the lady muttered while running her finger down the list. "Conner Bailey!" She said as she located his name. "Perfect! Here's your name badge. Please proceed down the corridor to the right and take your first right. The third door on the left is the author's waiting room."

She handed him his badge that has his name printed on it in fancy cursive font with parentheses under it saying; (Possible Author Candidate.). Conner took the badge and pinned it onto his flannel while walking down the right corridor. He took the first right and came to a stop in front of the third door on the left. He hesitated before going in.

"Are you alright there?" The voice came from behind him. He turned and came face-to-face with a tall young woman with blonde hair and a purple beanie.

"Yes, I'm fine, just, um," he stuttered, which wasn't unusual for him around girls.

"First-time jitters?" The girl guessed correctly. Conner nodded slowly as if unsure himself. The woman laughed and her bangs bounced on her forehead. Conner noticed that they were dyed pink and blue. Interesting. But cool.

"Everyone gets those," she said with a warm smile on her face. "I did last year, they were bad."

"You barely had them, Breanne," a young man, a little older than Connor said as he approached the two of them. He turned to Conner. "Trust me, this girl rarely gets nervous. She's a bottle of good vibes and no-show temperance."

Conner instantly disliked this guy. He didn't even know his name, but he disliked him. He was taller than Conner, which was the first dislike, but he carried himself in a kingly way that set Conner off.

"Arthur, that's not true," Breanne said.  "I had some nerves, as does everyone.  You just don't know that because your father owns this place."

"She has no nerves," Arthur whispered to Conner with a playful smile Conner instantly wanted to smack off his lips.

Breanne rolled her eyes. "We should be getting in there, so..."

Conner took a moment to realize that she meant for him to move.

"Oh," he said and moved out the way, following the two into the room, shutting the door behind himself.

His first impression of the room was clean.  So unlike his desk in his flat.  There were rows of desks that were side-by-side and next to one another in rows and lines. Conn mentally chose a desk and made his way over to it. He sat down and pulled out his laptop. He heard someone sit down next to him but was too engrossed in his story and typing to notice.

Then he felt a warm breath on the back of his neck. He looked down and noticed the legs of a rolly chair from the desk next to him. His eyes traveled up from the legs of the chair and he noticed the figure of a girl in blue jeans. She must have noticed his stop in typing because she leaned away from his shoulder and rolled a little ways away.

Conner looked up and saw the girl with the purple beanie from the hallway. She smiled and he blushed a little.

"Conner." She said, thinking about the name for a second.

"You know my name?" Conner asked it was freaky that this girl knew his name.  How did she know it?

She laughed. "I saw your login screen." She said.

"Oh," Conner said dumbly. "You're Breanne, right? I mean I heard Arthur, the boy in the hallway say it, so I think it is,"

"Oh, it is," Breanne said with disgust. "It's just not the name I prefer.  And Arthur knows that. My birth name is Breanne but I liked to be called Bree."

"Oh," Conner said, jus noticing the many bracelets that trailed up her arms. "That's cool,"

Bree shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, something weird for her. "We should, um, get to our desks to be ready for the seminar." She said and rolled to her desk, the partition wall blocking either's view of the other.

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