The Writing Conference | Conneree AU || ✔

Chapter VI

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The second day of the seminar was just as boring as the first, and Conner got home even later that day than yesterday. He skipped dinner again and went straight to bed. He didn't even bother to change out of his clothes before his head hit the pillow, not rising until the morning.

His head rose at a time too early to speak of.  He did his normal routine and made it to the conference just like the other two days before. He entered the desk room and took his normal spot.  Bree wasn't there yet, and for some reason, this worried Conner.  He wondered if something had happened to her.

His worries ceased when she entered the room, decked in her normal converse, and her purple beanie.  Conner could see she was very territorial about it.  She seemed attached to it somehow, which Conner thought weird to be attached to a piece of clothing.

He didn't question it, though, their relationship was weird enough without the added benefit of weird questions.

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The first part of the day was another bring seminar, at least they didn't have to do more boring writing exercises. When lunch came, both Bree and Conner were ready for the break. 

"And I thought the writing exercises were boring," Conner said as he pulled his lunch out of his bag.

"I think this was worse," Bree agreed and reached for her food as well.

They ate in silence for a while before Conner asked the question that had been nagging him for the entirety of the morning.

"Where do you live?" Conner asked.

Bree didn't find this flirtatious in any way, this boy was too shy to be flirtatious. "Oh, I live in Queens," she said, picking the pickles out her sandwich.

"So you live here in New York? That's cool!  I've always wanted to live here, but straight outta college and barely any job, so,"

"I get that," Bree said. "I finished college last year, too.  Finding a sustainable job and a flat with reasonable rent here is so difficult."

"I bet it's harder here than where I live,"

"I think you'd win that bet,"

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The two finished lunch just before they got the notification that the program was starting again. The people who had gone out to lunch were trickling back in the room at a steady pace, and soon everyone was back and ready for the next part of the day.

A projector on the ceiling swiveled toward the front of the room and a screen rolled down from the ceiling. The projector whirred to life and an image appeared on the screen.  The image was of an elderly woman and who Conner assumed to be her husband, an elderly gentleman next to her. They were standing outside an older-looking Williams Press building, a twinkle in each of their eyes.

The door at the back of the room opened and in walked an older version of the two people on the screen in the image. They walked to the front of the room, surveying the population of the room like hawks looking for a kill.

They arrived at the small stage and ascended to the top. There, the man adjusted the microphone to their heights and situated it in the middle of them.  After he was done, the woman playfully shoved him over and situated the mic in front of her, the twinkle in her eyes from the photo visible now.

"Welcome to the Williams Press Annual Conference," she said in a commanding yet sweet voice. "I hope you have enjoyed the boring writing exercises of the past two and a half days that were brought to you by our lovely professor Charlie Charming?"

The professor in the back corner of the room blushed under the comment and attention.

"I am Lucy Camelot and this is my husband, Merlin Camelot," she said, motioning to each of them in turn. "I know, I know, very fairy-tale-y, but, get used to it. We won't change for you."

And that was the end of the snickers that came from all corners of the room. Conner's gaze was focused on them as if his life depended on it. Well, his book did, of course.

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