Announcing the TOUGHEST Flash Fiction Challenge Ever: 4-Way Dialog (AND a special surprise!)

This was really hard for me to write. Usually these challenges just come pouring out, but not this time. Please excuse the quirkiness of this story. I finished it after waking up at 2 am, something that happens a lot because I work nights and my sleep schedule is always a mess. Anyway, here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

The second bottle of wine was nearly gone when the lights went out. A quick glance to the window told me it was at least the whole street if not the neighborhood. No one was panicking. The other two across from us were oddly silent. Jon, my boyfriend of six months touched my arm. “Are there any candles?”
“One, maybe. In the bottom drawer.” I gestured to the kitchen as if he could see me.
He got up and fumbled around, making noise. His brother, who sat opposite me, shifted in his chair and his girlfriend beside him picked up her fake cigarette that made a little whooshing noise before it let out the vapor.
“I can’t find the candle.” He sat back down and placed his mobile phone next to him illuminating the table, but not much.
Whoosh. “Well, this makes the evening interesting.” She tipped her wine glass to her lips amid the vapor.
Jon’s brother used the same word in every sentence. When he opened his mouth, I listened for it as a matter of course.
“It was already interesting.” Pause. Where was it? “Actually.” Right, I knew it.
“My phone should last until the lights come back on.” He nudged my elbow.
Whoosh. “How do you know?”
I fanned at the vapor.
“Actually, I don’t mind. It makes the atmosphere more intimate. I feel like telling all of you my secrets.”
Whoosh. “What secrets? How you think your brother is better looking than you are?”
“He is. I accept that. It doesn’t bother me at all, actually.”
Someone bumped my leg with their foot. I moved it but the foot was persistent. Toes wrapped around my ankle, then started to travel up my calf. I pinched my boyfriend but he recoiled. The foot kept going. I was reminded of the time Mr. Actually went through his brother’s phone and found a picture of me with very little clothes on. I kicked the foot.
Whoosh. “Ouch.”
I turned toward her. “That’s bad for you. Puts holes in your lungs.” I picked up my wine glass. Did she know it was me?
Now someone was touching my knee. I wanted to kick all of them out, retrieve my dog from the neighbor’s apartment and go to bed… alone. I took a sip and replaced the glass. I pinched the hand, hard, cursing the too small table under my breath. I knew this wasn’t a good idea.
“Ouch. I dropped my napkin, actually.”
The only person not molesting me, my boyfriend, pressed buttons on his phone. “A power line is down. It says it will be at least two hours.”
Whoosh. “It will be impossible to get a cab.”
“Actually, you’re right.”
Jon put his arm around my shoulders. He was always touching me, even when my subliminal messages said don’t. We would have to work on that. “Let’s just open some more wine and relax then.” His fingers pressed the side of my neck.
“There’s a bottle breathing on the counter.” I turned my head in the general direction.
Whoosh. “Breathing. That’s funny.”
“Not for the wine.” The tone of my voice was lower. I felt a little light headed. Too much wine? Not enough meaningful conversation? Maybe both.
“I’ll get it. You lovebirds stay put. It’s no trouble, actually.”
Lovebirds? He called me the ice queen in one of the texts I intercepted by accident. Well, not really by accident.
Jon kissed my neck just underneath my ear. He knew I liked that, just not here, in front of everybody. Did the blackout give them all permission to act like idiots?
Whoosh. “Jon, what’s the time?”
“Twelve thirty.”
Sigh. Whoosh. “It’s late. Do you mind if I stretch out on your couch?” She leaned forward so our heads were almost touching. “I’ve had too much to drink.”
“Not at all.”
Jon let me go and retrieved the bottle of wine. He poured the three of us a glass.
“Actually, she’s tired. It’s been a long day for her. Are you all right, darling, on your own over there?”
Whoosh. “Don’t worry about me.”
The two of them drank deeply from their glasses. It would be hard to get rid of them if they finished that bottle. They looked different in the nearly dark, softer, and the resemblance was stronger. They had the same forehead, and nose. I had never noticed that before.
“She’s right, actually. You are better looking.”
“Of course I am.” He put his hand over mine. “But you’re smarter.”
“Yes…actually, I am.”
“And you make more money.”
“Maybe, but actually Mom likes you better.”
I could tell where this was going. I squeezed Jon’s hand, not hard this time, then caressed the top of his thumb and fingers. This was not going to turn into a sibling fight for supremacy.
“Why don’t all of you spend the night here? You can’t wander around in the dark. The chair next to the couch reclines.”
Whoosh. “Thanks so much, and for the dinner.”
I stood up, quite unsteadily. “Jon, can you get the dog please?”
His brother took the hint and carried his glass with him to my small living room. He sat in the reclining chair and sighed. I left the plates on the table and made my way slowly to the bedroom door. I really was tipsy. “Good night you two.”
No more whooshing, or actually. They must have passed out fast.
I couldn’t find my pajamas without the light and I wasn’t an organized person that had everything in the same place, so I fumbled in my overstuffed drawers for something to put on. I settled for yoga pants and a pajama top that was on the floor. My head was spinning. I turned on my back and closed my eyes.
My next sensation was the dog licking my cheek. I smiled and put her down at the foot of the bed. Rustling noises, then Jon’s body pressed against my back. His hand touched the curve of my waist but his movements were awkward and heavy. No finesse. Too intoxicated. Those type of encounters were short, unsatisfying, not worth the effort, and out of the question with his Mr. Actually and Miss e cigarette listening in the next room. I took his hand and tucked it under my chin.
“Good night, Jon.”


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