Free My Sort-of, Kind-of Hero by Emily Harper

them to fall in love this second. And I hope they don’t feel like they have some unattainable expectations to live up to. I want this story to be real, not some romanticised fantasy.
    I knew I should have printed out those novel objectives for them to look over. I would have, but Travis was a little touchy after the whole Ground Rules discussion, and I feel like I have to tip toe around him to keep him from changing his mind. Obviously I don’t want him to back out, but at the same time I need them to give me something. Right now I only have a sentence in my head about the unsure first glance of young love. I’m going to need a little more than that for a full length novel.
    “Everything okay at work?” Travis asks Sara.
    Oh, wrong move. You never bring up work with someone you don’t know very well. For all he knows, she could hate her job and go on and on about it all night. Or they could get into a gossip fest about their coworkers. Either way, I can’t use any of that in the book.
    “Everything is fine,” she says, nodding.
    I look to Travis, and then to Sara, who is looking at me, but as soon as our eyes meet she quickly looks away.
    I knew it: she feels awkward with my presence on this date. Which is completely understandable, but at the same time she’s going to have to get over this quick. Maybe I just need to put her mind at ease a little, get her relaxed so she can forget about me.
    “I love your shoes, Sara,” I say, leaning over my table to get closer to theirs. “Travis was just telling me you always have the nicest shoes.”
    Travis narrows his eyes at me, but I pretend not to see it. Honestly, it’s not like he is saying anything of substance, and someone has to talk.
    “Thank you,” she says to both me and Travis as a blush rises up her neck.
    “You and Travis work together?” I ask.
    “Sara is an assistant to one of the architects in the building we are completing right now,” Travis answers.
    “And he finally asked you out,” I say, leaning my chin in my hand. “That’s so exciting!”
    “Yes, I guess so,” she answers, and darts her eyes down to her lap.
    It’s going to take a little effort to get this one out of her shell, I realise.
    “So what do you like to do in your spare time?” I ask her.
    “I− umm− I like games,” she offers.
    “Board, carnival or computer?”
    “Uh− all I guess,” she shrugs.
    Oh, I think we are going to get along really well. Travis better not screw this up.
    “We should go to a carnival for the next date!” I say, looking to both of them for encouragement. “It’s the ultimate setting for falling in love.”
    “And that’s my first veto,” Travis says.
    I turn to him frowning.
    “You don’t like carnivals?” Sara asks him.
    “He doesn’t like heights,” I say.
    Whenever we went to the carnival as kids, Travis always used to stay with my mom while Scott and I went on the rides. No matter how much we teased him, he wouldn’t set foot on them.
    “Etty,” Travis warns, and offers an apologetic smile to Sara.
    “What?” I ask. “I’m just trying to get to know Sara.”
    “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing?” he asks.
    “Okay, then you do it,” I say, gesturing to her.
    “I don’t mind her asking some questions,” Sara shrugs.
    “Don’t encourage her or she’ll never stop,” Travis says ruefully. “I asked her a question when she was four and she hasn’t shut up since.”
    I scrunch up my face at Travis’s words.
    Sara laughs. “I think it’s nice you have the confidence to speak your mind,” she offers.
    “That mind gets us all in trouble,” Travis says. “I’ve been banned from any magic show in the Greater Toronto Area because of a special surprise she planned last year. Not to mention her latest scheme at convincing two people to be the objects of her next novel.”
    Hmm… I like that they’re finally talking, though I’m not entirely impressed with the direction this conversation is