#this excerpt

I was tagged by @crossroadcrow to share the last seven lines of the WIP I was working on last. Thank you for the tag!

I cheated a little and picked a few more than seven lines, but I didn't want to remove too kuch context from an already out of context scene. Here's where I left off in my novel WIP "A Place to Return":

"What? Is it so weird that I read books? Am I not genius enough for that?" the spike in his heart rate makes Leo regret his phrasing instantly. He's following the guidelines, but it feels like he's asking to give everything away. Is it weird? Of course it's weird. He sounds too playful, Owen has specifically said that the way he teases his friends is more lighthearted than how he treats his family and Kelly falls under the family category. There's no way he hasn't noticed the lack of bitterness in Leo's tone, even if he did flinch as soon as the words had hit the air. Leo had forgotten to get mad at Kelly for not knocking before coming in the room, too, and that's completely out of character. Something about rereading his native language must have thrown him off. Disrupted his usual immersion in Owen's personality. He makes do by crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow as if to silently ask what the uncomfortable-looking teenager wants from him.

“... I too have been searching for stability and peace for so long, but I can't shake the thought that people, maybe even me, always want some kind of drama. It's like a strange disease that makes you feel anxious after a little bit of stability.”