The purpose of this is to explain my reasoning behind the short story Being Cool. So, you the reader, can see how your interpretation matched up with my intention.

Unbelievable Story

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. You may have felt that if you were in Cas’ place, you might have given Avery a chance, but sure as hell would have left as soon as they started talking about depressing shit. Thus, making this an unbelievable circumstance. And, I agree that would most likely happen for most people.

We live in a society where people are more comfortable becoming physically intimate with one another, but run away from emotional intimacy and vulnerability. I think something is wrong with that. So, the purpose of this short story became a possibility of what could happen when two people are honest with one another, and open to not immediately putting up an emotionless wall.

They, Them, Their

“Yo Alex, what’s up with Avery? Are they a man or a woman? Or conjoined twins?” Some of you may have wondered.

Originally, Cas and Avery were both going to use they, them, their gender pronouns. But, I yet to have the level of skill with writing to keep them differentiated enough in the story to avoid overlap. So, I settled on Cas self identifying as she, her, hers. With Avery keeping to the original intention.

As to why… because the gender identity of a character should not overtake the importance of personality. I wanted to write a story focused on the characters’ actions and what they chose to say to one another. By doing so, you the reader, can choose how you wish to fill in the gender identities, thus making it more accessible. Over the course of writing this, I’ve envisioned Cas and Avery being man/woman, two women, two men, non binary, transgender, and all the other colors in the spectrum.

“But Alex, Cas referred to Avery as Mr. on the bridge,” you may point out.

True. I left that in to show the importance of asking someone their prefered pronouns. If I do continue this story, Avery would have that brief, simple talk with Cas on how they prefer to be called. It is an important question, but shouldn’t be seen as a trail to ask.

Descriptives of Appearance

Referring to the previous point, I wanted to keep the two characters physically ambiguous. The look of Avery changed drastically in my mind over the course of writing Being Cool. I could say one of the images I had of Avery was of myself, but that didn’t last long and served only as a basis. The finale story has enough wiggle room where, if I did continue it, I can settle on an image later for Avery. Cas is a different story.

The final image for Cas was based on someone I once met at a club. If anyone that knows me in real life has heard me tell the story of The Pharmacists, that’s whom she is based off of. No, the pharmacist is not someone I hooked up with. Long story short, if someone tries to help you with hiccups and they say “trust me, I’m a pharmacist,” do NOT trust them.

‘But Alex, I like descriptives,’ you may be thinking.

That’s fair, so I’ll give you a little more to picture for Cas. I’m sorry, I do not remember the name of the woman Cas is based off of (even if I did I would not tell, just owning up to it). I was mildly intoxicated and she had only said it once. Also, I am using she, her, hers because her friend refered to her as such.

*Begins taking a trip down memory lane*

This woman stood just off the dance floor, under a wooden frame. Her hands were buried in her black leather jacket. Stoic blue eyes looked on, trying to seem uninterested. At 5’5” you might miss her, but as it neared 2am, the place began to empty. She was growing impatient, seeming to have not gotten the attention she was hoping for.

Hard to believe when they paired their jacket with a white tank top, black pencil skirt, black stockings, and black boots. That’s right, boots. And her hair, a pixie cut, was accentuated by a two tone shade; light blonde draped over a darker undercut. Quite the formidable foe in the game of attraction.

“Damn Alex, did you even bother talking to her?” You may judge.

Yes, I did. And, she had the kind of voice you could easily listen to in conversation. Alright, that’s all you’re getting from me on this. Moving on.

Sex Scene

Yes, I wrote the scene of Cas and Avery having sex. And, I chose to cut it out. Hence, the [Error data not found]. I did so because the scene describes genitalia, and that would have locked me into a sex for Avery. Which, referring back to the previous previous point, I didn’t want for this story.  

Will I ever publish it? Maybe.

Depressing Stuff

I gave some aspects of my life to Avery and Cas (more so Avery). That was done in hopes of taking an emotion I have and seeing what it can become. While I appreciate you reading my writing, a large part of it is for myself.

This is a topic I’ll get more into in another On: Series post. Such as the bridge.

Being Cool

I named it as such because the very first notion of this story was supposed to be on how I think the aesthetic of smoking is cool (incredibly bad for your health, though). Then it became a red herring of sorts. Since, the focus shifted to being authentic.

Picture of Me

Yes, that’s really me. I mean, my beard has grown a bit more over the past couple days. But, for this type of post it seems it should be more personal. So, I included it. If I look sad, it’s because I got a cold. #ChicagoWeather.

If you find my face offensive, sorry (?). Just scroll past it.

END

Okay, that’s it for now. Please feel free to let me know what you think. Whether it be about Being Cool or this post, a question I might not have answered, or just to say you don’t like my face.

Till next time.

P.S. I probably forgot some things I wanted to bring up. So, this may be edited at a later date. Meh.