Matt had always been a bit of a dreamer. He could remember that from an early age his greatest companion had been his imagination and as time had passed and he had gotten older, the strength and complexities of the worlds he created in his mind only grew. They had grown to such an extent that he was, at only 25, a published and relatively successful author. He wasn't going to be a millionaire any time soon, but he'd amassed a dedicated following in a relatively short time and his stories were more than keeping him afloat.
For all the fantastical things he could imagine, his real passion was grounding his stories in reality, or at least mostly. He had once read somewhere that the best way to write about reality is to allow one impossible thing to happen; it could be a rule, a scenario, a person even, but everything else had to stay within the realms of possibility. He had written about a detective named Serenity Brown who had the uncanny ability to touch an object and know it's history, framing that ability around the need for the detective to find evidence to prove what they had seen instead of figuring out who was responsible for a crime. Matt always felt this idea was a little unoriginal, but the critics and his fans praised him for his different approach to established ideas.
He'd been interviewed by a few smaller publications and even one local TV station about his inspirations before and how he had come to develop his talent. He would tell them something generic about 'reading and watching a lot of different things' and sometimes allude that he wrote stories in his spare time. What he would never do is explain what those stories were about. The truth of where his stories started was something he felt very embarrassed about and he wasn't about to share that with anyone.
He was sat in a café he hadn't been to before but that he picked because it was relatively close to his home and had free Wi-Fi for paying customers. Three cups of coffee and a sandwich down and he certainly felt like he fit the description. He considered himself lucky that whilst he was famous, he wasn't especially recognisable yet which afforded him the luxury of being able to work in public without anyone really paying him much attention. That said he wouldn't dare write certain parts of his books in a public space.
His stories didn't shy away from the more sexually driven aspects of human nature and if he was being honest with himself, those were the parts he enjoyed writing the most. Writing them felt like a very intimate and private thing but was also easily the most thrilling part of his story writing process for him. Admittedly, he had had to reign back this aspect compared to his earlier writings, a previous potential publisher telling him that one of his earliest drafts for what became his most successful series was 'a string of explicit sex scenes with less relevant connecting material than a broken two piece jigsaw.' This publisher had become the inspiration for a minor character in the book who was generally reviled and an unapologetic jerk.
Drawing inspiration from real people was exceptionally common for Matt. He would never base the main antagonist of his books off of someone he knew, but dotted about his books were little literary caricatures of his friends, family and even people he met in shops and restaurants. He had alluded to this in an interview once not realising that he would then have to explain this to the people he'd written about. No one was especially offended or upset, but it was very awkward.
This was part of the reason he enjoyed writing his stories in public spaces. He could watch people, study their behaviour and characteristics and then create a character based off of that, sometimes visiting the same place for a week at a time just to observe the regulars before moving on to somewhere new. Perhaps a man would walk in wearing the same crumpled suit every day, unshaven and dishevelled and ordering nothing but a black coffee before leaving. What was his life like outside the café? Was he a down on his luck office worker? Was he a compulsive gambler hoping today would be his lucky day? What about a family? Is he in a happy relationship? All of these questions would fill Matt's mind and by the time he was done, a new living, breathing, walking and talking character would be gracing his pages.
Today had not bore much fruit. The café itself wasn't particularly busy and no one had really stood out to him. But that was ok, sometimes it took a few days before anyone particularly exceptional would come in and he was willing to wait whilst he drafted ideas for locations and scenarios. The waitress had been very pleasant to him so far and he was considering writing in a small scene that would include someone like her, but he wasn't 100% certain yet. He barely looked up from his laptop as a woman walked past him, stopped and turned towards him.
"Matt? Is that you?"
Not really used to being recognised, doubly so by name, Matt looked up and saw a buxom and beautiful woman smiling at him. It took him a second, but with surprised delight he recognised who it was standing in front of him.
"Ms. Blackwell! So nice to see you!"
"You're not in school anymore, Matt, I think you can call me Sally now," she laughed warmly.
Sally Blackwell had started work as a Teaching Assistant at Matt's school about 10 years ago and whilst she had never directly worked with Matt, her presence in the classroom was always noted by him. Back then she had been a pretty young woman that the vast majority of the boys in his class had fawned after, himself included in that vast majority, and the additional time had only made her more striking. Her black hair and smoky eye shadow accented by her pale skin made her look like a black and white pinup model.
"Of course, sorry Sally," he smiled back.
"Do you mind if I join you? I don't want to intrude," she asked earnestly.
"Not at all, please," he smiled back, offering her the empty seat apposite him which she took with a short thanks. "Have you ordered anything yet?"
"No, I've only just walked in," she replied. She turned towards the counter and caught the attention of the waitress who smiled and walked over.
"Hi Sally, the usual?" she asked, already writing the order down on her notepad.
"Yes please Mary," Sally replied.
"Put it on my bill please, Mary," Matt said, "if you don't mind of course, Sally?"
"That's very kind of you," Sally smiled across the table.
Mary nodded and took the order away.
"So, how have you been?" Matt asked.
"I've been well thanks. I did my teaching qualification a few years ago so I'm running the show in the classroom now," she told him.
"I'm almost sad I'm not at school any more in that case," Matt said before the realisation of what he had just said hit him and he apologised profusely. He felt like he was that horny teenage boy again for a second that had just said something that could be conceived as highly inappropriate to his teacher. Thankfully, Sally laughed and waved away his concern.
"I would ask how you've been doing but as an avid reader of your books I don't think I have to," she smiled.
Matt was stunned for a moment.
"Y-you read my books?"
"Yeah, I think they're great!"
Matt felt his blood run cold. It was bad enough the idea that someone he knew and, to an extent, still had quite the crush on had read all of the graphic sex he'd written about, but what made it worse was the knowledge that like so many other people he knew, he had written a character based off of her into his books. And not just a side character that was barely featured. She was the main character. Serenity Brown was, for all intents and purposes, Sally Blackwell.
"Is everything ok?" she asked, concerned at his change in demeanour.
"Yes, sorry, I er..." he replied, scrambling for words, "I didn't think it was the kind of thing you'd enjoy."
"On the contrary, since I picked up a copy of the first one, I haven't been able to put them down!"
Slowly calming as the realisation that he was probably overreacting swept in, Matt let his artistic curiosity lead his questions.
"Really? What do you like about them?"
"I love the concept and the plots around them, it's almost like a crime novel in reverse, like we know as the reader who did it and we're there with Serenity just trying to figure out how to prove it without exposing her gifts, you know?"
Mary arrived with Sally's drink, which she thanked the waitress for before continuing.
"And I love the character of Serenity Brown. The way she acts, how you describe her, what she looks like, I just feel like I really connect with her, you know?"
"I-is there anything else you like about them?" Matt asked through a nervous laugh.
"Well, I mean yes there is, but erm..."
It was now Sally looking a little embarrassed as Matt suddenly realised what she meant.
"Oh, right! Ok, yeah, no more to be said there," he fumbled, trying to diffuse the tension with all the dexterity of a brick.
"So do you come to this café and write often?" Sally asked, moving on far more confidently than Matt had tried to.
