The world felt changed as Cece danced down the street back to her house. She still had to finish her book and she wasn't sure if or how that was going to happen but there was a lightness to her steps that came from the rightness she felt from breaking up with Malcolm. It felt so right, she realized she should have made this decision a long time ago. Probably when Elliot had told her the first time.

"Dear sister!" she sang as she threw their front door open. "I'm home." She kicked off her heels and headed for the kitchen, knowing that was the most likely place she would find Elliot. She was right. Elliot was at the table with a cup of tea in front of her staring off into space. "Elliot," Cece said again.

Elliot looked at her, annoyed. "I was working." Cece came to stand behind her sister and looked where her sister had been looking to find what Elliot had been working on. "It's in here," Elliot clarified, pointing to her head, "not out there."

Cece nodded in understanding. Without saying another word she moved to the cabinets and began to pull out the ingredients for pancakes. She hadn't eaten a thing at the party and after all the activity she was starving.

She was flipping the last batch of pancakes when Elliot finally came out of her dreamy haze and looked around. She looked at Cece and the large plate of pancakes that seemed to have suddenly appeared. Her eyes grew narrow as she scrutinized Cece.

"Something's up," Elliot finally said.

"How astute you are sister," Cece said. "I broke up with Malcolm."

It was surprising how fast Elliot's demeanor changed. It went from mildly tolerant to shiny bright with joy in a second. In the next second, she was out of her chair, shouting for joy as she violently hugged Cece.

"Oh, happy day! The sun doth shine on me with good fortune! The clouds have answered my countless prayers!" Elliot sang as she took Cece's hand and forced Cece to dance around the kitchen. "Ding Dong the President is gone!"

Cece laughed and let Elliot prance her around the kitchen, even joining in for the last rendition of "ding dong the President is gone," until she smelled something burning and had to rush to the stove to save the last batch of pancakes.

Elliot continued to dance around the kitchen praising random things that came to mind that her sister had finally heeded her advice. She didn't sit again until Cece had made up her plate of pancakes and started eating.

"I don't know how Malcolm would feel about all this celebrating," Cece said as Elliot finally started grabbing pancakes.

"Malcolm is free to think whatever he wants, just as long as I don't have to deal with him anymore," Elliot said.

"He wasn't as bad as you make him seem," Cece said as Elliot joined her at the table.

"Oh, I know," Elliot said. "It was mostly you." Cece looked at her sister in disbelief but Elliot just waved it away. "You were the worst. All the complaining and up and down. I love Malcolm, now I hate him. He is my muse, he left me!" Elliot said in the whiniest voice.

"I don't sound like that," Cece said, much more offended by the voice Elliot used than by her words.

"Not out here," Elliot said, motioning around them, "but in here." She pointed to her head.

"That's your fault," Cece argued.

"Probably, but we both know my mind creates most of my problems. But enough about me. Tell me about the break-up."

Over double servings of pancakes, Cece told Elliot about everything that happened. From running into Barista Boy to breaking up with Malcolm and her final goodbye to Franklin. Elliot nodded along as she listened to the story unfold.

"And then I came home," Cece finished.

Elliot was thoughtfully silent for a moment. "I will admit I always thought Franklin made more sense with you than Malcolm," she finally said.

"Why? Because he is rebellious and has no inhibition?"

"Precisely," Elliot said. "You've never been one for convention and Malcolm is the very definition of conventional. I know this for a fact because I was looking the word up in the dictionary and his name was there."

"Mom always encouraged us to try new things," Cece said. "Plus, the power of the muse is very strong."

Cece went quiet the weight of saying goodbye to her muse fully landing for the first time. Seeing Malcolm's world through Barista Boy's eyes and realizing it wasn't for her had been the driving force behind breaking up with Malcolm. But now he was gone and she still had four chapters left in her novel.

"What am I going to do about my book?" she said, more to herself than to Elliot.

"Easy. Finish it," Elliot said.

Cece glared at her sister's weak form of support. "But..."

"You will be fine," Elliot stated firmly. "Malcolm was gone for three weeks and you produced more chapters in that span of time than you have in any other three weeks of dating Malcolm. You've never needed Malcolm."

Cece thought about it and knew Elliot was right. As much as Malcolm had inspired her, her usual rate of completing a chapter was one per week, but while he had been gone she had more than doubled that.

"Is it the Thinking Cup then?" she guessed.

She tried to remember what had happened during those three weeks that had helped her write so much. All she could remember was the Thinking Cup, a lot of coffee, and Barista Boy.

"Nope," Elliot said. "It's just you. You are a great writer. I have been saying this since the first day you started writing."

"It must be the Thinking Cup," Cece said not hearing a word Elliot said.

"Nope."

Cece thought about how she had gone there after her attempt at writing at Tristan's office and had written for the first time since Malcolm had left. "I will go tomorrow."

"Where are you going tomorrow?" Tristan asked, standing in the entrance of the kitchen.

Both sisters jumped. "Where did you come from?" Elliot asked.

"The party that Cece ditched me at," Tristan said. He moved to the cabinet to grab a plate and began to stack pancakes on it.

"You were fine," Cece said.

"Of course I was fine," Tristan said. "I excel in wealthy environments." The sisters rolled their eyes. "Did you have a reason for leaving me behind?" he asked Cece.

"I broke up with Malcolm and since I was technically there with him I thought it was best I left," Cece said.

"Well, well," Tristan said, looking at his sister with pride. "The deed is finally done."

"I think 'ding dong the President is gone' has a better ring to it," Elliot said.

"Whatever you're choice of celebratory song, I am indeed done with Malcolm," Cece said.

Elliot grinned. "One down, one more to go." She turned her gaze to Tristan, resting her chin on her clasped hands. Cece quickly imitated Elliot's posture.

"I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about," Tristan said, looking at the sisters lazily.

"Then he's much dumber than I thought he was," Cece loudly whispered to Elliot.

"Maybe that's why he is mother's favorite," Elliot whispered back. "She knew he was the dumbest child and took pity."

"You both know exactly why I am mother's favorite," he said, completely unruffled.

"Because you walked at three weeks," Cece said.

"And recited the Gettysburg Address at six months," Elliot added. "So it doesn't add up that someone so smart from such an early age would not get my not-so-subtle comment."

"Weird," Cece said.

"I know what you meant," Tristan snapped, finally revealing that some of what the sisters had said had irked him. The sisters smiled victoriously. "But I don't care. I'm not breaking up with Wendy."

"Why not?" Cece said. "I finally took the plunge and broke up with Malcolm. I mean, I have no idea whether I will be able to write at all tomorrow but..."

"Precisely," Tristan said. "I'm just not as brave as you."

Both sisters rolled their eyes, knowing Tristan was only saying that to get them to stop talking about Wendy.

"Fine," Cece said, holding up her hands in surrender, "just don't come complaining to us when you are annoyed with having to deal with Wendy."

"Correction, don't come to me," Elliot said. "You can complain to Cece all you want." Cece glared at Elliot. "It's called consequences. I have had to deal with you complaining about Malcolm and now you can be the one to deal with Tristan."

"Don't come to me either," Cece said. "We all know I will be struggling enough to get this book done." She sighed heavily.

"You got this," Elliot said, laying a supportive hand on her shoulder. "You are going to walk into The Thinking Cup like a boss-writer tomorrow, order your iced coffee and write the best dang chapter you've ever written. And until then, more pancakes?"

Cece didn't feel like a boss-writer the next morning when she walked into The Thinking Cup, but she walked in nonetheless. She was determined to finish the book without Malcolm. Mostly because she wanted to prove to herself that she didn't need him as a muse but also because she had fifteen unread emails in her inbox from her agent begging her for more pages.

The coffee shop was quiet. Cece suspected everyone else was out enjoying the beautifully perfect day, but she didn't let the bright blue sky distract her. She gripped the straps of her backpack and marched to the front counter.

Barista Boy was enjoying the quiet morning by reading a book. He lowered the book when she reached the counter and a smile spread across his face. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning it is, whether it's good or not is still being determined," Cece replied.

"The the determiner is...?"

"Whether Millie Kate wants to cooperate and let me finish this book."

He nodded in understanding. "How is our dear friend Millie Kate?"

Cece sank against the counter as she thought about how to answer. "Last week she was doing great, moving through her life and making some very good and bold decisions."

"She finally decided who to choose?" he guessed. Cece nodded. "Who is the lucky man that won her heart?"

"Wesley James."

"Yes!" Barista Boy cheered, throwing a celebratory fist into the air. "I've been pulling for my boy Wes this whole time."

Cece grinned then leaned in close. "Between you and me, I'm Team Wes too, but don't let my characters know that," she loudly whispered.

Barista Boy zipped his mouth closed. "Millie Kate has made her decision. What now?"

"That is the question," she said.

"Actually, the real question is: if a deaf man burps in the woods, and nobody is around to hear it, did it make a sound?" Barista Boy asked with a goofy grin.

Cece laughed. "Well..."

She started to think about the repercussions of actions and decisions. Was it true there was only power in them if there was someone around to be affected by them? What if a bold decision was made with a whole town watching? Would that magnify the repercussions? Would it alter the path going forward?

Cece thought about Millie Kate. She had lived her whole life following one path until Wesley James had given her the courage to chose a different path. How would the town's reaction affect her? Would it embolden her? Or would it make her change her mind? Were her feelings for Wesley James strong enough to withstand the judgment they would face?

In her gut, Cece knew that Millie Kate and Wesley James would stand the test of time, no matter what the town thought about Millie Kate's decision. But Cece knew she needed to be able to put that feeling into words to convince her reader the happy ending was realistic. Her brain started to work through the problem and her fingers began to itch as she saw Wesley James and Millie Kate having a conversation about this very thing.

Cece walked away from the front counter without another word to find an empty table. She pulled out her computer and was five hundred words into her next chapter when someone set something down on her table. She looked up to find Barista Boy.

"Your coffee," he said and turned to go like he didn't want to disturb her.

Something about the situation felt familiar to Cece.

"I don't think I ordered coffee," she said.

Barista Boy turned back and shrugged. "I know your order."

She studied him for a moment.

"Have you done this before?" she asked, recalling other times coffee had mysteriously shown up at her table.

"Yeah."

Cece smiled. "Thanks for this," holding up the coffee cup, "and for the other times."

He nodded like it wasn't a big deal. "You're welcome. But you do owe The Thinking Cup forty-two dollars and seventy-five cents."

Cece's eyes grew big at the total. "You've done this a lot?"

"You drink a lot of coffee and you get these crease between your eyes when you are concentrating hard on your computer screen." A soft smile spread across his face for a moment before he caught himself and turned serious. "But mostly because you drink a lot of coffee."

"Well, thank you," Cece said.

She wasn't sure how she had missed him delivering her coffee all the times before. She thought about it for a moment and realized there might have been more she had missed when it came to Barista Boy. She thought back on how he had followed along with her Hendrix scheme without question, joined in watching the Free-Bees Frisbee practice with her and Elliot, and somehow got along with both Elliot and Tristan, which wasn't easy.

The more she thought about it the more she realized that over the last few weeks Barista Boy had become more than just someone who made her coffee. He had become a friend.

"No problem," he said.

He turned to go but a funny thought popped into Cece's head and she called him back.

"I know this is weird since we have already done a covert operation and gone grocery shopping together but I realize I don't know your name," she said. "I mean, you've been Barista Boy to me for the last few weeks, and if you want to stay that way that's fine..."

He grinned. "You know I was thinking just this morning I was ready to drop the whole Barista Boy persona. Like you said we have been grocery shopping together."

"Exactly. What else do you need to do together to call it a friendship?"

"A covert operation of a suspected cyber-terrorist?"

"We've done that!" Cece said excitedly like she hadn't just said it.

"In that case, my name is Milo," he said.

"Milo," Cece repeated, thinking the name suited him. "It's nice to officially meet you."

**********************************************************************

Hey there my crumpet!

Aw isn't that nice... who am I kidding! GRACE WHAT IS THAT!?!?! YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LEAVE US THERE!!! We need to know what happens! *falls to the floor dramatically* We have to know if they get together! If we don't, we all might die and that's just too many bodies to deal with.

Calm down. If you want to know what happens just read Mr. Write.

*Perks up* Oh! What a delightful book this sounds like! I feel like it will be full of wacky jokes, witty witticisms, and a touch of dark humor that's oddly unexpected! I can't wait to read it!

You wrote it, dingus!

EVEN BETTER! That means it's already written! Way we go!!!

Any last thoughts you want to impart before you travel to the next book and continue on with that oddness that are the McKenzies? 💭🗯💬

Vote, comment, follow!

Though Grace was not here for the author's note (cause she's that weird type of writer who finishes a work and moves on real quickly) I know she's happy that you read it and hopes you enjoyed Cece's wackiness!