Jillian Chantal

Once a month, those of us at Tuesday Tales write to a photo prompt as opposed to a word prompt.  I chose a cozy ornament photo for mine. We are limited to 300 words for the photo weeks.

I’m writing a short story called Ugly Christmas Sweater Quest. It won’t be published this year because there’s no time to edit it but since I was inspired by the season, I am writing it now.  The main character has been invited to a party by a guy she’s been crushing on for a while. She has found her sweater and met a guy who was also looking for one- they helped each other find embellishments to add dimension to their sweaters. He’s cute but she’s focused on her crush and impressing him.

Check out the other tales and photos here

No one ever said she was beautiful. Heck, not even pretty. It was always that she was the fun one or the witty one, never the gorgeous one. Not that she really wanted to be known by her looks but once in a while, it’d be nice to be told she was lovely.
“Thanks for the compliment.” Yvette glanced down at her watch. “I better go.”
“It was nice shopping with you. I guess I’ll see you around since our friends seem to have hit it off.”
“Sure. Thanks for the help with the pins.” She held them up and headed to the cashier to pay.
He followed and got in line behind her. “I’m really not stalking you, but I can’t steal these fabulous earrings and spectacular hat.”
“Of course not. They’re so valuable, you’d be arrested for a felony.” Yvette handed over the cash for her items and said, “I’ll be seeing you.”
When she got to her car, she tossed the bag inside and headed for the dollar store for some stockings to hang on her fake mantel and candy canes to add flair to the sweater.
Happy with her purchases, Yvette returned to her on campus apartment, smiling when she walked up and saw the ornaments she and Maggie had hung in the windows that morning. They didn’t have room for a tree much larger than a tabletop one, so they tried to get more festive by decorating the one window they had that faced the parking lot of the complex. She sat at the small table in their tiny, one-wall kitchenette and got to work making her sweater stand out. She had to make sure Mark noticed her.
As she sewed the stockings onto the sweater, she thought about the Nordic Guy. She couldn’t believe she didn’t even get his name.