Bookishly Ever After by Isabel Bandeira

kind of reminds me of
Lord of the Rings
. Really Tolkien-ish.” I moved my finger from box to box, following the story he’d outlined in neat pencil sketches.
    Alec dropped onto the couch next to me. “You think? It’s not too derivative, though, is it?”
    “No, you’re good. I like the steampunk thing and I really like the story between Liliel and Aladir. It’s epic in a nondepressing way.”
    “Fine, you two, ignore me in my hour of need.”
    Alec grabbed her arm and pulled her down onto the couch next to him. “You’ll be fine.”
    “You two are completely useless when it comes to interpersonal stuff.” She slumped into the sofa like she was annoyed with us, but her lips twitched up ever so slightly. “It’s like you’re permanently stunted when it comes to romantic relationships.”
    I shared an amused look with Alec. “You’re totally right. So,” I reached over Alec and handed her his storyboard, “what do you think of these?”
    “Heartless.” Em took the notebook and lodged her tongue in the side of her cheek as she flipped through it. “That’s a lot of detail. Do you think you’ll be able to animate all this?”
    “I can try. Think of how cool all those gears will look on screen.”
    “Like whenever Liliel extends her parasol-gun?” I bounced excitedly next to him. “This is going to be the best game ever.”
    “Oooh, I like the idea of hiding the steam-powered rocket thrusters in her bustle. I bet you can even have the support hoops and her corset stays light up whenever she powers up.” She handed the notebook back to him and shook her head. “As awesome as it looks, you’re going to be stuck behind ascreen for the rest of your life working on this.”
    “Making a cane cannon come to life will definitely be worth it.”
    She arched her brows. “As your unofficial big sister—”
    “By a month,” Alec said under his breath.
    “I think you need to balance your gaming stuff with, you know, real life? And I don’t mean just hanging with the guys or us.”
    Alec snorted and his eyes met mine. I rolled my eyes in sympathy.
    Em didn’t even notice. “Look at how good things are going with Phoebe. I can totally do the same for you…”
    I frowned over at Em. “Things are going good?” I tugged at my turtleneck for the millionth time, trying to breathe and wishing I’d stopped at home to change instead of coming straight to Alec’s house. I’d knit it out of incredibly soft bronze-y merino from the store’s remnant bin, but it always suffocated me. Grace had dug it out of my knits drawer and declared it a perfect fit and color, but apparently, perfect meant a size too small.
    “Yes, like that adorable flirt-fest between the two of you the other day in English? Alec, you know Dev. He’s totally into Feebs, isn’t he?”
    “Whoa.” He put his hand up in the “stop” position. “I’m Switzerland. I’m not getting involved. You already dragged Grace into whatever insane plan you have going on—don’t pull me into it, too.” They stared each other down and he added, “And no, I don’t want you to set me up with anyone, either.”
    “Fine.” She crossed her arms and fake-pouted. “Keep cultivating your reclusive nerd aura in your goal to become the next Howard Hughes.”
    Alec suppressed a smile as he deliberately grabbed a tissue and, in imitation of the famous recluse, used it as a barrier between his hand and her arm as he gave her a shove. “Working on it. The only thing I need now is a couple million dollars.”
    I let out a snort, which set off Em’s stifled laughter. She looked from him to me and shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with the two of you.”
    “Why do you have to do anything with us?” I asked.
    She leaned into Alec and reached over him to squeeze my arm. “Because you’re both so stinkingly talented and awesome and fun and I want the rest of the world to see that.”
    Alec narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m not sure