New Adult Threesome Contest Entry #4

Title: GIRLS WHO TRAVEL

Genre: New Adult Commercial Fiction

Word Count: 75,000 words

Query:

Kika Shores, bohemian backpacker, is one of those itchy-footed girls who are constantly asked "Where are you going next?" and "When are you going to settle down?" But when she tries to reconnect with the object of her last holiday "roadmance," Kika ends up falling for a homebody instead inciting a lighthearted examination of what happens when what we want is at odds with who we think we are.

An abridged version of this manuscript was personally chosen by bestselling author, Marian Keyes as winner of Wattpad’s “Marian Keyes Short Story Contest,” and has been read online nearly 300,000 times. Also, it was shortlisted in the "Best Opening Chapter with Random House" contest at the 2013 Festival of Writing in York.

First 250:

Ten thousand miles away, my mom was probably wondering why I hadn’t called her. But see, when you’re living inside a tropical screensaver and having sheet-clasping sex with a professional Irish rogue, you tend to neglect mundane tasks.

Today. I will call her today.

I just knew she was going to ask if I found out Lochlon’s secret yet, and I had no update for her. Somehow, not knowing was bothering her more than it was bothering me.

“I don’t get it, Kika,” she protested during our last phone call. “You’ve been gallivanting around South India with some guy who admitted that he’s hiding his past from you and you still haven’t gotten any details?”

But after nearly a year of backpacking through countries that valued coffee and cigarette breaks over flawless schedules, I was forced into this state of over-relaxation.

“He’ll tell me when he’s ready,” I rationalized to both her and myself. Still, my mom wasn’t buying it.

Tomorrow. I will call her tomorrow. I decided as unrolled my limbs, broadcasting the kind of lazy-summer smile that belonged on the heroine of a brightly colored Hollywood movie. Pushing the mosquito net aside, I writhed into my reptile-clammy bikini and left the beach hut. Feeling my toes in the sand brought up flashes of last night when Lochlon convinced me that a midnight “swim” was in order.