I Heart Geeks (7 page)

He stifled his gasp and sat up. It was his first true look at her in thirteen years—besides her videos. Her face was still pale as newly churned cream and her brown eyes shined like tempered chocolate. Her skin looked smooth and satiny like—

With a quick shake of his head, Jack cleared the flowery thoughts from his mind. It looked like a bit of Jane Austen was still lurking in his psyche after playing Darcy in a Pride and Prejudice musical for the past theatre season.

“Not anymore,” she said.

“What?”

“I’m not your cabbage. Not anymore,” she said firmly. The finality of her statement irked him.

With a smile, the charming one the audience always ate up, he said, “You’ll always be ma petit chou, Willow.”

Jack’s smile dimmed as he watched her eyes narrow, losing that glistening sheen of tears she’d had.

“If you call me that one more time,” she grounded out as she stalked up to him.

“I will tell everyone on the internet why I call you Speedy. The. Real. Reason.” Emphasizing the last part by jabbing his chest with her finger.

Gone were the almost-tears, replaced by flashing eyes that had darkened to rich espresso in her anger. He wasn’t surprised that she was still upset, but the sheer intensity of her anger could flay a man alive if he wasn’t careful.

“I mean it, Jack. It’s bad enough that you dragged me here for some reason, but you don’t get to act like everything is hunky dory between us.”

“Will—”

“No, Jack. Just…” She suddenly looked lost and young. “You can’t come back and think I’m okay with what you did to me. I’m not okay and… and I don’t think I’ll ever be.”

She was backing away from him, leaving. Retreating from the field of battle. If she left then that would be it. Everything that came before and everything that they could be wouldn’t matter and wouldn’t exist.

“Willow, wait,” he said. “You can’t leave yet.”

Pausing, she asked, “Why?”

This was it. His moment. The time when the hero lays it all on the line to get the girl. Captain Wentworth’s letter. Lloyd Dobler’s boombox. Darcy’s broody confession.

“Because…” His mind went blank. The feelings were still present—they were always present—but words, they were gone. Nonexistent.

With a sound of frustration and disgust, Willow turned from him. “I’m leaving.”

Everything seemed to snap into place then fall away. His chance at happiness was going to walk out unless he could say something to stop her. Something. Anything! He was an actor. Speaking was his forte. Speaking other people’s words.

“Your website!”

Her hand stilled on the doorknob. Again.

“If you leave now then RetroGrade.com won’t get another opportunity like this again. The movie studio will just call up another blogger and you’ll be known as a flake.”

He knew it was a low blow. From what he’d read—and heard from the hometown gossip mill—her website was her life. After high school she’d gone to Upper Peninsula State University and after graduation she stayed put in Harlow, Michigan and still works at her parents’ shop on Main Street.

This trip to Indianapolis wasn’t the first time she’d been out of the Upper Peninsula, but it was rare. He and Willow used to talk long into the night about their dreams. She’d been more open to explore, see what life had in store for her. No firm plans for his Willow. Just hopes and wispy pieces of plans.

Jack was different. He had always wanted to act in anything and everything. By the time he was eighteen, he’d been in dozens of community productions. Everything he did was to make his dream come true. He never wavered from his path until one night, one weekend almost derailed everything he had worked so hard for. She had made everything he wanted seem inconsequential. Like his whole life should be about them and what they could be together.

The realization scared the shit out of him. It still did, but he was a grown man now. He’s spent twelve years working with a few dates here and there—enough to know what he and Willow shared was special. The kind of stuff people try to capture in Hallmark cards and sappy romantic comedies. He just had to make Willow believe it too and he only had one weekend to accomplish it.

She didn’t turn around. She didn’t speak. She didn’t fight back. She just opened the door where the intern was waiting.

“Done already?” he asked, eager to please.

Pasting on an overly bright smile, Willow tossed her hair. “Yes, Mr. Kendrick was very…concise,” she said, adjusting her bag.

She tried to walk past the young man, when Jack asked, “See you at the panel?”

Turning toward him, her eyes became frosty. “I’ll be there, Speedy.”

With that parting shot, Willow flounced out of the room. Actually flounced away from him as if she trumped him.

“Speedy?” the intern asked.

Jack smiled. His feisty friend was still in there. “I used to be a great marksman like Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy.”

“Really?”

He laughed, slapping the young man on the shoulder. “That’s the story I’m going with.”

“Like Jed, we can never forget our past, but he shows that while we may travel far from home—we never truly leave it. Where we’re from, what we’ve done is all a part of who we’ve become. And in the case of Jedidiah Gold, being a U.S. Marshall helped him lead the Resistance against the warlord Haisen OathBreaker.”

—The Wisp, Why
GoldStar
Still Matters video

This was a terrible idea, Willow thought as she took her reserved seat—first row, right in front of where Jack will be sitting—at the
GoldStar
panel. She had already tweeted and wrote a brief post about GoldStar being played by Jack Kendrick—last scene on an off-Broadway stage production of
Pride and Prejudice the Musical
. He was Bingley. Rather than spending another second in his company, Willow hightailed it out of the hotel suite and used his studio promo headshots. So far the most popular replies have been “Who?” and “Broadway? Are you freaking kidding me?”

Which, of course, prompted Willow to respond with a link to a video of Hugh Jackman singing “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from a Broadway production of
Oklahoma!
and numerous other videos of him hosting the Tony Awards. Being in musicals didn’t prevent him from giving a badass performance as Wolverine.

Not that she was defending Jack. No. No way. It just annoyed her when people made assumptions because of someone’s past. And it did not escape her notice that she was being hypocritical. She was well aware of it, but there were always exceptions to the rules and what he did deserved to not be forgotten or forgiven. You don’t just take your best friend’s virginity and run off to acting camp without a word.

But it’s okay.

That was a long time ago. Ancient history. All Willow had to do was survive one convention weekend with the jerk. The benefits for her career far outweighed the psychological discomfort he caused her.

Why couldn’t he have gone fat? Or bold? Or something other than somehow being more attractive now than he had been at eighteen.

Every woman has that one man in her life. The one man who she wanted to meet again when she was on top of the world and he was rock bottom. Have that one glorious moment of “See, you could’ve had all this but you fucked it up.”

Jack Kendrick. He was the one who ran away and now he’s back in her life and about to star in a major motion picture and she was just some part-time shop girl who moonlighted as a geeky blogger online.

As she waited, a young man—familiar, like an actor you just couldn’t place—pranced onto stage. His auburn hair was tousled, matching well with his well-worn long brown coat and cowboy boots. The
GoldStar
panel host was definitely a
Firefly
fanboy, probably a Whedonite too. Chatter around the room began to wind down as the man stepped up to his podium that stood next to a long table draped in a denim tablecloth decorated with golden stars encircled by gold rings. It was the classic shape of the U.S. Marshall badge worn by the movie’s protagonist.

“Welcome everyone to the first official
GoldStar
movie panel here at RetroComicCon!”

The crowd yelled and clapped enthusiastically. Many who didn’t even know
GoldStar
. Honestly, the people here would cheer for anything (except maybe for a Jar-Jar movie).

“The first person I’d like to introduce is the director who’s going to be leading this group of intrepid freedom fighters, Ian St. James!”

The group clapped again as a man in his late 30’s with hints of gray showing through his black hair. He was moderately successful with a few comedies and action flicks.

“Some of you may not know that it was cartoons like
BraveStarr
,
Galaxy Rangers
, and
GoldStar
that showed that there was a fan base for sci-fi westerns,” the director said after stepping up to the mike. “And with the popularity of modern shows like
Firefly
and
Serenity
, I think it’s time we resurrect one of TV’s first space cowboy stories on the big screen.”

St. James was a good showman. It was obvious wide, boyish grin and ease if his movements that he was comfortable in the spotlight—relished in it even.

“All of us here Atrium Studios is excited to bring you a
GoldStar
for the twenty-first century. Our first and foremost job was to find a cast to bring these fan favorite heroes to life. Would you like to me them?”

The crowd cheered and St. James began calling out the actors one by one. A slightly overweight actor—the sidekick—stepped out first. He was followed by a sultry, leggy blonde bombshell who was to play Jack’s love interest in the film. Willow hated her on sight. Finally, a very distinguished looking man in his early fifties came on to the stage. He was a shock of a casting choice and Will made a note to ask Jack if he knew how the studio managed to convince the major movie star to agree to be the villain in such a small, sci-fi western film. The room clapped enthusiastically for each actor as they walked across the stage to their seats.

“Finally, we had to find a man who could bring the gravitas and dry humor of the displaced Wild West Marshal Jedidiah Gold. We found him. Everyone let me introduce you to our new star, Jack Kendrick!” Ian boomed the last line and it seemed to echo through the room.

From the right, Jack stepped up onto the raised platform. He had his perfect Jack smiled with just a hint of mischief showing in his eyes and tousled hair. Then the smile faltered just a little and Willow began to realize that the overly enthusiastic, clap-happy crowd was only barely providing a smattering of applause for his grand entrance and official introduction. Looking around she could see a lot of disinterest in the crowd, but a few interest women. Willow instinctually glared at them. Sure Jack was a pretty face and he looked damn good in his dove gray oxford button-down with rolled up sleeves, showing his lovely strong forearms. But those weren’t theirs to ogle. They were hers!

Wait.

No.

No. No. No…not hers.

She returned her attention back to the stage. Jack was settling in to his spot near the director who had also taken his seat after returning the microphone to the MC. Jack still looked a bit deflated. Before she knew what she was doing, Willow raised her fingers to her mouth and whistled then clapped with all her might. At the shrill sound he’d looked at her. Really looked at her.

With his attention on her she mouthed,
Break a leg
.

He gave her a sheepish grin, so at odds with the over confident man he was earlier that it caused her to smile back and give him two thumbs up. Willow could feel the eyes of a few of the panelists and the panel attendees glance at her and maybe some journalists were even jotting notes to find out who she was, but none of that mattered. Right then she was seventeen again and her Jack needed his number one fan—his best friend cheering him on from the front row.

The director talked more about the film and his dedication to keep true to the spirit of the original show while modernizing and updating some of its more hokey aspects— usual spiel people say when tackling a project with a dedicated, albeit small fan base. After a few more minutes they opened the floor up to questions.

The first flurry were mainly directed to Mr. St. John, the model-slash-starlet, and the award-winning dramatic actor they’d somehow nabbed to play the villainous alien warlord. Of its own accord—because Willow knew she didn’t consciously raise it—her hand popped into the air and she waited to be called on. She didn’t wait long.

“Willow Wisp from RetroGrade.com. Mr. Kendrick—”

“You can call me Jack,” he said, giving her a sexy little smirk. It made her feel equal parts warm and melty inside, and mad enough to wipe it off his face because he made her feel aroused.

“Jack, what’s it like to be cast as the lead in your first film?” I asked, knowing that it was one of the easiest questions I could’ve asked.

“Great.” His smiled widened to show his perfectly straight, brilliantly white teeth. Looks like he had some work done. “The whole
GoldStar
team has been very welcoming. I think we’re all very dedicated to see
GoldStar
and Ian’s vision get to the big screen. I know how important the
GoldStar
mythos is to fans and I’m going to try my best to make sure the fan base and newcomers will enjoy it.”

His gaze never wavered from mine and stayed locked with mine. It was like a pull—an honest-to-God physical force she’d always felt. At first she had thought it was the pull of friendship, best friends, but as she got older, Willow realized it was more and hoped—with her naïve teenage heart—it meant that they were soul mates.

Then finally during senior year, Jack had seen her. Really seen her for the first time which lead to graceless kisses, fumbling feels, and finally the loss of their virginities. A small pinch of pain, a few strokes, and he was done. Willow had giggled and kissed his nose.
My Speedy,
she’d teased. He’d growled, low and playfully menacing. She laughed. She didn’t know there could be so much laughing.
Speedy?
he’d asked
. I’ll show you speedy.
And the second time proved to be much, much better.