Love and Fandoms (10 page)

MANDY

Mandy practically
skipped from the locker room towards the parking lot to meet Wyatt and Kareem.
That had been the longest day of school she could remember, but it was over
now. Next stop, the comic-con! It had actually started that morning, but all of
their parents had nixed the idea of them skipping school to attend since it
would be going on until late that night, not to mention all weekend.

She expected Alex
to pitch a fit when she told him she wouldn't be at the game tonight, but he
was very understanding. He gave her a big hug and kiss, both of which she
savored, and told her to have a "geektastic time." The twinkle in his
eyes proved he was only teasing, and really hoped she'd have fun. It was the
closest to her old Alex as she'd seen in a long time, and that thrilled her
more than the hug and kiss. They still needed to have that serious talk she'd
been putting off for far too long, but if he was going to act like this, maybe
it would turn out better than she hoped.

"Nice
shirt," a boy she didn't recognize, probably a freshman or sophomore, said
as she passed him.

"Thanks."
It was one of her Mister Incognito t-shirts, with her absolute favorite silly
saying from the show, "Don't paradox me, bro," and the show's logo
underneath. She'd never worn it, or any of her other Mister Incognito shirts,
to school before, and she couldn't believe the number of positive reactions it
garnered. She'd definitely have to wear others sometime.

She got to the
parking lot at the same time as Wyatt and Kareem. Wyatt wore a blue Doctor Who
t-shirt with a small drawing of the TARDIS and the saying, "Wibbly-wobbly
timey-whimey." She loved it! So far, she'd finished the ninth doctor's
season, and was currently in the middle of Ten's season with Rose Tyler. Kareem
wore a dark green shirt with an outline of a knight and the single word,
"Nee," underneath, all in yellow. She noticed in fifth period it also
said, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," on the back. Thanks to Mr.
Yong showing that movie a couple of weeks ago, she actually knew what the shirt
was referencing without the help.

Wyatt saw her and
gave a big smile and wave. When she got closer, Kareem said, "Very cool.
We figured we'd have to wait a few minutes."

"I asked Ms.
Phelps if I could sit out of running today. First time in four years, so she
let me with no questions asked. I even finished most of my math homework."

"Nice,"
both guys said with the same appreciative tone. She couldn't help but smile at
that.

They got to
Kareem's dark blue Toyota Corolla, which had seen better days. From what she
understood, it had been his brother's first car, and it had been old then. But
it ran, which was all that could be asked. As always, Wyatt opened the front
passenger-side door for her and let her get in before he climbed into the back seat.
It made her swoon a little bit every time he did it. In all the years she'd
dated Alex, even when he'd been his awesome boyfriend self, he never once
opened a car door for her, be it when they got rides or with his truck. It was
also sweet of Wyatt to let her have the front seat each time, especially when
it would be so much more comfortable for him and his longer legs to sit up
there.

When they were all
in, she turned back to him. "You know, you should really be sitting up
here instead of me."

He shook his head.
"You wouldn't want to sit back here, believe me."

"You dissin'
my baby?" Kareem said.

"Nope. Just
speaking the truth."

"Truth is
allowed. It is pretty skanky back there. Jordan didn't even try to keep it
clean. I don't think the stank and stick will ever fully come out."

"Eww! I'm now
eternally grateful that you always let me have the front." He tipped an
imaginary cap at her, which got her giggling. Yes, this was going to be a fun
weekend.

Kareem gave the
dashboard a caress. "Okay, Serenity, take us to the comic-con."

"Wait, you
named your car?" Mandy barked out a laugh. "You've been driving me
home for a month now, and I never knew that."

She wasn't sure
what sort of reaction she expected. Kareem could have looked embarrassed,
defiant, or joined in her laughter. She did, however, expect Wyatt to laugh
with her. What she didn't expect was for them both to stare at her in stunned
silence.

"What?"

"You don't
know the Serenity reference?" Kareem said.

"We thought
you'd come so much further than that," Wyatt added.

"Is it
something Mr. Yong has discussed? Or have you guys talked about it with me
before?"

"It's the
name of the ship in Firefly," Wyatt said.

"And the title
of the movie that came after the unjust cancellation."

It sort of clicked
in her mind. "That's the Nathan Fillion one, right? He puts a bunch of
jokes about the cancellation in most of the things he does."

"He's a true
Browncoat," Kareem said.

"That's what
big-time Firefly fans call themselves," Wyatt said. "You'll get the
reference when you watch it. It's on Netflix."

"I really do
need to get watching more," she said. She'd already seen a few of the
movies they and Allyssa had recommended, as well as the season and a half of
Doctor Who, but homework took up a bunch of her time, and she couldn't get out
of the habit of watching Mister Incognito episodes when she was looking for an
hour or two of quiet time. She needed to treat the fandoms like homework. Not
only would she get more of the references around the three of them, but it'd be
more fun, more fulfilling, than schoolwork ever could be.

As Kareem pulled
out of the school's parking lot, Wyatt's phone buzzed. After a few seconds, he
said, "Allyssa's wondering if we're there yet."

She hadn't been in
school today. She and her family left early that morning to make the trek to
her grandmother's house in Hemet, an hour and a half or so away. Mandy still
felt bad for her having to miss the comic-con, but Allyssa's loss was her gain.

Another text
buzzed. "She wants to make sure I keep her up to date on everything, and
give her play-by-play whenever possible."

"That's
fair," Kareem said. "She needs to know how it's going."

Mandy smiled into
her hand. Cagey, Allyssa. This way she could keep almost constant tabs on
Wyatt, and he and Kareem would be none the wiser. Mandy could see herself doing
the same thing if the situation was reversed.

Before long, they
came up to the Orange Grove Convention Complex and its monstrous parking
structure. Kareem flashed the pre-paid parking ticket he and Wyatt had gone
halfsies on, and they entered. Almost every spot was taken, but one of the
parking attendants waved them to an open space.

"Can you
imagine the traffic jam getting in here this morning?" she said.

"Yeah,"
Kareem said. "For the first time all day, I'm glad we had to go to
school."

They scrambled from
the car and headed out of the structure towards the entrance, each practically
bouncing the whole way.

WYATT

Wyatt wasn't sure
where to look first. There were the dozens upon dozens of booths selling comics
and comic-inspired merchandise. There was a huge castle façade which supposedly
held a treasure trove of memorabilia, and was guarded by a ten-foot tall
animatronic red dragon that actually breathed fire. There was some sort of
set-up — he couldn't tell what from here — at the far side of the main
convention hall. He checked the map and info guide he'd picked up when they
walked in and discovered it was an area demonstrating and allowing play of new
role-playing games, collectable card games, and various other tabletop games.
That was a definite must-see. They could always head over to the movie theater
attached to the convention hall and watch a continuous loop of new and classic
trailers and previews for comic book-inspired movies. Then there were the shows
and presentations themselves, not to mention the chance to simply sit back and
watch fellow fans participate in cosplay. And no doubt he was missing a bunch.
He'd been prepared for this, studied up on the website, but now that they were
here, he was overwhelmed. A quick glance at Mandy showed she felt the same, as
her eyes were opened wide, and she wasn't sure where to look. Even Kareem,
normally so calm, cool, and collected in these situations, wore an almost manic
grin.

"Okay,"
Kareem said. "I say we stick with our original plan. But if anyone wants
to call an audible," he nudged Mandy, who giggled, "do it. We have
three days, remember."

"Sounds
good," he said, while Mandy nodded. The original plan was to spend today
wandering around the con, scouting it out, and taking it all in. Tomorrow
they'd stay from opening to closing, seeing at least two presentations, and
maybe more depending on the lines. Sunday they'd finish up anything they hadn't
done yet or wanted to do again. He and Kareem also hoped some of the vendors
would have last day of the show specials.

Wyatt was about to
ask where they wanted to head first when a guy and girl walked past as The
Joker and Harley Quinn, except the girl played The Joker, while the guy had
dressed in Harley Quinn's iconic jester outfit. That was way cool, and the
costumes and make-up were Hollywood perfect. Kareem stepped over to them and
asked to take a picture, which they gladly posed for.

Kareem had his
digital camera, and Wyatt decided to snap a pic with his phone so he could send
it to Allyssa. As the two posed, a guy in a perfect Deadpool costume snuck up
and stuck two fingers up behind their heads for bunny ears. Once they got the
pictures, Wyatt, Kareem, and Mandy couldn't hold back their laughter, and
Deadpool mimed laughing, too. When The Joker and Harley Quinn turned, though,
he gave an exaggerated fearful jump and scurried away. The girl yelled,
"You better run, Wade!" and let out an almost perfect Joker laugh.

"Thanks, that
was awesome of you," Kareem said, and Wyatt and Mandy echoed it.

The guy playing
Harley Quinn pointed at Wyatt's Doctor Who shirt. "Next year in San Diego
we're going to do a gender-bender Ten and Donna."

"That'll be
way cool," Wyatt said.

Kareem added,
"If we can make it down there, we'll definitely be on the lookout for
you." They all shook hands, and the cosplayers were on their way.

"Who was the
guy in the red and black?" Mandy asked. "Is his superhero name Wade,
or did they know the real person?"

"That was
Deadpool," Kareem said. "His identity under the hood in the comics is
Wade."

"And that guy
played him perfectly," Wyatt said. "He totally would have done
something like that."

A delighted look spread
over Mandy's face, and she said, "Let's see more."

They started in
the vendor area. Wyatt wasn't looking for anything in particular, but he'd know
what he wanted when he saw it. He'd been saving his money since before they got
the tickets so he could pick out some cool things, and Kareem admitted to doing
the same. After visiting the first booth and realizing he could have easily
blown his entire wad right there, including the money his mom had given him for
food all weekend, he realized the con was going to test his self-control.
Kareem was on the same wavelength.

"Glad my
parents never gave me a credit card. I'd probably be grounded for a month when
they got the bill."

As they browsed
through the sea of merchandise booths, he and Kareem pointed out plenty of
things they thought would interest Mandy. Each time he wanted to show her
something, he'd touch her shoulder, her hand, or her lower back, and with each
touch, he didn't just feel a spark between them, but a full-blown fireworks
show. By the looks she gave him, he thought she might feel the same, but he
also might be reading way too much into it. She was, after all, the one who
usually reminded him to text Allyssa. Or she would snap a picture and send it herself.

They somehow made
it out of the vendors' area with no purchases, but he had plenty of ideas. He'd
planned on wearing one of his Star Wars shirts tomorrow, but a Batman one
caught his eye. It was light grey with the vintage logo from the 60s TV show on
the chest. That might be fun to wear instead. He figured he'd think about it
while they walked around for the rest of the afternoon and evening, and if it
still called to him before they left, he'd snatch it up. Mandy and Kareem
agreed that was a good idea.

The comic museum
inside the castle drew them next, but the line was longer than they wanted to
wait in at the moment, so they decided to come back later. First, though, they
marveled at how lifelike the animatronic dragon looked up close, and how the
castle seemed like a full structure, not just a façade. He took a Vine of the
dragon breathing fire and sent the link to Allyssa. It was way cool! She texted
back less than a minute later.

"So unfair.
Doing homework so I don't have to watch stupid TV shows with the fam. Will be
crying myself to sleep tonight. ;) :P"

As Kareem was
reading a poster about the attraction, he showed Mandy the text. "Oh, I
feel bad for her. It really is unfair that she can't be here."

"It's nice
that you get to see it all, though." He wrapped his arms around her.
"So feel good about that." And then he froze. Had he really just done
that? Yeah, there his arms were, wrapped around her beautiful body. How in the
world had he managed that?

She let out a
contented sigh and snuggled into him. What was this? Her admission of being
jealous of Allyssa at Creamy's after the first football game flashed into his
mind. He'd not quite but almost forgotten about that, and now it wouldn't
leave.

Before Kareem
turned around, they disengaged. She looked up him with a demure expression,
biting her bottom lip in such a sexy way that only the simultaneous thoughts of
Allyssa and Alex — or, more appropriately, of Alex siccing the Pigs on him —
kept him from leaning down and kissing her. They both took deep breaths and, he
hoped, looked normal when Kareem finally did turn around.