Love and Fandoms (12 page)

Wyatt turned to
Mandy. "Wait until they start releasing casting and plot info. He'll be
the one screaming bloody murder the loudest."

"Yeah, like
you won't be right next to me doing the same. You're not as boisterous, but you
still do it."

Mandy laughed and
stared straight into his eyes, and he didn't drop the gaze. For the
ten-billionth time in his life, give or take a few, he wished he hadn't let
Alex chase him away when he was about to ask her to go the eighth grade dance.
Sure, maybe nothing would have come of it. She might have said no and still
gone with Alex, but maybe she would have said yes and he'd be the one dating
her.

His phone buzzed,
indicating a text message. Had to be Allyssa. That was timing. What was the old
saying? When the cat's away, the mice will play. It didn't quite fit, since he
hadn't really done anything, and it was simply the thoughts in his head that
were the problem. He checked her message, and it read, "Been patient long
enough. How was Logan?"

He sent three
texts off in rapid fire: "Sorry. Had to get dinner first. We were
starving." "He was great. Lots of grizzly but funny drawings and
stories." "He even turned Mandy into a fan of After Hours."

They finished off
their last bites of dinner before she texted back. "Want to hear all about
it, but can't call right now. Grandma sleeping. U better remember
everything."

He showed Mandy
and Kareem the text, and they both told him to tell her she could grill them on
Monday. He did, and she came back right away with a smiley face emoticon. He
then assured her she'd be getting more texts tonight as they were staying until
closing, which was at eleven. She texted right back that he better, and ended
with a winky-face emoticon.

They decided the
best place to go, after walking around for a few minutes, was the theater to
watch the trailers and previews. Not only did they want to check them out, but
it would be a great place to kick back and relax. Now that all of the
presentations were over, the early morning was catching up with them. He and
Mandy planned on getting back here in the morning when it opened at eight.
Kareem had to go to church, but was letting Wyatt drive Serenity. His mom or
dad would drop him off somewhere around noon. The con closed at six tomorrow,
so even with getting there midday, Kareem would still get plenty of time.

MANDY

She and Wyatt
stood in line to get an autograph from a comic book artist; she couldn't
remember his name off the top of her head. Waiting in line had pretty much been
their morning. It seemed to be a major part of the comic-con experience, which,
when she thought about it, wasn't all that different from an amusement park.
Only instead of getting on a ride or seeing a rehearsed show, you saw a comic
or pop culture presentation or got something signed. Plus both places had
costumed characters running around. Though, truth be told, the ones here,
designed and worn by the fans, almost always blew away anything people got paid
to wear at the parks.

They had four
promotional posters, which were 7" x 11" glossy white cardstock with
the name of the con in blocky orange letters in the center. That left plenty of
room around the edges for the artists and writers to scrawl their autographs.
This would give them each a unique souvenir. The extra was for Allyssa. They
agreed she needed something special from the weekend, and they planned to
surprise her tomorrow in fifth period. Kareem got the idea last night when he
spied the posters as they were buying their matching official comic-con
t-shirts, which she and Wyatt were wearing now, and Kareem should be wearing
when he got there in a couple of hours. Kareem asked if they minded getting the
posters signed this morning, and when they assured him they didn't, he paid for
all four.

Other than a quick
shower last night when she got home, she crawled into bed and slept like the
dead, so she hadn't had a chance to reflect on yesterday. She was doing that
now while they waited in line, and figured Wyatt was, too. They talked, but it
basically consisted of comments about passing cosplayers or t-shirts people
were wearing. Mostly they stood in silence. A comfortable silence. She spent
most of the time in line that morning leaning into him while he wrapped his arms
around her. And when they moved to a different line, they held hands on the
way. Neither said anything about the arrangement; it just sort of happened. Lordy,
how she wished she could have this all the time with him.

She texted Alex
twice yesterday, once during lunch, and once after dinner while they sat in the
theater watching the classic and new sci-fi and fantasy previews and trailers.
Both times she said she was having a great time, and at lunch asked what he had
planned for his day, and after dinner she asked what he'd done. Neither got a
reply. So much for him changing back to his former self. Those ignored texts,
to go with the one on Friday night, pretty much made up her mind. She was done.
She'd break up with him before school tomorrow, and she had a feeling he'd be
relieved, at least judging by how he'd been acting recently. She'd be sad, of
course, but relief would be her primary emotion, too. This last month and a
half with him hadn't been much fun. She couldn't be more thankful for Wyatt, Kareem,
and Allyssa and their new-found friendship. The bi-weekly study sessions had
quickly become the highlight of her week. Luci, of course, was her rock, but
she had a feeling if it had just been the two of them, she would have moped
around and cried on her shoulder more often than not.

When they reached
the front of the line and the person whose turn it was stood in the way of the
artist's cardboard nametag, she whispered in Wyatt's ear. "Who is this
again?"

"Harrison
Finley. He's the lead artist for The Angel of Despair series."

"Sounds
depressing."

"Yeah, it
lives up to its name. It's not one I read often, but Kareem loves it. I have to
admit, though, the artwork is always stunning."

When it was their
turn, she and Wyatt stepped to his table, which was covered in the orange and
white colors of the con, shook his hand, and set their posters down for him to
sign. Since each person was allowed to get two things autographed, it was no
problem having Harrison Finley sign all four. Wyatt even made perfect conversation,
which she found quite attractive.

"I have to
say, the visual of the exploding psyche in issue six was one of the coolest
things I've ever seen."

 "Hey,
thanks. I can't tell you how many hours and attempts that took to get
right."

Mr. Finley scrawled
his name on the posters to go along with the five other signatures they'd
already procured, and then shook Wyatt's hand again and smiled and waved at
Mandy. As they walked away, Mandy hugged his arm and nudged him. "It makes
me wonder how much you could talk to the guys who you actually read on a
regular basis. You'd probably hold up the line."

He laughed.
"If Kareem was here, he probably would have."

She started
towards the next line, but he pulled on her hand. She went back into his arms
and angled her face up to receive a kiss. She realized in an instant what she'd
done and felt her face heat up. She probably lit up the whole building with her
blush. She half-hoped he'd give her the kiss, and half-hoped he hadn't noticed
so she wouldn't have to go find a rock to hide under.

"Uh, we don't
need to get into any of the other lines," he said, a slight hitch to his
voice. Oh, lordy, he had noticed, but he was playing it off as if he hadn't, so
maybe, as long as she acted cool, she wouldn't need to go find that rock.
"We got all the ones that are free. If the pay ones were someone's
favorite, I'd say we should do it, but they aren't."

"Yeah,
sure," she said, trying to keep her voice under control, but having no
idea if she succeeded.

He gave her the
cutest (
sexiest!
) half-smile and led her away from the autograph lines
into the heart of the merchandise aisles. Okay, so tomorrow she would break up
with Alex, and maybe by Friday Wyatt would be her boyfriend. Of course, there
was the rather major obstacle of Allyssa. She couldn't tell him to dump her. It
had to be done with tact, and it needed to be his idea. She really liked
Allyssa and would feel bad, but Wyatt should be hers. She'd known that since they
were eight years old. She needed to find a way to subtly remind him of that,
which she felt she'd done a pretty good job of this weekend. Once she was
single, hopefully he'd get the hint.

Wyatt pointed to a
life-size poster of a group of teen heroes with lightning-inspired costumes.
"It's the Lightning Lads. Allyssa loves them. I'm going to have to take a
picture of it for her."

Mandy's stomach
dropped. What was she doing? Yes, she seriously dug Wyatt, but this wasn't her.
He cared for Allyssa, and she knew it. She liked Allyssa, too. She couldn't
break them up simply because her relationship had soured. If she and Wyatt were
meant to be, then they would be. She'd have to let his and Allyssa's
relationship run its course. And if they stayed together, then that was her
answer.

After he snapped
the picture and sent it to Allyssa, she opened her mouth to apologize for how
she'd been acting this weekend. Before anything came out, he took her hand and
pulled her to the next booth. "I can't believe you haven't noticed these
or sought them out."

She didn't see at
first what he was talking about, but when she focused on where he pointed, she
let out a gasp. "Mister Incognito! It's a show, so I never thought about
it as comics." Looking back now, it made perfect sense. After all, she'd
read plenty of novelizations of his adventures that weren't chronicled in the weekly
series, so why shouldn't there be comics?

As she leafed
through the individual issues and anthologies, she felt Wyatt leave her side,
but didn't look up to see where he went. He'd be back soon enough, and she needed
to examine these. It looked as if the comics, like the novels, featured
adventures not on television. She had to have them! Now she did look for him to
get his opinion on where to start. Stories from season one, probably, but the Mister
Incognito from seasons seven and eight was her favorite, so maybe she should
start there. Since she didn't have enough money to get them all right now, she
needed his expertise. She found him walking back to her, a bag in his hand, and
a big grin on his face.

"What did you
do?" she asked as he handed her the bag. She opened it and found the
Season One Omnibus with all twelve issues included. "Wyatt, you shouldn't
have. I brought money. I was about to come ask you which one you'd
recommend."

"I, uh,
didn't. Not really. Alex gave me money to get it for you. He, uh, researched it
online and told me to buy that one."

He wasn't a very
good liar, but it was cute. She actually believed Alex had given him money to
get her something, but there was no way he researched anything. No, this was a
glimpse into the future if she stayed with him. He'd give someone else money to
buy her a gift, letting them pick out the perfect thing, while he took the
credit. The old Alex wouldn't have researched anything, either, but he would
have at least given her the money himself with the sentiment of wanting her to
have something special, even if he didn't know what it was. Again, this felt
like a show of possession rather than a loving gesture. She didn't know exactly
how many strikes this was against senior year Alex, but he was definitely out.
Not that she'd give back the omnibus, of course.

Before she could
say anything to Wyatt, he reached for his phone. Probably Allyssa. It really
was the perfect excuse for her to keep tabs on him, and she'd used it well this
weekend. If Mandy wasn't so jealous, it would be cute. Oh, who was she kidding?
She liked Allyssa too much, so it was legitimately cute. She couldn't break
them up, even subtly. It wouldn't be right.

"Kareem,"
he said. Since she'd been certain it was Allyssa, she must have worn a blank
look because he held up his phone. "The text was from Kareem."

"Oh. He's
done with church?"

"Yeah. He
should be at the Mickey D's in less than an hour, and hopes we'll meet him so
he doesn't have to walk here alone."

"Sounds
good." Kareem had mentioned last night that one of his parents would drop
him off there. It was easier than navigating the fifteen minute lot in front of
the convention complex, and the McDonald's was only a couple of blocks away, a
ten-minute walk at the most.

"Do you want
to head over now?" Wyatt asked. "I'm getting hungry, and it'll be way
cheaper to eat there."

"That's an
excellent idea." She was even more proud because he came up with it on his
own. Even though it looked like he was in charge this morning, he was actually
following Kareem's instructions to a T. She had to admit, though, he had
climbed the furthest out of his shell this weekend than she'd ever seen. Being
among his true peers definitely brought out the best in him. She thought she
noticed it to a lesser extent the couple of times she'd gone to the comic book
shop with him after the football games, but there was no doubting it this
weekend. She couldn't be happier for him, as he looked much more content this
way, comfortable in his own skin.

They headed out of
the convention hall, her bag with the Mister Incognito book in her right hand,
and the four posters rolled up and in a bag in his left. Once they got outside
and started towards the McDonald's, she almost reached for his hand as she'd
done all morning, but stopped herself. That wasn't fair to either of them. Or
Allyssa. Yeah, she could play it off as simply them being good friends — she
and Luci occasionally held hands when they went places — but it wasn't true.
She wanted to hold his hand because it made her feel so good. To keep herself
from temptation, she switched her bag to her left hand, the one closest to him.
She couldn't help but notice the look of disappointment on his face. Or was she
reading too much into it? He noticed, but maybe she put the disappointment onto
him because she wanted him to be. Disappointment meant he might break it off
with Allyssa when he learned Mandy was single. On his own. Without her prodding
or causing anything.

They moved out of
view of the front of the convention complex and walked towards an alleyway
which would put them out on Wagner Street. They could then take that up to
Birchwood Avenue where the McDonald's was. Since they didn't have to go around
the entire convention complex, it wasn't far at all. In fact, she guessed
they'd be able to see the iconic golden arches as soon as they reached the
sidewalk.

When they turned
into the alley, a man stood at the end of it, seemingly minding his own
business. Some sort of vibe, though, put Mandy on alert. The way Wyatt
stiffened proved he felt it, too. They'd been talking about the Mister
Incognito comic books and whether she needed to read them in order when they
both went silent. It was probably nothing, but they picked up the pace. There
was no one else around, neither behind nor in front of them.

They almost made
it past the guy and in sight of Wagner Street when he took a big step out in
front, blocking their path, a gun pointed at Wyatt. "Hold it right
there."

WYATT

Wyatt's hands shot
up, and he was glad his bag's handle was around his wrist so it and the posters
didn't go clattering across the alleyway. Mandy also put her hands up, but she
did so at a more controlled pace. She held her paper sack with the Mister
Incognito Omnibus in a death grip. Her purse was a backpack style, so there was
no need to worry about that flying away.

"I don't want
any trouble," the mugger said. "Hand over your wallets and no one
gets hurt."

He moved his hand
slowly to his back pocket and took his wallet out. Mandy, however, had another
idea. "I'll give you my cash, but I want to keep my wallet. It holds too
much sentimental value to lose."

Wyatt shot her a
look he hoped got his message across.
Are you crazy? Give it to him! Or give
him your whole purse so neither of us gets hurt!
She, in turn, looked at
him, and the twinkle in her eye told him she had a plan. It probably involved
Taekwondo. While he knew that was not only risky, but downright dangerous, it
would probably mean more trouble for them if he outed her at this point.