Love and Fandoms (13 page)

The mugger, a guy
who appeared to be in his early 20s, looked at Mandy with more than a passing
glance for the first time. He gave an appreciative whistle. "Damn, girl.
What are you doing with this loser? I'm going to show you what it's like to be
with a real man." His free hand dropped down to his belt, and he began to
unbuckle it.

She took a
hesitant step towards him. "You're not going to hurt me, are you,
mister?"

"No, no, no,
baby girl. I'm not going to hurt you one bit. In fact, you're going to enjoy
every second of it." He pointed the gun at Wyatt's face. It took all his
will power not to crap his pants. He wanted more than anything to lash out and
keep Mandy from getting raped, but what could he do with a gun pointed at his
head? That gleam still shone in her eyes, though, so he wasn't as worried as he
probably should have been. "You stand there and watch, geek-boy. Maybe
you'll learn something."

The mugger focused
down at his belt to finish unbuckling it, and Mandy struck lightning quick. Her
first move was a punch to the wrist which held the gun. She did it not with a
fist, but with her fingers outstretched. The gun jerked away from Wyatt's face
and flew out of the guy's grip without going off. Both he and Wyatt watched it
clatter to the ground, but Mandy didn't hesitate. She kicked him square in the stomach
and followed it up with a few short but powerful punches to his face, this time
with her fists. She then gave him another swift kick to his gut, which got him
to bend forward, and then finished him off with a spinning jump kick to the
side of his head. Mister Incognito couldn't have done it better. The guy fell
like a sack of flour, and Mandy gave him a few more short but hard kicks to the
ribs. Wyatt broke out of his trance and picked up the gun. Mandy grunted,
"God damn rapist," and gave him her hardest kick yet, right to the
balls, which made even Wyatt wince.

She backed off and
stood next to him, and he handed her the gun. As she aimed it at the fallen
mugger, she said, "9-1-1 might be a good idea."

He winced again,
this time at his own stupidity, and pulled out his phone. He gave a quick tap
to the emergency button on his keypad and, seconds later, heard, "9-1-1.
What's your emergency?"

MANDY

Kareem pulled
Serenity into Mandy's driveway and put it in park. He gave them each a grin.
"At least it's a weekend you'll never forget." Mandy laughed and
agreed, while Wyatt shook his head and muttered something along the lines of
he'd prefer to remember it for the convention.

"Anyway, you
guys did great. Especially you, Miss Incognito." He gave Wyatt a fist
bump. "I'll see you in the morning, big guy." He then leaned over and
gave Mandy as big a hug as he could in the front seat, one she gladly returned.
"And see you in fifth period, if not before."

She and Wyatt got
out and waved to Kareem as he drove off. They'd stopped by Wyatt's house real
quick to grab his school things so he could finish up his homework. His mom
wouldn't be home until after eleven, so Mandy insisted he stay with her and her
parents until then. He'd been a lot more shaken up than she had by the near
mugging. Her using Taekwondo on the guy had calmed her, much more than she ever
would have thought possible.

Before they walked
in, she engulfed him in a hug, this time with no intentions except to make sure
he was okay. He took a few deep breaths, and they disengaged. She smiled at him
and kissed his cheek, which got him to smile back.

Mom and Dad met
them at the door. Dad gave her a big hug, while Mom did the same to Wyatt, and
then they switched. Both were glad to see Wyatt, and they expressed how happy
they were that he and Mandy had rediscovered their friendship. It actually
choked her up a tiny bit.

When they
disengaged from the hugs this time, Dad said, "Well, was the rest of the
day fun?"

"Yeah,"
she said. "I'm glad we went back."

Mom cleared her
throat. "You assured us you had everything under control earlier, so we
didn't press for details. But now it's time you spilled it."

Mandy told them
all about the incident. The gun was loaded, but the safety had been on, so that
made it all a tiny bit safer in hindsight. The guy had never even bothered to try
to run before the cops got there not long after Wyatt called. He stayed on the
line with the 9-1-1 operator while they waited, and when the police showed up,
they knew the mugger right away as a constant nuisance in the area. The guy
tried to tell the officers that she and Wyatt had jumped him, but when the
police officer in charge calmly told another officer to go get the camera feed
for the alley, that the mugger would take an even bigger fall for lying, the
guy said that maybe he remembered wrong, but it was because of all the kicks he'd
received.

The officer shook
his head at the guy. "So you're saying this girl, this much smaller than
you girl, kicked your ass? They're going to love hearing that when you get sent
back to prison."

The mugger denied
it and said she just got a lucky shot in, that she barely touched him, and he
hadn't tried to get at them afterwards only because they had his gun.

"I'll be
honest, I knew the officer was trying to goad the guy into saying something
that would convict him," Mandy said, "but his apparent lack of
respect for women in general, and me in particular, kind of pissed me off. But
he redeemed himself a few minutes later when he came over and said he didn't
mean any of it. His sister is a black belt in Ju-jitsu and he knows women often
kick the most ass, regardless of size. This way, though, not only did they basically
get their full confession, but Wyatt and I were free to go."

"So he turned
out to be really cool," Wyatt said. "He even made sure our souvenirs
were okay before we left. Luckily, they were."

She smiled at him.
"After that, we walked back to the front of the convention complex. I
called you guys, Wyatt called his mom, and we texted Kareem, Luci, Allyssa, and
Alex. Kareem got his parents to drop him off at the lot right in front, so we
didn't even have to wait very long for him."

"That's
good," Mom said. "What about your mom, Wyatt? What did she have to
say?"

"Once she
realized we were okay and wanted to stay, she offered to skip work tonight so I
wouldn't have to be home alone, but when Mandy offered to let me hang out here,
I told her to go in."

"I knew you
guys wouldn't mind," she said.

"Of course
not," Mom said. "We're glad you could be here tonight, Wyatt. What
about Allyssa? She's your girlfriend, right?"

He nodded.

"What did she
say?"

"She said her
parents couldn't leave for another few hours, but if I needed her, she'd get
them to rent her a car or something. I assured her we were fine, and I'd see
her tomorrow."

"That's
sweet," Mom said.

Yeah, it was, but
Mandy was glad she didn't insist on coming back early. No doubt if it had been anything
easier than actually renting a car, she might have. Mandy was glad to get Wyatt
to herself for one more day. They didn't touch nearly as much as that morning,
but she was still happy to be around him. Kareem, of course, kept the afternoon
light and fun, taking both their minds off the incident. She even learned she
liked many of the board and card games being displayed at the comic-con. She'd
have to pick a few of them up someday.

"What did
Alex say?" Dad asked. She hadn't yet told them about their problems, but
supposed she'd have to soon since she was breaking up with him in the morning.

"Nothing. He
must have been busy this weekend."

"Did you kids
get any dinner?" Mom asked.

"No. I
figured we could find something here."

Dad pointed to
Wyatt's backpack. "Homework?"

"Yeah."

He looked at her.
"And I'm assuming you have homework to complete, too. Or am I making an
ass out of you and me?"

She rolled her
eyes but couldn't hold back a chuckle at his corny old joke. "Yes, Dad, I
have homework. I'm not completely abandoning my academic pursuits this
weekend."

Mom laughed at her
answer. "Was that what you wanted to hear, Ron?"

"Yes, as a
matter of fact. Daughter Dearest passed the little test."

"Then what I
believe your father is saying is, why don't you two go upstairs, and we'll get
a pizza delivered. Is a stuffed-crust with pepperoni okay, Wyatt? That's
Mandy's favorite."

"Yeah, that
sounds great. Thank you."

As Dad went to the
computer to order the pizza online, she dragged Wyatt up to her room. When they
got to the top of the stairs, he asked, "Crust first or save it for the
end?"

"Save it for
last, of course. Pizza first, and then bready mozzarella goodness. Is there any
other way to eat it?"

"Nuh-uh.
You're allowed to call it your favorite type of pizza."

She giggled and
nudged him. "You're even a stuffed crust geek."

"Geekdom is a
compulsion," he said.

She smiled at that
and bit her bottom lip.
Allyssa better know how lucky she is to have him.

They entered her
room, and she pointed to her desk. "You can set up shop there. I'll sit on
my bed."

He put his stuff
down and pulled out one of the posters with all of the signatures. "Here
you go. From when we thought we would need help remembering this weekend."

She snickered.
"Yeah, like Kareem said, it did sort of become unforgettable, didn't
it?" She took the rolled up poster and set it and her new Mister Incognito
book on her nightstand. Maybe she'd get it framed next weekend.

As she reached for
her own school stuff, her phone buzzed with an incoming text. She saw it was
from Alex, and when she read his message, her mood plummeted. "Sux but
glad u ok. Talk 2morrow." That was all he had to say about it? She knew
they were done, but that callous message proved he didn't care about her at all
anymore. He truly didn't care.

Before she could
tell herself to stay strong while Wyatt was here, the tears came. And not a
little trickle, but full-blown sobs. Wyatt was there in a heartbeat, his arms
around her. She pushed her face into his chest and cried harder, unable to
stop. He didn't say anything, simply held her and stroked her hair and her
upper back. That got her through this much faster than anything else could
have.

When the tears
finally slowed, she took her head from his chest and looked up, ready to thank
him, but instead of saying anything, she pushed her lips against his. He didn't
pull away, but kissed back, and that snapped something inside of her. She
moaned, threw her arms around him, and pushed him onto the bed. They ran the
gamut between aggressively wrestling tongues to gently nibbling each others'
lips. Her thought from earlier in the week proved true; Allyssa had broken him
in quite well.

It lasted only a
few minutes before she forced herself to pull away. His eyes went from
confusion to a pleading for her to come back, and she giggled and kissed the
tip of his nose. "You might not have noticed, but my door is wide open.
We're lucky my parents didn't walk in on us."

"Good
point." They untangled from each other.

"Besides, as
much as I want to, I can't do this to Allyssa. She's perfect for you."

"You're
perfect for me."

She smiled at that
and rewarded him with a short but no less sweet kiss. She could tell he wanted
to push it further again, and she almost let him, but the open door was on both
of their minds. The pizza might get there at any time, meaning Mom or Dad could
pop their head in at any moment.

Once she stood up
and took a deep breath, he followed suit. "I'm guessing whatever the
horrible text was came from Alex?"

She nodded,
unlocked her phone, and showed him. "I'm breaking up with him tomorrow. We've
been drifting apart, but his response wasn't only seven or so hours late, but insanely
callous, too. Or do you think I'm reading too much into it?"

He shook his head.
"It was like something you text to a friend, not the girl you love."

She bit her bottom
lip again when he said that, but quickly admonished herself.
Quit it.

Wyatt continued.
"If I'd been in his shoes, I would have wanted to see you as soon as I
could. I would have made sure you texted me when you left, and I would have met
you here."

"He would
have last year." She shook her head and sighed. "It's going to be
weird being single. I've been with Alex all through high school. I'm kind of
looking forward to it, not having to please anyone but myself."

A strange but
hopeful look popped up onto Wyatt's face, exactly what she'd hoped to see
earlier in the day, but now she nipped that in the bud, even if she didn't want
to. And, lordy, did she not want to. "I wouldn't accept a date at the
moment if someone did ask, but I'm looking forward to the companionship of my
three new friends, you, Kareem,
and
Allyssa." She hoped he caught
the emphasis, even if she didn't want to mean it.

He must have,
because he nodded and got off the bed. Before he stepped back over to her desk
and his homework, he hesitated. She prepared for another kiss, one she gladly
would have accepted, but it didn't come. Instead he stared at her with a slight
grin.

"What?"

"Something
just popped into my mind. I knew you were good at Taekwondo, but I'd never seen
you in action. You were awesome."

She felt her face
heat up. "Luci's way better. She would have had him down so much quicker
than I did. And she would have made it look easier."

He shrugged and
brushed her cheek with his hand. Her insides went to jelly, and if he'd asked
her out right there, point blank, despite everything else, she would have said
yes. Instead, to both her relief and disappointment, he said, "Maybe so,
but you were like a super hero. You saved me."

Super hero. She
liked that. And it certainly fit for this weekend.

Before she could
answer, the doorbell rang. Mom called from downstairs. "Pizza's
here."

WYATT

Wyatt left Mandy's
house a few minutes after 11 o'clock and walked the short distance home.
Seconds after letting himself in, the garage door rumbled open. He sent Mandy a
quick text, as promised, saying he'd made it, and then walked to meet Mom in
the kitchen.

When she saw him,
she dropped her purse and wrapped him in a big bear hug. "Oh, honey, I'm
sorry I wasn't here for you." She covered his face in kisses.

"Mom, Mom,
that's enough. It's cool. I told you to go to work. Mandy's parents bought us
pizza, and I finished all my homework. It was a nice, peaceful evening."
Okay, so maybe peaceful wasn't the description he should use for when he and
Mandy had frantically made out, but he wasn't going to tell Mom that.

She pushed him out
at arm's length and gave him that probing mom stare she used so well. After a
few seconds, she nodded. "Okay, you look calm, cool, and collected.
Anyway, it sounds like you were safer with Mandy than with your dear ol'
mom."

"Yeah, I told
her she was a total super hero today."

"So she
cosplayed a mild-mannered comic-con attendee alter-ego?"

Wyatt laughed. It
started as a chuckle, and then his relief of everything came through, and he
laughed so hard he had tears streaming down his cheeks. He had to collapse into
one of the kitchen chairs before he fell to the ground. Mom stood there,
wearing a smug, triumphant expression. Yes, Mandy had been his super hero
today, but he wasn't too proud to admit Mom was his hero every day.

When his laughter
finally ran its course, she sat down across from him at the table. "Okay,
I know it's late, and I should be a responsible mother and send you to bed, but
I'm not going to be able to sleep without hearing the whole story."

He'd given her the
truncated version earlier on the phone, so this time he went over everything,
from approaching the would-be mugger to the police officer sending them on
their way. Mom was suitably impressed with Mandy's martial arts skills, and he
was sort of embarrassed to notice she might be more proud of him for having the
courage to grab the fallen gun. He wasn't normally
that
bad, was he?