Love and Fandoms (9 page)

She kissed him
against the front door for a few minutes before leading him over to the much
more comfortable couch. They'd planned on going to breakfast before school, but
ended up grabbing a couple of granola bars as they hurried out the door so he
wouldn't be late to first period. If Kareem hadn't texted him confirming that
he didn't need a ride to school, no doubt he would have been. Allyssa had first
period off, so she was fine, but she joked that they should have kept making
out so he would see being late to school every once in a while wasn't the end
of the world.

Wyatt felt
strange, unprepared for that first make-out session. The awkwardness came from
not quite knowing where he could put his hands, how exactly his kissing
technique should work, and if Allyssa thought him good enough. He didn't pay
much attention in school that day, analyzing it all. He finally came to the
conclusion that practice would make perfect. Or good enough, at least. Tonight
he felt much more confident, and while he enjoyed the heck out of himself on Wednesday,
this time was way better.

Somewhere in the
back of his mind, he heard the movie end, and Allyssa must have, too, because
she pulled away. "Wow, we managed to skip the entire thing," she
said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. He did the same and found it
covered in saliva, but making out was totally worth a face full of spit.

She climbed off
his lap. "I didn't notice while we were kissing, but the bottom half of my
face is pulsing between sore and numb."

Yeah, his, too.
"Guess we'll need to do that a lot more to get into better shape."

She laid a gentle
kiss on his jawline. "I like the way you think," she said, and
snuggled into him.

She let out a
sigh, but not one born out of content. Uh-oh. Had he done something wrong?
Maybe he was really bad at making out and needed more practice than he thought.
Or maybe she figured he was so terrible that practice wouldn't do him any good.

"I have bad
news."

"Oh?"

She giggled and
squeezed him tighter. "You didn't do anything."

"I know. I
just …"

He didn't know how
he was going to finish that statement, but luckily he didn't have to. She
placed her lips on his neck, and then ran her tongue in a little circular
motion which got him to gasp. She only kept it up for a few seconds, not nearly
as long as he wanted. He leaned in to kiss her, but she put a finger on his
lips.

"I can't go
to the comic-con next weekend."

That took a few
beats before it registered in his brain. In his first impulse, he relaxed
against her and almost blurted out, "Thank goodness," because it
meant nothing was wrong between them. But then the actual meaning hit him.

"What? No,
you have to go. It's going to be the best event of the year."

"Believe me,
I'm more bummed than you. Especially since I didn't go last year." He and
Kareem hadn't, either, for the same reason as Allyssa. Last year had been a
small, one-day-only affair, with no presentations or anything, simply comic
book merchandise for sale and a few writers and illustrators there to sign
things. For what it was, the price was too steep, and a local online community
backed that up after the event. This year, though, looked like it would end up
being an epic three-day weekend. Maybe not San Diego good, but certainly well
worth attending.

"How come you
can't go?" he asked.

"We're going
to be in Hemet all weekend. My grandmother's caretaker needs the weekend off,
and my parents volunteered to take care of her. And that means me and my
brother, too. I tried to reason with them, explain about the con, but they
didn't care. My dad said that if he got roped into this, then I was stuck, too.
Even worse, my brother's totally reveling in it because I wouldn't buy him a
ticket when I got mine."

"This sucks
big time. Are you going to sell your ticket?"

"I was, but
my mom felt bad enough to pay me back plus some. I thought about giving it to
Luci, but I know she won't appreciate it, despite her growing geek interests.
Plus, worse case scenario, she could be bored out of her mind, and not only
would my ticket be wasted, but she might ruin the weekend for you guys."

He shook his head.
"Luci's cool. She wouldn't wreck our weekend, but I'd say there's a better
than average chance the ticket would be wasted."

"Yeah. So
then I …" She hesitated for a fraction of a second, and her voice strained
ever so slightly. It was all subtle enough that Wyatt wasn't positive he heard
it. "… decided Mandy should have it. She's shown a great willingness to
geek out, and you and Kareem can broaden her knowledge of various fandoms over
the three days."

"She'll be
thrilled," Wyatt said, doing everything in his power to keep his voice
even. He had a hard enough time around Mandy when Allyssa was there to distract
him. How could he possibly handle her in such close proximity for three days
without Allyssa? And the sad thing about it was that he couldn't wait to find
out.

"Maybe she'll
remember us little people when she gets a hold of her boy-toy's first round
draft pick money in a few years," Allyssa said, a sly little smile playing
on her lips. Wyatt chuckled at that and kissed her forehead.

"You know,
boy-toy of my own, my lips and jaw are nowhere near as sore and numb anymore.
I'm thinking another make-out session is in order before I have to head
home."

Who was he to say
no?

PART FOUR - THE SECOND ANNUAL NORTH ORANGE COUNTY COMIC BOOK CONVENTION

MANDY

Mandy cursed her
luck that today was not only a hard running day in Sports Conditioning, but
also that the temperature was scorching. She wanted to get to the library and
study session as quick as she could, but also need to take a shower. Yesterday
in pop culture, Allyssa asked her if she had any plans for the weekend, and she
said no. Alex hadn't asked her on a date yet, so she was free. But for what?
This coming weekend was the comic-con. Allyssa, Wyatt, and Kareem were all
going, and the entire three-day run was sold out. Maybe they'd found an extra?
How cool would that be? Allyssa wouldn't tell her what was up, only that she'd
let her know at the study session. She again wouldn't relent today in fifth period,
and neither Wyatt nor Kareem offered any clues, most likely under direct orders
from Allyssa.

As she walked in
and towards their normal table, all three wore grins. She made sure not to say
anything as she sat down, but when none of them uttered a peep, she couldn't
take it any longer. "Okay, I've been patient long enough. What's going
on?"

Allyssa answered
by taking something from her purse and handing it to Mandy. It was a small
booklet the size of a greeting card. The outside was white with bold orange
block letters that read, "2nd Annual North Orange County Comic Book
Convention." She opened up the cover and found three tickets, one each for
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. "To be redeemed for entrance admission
wristband." She looked at Allyssa.

"I can't go.
Those are yours now. As long as you promise to enjoy yourself."

"I promise.
How much do I owe you? And how come you can't go?"

"You don't
owe me anything. I wanted them to go to someone who would appreciate the con,
and who is mature enough to keep an eye on my guy and the knucklehead."
She waved her hand in Wyatt and Kareem's direction.

Mandy laughed, and
then louder when Kareem said, "I know you want me to be your guy, Allyssa,
but it's not going to happen. And don't call Wyatt a knucklehead."

"I'll
knucklehead you," she said, and they all laughed loud enough to earn a
harsh "Shush!" from Ms. Sanchez.

"Anyway,"
Allyssa continued, "I can't go because I have to head up to Hemet with my
family to take care of my grandmother this weekend." It came out with more
bitterness than she'd ever heard from Allyssa.

"Is she
okay?"

"Yeah, fine.
Her live-in caretaker needs the weekend off, and Grandma and my mom volunteered
us. There's no need for me to be there, but my parents wouldn't let me out of
it."

"Maybe the
caretaker has comic-com tickets," Kareem said.

"Wouldn't
that be a kick in the teeth," Allyssa said. "I think they don't want
me to have the house alone with Wyatt. We might fornicate all Friday and
Saturday night after the con." She threw Wyatt a wink, and he blushed so
brightly that Mandy thought if she held a piece of paper up to his face, it
might catch fire. That silly image didn't keep her from getting a sour spot in
her stomach.

Allyssa continued.
"It's not like we're not alone every weekend when Wyatt's mom is at work,
and all we do is watch movies. Except for the epic make-out session during
Sharknado." Wyatt jumped in his seat, which led Mandy to believe Allyssa
gave him a playful kick under the table.

"Man, I don't
want to hear about your love life," Kareem said. "Wait, what part of
that movie led you two to not be able to keep your hands and lips off each
other?"

"The whole
thing. From opening to closing credits."

With all of the
media uproar about that movie, mostly because of the title, Mandy, Alex, and
Luci had watched it. She didn't know if she could say terrible enough times to
describe it, but at the same time, she loved it. Luci enjoyed it much more than
she would let on, while Alex thought it was the biggest waste of time he'd ever
sat through. But one thing she did remember was that it was near an hour and a
half long; two hours if they watched with commercials.

"The whole
thing? No breaks at all?"

Allyssa answered
with a devilish smile, while Wyatt's face went molten lava red, and somehow he
managed to get even brighter when Mandy gave him a wink. Allyssa noticed and
almost fell off her chair as she attempted to stay quite while laughing
hysterically. Instead of saying anything, Ms. Sanchez rolled her eyes and
muttered something under her breath, which almost got Mandy giggling, though
she managed to keep herself in check.

"You and Alex
don't have marathon sessions like that?" Allyssa asked when she got
herself under control.

"Of course,
but we do manage to watch five minutes of the movie every so often."

"Where's the
fun in that?"

Wyatt gave another
jump in his chair, no doubt from another kick from Allyssa. He shot Kareem a
look that screamed "Make them stop!"

Kareem picked up
on it. "Seriously, can we talk about anything else? Like school work, or,
I don't know, the comic-con?"

"Fine,"
Allyssa said, but her eyes caught Mandy's, and they both had to struggle to
keep the laughter from bubbling over again. "So we'll keep the intense
make-out session before school last Wednesday quiet, then."

"See?"
Kareem said. "Shut up."

Mandy giggled
again, this time because she agreed whole-heartedly with Kareem. For the
umpteenth time, she told herself she had no business being jealous, as she had
had more make-out sessions with Alex than she could count, but she couldn't
help it. She also couldn't help but wonder how good a kisser Wyatt was.
Probably better now that Allyssa had broken him in.

"You're no
fun," Allyssa said.

"That's too
bad. My boy's head might explode if you keep it up."

This time neither
Mandy nor Allyssa could keep their laughter quiet. "Really now,
ladies!" Ms. Sanchez whisper-shouted, bringing out embarrassed apologies
from both of them.

Kareem and Wyatt
had their math books out and were getting a start on their homework, both chuckling
into their hands at how mortified she and Allyssa were for being reprimanded,
though she had no doubt they'd be the same way if the tables were turned. Mandy
put her tickets into her purse, while Allyssa took out her Economics text. She
leaned over to Mandy and whispered, "If I have a chance, I'll hop on the
con's website and make a list of things you should check out. But if I can't,
there's no worries. These two will know what to show you."

"Yeah,"
Kareem said in a mock whisper. "These two know what's up."

WYATT

As Wyatt and
Kareem walked across campus on nutrition break, Alex came up to them. Neither
Mandy nor Luci were around, which was unusual. More often than not, they'd see
the three of them, and Luci and Kareem would peel off to spend break together.
But not today. What was this about?

"What's up,
buddies?" Alex gave them each a fist bump. "Dudes, congrats on
getting a couple of hotties. Didn't think you guys had it in you."

He and Kareem gave
each other a look, but didn't say anything.

"It's cool
you guys are taking Mandy to that comic book thing. Gets her out of my hair for
the weekend. You know what I mean? You will soon enough, I assure you." He
laughed and slapped them each on the shoulder. "Anyway, I don't get her
fascination with all the geek stuff, but if she wants a silly little hobby, who
am I to say no?"

"Heh,
yeah," Kareem said. If it had been anyone but Alex, Kareem would have had
a lot more than that to say about that comment.

"Now,"
Alex said, "I expect you guys to look out for her. I've heard how handsy
some nerds are at these things. I trust you two, but not any of the other
geeks." He gave a little shrug of his shoulders. "Of course, I'd hate
to have to tell the Pigs you let me down. But that's not going to happen, so we
have nothing to worry about, right?"

"No,"
Wyatt forced out.

"Excellent. I
knew I could count on you guys." He pulled something out of his pocket and
handed it to them. It was a $20 bill, which Kareem took. "Pick something
geeky out for her, something she'll like. Tell her it's from me. Maybe put a
spin on that I researched it and told you what to buy. Cool?"

"Yeah, we can
do that," Kareem said.

He gave them one
of his winning smiles. It impressed Wyatt. He knew it was fake, but it looked
genuine. "You're my buds. See you." He patted their shoulders again
and walked away.

They watched him
go, and then headed off, careful to make sure everyone was out of earshot
before they talked. "Wow, that was something," Kareem said.

"Mandy was
right. He has changed."

"Yeah, he's
always been respectful towards us in the past, but there was no respect
there."

"All
passive-aggression," Wyatt said. "We better do everything he says,
though. I don't doubt for a second he really would send the Pigs after
us." They happened to be passing the senior quad and looked over to the
far side to see a couple of underclassmen being harassed by the Pigs, their
only crime likely walking near the monsters. "I never want to be caught too
close to them."

"You and me
both. Should be easy enough, though. Find some sort of $20 gift and tell her
Alex picked it out. And we let her handle anyone who gets grabby. She can
probably kick the crap out of most people in attendance anyway."

"Good plan."
He looked up ahead and saw Allyssa by the math building. He actually wished she
could go instead of Mandy this weekend, a feeling he never thought he'd have.
Kareem always told him Allyssa was perfect for him, but his Mandy-blinders
never allowed him to see it. Now he did, and he couldn't be happier.