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“Jesus, E! Give a girl some warning, why don’t you?” I took another large gulp of air for good measure. “You almost made me vomit my steak.”
She flitted around the divider wall and began rummaging for something in a drawer. “That would be disgusting for one, and two,” she paused, extracting what she found (Ziploc baggies if you were wondering), “I’ve been plenty loud as I’ve been packing. You, my dear baby sister, were what we like to call ‘fangirling’.” She booped me on the nose as she made her way back to her bedroom.
I was doing no such thing. I was simply…admiring him. Learning new things. Wanting to see his face. Waiting for him to laugh or smile or reveal a tidbit about himself.
Shit.
Ok, I might have been fangirling.
I got up and placed my glass in the dishwasher and padded into E’s room.
“You’re mean,” I pouted, plopping on her bed and watching her as she labeled baggies, coordinating which accessories went with each outfit. I was annoyed already.
She raised a perfectly arched brow in my direction. “Then why did you follow me in here? You know I speak the truth. Nothing to be ashamed of,” she quipped. “Everyone and their dog is attracted to Jake.” She said it like she was reciting a bus schedule; no big deal.
As much as I didn’t want to, I took her neutral tone as an indication that she wouldn’t judge me with my next question.
“What are their characters about? Like…their powers I guess.” I began gathering my hair into a high pony and pulling it through a hairband three times.
“Well, Koil—that’s Jake—he’s a seemingly normal guy whose best friend is Gavin—that’s Liam. They work together, but they’re also superhuman. Koil’s abilities are absorbed through kinetic energy; the more he bounces and pings off things, the stronger he gets. Gavin is Wingman and he can fly.”
Again, she had the bus schedule tone, like this was everyday common knowledge.
“And they made seven movies out of that?” That seemed a little milked out if I was being honest.
“Well, there’s other characters that come to the forefront and whatnot,” she continued, “but yes, the writers definitely had enough material to work with. Hence the success of the franchise.” She zipped up one of her labeled baggies and added it to the pile in her suitcase. “Koil catapulted Velram Comics to the top, and Jake was a huge part of that.”
It made me a little jealous to hear her. E was intelligent and knowledgeable on all things geek related. She was also a beautiful woman, dark and mysterious with a mouth that was always somewhere between a smile or something imperceptive. If Natalie Dormer ever needed a stand-in, E could pass for her.
She walked into her bathroom, moving on to the toiletries.
Flopping on my stomach, I cradled my chin in my hands as I watched her rifling through her cabinets.
“Is he ever shirtless?” The second the question left my mouth, I regretted it. I sounded like a shallow woman about to get lady-wood at the idea of him sans tee shirt.
The shower curtain swung open, the metal rings clanging across the rod. “You seriously didn’t notice any of the promo images of him around?” she called over her shoulder. “Or the massive billboards outside of Hall H?”
E grabbed a bottle from the corner of the shower and turned around. “What about the jumbo screen with the movie’s poster? You know, the one that had Jake featured. Front. And. Center.” She punctuated each word like a condescending teacher speaking to a student who wasn’t able to grasp the concept of a word problem that was right in front of them.
“Nope, I was trying to find you without getting shanked by a mega fan for seemingly cutting in line.” That would show her.
At that, she rolled her eyes. “Dramatic much?”
“Learned from the best,” I replied with a saccharine smile. A pile of socks was sitting on the opened lid of her luggage and I threw a pair at her.
“Are you worried, Luce?” she jeered, ducking. Her voice was taunting and I didn’t like where it was going.
Scrunching my nose, I grew uneasy. “Worried about what?”
“That when you see him on the upcoming circuit you’ll do your pee-pee dance again?” She threw her head back, laughing at my expense. The straight sheet of her black hair shone in the overhead light as she shook with amusement.
He was going to be on the circuit?
“Oh my god, your face, Lucy…” She was laughing even harder now. At me. Still.
When I spoke, my voice was small and tinny, like a bad animation recording from the 1950’s. “Jake is going to be on the VelCon circuit?” I gulped.
E was clutching her sides with mirth. It was only after she had her fill that she dropped the next bomb.
