SHORT EXCERPT FROM LOVE AND FANDOMS BY CJ ZANE
Wyatt and Kareem sat in the
shade on a planter near the math building. It had been their lunch spot since
freshman year, so there was no need to change it up now, even if it was on the
opposite side of campus from Pop Culture after lunch. Most people ate closer to
the middle of campus, meaning this area, more on the fringe, was sparsely
populated, exactly as they preferred. It made for quiet study times when they
wanted, like today. Both had their noses buried in their Physics texts while
they ate.
"I'm impressed you two
aren't getting drips and crumbs all over the books." They looked up and
saw Allyssa standing in front of them. "Especially if that's your famous
peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich, Wyatt."
"No, not today. It's
PB&J. But if it was the PBB&H, it still wouldn't drip. The secret's in
the construction."
"You'll have to show me
your secret sometime," she said, throwing him a wink. "Every time I
make one, it's delicious but messy."
His breathing went a little bit
shallow with her wink, but he quickly caught himself and said, "Yeah,
I'll, uh, yeah. Sometime."
She and Kareem shared a look
that he mostly missed. Kareem then said, "If it makes you feel any better,
I'm getting crumbs all over my book." He brushed a bunch to the ground.
"But better the book than my shirt." It was a brown t-shirt with an
outline of the ship, Serenity, from the cult TV show, Firefly.
"Yeah, that shirt sure is
shiny, Captain." They all snickered. "Anyway, shouldn't you two be
talking geek rather than acting nerd?"
"We act nerd now so we can
geek later," Kareem said.
"We're fighting zombies in
Call of Duty tonight," Wyatt elaborated.
"You could join us,"
Kareem said, "if you'd only picked the superior machine."
"I did. It's not my fault
you two fell for the marketing hype."
Wyatt chuckled. It was an old
argument he rarely joined in on. He saw the pros and cons of both consoles, and
the tipping point for him in the decision was that Kareem wanted the Xbox 360
over the Playstation 3. They'd already talked about upgrading to the Xbox One
soon.
"Anyway, I came over to see
if you guys picked anything up at AD after I left."
"Nah," Kareem said.
"We'll go back after school to grab the new books. Or at least I will.
Some of us don't know how to collect anymore." He nudged Wyatt.
"I collect the ones that
either may be worth something some day or that simply look cool. Otherwise it's
better to get them digitally."
"Sacrilege, man.
Sacrilege."
"I'm actually starting to
see the wisdom in that myself," Allyssa said. "Most books won't be
worth the room they take up. And I like the guided reading feature on
ComiXology. I don't jump ahead that way. And I don't have to worry about
ruining the pages when I read."
"It's not collecting."
"You see me buy books with
bags and boards all the time," Wyatt said. "Just not most ongoing
monthly and bi-monthlies."
"Still."
"Still nothing,"
Allyssa said. "You're just being stubborn." She bent down and patted
Wyatt's knee. "Let me know if you see any gems. I probably won't get there
until this weekend."
"Will do," he said
around a lump forming in his throat.
"See you guys in
class," she said, and wandered away, back, presumably, to wherever she
normally spent lunch. They rarely moved from this spot, so he had no idea.
"She knows as well as we do
what titles are coming out today," Kareem said. "Just like she knows
the secret to your little sandwich."
"Some small presses might
put something out that we aren't expecting. And don't diss the PBB&H. It
takes a steady hand and a keen mind."
"Then how do you manage? If
you don't know why she came over here, your mind isn't all that keen, my
friend."
"I don't know what you're
talking about." Okay, so that was a lie, but he wasn't going to admit it.
"You say six simple,
one-syllable words to her, and you got yourself a girlfriend. Will. You. Go.
Out. With. Me." He punctuated each word by holding up a finger to count
them. Once he used all five on his right hand, he held up the middle finger on
his left.
A comeback didn't strike Wyatt
right away, so he shook his head.
Kareem picked his Physics text
back up. "Pathetic, bro. Pathetic. At least finish your reading so we can
blast zombies tonight."
"Blast you tonight."
"Oh, just say the word, and
I'll deathmatch you. Then you won't have a girlfriend or your dignity."
He picked up his own Physics
book, but couldn't help chuckling, which got Kareem laughing. Anyone passing by
would probably think they were having too much fun reading their textbooks. No
wonder they had the reputation for being huge geeks and nerds.
No comments:
Post a Comment