Shit, shit, shit.
“Emergency!” I screamed. “Fire!”
All I could hear from the other side was a chorus of footsteps and voices. The store was too full for Otis to hear me.
With shaking hands I fished my phone out of my back pocket, and called Otis. After a few rings his voice answered.
“Hi this is Otis’s phone, if you are either one of my parents then I am currently busy working and will call back as soon as humanly possible. Now hang up. If you're anyone else, I’m probably busy having sex. Call back laters.”
I stared at the phone in disbelief. One minute left.
I called again. This time I left a message. “I swear to you if you don’t open this door I will fire you then I will shave off your eyebrows while you sleep.”
I bit my knuckles, running circles in the small room. I could call the national guard. I could call my ex? I winced. I wasn’t that desperate. I could call the fire brigade?The cops?
Just when I was about to, the door opened.
“This is a very bad time for taking a break,” Otis said from the crack in the doorway.
Pushing past him, I basically jumped over the counter. I held my breath, scrolled down. But nothing happened.?
The site had frozen.?
I refreshed. Bold red text now glared back at me:Submissions Closed.
“No!”? My head dropped. My jaw dropped. Myeverythingdropped. I was free-falling until I hit my forehead on the counter.
“Did it not go through?” Otis asked, poking my arm.
“I… I don’t know.” I heaved a breath, checking my inbox. But it held only spam and a reminder that the Doc Martens I wanted were on sale. Which would normally be a reason for joy. Now, I’d happily sell my entire collection for my confirmation email. But no matter how often I refreshed the browser, there wasn’t one.?
The protein bar threatened to make a reappearance. What if I had been too late? What if the thing I had worked so hard for, had pulled all-nighters for, read and reread and polished to perfection, what if that thing had been for nothing? It couldn’t be. I needed this.
Otis threw me a sad smile. “Sorry, Love.”
He didn’t know the half of it.
Maybe ithaduploaded? Maybe there was a delay? Maybe I could email them and explain? Say my puppy died? I’d been kidnapped? By that guy over there with the lightsaber?
Wait.
“Otis,” I said. No, shouted. Apparently. Because Otis jumped on the spot.
“What?”
“People are wearing cosplay. It’s comic con.” I pointed at the poster behind me.
My best friend's well plucked eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Ah, right. That explains the T-Rex cycling past me this morning.” He touched his chest, looking relieved. “I’m glad itwasn’t a lingering effect from whatever I drank at Garland’s last night.” He turned. “Card or cash?”
“Just listen for a moment.” I said, shoving books in paper bags. “Who’ll be the most obnoxious person there today?”
Otis pursed his lips, fake scratching an invisible goatee. “Probably my ex, to be honest. I told you, we broke up because he was a little too much into furry?—”
I turned one of the books around so the author's photograph was visible. “John Kater.”
Sharp blue eyes watched me suspiciously. A sly grin forming. “So you finally went over to the dark side, Nora Rose.”
I smacked him with the book. “If John Kater is going to be there, so will his manager.”
