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“More likesix,” said Becca, and it was her turn to get playfully slapped by Gini.
“I can make the trip foryou,” said Gini. She raised her eyebrows in such a strange, seductive way that it was all Archer could do to focus on the generic drawing he added of Lina. When finished, he didn’t even blow on it before closing the book and pushing it back at Gini. When he dared to meet her stare again, he swore she looked like an eager puppy.
“I, uh…” Archer’s gaze roved around the store. He found her. Brielle was over in the corner behind some of the crowd milling around, standing but looking unfazed by the crowd around her. She had her wrist looped through one of the shop’s bags, which looked heavy with purchases, and she was engrossed in a graphic novel. He wasn’t sure from this distance, but he was pretty sure he recognizedWheels. Of course she’d be reading that one.
Still, she was reading his work. She’dboughthis work. He could have gotten her free copies if she’d asked.
He turned back to Gini and smiled. “Thank you, but no. I have someone.” He didn’t have to explain more. Let her think what she would. The “someone” he had was just someone he couldn’t stop thinking about. Someone he would give anything to be with—in theory—if he just knew it weren’t impossible.
“Told you,” said Becca.
“Oh,” said Gini, clearly disappointed. She gave him a faltering smile. “But I can still give you my number—”
“Thank you, ladies,” said George, leaning in front of Archer to sort of stand between them. “But we have a long line here.”
Gini’s face soured as she looked George up and down. She gathered her books and walked away, and Archer lost sight of the pair in the crowd.
He signed for over an hour without incident, although he had a strange, fluttering feeling whenever one of the women especially seemed overly enthusiastic—not that anyone else outright flirted with him the way Gini had. Every few people, he caught a glimpse of the front row and saw his mother still sitting there, her lips pursed, engrossed in her phone. He kept glancing to the side as well to keep an eye on Brielle. She stayed there reading for quite some time, although he was sad to discover she’d moved and he lost sight of her about forty minutes into it.
He tried to focus on the fans. It was why he was there, after all. He hadn’t arranged this signing to show off to Brielle—he hadn’t even known she existed less than a week ago—but he had to admit that a small part of him really wanted her to be impressed. And that wasn’t fair to the people who’d traveled to meet him today.
He let go of all of his anxieties and all of his distractions and just enjoyed interacting one-on-one with his fans and their crazy theories and their genius-level memories about every detail of everything he’d ever worked on. It wasn’t until he found himself in front of another cute girl—this one with those 1950s-style glasses that were all the rage again among hipsters and a streak of blue hair—that he remembered this wasn’t just any other signing.
“Do you want them personalized?” he asked, referring to her copies ofWheelsandThe Mystifiedvolume 18.
“Sure, thanks.” She spoke so softly, it was hard to hear her over the roar of the crowd behind her. There wasn’t anybody left in line, but he knew George often scheduled these types of things to coincide with sales and tabletop games, so the size of the crowd had barely diminished.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Pembroke,” she said.
“That’s a pretty name.” Archer was sure he wasn’t imagining the slight flush on her cheeks. He started writing his usual message. “Which character do you want a drawing of?”
“Oo,” she said, gaining more confidence. “That’s really hard for me to decide!”
Archer grinned, tapping the copy ofWheels. “Well, you get one per book signed. And they don’t have to be from the same series. I could do Derek or his cat or even Superman or your grandma if you have a picture…”
Pembroke laughed. The smile lit up her face, and Archer could have easily seen himself falling for her if he were ten years younger. “Then I’ll have both Todd and the squirrel, please,” she said, referring to the protagonist ofWheels.
Now it was Archer’s turn to blush. He couldn’t help but think of how his critics wondered if Todd was just a self-insert character. They weren’t entirely wrong. But half the world seemed to say “write what you know,” while the other decried anyone who wrote a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu, in his case). He hadn’t mastered the right balance, and besides, writing wasn’t his strong suit. He was halfway through drawing Todd’s wheelchair when Pembroke spoke again. “Um… Have you been dating Brielle long?”
Archer felt like she’d just dumped a glass of cold water over his head. “You know Brielle?” He glanced back to where he’d seen her last, but she was still missing. Or she’d morphed into a man a head shorter and with twice as much girth flipping through the latestCaptain America.
“We went to school together.” Pembroke fiddled with the handle on her plastic tag. “Um, college, that is.”
This girl is the same age as Brielle? He’d pegged her for seventeen at the oldest. Suddenly, he felt incredibly relieved. “You’re the friend she saw when she got here?”
“I guess?” she said. She looked over her shoulder, maybe looking for Brielle, but she didn’t seem to find her, either. “We didn’t talk much before the panel started.”
Archer finished his drawing of Todd and blew on it, trying to seem as casual as possible. “Did she tell you we were dating?”
Pembroke’s lips pinched. “Not explicitly, no. But I knew she was your cleaning lady, and she said she came with you… And after the messages she sent me about you, I just assumed the two of you would wind up dating.”
Archer’s eyebrows arched as he smoothed the title page on the copy of an older volume ofThe Mystified—the first volume he’d done the art for, actually. “Now I’m curious.”
“What?” said Pembroke, clearly confused. “The messages?”
Archer’s Sharpie halted at the top of the page. He tore his gaze away. “You said they led you to believe we’d be dating. You’ve got to admit, that’s pretty intriguing…”
