She knelt next to him, her freshly opened beer forgotten. He scribbled in the boxes of the panels, outlining the story. His drawings were placeholders, little more than blobs and sticks. She could’ve done that. He said nothing, but continued to scratch through one page after another, occasionally referring back to her notebook.
As he finished a page, she took it and outlined where the text boxes and speech bubbles would go. It started to take shape, like a real book. When he had five pages done, he stopped and looked at what she’d done on the first three.
“What do you think?”
She eyed the last two pages. “That’s not the end.”
“Nope. I think we can turn this origin story into a full book, not a mini-book.”
“But there’s not a whole lot of action to show. No one wants to read big blocks of text.”
“There’s enough to look at. Trust me. But this”—he tapped page three—“I think this one needs to be a full page. Getting struck by the power of what she thinks is a shooting star changes the entire course of her life.”
Reese looked at the panels. “If we juggle these,” she said, pointing to the small panels on the top of the page, “stretch them to be three long panels instead of boxes, then the next page will be the big splash.”
Adam dug through his pile of papers for a new sheet, this one with the panels as she described. How much did this guy spend on copying panel pages? He came prepared with everything.
As Adam laid out more blank pages, he was in the zone. This was what it was supposed to be like when you created a real story. Until now, he’d never experienced this kind of collaboration. Bouncing ideas off Reese was so much better than trying to talk to Hunter, who just didn’t get comics. For over an hour they worked, arguing over layout and important plot points. But in the back of his mind, he knew there was something special about this story. The origin of Lyrid was personal for Reese.
She scribbled quick lines of dialogue and description on the pages he’d already sketched and he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. The pain she described of Alexis’s home life, living with an abusive father, made Adam wonder. He looked around the small apartment. He saw no sign of any man, but that didn’t have to mean anything.
With the exception of things he’d left at his mom’s house, there was no sign of a man there either and his father hadn’t been abusive. He returned his focus to the remaining pages in front of him. Rough sketches that wouldn’t mean much to anyone stared back at him. This was a huge undertaking.
Part of him worried he wouldn’t be up to the challenge. On the other hand, they’d just managed to draft an entire comic in one night. They could do this. He sat back on the couch and drank from a glass of water that Reese had brought in for him. He waited while she finished off the text. “I brought Thor.”
At first he wasn’t sure if he’d said it out loud because she didn’t respond. He’d debated for a long time before leaving his apartment about whether he should bring the disc. She hadn’t asked him to and he didn’t even know at this point what her paper was about, but he wanted to share something he liked with her.
She finally looked up from the page. “Thanks.” She glanced down again and then asked, “Did you want to stay to watch it?”
“Sure.” Adam dug in his bag to grab the box. “I’m not trying to strong-arm you into watching a Marvel movie. If you decided on something else for your paper, we don’t have to.”
She looked up again and her cool eyes met his. “Contrary to what you think, I don’t hate Marvel. I’ve seen some of the movies. I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy.”
“I am Groot.” He couldn’t help it. Three words ended up defining the movie. He walked over to the DVD player and inserted the disc. “I assume you took note of all of the kick-ass women in that movie. Marvel is flush with them.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re getting a Wonder Woman movie.”
“Eventually. If they don’t screw it up.”
As Reese dealt with the remote to get the movie started, Adam cleaned up their work. “Do you want me to start inking these when I have them ready, or do you want to see them first?”
She scrunched up her whole face. “I think I want to see them, if you don’t mind. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just . . .”
“Want to make sure I don’t screw it up?”
“Yeah. I mean, no offense, but this is my grade we’re talking about. If it’s still in pencil, we can make changes, right?” The previews blared to life on the TV screen as she settled on the opposite end of the couch.
“It’s fine, Reese. I get it. You want majority control.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Okay, you just want final say.” At this point, he was just poking at her because it was fun, but she didn’t seem to get it.
Her face scrunched up again. Then a look of defiance came into her eyes. “Yeah, actually, I do. I might not be able to draw for shit, but I have a vision of what I want the books to be.”
Adam laughed, which seemed to frustrate her even more. He waved a hand. “I’m fucking with you. We both need to accept that there are things we’ll go to bat for in our work. We didn’t have any problems tonight and we got the first book done. I’m not concerned with your final say.”
She shot him another dirty look. She should learn that doing that only made her look sexy, not mean. Reese returned her attention to the remote and went to the main menu. As the opening credits rolled, she pulled out a notebook and pen.
“Taking notes?”
“I need to have specifics for my paper.” She brought her legs up onto the couch and crossed them with the notebook balanced on her knee.
“Wait. Did she just hit Thor with her car?”
Adam held up a hand. “This is like a prologue. It’ll go back and you’ll understand everything. Be patient.”
About halfway through, Reese paused the movie, and said, “I don’t get it. I’ve heard so many people talk about Loki. Where’s the love coming from? I don’t like him. He’s a weasel. As a character, he’s complex and has great motivation, but I don’t think I’ll ever be rooting for him.”
“Maybe they’re just crushing on Tom Hiddleston.”
“You might be on to something there.” She slapped his leg. “I’m hungry. It doesn’t seem right to be watching a movie without popcorn. You want some?”
“Sure.”
She stood and stretched, going all the way on tiptoe and reaching her arms above her head. Her shirt rose, revealing smooth skin on her waist and before he could avert his eyes, she bent over and slapped her hands on the floor. The girl was damn flexible.
On her way into the kitchen, she turned off the overhead light. The room wasn’t plunged into darkness because of the glow from the kitchen, but Adam felt a little uncomfortable. That was the kind of move he’d make if he were on a date. Was that what she thought this was?
Adam wrestled with how to tell her that he didn’t want this to be a date. Dating would definitely mess up their new partnership. Which would ruin her project and her grade. Definitely better to keep it platonic. Plus, he knew that relationships between people with their differences had a shaky record at best.
But when she came back into the room, she carried two bowls of popcorn and a couple cans of pop. No romantic sharing of food. He’d misread the situation. He mentally slapped himself and stood to help her.
They returned to their respective spots on the couch and Reese restarted the movie without saying anything.
Adam settled back into the comfort of the film and forgot about what he’d believed was Reese flirting with him. Yeah, she was cute, but he saw cute girls all the time. He didn’t walk around thinking they were all hitting on him. Reese was being friendly.
Near the end of the movie, a thump sounded at the door, and as Reese moved to stand, it swung open. It had to be Reese’s mom because they looked a lot alike. The woman was older and wore hospital scrubs. Her dark hair was pulled back into
a ponytail and she looked exhausted. “Christ, Reese, I keep telling you to leave a light on for me so I don’t trip over any of your crap.”
Shifting the bag she had in one hand, she slapped against the wall and flooded the room with bright light. Adam squinted.
Reese paused the movie again. “Hey, Mom.” She stood and pointed at Adam. “This is Adam. He came over to work on my comic. Adam, this is my mom, Linda.”
He bristled a little at the reference to the comic being hers. At this point, it was definitely theirs.
“Oh” was the only response her mother made.
Adam knew that look. In spite of it, he stood to shake her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.” She shook his hand and forced a tight smile. At least she didn’t look afraid or disgusted. In the past, those were emotions he’d witnessed. It was like Uh-oh. A black man is in my living room.
Adam edged away. Linda dropped her bag on the table across the room and disappeared around the corner, closing a door behind her.
“I should probably be leaving.”
“What? The movie’s almost over.”
He looked across the room to where her mom had walked.
Reese waved a hand. “She’s going to take a shower and then probably crash. She just worked a double shift.”
“Is she a nurse?”
“CNA. They had a bunch of cutbacks at the hospital and the only way for her to keep her job is to work like two people.”
“That sucks.” He grabbed his bag and made sure everything he needed for the comic was there.
“Seriously. You can stay. She doesn’t care.”
He set his bag at his feet. “She looked like she cared. And if she’s tired, she doesn’t want a stranger in her house while she’s trying to sleep.”
Reese laughed. “My mom doesn’t mind. She sleeps through everything. Come on. Let’s finish. You can help me with your witty commentary.”
He stared at her for a minute. She really had no idea that her mom was uncomfortable. Could she be that clueless? He thought back to their conversation about race and knew that, yeah, she kind of was that clueless. She grabbed his arm and shoved him back toward the couch.
She started the movie again with a smile on her face. He sat and half-focused on the TV. Part of his brain cued in on the sounds behind him: doors opening and closing, water running, quiet music.
By the time the credits hit the screen, he was exhausted. He stood and stretched. “Did you get enough for your paper?”
“Yeah, I think so. This was a good idea. Do you mind if I keep the movie in case I want to rewatch to fill in stuff?”
“No problem.”
“I’ll bring it in on Wednesday when I stop by to get my order.”
“No hurry.”
He pulled on his coat and swung his bag on his shoulder.
“When do you think you’ll have those pages done so we can talk about inking them?” She followed him to the door with her hands shoved in her pants pockets.
“We have a really big shipment Wednesday, so I’ll probably be pulling orders all day. How’s Thursday?”
“No good for me.” She bit her lip. “Friday night? I’m off work at seven.”
“Okay. You just want me to bring your books then?”
“Heck, no. I want to gobble them up as soon as they come in. I’ll be there as usual on Wednesday.”
“Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel?”
“You know it.”
Adam walked out of her apartment and breathed in a lungful of cold air. Everything about Reese unsettled him, and he needed to get it under control. He needed to focus on finishing school and getting work. He didn’t have time to start any relationship, much less a complicated one.
Chapter 5
Adam worked on little sleep for days. When he wasn’t in class, he was driven to draw Lyrid’s story. By Wednesday morning, he was ready to mainline coffee. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, he couldn’t because his mom needed help with the delivery and pull lists like she did every week. At some point, they would have to hire a replacement for him; he had no intention of continuing to help his mom run the store after graduation.
With any luck, this would be his last winter in Chicago. Even if he didn’t get his dream job at Marvel in California, he’d move wherever he had to in order to illustrate comics. He sat at the kitchen table and gulped coffee. Hunter walked in wearing only his boxers.
“Aren’t you cold?” Adam huddled over the steam from his cup.
“Nope.” He reached in the cabinet for a box of cereal. He shoved his hand in and when he pulled out a fistful of flakes, more scattered on the floor. “Shit.” He pushed the flakes in in his mouth before bending over to pick up the mess.
That was Hunter. Man of few words. Unless a woman was involved. Then he always had plenty to say. When he straightened and dumped the crumbs in the trash, he looked at Adam. “I’ve barely seen you for days. What the hell has you so busy?”
“A project.”
“Figures.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When you go with no sleep for days, it’s supposed to be because you’re fucking your brains out and you have all the energy in the world. This”—he pointed at Adam—“is sad.”
“Some of us have bigger goals than to play music and get laid.”
“Those aren’t my only goals.” He smirked. “Just my primary ones.” He plopped on the chair across from Adam, laying the box of cereal on its side in front of him. “So what’s the project?”
“This girl I know, Reese, is trying to publish an anthology of comics as her senior project. She asked me to illustrate for her.”
“So it is a woman keeping you up.”
“Not like that.”
“Only because you’re lame. Why the hell would you do that much work if you’re not getting laid?”
“It’ll be a publishing credit and if it sells, I’ll make money. It’ll also look good in my portfolio when I search for a job.” He finished his coffee and refilled the cup. If he drank fast, he could finish it before heading to the store and the caffeine might be just enough.
“Sometimes it’s good to step back and not be so driven.”
“Says the king slacker.”
Hunter shook his head. “Do you have a date for the party yet?”
“I told you I probably wouldn’t. Between school and work, when do I have time to meet anyone?”
“Yeah, the work situation sucks. Hard to meet beautiful women when you’re surrounded by geeks and loners.”
But he’d met Reese at the shop. He almost opened his mouth to say that to Hunter but caught the mistake before letting loose. As much as he wanted to prove Hunter wrong about the quality of their customers, he didn’t want to invite him to know about Reese.
“Why don’t you come by the bar on Friday? I’ll hook you up with some chicks.”
The thought of who Hunter might find for him was a little frightening. “Sorry. Busy Friday night.”
“Busy with what?”
“Working on the comics.” He stood and dumped his cup in the sink. Under his feet, cereal flakes crunched into dust. “Sweep the damn floor. This is gross.”
“Whatever. Ask your comic lover if she has a friend. Someone needs to find you a date.”
Adam left the room without answering. He didn’t need anyone, Hunter or Reese, to find him a date. From his room, he heard Hunter yell, “No date means I start making calls to fill the apartment with strangers. We had a deal. Maybe a flyer up at the bar.”
Crap. That sounded exactly like something Hunter would do. Adam wouldn’t care if Hunter invited people from the jazz club he worked at a few nights a month, but he was talking about a flyer at the grunge bar where he regularly worked.
Their New Year’s Eve party had begun four years ago, when they got their first apartment together. Adam longed to go back to those days. A few friends, some drinks, Hunter playing music. Last year, thei
r party could’ve rivaled a rave. If he wanted to prevent that from happening, he needed to prove to Hunter that he could get his own date.
Hours later, Adam’s back was killing him as he hauled another box to the front of the store to pull orders while manning the register. His mom had opened the store that morning and received the inventory. Now she was off doing whatever business stuff he knew she did, but didn’t care enough about to learn the specifics. He filled the pull lists, happy to note there were three new ones this week.
Their customer base was growing, which eased his worry about his mom. He’d saved Reese’s order for last without thought. Maybe because he knew she wouldn’t be in until late in the afternoon, or maybe it was because he could slide her comics in a bag and think about the look on her face when she sat on her couch to read them that night. Or maybe she read in bed. Since he hadn’t seen her bedroom, he couldn’t picture that, but what he could imagine clearly was the spark in her eyes when she opened her issue of Batgirl.
She had an unnatural love of bats.
When the last comic was tucked in her bag and all the boxes tossed out back, Adam finally sank onto the stool by the register. He didn’t even have enough energy to open a book to read. His phone buzzed in his pocket. A text from Reese:
Got out of class early. On my way. Want a coffee?
I would worship at your feet for the strongest caffeinated thing you can get me.
If I’d known that caffeine was such a huge bargaining chip, I would’ve used my connections earlier. Be there soon.
His brain was so sleep-deprived that he had no idea how long he sat in a zombie-like state waiting for Reese. She barreled through the door like she always did, bringing a blast of cold air with her. Watching Reese move was always interesting. Head down, long strides, moving quickly like a woman on a mission. But while in the store, she was the opposite. She meandered down the aisle and browsed through things she would never want to read.
His Work of Art Page 4