by Kelly Oram
Teddy gave Ryan an incredulous look. “I wish, buddy.” His frown grew as Ryan whispered in my ear and kissed my neck again. “You guys are kind of hard to stomach, you know that?”
Becky burst into laughter. “Ryan and Jamie invented PDA, but don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”
“Or you could leave and let us get it out of our systems in private,” I suggested, playfully sticking my tongue out at my best friend.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Becky grabbed Teddy’s arm and headed for the door. “Come on, Teodoro. Let’s leave the lovebirds to their own devices.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Teddy asked as Becky dragged him into the hall. “They look like they need an intervention.”
I listened to Becky’s laughter ring all the way down the hall and sighed. “Teddy’s going to be good for her.”
“He seems like a cool enough guy,” Ryan said, but he was obviously not interested in Teddy.
I shivered at the feel of his lips on my skin and suddenly became desperate for a whole lot more of him. I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him down on my bed with me.
He indulged me for a minute, but then said, “Later. Right now I really do have a surprise for you.”
I laughed and wouldn’t let him get to his feet like he was trying to do. “The last time you said that, all you had for me was a pile of comic books. I’m pretty sure those were more for you than me.”
“Those were for me. Last time, I just wanted to see you. But this time, I have a real surprise. It’s over at my dorm.”
“If it’s a spandex suit or tall boots and a trench coat, you can forget it. If it resembles Wonder Woman in any way, you’d better just start saying your prayers now.”
“Someday,” Ryan threatened, “you will give in to me. You always do.”
Ryan smiled a big, bright, goofy smile at me. “I love when you make that face. You’re so cute when you try to scowl at me.”
I’m pretty sure I made that face—whichever face it was—again.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you out to dinner first. I heard about this awesome Mexican place. We have to try it.”
That made me get up. “Mmm. Now you’re talking. I’m starving. Where is this awesome Mexican place? I didn’t think Sacramento had any awesome food.”
Ryan gave me a grin that screamed of trouble. “Vegas.”
“As in Las Vegas? Nevada?”
“The very one.”
I raised one of my eyebrows into a high arch. “You thinking drive-thru elopement?”
“I’m thinking…” Ryan laughed, “that Las Vegas is on the way to the Grand Canyon, and since you’ve abolished the No Superkissing rule, we can finally take that trip you owe me.”
I frowned. Ryan looked so excited, and I was about to burst his bubble. “I wouldn’t say I’ve abolished the No Superkissing rule. The other night was an exception, but we can’t just start doing it all the time.”
“Jamie, come on. Don’t make me call you a party pooper again. The other night I didn’t just do my reading; I finished three of my textbooks in an hour, and then I slept like a baby. I promise I have no brain damage whatsoever.”
Talk about having certain looks…No one can give the sad puppy dog eyes like Ryan. I’m completely susceptible to his pout. He knows it, too, and uses it like it’s a weapon.
I gave in, like I always do. “All right. We can do away with the No Superkissing rule. But we have to start small—the way we did with all the rest of my powers. A little experiment here and there, like at the hospital and with your homework. Then, if nothing happens, maybe we can work ourselves up to dragging you across the country.”
Ryan held out a minute longer, but then he smiled. “Deal. It’ll give me time to plan the perfect trip. We can go after football is over and take a whole weekend.”
The thought of an entire weekend alone with Ryan in my favorite place on earth sounded so tempting I nearly said screw it and kidnapped him right then. Instead, I settled for stealing another kiss.
“Sounds like we have a plan, but now we need a new one for dinner. I wasn’t joking about being hungry.”
Ryan and I ended up ordering takeout. He was too excited to give me my surprise to actually wait through an entire dinner at a restaurant. “It doesn’t have anything to do with Wonder Woman?” I asked as Ryan rifled through his stuff for his dorm key.
He held up a hand as if swearing an oath. “No Wonder Woman, spandex, or tall boots.” As an afterthought he added, “Or sweaty jocks. Most of the hall is gone tonight at that party, including Sean. We’ll have the room to ourselves, and I even changed my sheets.”
“Wow. You sure know how to woo a girl.”
Ryan smiled and then dragged me inside. I was sure “changed my sheets” was code for “let’s get it on,” but instead of climbing on top of his bed he knelt down and started digging around under it.
“I actually have several surprises,” he said, pulling out a few bags.
Ryan was all about the big romantic gestures, but he wasn’t much for presentation. He took those shopping bags and held them upside down, shaking the contents into a pile on his bed.
There was a pair of black Converse All Star high tops, a white tennis skirt with the built-in shorts, a sleek black face mask that covered only the eyes, and an entire pile of women’s T-shirts, all with vintage superheroes on the front.
“Every superhero I could find in your size except for Wonder Woman,” he said proudly. “You are going to look so hot.”
“What is all this?”
“It’s your new superhero uniform.” He wasn’t deterred at all by my bland look. “Go ahead, try it on! I’ve been dying to see it all put together for days.”
I looked down at the pile of clothes and decided as far as costumes went it could have been a lot worse.
I sifted through the pile of T-shirts and found a black one with Ms. Pac-Man on the front. “She’s in the DC Comics lineup now?”
“No. But that shirt was too awesome not to pick up.”
I put on the Ms. Pac-Man T-shirt. I have to admit that coupled with the high-tops and tennis skirt the outfit was actually kind of cute. Next I picked up the mask. It was surprisingly comfortable and made of some silky fabric. “Where did you find this?”
“Costume shop in Roseville. Came from a ‘sexy kitten’ outfit so I’m still not breaking the No Wonder Woman rule.”
I started to put it on, but Ryan stopped me. “Nuh-uh. Contacts first.”
“What?”
Ryan held out a cupped hand as if he expected me to give him something. “The eyes are part of the disguise. You have to take out the contacts.”
I groaned.
I grew up as a natural blonde with bright blue eyes, but when my accident mutated me it turned my hair green and my eyes yellow. I tried to bleach my hair back to blonde, but I could never fully get the green out so I had to dye it black. I have to touch up the roots about every two weeks. It’s a huge pain, but it’s better than looking like I celebrate Halloween every day.
The eyes are a little easier to manage. I wear colored contacts. I have several different colors, but I like wearing my blue ones the best because they blend with my natural yellow and make my eyes look like they’re a deep jade. Bright green may not work for my hair, but I have to admit it’s a stunning eye color.
My eyes are actually how Ryan figured out the truth about me. One of my contacts fell out once and he got a good look at my freaky yellow eyes. I hate my natural color, but Ryan says my eye color looks awesome and is always asking me to take out my contacts. I give in to this request more than I’d like to. Tonight was one of those times.
With a sigh, I carefully took out my contacts and put on the mask. Ryan fiddled with it and adjusted my hair, then stepped back to take a good look at me.
“Did I call it, or what?” he said. “You look so hot. I would kill to see you kicking butt and taking names like this.”
Ryan turned me around to
face the mirror on the closet door. I finally got a look at myself and smiled. I looked hot, all right. My boyfriend had style. The outfit definitely said uniform, but there was nothing lame-comic-book-costume about it. The best part was that I still had all the attitude of the Ice Queen.
I decided I had to see what it looked like in Danger Mode. Danger Mode is the term Ryan and I use for when I’m supercharged. Since I have the ability to control electricity, I can actually pull it from the air into myself. When I really let it build up inside of me, this freaky thing happens where my eyes start to glow and my hair goes crazy as if I’m standing in a wind tunnel. I used to think it was terrifying, but once I got over the shock of it—ha! No pun intended—I decided it’s really cool.
It looks totally hard core, but that’s not why Ryan and I call it Danger Mode. It gets the nickname because it really is dangerous. I am completely live when my power is kicked into high gear like that. Anyone that touches me is in for a nasty surprise.
Ryan was the one to figure that out—the hard way. It doesn’t stop him from asking me to flip into Danger Mode all the time, because he thinks it’s the coolest thing he’s ever seen. I swear, sometimes it’s like I’m Ryan’s personal three-ring circus act. His beloved, cherished, adored circus act. But still. He has too much fun with my freakiness.
“Step back,” I warned. I closed my eyes, held my hands out to my sides, and sucked in the energy around me.
I can’t really describe the rush I get from going into Danger Mode. It’s an amazing feeling. So much power. I feel unstoppable. I must look that way, too, judging by the look of wonder Ryan always gets on his face when I turn into a human Lite-Brite.
I opened my eyes when Ryan’s voice broke my concentration. “Man, you have no idea how badly I wish I could make out with you when you’re doing the Danger Girl thing.”
My gaze locked on itself in the mirror—my eyes are hard to look away from—but I still managed a laugh for Ryan. “Sorry, babe. I believe that name is already spoken for.”
“We’ll come up with something good,” Ryan said, but then his voice trailed off and we both just looked at me.
I felt butterflies in my gut as I appraised my comic book alter ego. I was surprised that the nerves were from excitement and not fear. Somehow, this felt right. I decided right then and there that I was going to go through with it.
Yup. Jamie Baker was about to go Superhero.
I took a few deep breaths and came back to myself. Ryan waited until I gave the all clear and then practically tackled me. As we fell onto the bed, scattering the pile of T-shirts, I laughed at Ryan’s eagerness. “Simmer down, lover boy. We have Chinese coming any minute. Wouldn’t want to give the delivery guy a show.”
“Sorry,” Ryan said. He managed to stop his lips and hands for a good five seconds. “You’re just so...” Another deep, toe-curling kiss, and then Ryan pulled back to look into my eyes. The emotion I saw in his made me shudder. “You’re amazing,” he said breathlessly.
There were no more words spoken until our dinner showed up.
. . . . .
After I was so full it hurt, I sprawled out on Ryan’s bed and picked up one of the T-shirts lying there. “We still have to figure out how this is going to work,” I said. “I don’t exactly have a bat signal worked out with Commissioner Gordon. What am I supposed to do, just patrol the city streets hoping to see someone in need of help?”
“Oh! I forgot about your next surprise!” Ryan jumped up and pulled yet another bag out from under his bed. “I was thinking about that myself a few nights ago and picked up one of these for you.”
I’d never actually seen a police scanner before. This one looked like a fat walkie-talkie that might be used by a gang of terrorists in an action movie.
“You can learn all the standard police codes online,” Ryan said. “Then, when you’re in the mood to save the world, you just listen in and pick something safe. Obviously you can’t go chasing down dangerous criminals—you’re strong, but not bulletproof.”
“We’ve actually never tested that theory,” I teased. Ryan is the king of theories and one of his favorite things to do is test my abilities. He didn’t appreciate my joke this time, though.
“And we’re never going to!” he said, just about as harshly as I’d ever heard him speak. “I’m serious, Jamie. Helping car accident victims is one thing, but this can’t get dangerous. If you got hurt—” His voice became thick and he couldn’t finish his sentence.
I sat up and kissed him until the smile was back on his face. “I’m not going to do anything crazy,” I promised. “Having superstrength doesn’t make me a ninja. I’m fully aware that the only fighting skills I have are the ones I learned in self-defense class with Becky over the summer. I don’t want to fight criminals. I just want to help people.”
Ryan smiled proudly. “I know you’ll be careful. You always are.”
Ryan retrieved something from his dresser and came to sit with me on his bed. “Your last surprise,” he said, placing a small box in my hands. It was actually wrapped.
“What’s this for?” I asked, recognizing this as a real gift.
“Just something I’ve been working on for a while. It’s supposed to be for your birthday next month, but I don’t want to wait any longer.” Ryan squirmed with anticipation. His face was practically glowing with satisfaction. He really, really wanted me to open it, so I didn’t ask any more questions.
Ryan is the most thoughtful, romantic person on the planet. Even though he has money—his uber-rich stepdad set up a bank account for him so that he wouldn’t have to work on anything but football and homework while at school—he’s the kind of guy who likes to give meaningful gifts rather than expensive ones. That’s why I was shocked to find a box boasting custom jewelry designs beneath the gift wrap.
“We’re a little too young to get engaged, aren’t we?” I joked nervously.
Ryan just beamed in response.
At first I didn’t know exactly what I was looking at, but I knew it was gorgeous. “Ryan, it’s beautiful,” I whispered, taking a moment to examine the necklace.
It was a simple chain with a small pendant on it about the size of a penny. In fact, it reminded me of a penny because it was the same color.
“Is this made of copper?” I asked, carefully removing the necklace from the tiny cushion it rested on.
Ryan nodded proudly. “The guy thought I was crazy when I asked him to make a necklace out of copper, but it’s such a great conductor of electricity.”
That made me look closer at the medallion. It was about a quarter of an inch thick, cut in the shape of a sun. The center had been cut out of it and, curiously, there was ribbing on the inside edges of the hole. “Is something supposed to screw into this?”
“That’s the best part,” Ryan said, handing me a small bag.
I opened the bag to find a handful of tiny lightbulbs. Normally I would have laughed—Ryan has quite a history with lightbulbs—but I’d figured out what my necklace does and I was too moved to ruin the moment.
“Does it work?” I asked, carefully screwing one of the mini lightbulbs into the center of the sun pendant. The bulb fit perfectly inside the medallion.
Ryan shrugged. “It should. In theory. I hope it does. I’ve been dying to let you try it.”
Ryan marched me in front of the mirror again and stood behind me. I lifted my hair and waited for him to clasp the necklace on me. The chain was short and the pendant rested comfortably on my skin just above the neckline of my T-shirt. As I adjusted it, Ryan slipped his arms around my waist and dropped his lips to my neck. The delicate touch and tickle of his breath made me shiver.
As my body responded to Ryan’s kiss, I let my energy seep to the surface of my skin. The tiny bulb in my necklace began to glow.
I gasped.
Ryan stopped kissing me and met my eyes in the mirror. He was glowing almost as brightly as my necklace.
My eyes glossed over and Ryan’s grip
on me tightened.
“I love it, Ryan. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, and I love you.”
As I stood there marveling over the fact that this guy—who was almost too perfect to exist—had chosen to love me over every other girl he’d ever met, he pulled the side of his mouth up into a crooked smile.
“What?”
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” he sang suddenly.
Gorgeous, romantic, and darn-near perfect Ryan Miller may be, but a singer he is not. I burst into laughter.
“You make me hap-py, when skies are gray!”
Ryan squeezed me to him even tighter and began to tickle me as he continued his serenade. “You’ll never know, dear! How much I love you!”
“Stop!” I shrieked.
“The singing or the tickling?”
“Both!”
“Please don’t take my sunshine away!” Ryan stopped tickling me and turned me around in his arms. “You and I have never had a song before.”
“‘You Are My Sunshine’? Are you kidding me?”
Ryan laughed. “Would you prefer ‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life’?”
I groaned. “I would prefer we not set cheesy theme music to our relationship. Especially not songs that create horrible puns based on my freakishness and that tarnish the amazing gift you just gave me.”
“Sorry, Sunshine. It’s already done.”
“You did not just call me ‘Sunshine.’”
Ryan grinned. “Yup. I’m thinking we need pet names to go with our song. Yours is Sunshine. What’s mine?”
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him. “I’m not sure you want me to answer that right now.”
My threat made Ryan laugh. “Okay,” he said, still annoyingly cheerful. “You have my permission to take your time and think about it. It has to be something good.”
I rolled my eyes and Ryan turned me back to face the mirror again. We stood there a minute, just looking at each other. I fit so perfectly in his arms the way he was holding me now.
Not that I was even going to entertain the idea of pet names, but I tried to think of words that described him. Optimistic. Playful. Charming. Beautiful. Loving. Caring. Considerate. Nice. Perfect. Ryan’s always on my case about seeing the negative, but when I look at him it’s easy to forget that anything negative exists. And he loves me just as much as I love him.