Category: Flash

Cindy woke up and levered herself off of Jax, wiping her mouth for drool then his still bare chest. “You should have woke me.” She pushed her hair back from the face and blinked, looking around the hotel room.

“Why?” Jax sat up, rearranged the pillow, and leaned against the posts. “It’s not often I get you completely to myself.”

“You are at a con, you doofus. You don’t need me.” She rolled away to sit on the edge of the bed. “You never need me.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there.” Jax reached across to grab her by the wrist. “I always need you. Got that. Don’t let that brain-weasel tell you otherwise, okay?” His blue eyes bore into her chocolate ones.

“But you are at a con. You go to them all the time.”

“And I text to you about them all the time while I’m at them.” Jax moved to sit next to her. “I want you here. Got that. I am so glad you came. You make me happy just by being in the same room.”

She shook off his hand to rub her arms with her hands, crossing her arms across her chest. “But I can’t. I can’t be in the same room. We just tried it and I–”

“And I screwed up.” Jax said firmly, interrupting. “I didn’t notice you having problems, and I should have. You are doing this for me.” He lifted her chin with a finger as she tried to look away. “You are incredibly brave. The bravest person I know.”

“I panic at nothing.” Cindy tried looking away at the abstract paintings of triangles, circles, and squares decorating the hotel room.

“No, you panic at something, we just don’t know what. And you were willing to risk that for me.” He gently pressed a finger against her cheek until she was staring at his eyes again. “Wow,” he said intimately. “You ask me to go into a place where I panic, like a roomful of clowns, I’m not sure I could.”

Cynthia laughed a sad chuckle. “I promise I will never drag you to the circus.”

“Thank goodness,” Jax sagged in pretend relief. “You are the perfect woman for me. I should marry you.”

Red rushed up both sides of Cindy’s neck to flush her checks, ears, and forehead. “Wha…”

Jax did a control fall to the floor in front of the bed, ending up on one knee and grasping both her hands. “Cynthia Amanda Cooper, will you marry me?”

“Ah.” She stared at their joined hands, pulling hesitantly away, but him firmly holding on, but gently. If she actually tried to pull away, she could. “Ah.”

“I meant to have a ring, but …” Jax shrugged, “you know me and being organized.”

“No, you don’t want to be married to me.” Cindy shook her head, whipping the purple hair side-to-side. “You can’t. It’s just hormones talking.”

“I think after four years, we are pretty much beyond the in-love hormone stage.”

“But I can’t be there with you. You are great and handsome and smart and–”

Jax interrupted, “And you are smart and beautiful and funny and caring and sexy.” He released one of his hands from where they were jointed and lifted a finger up to her lips where more protests were forming. “Stop, stop. Shhh. If we were at home, last week or the week before that and I asked, what would you have said.”

Cynthia waited until he lifted the finger away, then bit her lips, tensing her shoulders.

“Ah, ah.” He waved his finger side-to-side the first time she opened her mouth to speak. “The truth.”

She relaxed her shoulders, then leaned forward until their foreheads touched. “Yes. I would have said yes,” she said, “I’ve been ready to say yes since you fell shoveling my snow that first year.”

“Give a guy some hints,” Jax whined.

Cindy shrugged. “I let you move in the next week.”

“Okay, that was a hint. I got to admit that should be considered a hint.” Rocking back on his heels to switch to a full kneeling position. “I’m an idiot.”

“No, Jax, you are a doofus.” Cynthia ran her hand over his hair until she let her hand drop on his shoulder. “My doofus.” She leaned all the way forward to kiss him quickly on the lips, falling completely off the bed into his lap in the process. Laughing in each other arms, peppering kisses on each other between the twin full-sized beds in their hotel room until Jax’s phone rang.

His newly-minted fiancee let him roll away immediately. His medical equipment sales position lived and died on being available to his clients 24-7. Jax pulled the phone out of the holster on his belt and looked at the number before swiping to answer. “Yes? Jaxson Miller here.”

Cindy got herself off the floor, touching him on the head as she passed by where he sat to go to the bathroom and give him privacy, carefully not paying attention to anything he said. Just like he carefully ignored any paperwork and phone talk about her medical transcription job when he had to come into her home office for something. While most of Jax’s clients were hospitals and doctors where HIPPA did not matter since owning certain machines are a given, he had some direct customers where having equipment really was life and death and the medical information was protected.

 

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)
Marathon Party (G to M)
Trigger: Cutting (N to Q)
Bookstore Sort (R to T)

Panic at the Convention (U to Z)
4/24/2019 – U is for Uniform
4/25/2019 – V is for Volunteer
4/26/2019 – W is for Weasels
4/27/2019 – X is for Xander
4/28/2019 – Y is for Yuengling
4/29/2019 – Z is for Zillion

“I’m okay.”

“You sure hon?” Jax asked, turning the scratches away from her.

She nodded, rubbing her face, smudging her thick makeup. Jax, pulled his t-shirt over his head, quickly mopping his face to get the blood off, then passed it to her. “But–”

“I got more upstairs.” Jax gently tucked a lock of hair behind Cynthia’s ear.

“You’re half-naked.” She shook her head. “You can’t go out in public like that.”

“Seriously, after what you’ve seen in those halls?” Jax smiled until she smiled back ruefully. The cos-play added color to the halls outside, and a significant portion of it was the shades of humanity’s skin, if blue counted. “Besides, I don’t work out to get this chest just to hide it. What do I say?”

“Sun’s out, guns out. You big goof.” Cynthia laughed, and for the first time truly looked at the third person in the hall. “Hello?”

“Hello.” Basketcase nodded at the woman with purple hair. “I’m Reese.”

“I’m sorry to be a bother.”

He shook his head. “No problem. Keeps me from eating too much in the hospitality suite.”

“You have better things to do.”

“Not really.” Reese cocked a half-smile. “Talking to purple-haired anime fans is my job today. Especially when they are cute. A bonus for a rather boring job.”

“A job you want to be boring.” Jax inserted.

Reese nodded. “Amen to that. We got a good bunch. And it is Friday.”

Her eyes drifted down to his badge with the big yellow ribbon attached to the bottom like a prize at a state fair proclaiming him a volunteer with a second one, even bigger, in blue and black indicating security. “Basketcase?”

“My con name. I may volunteer just a little.” Reese held his two index fingers closely together, maybe an inch between them, then, keeping the fingers in parallel, he spread his arms as wide apart as they could go. A small laugh escaped from Cynthia at his antics. “For some reason my friends call me Basketcase. So what are your names, my purple-haired wonder and hunky shirtless guy?”

Cindy’s froze a second, looking up at Jax, who smiled easily. “I’m Jax. No con name.”

“Cynthia,” came as a whisper that Jax barely heard.

“Jax and his silent partner. Got it.”

“Cynthia. My name is Cynthia.”

“Nice to meet you Cynthia.” Reese waved at both of them from where he sat. “So, are you ready to face the world again?”

“No!” erupted from the woman, holding her boyfriend tighter.

Reese nodded his head slowly. “Okay.” His brown eyes darted, studying the couple. “Are you staying at the hotel? Do you want to go back to your room?”

“Yes, we are the fifth floor.” Jax responded.

“The quiet floor.” Reese stood up in pieces, arms first, then knees, feet, and rose like a titian out of the Earth or an old man from the sea. “I think we can get there without getting into the main halls. Do you want the elevator or stairs?”

Jax and Cindy stood, reflecting Basketcase’s moves without conscious attention. “I think stairs.” Jax said, reaching for Cynthia’s hand.

“Yes, please.”

“Let me think.” Reese moved his pointer finger through the air. Lifting it up one way, down another. Holding a finger at one point and bringing his left hand up to draw another line from it before waving both, erasing the lines only he could see, and starting over. The two watched the invisible mapping, until, at last, the convention volunteer said, “Got it. Least amount of people until the stairwell. Going to go through some dicey areas, just a warning.” He lowered his voice ominously. “We are going to cut through the gaming section with the D&D and Star War RPG enthusiasts. Are you ready to go where only nerds dare to go?”

Sounding equally serious, Jax responded, “I believe we are up to the task. We recently watched a Game of Thrones episode at a friend’s house.”

“If you think that is enough to prepare you for the horrors you are about to witness, you are sadly mistaken my friend. Hold your lady tight as we prepare for this journey.”

Cindy looked back and forth between the two men as Jax squeezed her hand and smiled reassurance. The two followed Basketcase down the cement-floored hallway until cutting out another side door into a main convention thoroughfare. The convention security volunteer quickly drilled them through the horde down a smaller hallway with a switchback, opening up into a larger space filled with dozens of round tables surrounding by five to ten people each, mostly men, rolling dice, scribbling on paper, and hiding behind screens. Several tables had piles of miniatures, everything from dragons surrounded by archers and men on horseback, to armies of mechs on hexagonal graph paper. Not a single person looked up from their games as the group skirted the edge until they exited the room through a set of double doors. Five steps ahead were the elevators with dozens of people waiting for the two lifts, but Reese turned immediately through another door of the maze and suddenly they were in the back hotel areas again with a cement stairwell.

“I think you can get back from here.” Reese waved up the steps. “Remember, it is dangerous to go alone.” He gave them a crazy look, smirking. “Good luck on the rest of your adventure.”

“Thanks, and good luck to you too, old wise man.” Jax shook the hand Reese tentatively offered as he stepped past them to return to the main floor.

 

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)
Marathon Party (G to M)
Trigger: Cutting (N to Q)
Bookstore Sort (R to T)

Panic at the Convention (U to Z)
4/24/2019 – U is for Uniform
4/25/2019 – V is for Volunteer
4/26/2019 – W is for Weasels
4/27/2019 – X is for Xander
4/28/2019 – Y is for Yuengling
4/29/2019 – Z is for Zillion

 

Feeling Cynthia claw at his arm, Jax looked down and saw his girlfriend’s eyes draw into pinpoints. “Shit.” His head swiveled as he searched the semi-crowded vendor room. They were about as far from the door as they could be, against a back corner. She was already struggling to breathe. There was no way to make it out in time.

“Door,” he barked at the vendor where they had been admiring the dragon leather and fairy gossamer wings. Napoleon’s head snapped up. “What?”

“Where the fuck is the nearest door?” Jax hissed, pulling Cynthia against him as her body started shaking.

The vendor waved towards the entrance to the large conference hall.

“No, she is having a panic attack. We don’t have time.”

“Over here.” The vendor next to Napoleon’s Wings waved them over, moving the corsets lining the wall to show a small door used by the hotel help during more traditional conferences. She opened the door, and Jax quickly moved Cynthia through, half carrying her as her fight-or-flight kicked in.

“I got you. I got you,” he repeated until he could put her down in the empty service hallway. “I’m between you and people. I got you. You’re safe. I got you.” She pummeled him several times on the chest and face ineffectually with fists and open hands, and he took a few scratches, but eventually Cynthia backed against the wall and slide down when her hyperventilating made her dizzy. Tears streamed down her face.

Jax leaned against the bare gray wall and slid down on the concrete floor beside her. “I got you. I’m sorry. Everything is okay. You’re safe. I got you. I’m between you and people. No one can see you. I got you.” He kept repeating, his voice going hoarse while he waited for her to calm down. When she reached the point he could safely touch her, he pulled the small woman into his lap and started petting her hair and back while speaking nonsense words of comfort.

At some point, one of the hotel staff came down the hall, and Jax shook his head at her. She backed away, but another person came soon thereafter. A convention security volunteer, a yellow banner attached to his badge, with one of the hired uniform guards. They stopped about ten feet away, then, after a short whispered conversation, the staffer continued forward. Cynthia was down to sobs and hiccups, but Jax still rotated her so his shoulder and body were between her and the newcomers.

The con staffer stopped two arms length away and crouched down to sit on his heels. “Is everything okay?” he asked softly.

“Noooo.” Cynthia wailed softly into Jax shoulders.

He petted her electric violet hair. “It’s okay. He can’t see you.” Jax stage-whispered looking at the staffer, Basketcase according to his badge. “Everything is okay. Just …” Jax words went away, because he knew Cynthia was aware enough to remember this and the embarrassment would be devastating if she thought people knew about her problem. She would never go out in public again. There were several restaurants where she insisted they could never go back because she had lost it in them early in their dating until he figured out most of her triggers.

“Sir, can you tell me the problem?” The staffer’s voice took a firmer, more official tone, although he made no move toward them. His face arranged in guarded concern like a puzzle, one piece at a time as the man tried to figure what he needed to do.

“She is okay. Just got a little overcome in the crowd.”

Basketcase nodded. “She is not hurt? No one did anything inappropriate?”

“No, sir.”

“Social anxiety?” The security man asked, the voice and face shifting yet again.

The question was close enough to reality Jax relaxed, still petting Cynthia as she tried to burrow deep into him in her embarrassment. “Yeah. We thought Friday wouldn’t be bad.”

“Do you need medical attention?”

He probably could use some Band-Aids, but he wasn’t going to ask for them in front of Cynthia. “No, sir.”

The con security guy half turned, bringing one knee down to look behind him at the guard. “It’s okay, Will. Thanks for the backup.”

“You sure?” The black uniform asked, his hand never far from his belt of many things, including a taser.

“Yeah. I got this.”

After the uniformed security guard disappeared down the hallway, the con worker turned back around, then sat on the floor Indian style. “Hi there, I’m Reese, but around here most people call me Basketcase because of the amount of things I volunteer for.”

“Jax.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen you around on the circuit. You’re into anime, like that cutie there.” Reese hunched lower as Cynthia peeked over Jax’s shoulder. Through his hand, Jax felt tension begin to leave Cynthia’s spine. “Did you like the schedule layout? I put that together.”

“It made more sense than most, and integrates well with the online app.” Jax responded to the surreal talk.

Really, what the hell? Casual conversation in the service hallway? Jax felt an itch on his face and lifted his hand wiping the area, finding it wet and sticky. Pulling his hand away, he found red smeared on his fingers. Cindy got him good with a swipe.

“We picked up a couple new Freshman from the college who figured out the app. Between the three of us, we fixed things up good.”

“That’s nice.” Jax really didn’t know where this was going, but when Cynthia pushed gently against his chest he lost what little interest he had discussion.

 

A to Z Short Story List Breakdown

Rainbow Spectrum (A to F)
Marathon Party (G to M)
Trigger: Cutting (N to Q)
Bookstore Sort (R to T)

Panic at the Convention (U to Z)
4/24/2019 – U is for Uniform
4/25/2019 – V is for Volunteer
4/26/2019 – W is for Weasels
4/27/2019 – X is for Xander
4/28/2019 – Y is for Yuengling
4/29/2019 – Z is for Zillion