Fangirls: The Collection

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

SHE DIDN’T NEED this. Standing inside the entrance of the Perk & Grind, Nikki Sanford repositioned her briefcase’s strap over her shoulder, the weight digging into her flesh. She scanned the busy interior as her well-laid plans deflated like air let out of a child’s balloon. She really didn’t need this. She had too many reports to complete for work and her neighbor’s apartment was full of boisterous people whose party was bleeding through her walls. She hoped the Perk & Grind would offer her a quiet table as well as a hot cup of coffee or two to see her through the drudgery of the quarterly reports. The coffee house, however, was jammed with a diversified assortment of trendy folks. As she stood there, fighting the urge to scream, all she could see was her night going to hell in the proverbial hand basket. I wonder if the hand basket would at least be quiet.

Nine tables lined the outside of the brick-and-mortar building, each one already filled with couples playing footsie under the table or a gaggle of college students pretending to cram for the next round of finals while trying to start a new fashion trend with their hodge podge outfits. Nikki understood that some people liked to express themselves through their clothing, but all these kids were expressing was that they were poor and color blind.

Inside, the coffee house was just as bad. Couches were filled with gossiping couples, tables surrounded by friends sharing stories or people lost in their laptops. On a makeshift stage, a twenty-something kid with dreadlocks pretended to play the guitar while everyone around ignored him. Even the counter bar was full of couples talking or people reading while sipping overpriced coffee. A line of people at the register needing caffeine told her that the place wasn’t going to empty out anytime soon.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Nikki scanned the noisy crowd again, hoping an empty table was hiding somewhere, waiting for her to claim it. No such luck. She did not feel like hauling her heavy bag back out to her car just to go in search of somewhere else to work. Not only was it a pain in the ass, but she didn’t have the time to lose. She was going to be up late enough as it was, trying to get the reports completed so her boss, Peter Mills, didn’t string her up as a sacrifice for his boss. Besides, she didn’t even know if there was another place open at this time of night where she could go and work. Why in the world were so many people out on a Tuesday night anyway?

What frustrated her even more was that at a table perched against an exterior window sat a lone man taking up the entire table for four all by himself. An entire table! He sat there, oblivious to his greediness, scribbling notes down into a notebook from a book he was reading on…faeries? He had an extra pen tucked behind his right ear pushing his dark hair over and out just a little, but it didn’t seem out of place on him with how tousled the rest of his hair was. The man was thin, but not scrawny, with dark hazel eyes, which were staring intently at his book as if he were studying for a test. Why someone would be studying faeries with such intensity, she didn’t know. What she did know, however, was that it didn’t require an entire table to do so.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to claim part of faerie-man’s domain. She hated dealing with strangers, which is why she was in the business side of Meyer’s Ad Agency, instead of the front lines, but she saw no other choice. She needed a place to work. Her back straight with determination, she weaved her way through the crowded establishment to the prize she intended on claiming. “Excuse me,” she said as she approached the table and the disheveled looking man. “Would you mind sharing your table?” She gestured around the coffee house when he glanced up at her. “Every other table is taken, and I really don’t have time to go anywhere else.”

He stared up at her, his face a mask of confusion. Glancing around the coffee house, it seemed he had completely forgotten where he was. His brows were pinched together as his gaze bounced from his books to her, back around the crowded room, and finally settling back on her. Nikki wondered if the bizarre man even heard her. She waited for another moment, noticing the other patrons glancing her way, before gesturing to the empty chair in front of her. “May I?”

“Oh, sorry, yes, please, have a seat.” His words came out in a rush of clipped phrases as he gestured to the chair she was indicating. She still didn’t think he knew what was happening. He glanced around the room again as she dropped down into the chair, tossing her briefcase into the empty seat beside her. “I guess this place has gotten busy,” he said. “I hadn’t noticed really. Strange.”

Nikki doubted that it was strange at all for him, but rather a natural occurrence. “You did seem lost in your faeries,” she said, tucking a stray strand of her dark hair behind her left ear.

“My what? Oh, the book.” His expression went from confused to embarrassed as a blush colored his cheeks. “Yes, well, I’m in the middle of some research.” He kept his eyes on her as she pulled a legal pad and a stack of stuffed manila folders from her briefcase, setting them in front of her. “It’s amazing, some of the legends that are handed down and people’s beliefs. It’s equally interesting how those stories have changed throughout the years. Mermaids, for example.”

“Mermaids?” Nikki sat back in her chair, her hands folded in her lap as she stared at him. “Bare-breasted women who chase after men? I’m not surprised you’d find that interesting.”

“Huh? Oh. No, no. I meant the differences in how people see them. The movie The Little Mermaid has given them a sweet, cutesy image, but really, mermaids are vicious creatures. They lure men to them and then devour their victim’s hands, feet, and genitals, leaving their half-digested corpses on the shore for others to find. They truly are ferocious creatures.”

Nikki stared at him, wondering if perhaps she should have just turned around and went home to work instead. The man before her was not all there, it seemed. “And mermaids are a hobby of yours?”

His eyebrows bunched together over his nose as he gave her another confused look. “Hobby? I don’t…Oh.” He laughed as it dawned on him what she meant. Or perhaps he laughed at himself for not getting her little joke. Nikki couldn’t tell, because she was having a difficult time figuring this frail-looking man out. “Actually, as I said, it’s research.”

“So, you’re a mermaid professor.”

He closed the book he was reading, using the pointer finger of his left hand as a bookmark. Leaning back in his chair, he gave her what she took as a patient smile. “I’m a writer. Besides a blog, I also write fantasy novels. I’m considering using mermaids in my next book and wanted to stick as close to the established legends as I could.”

She was staring at him, she knew, but she couldn’t help it. Why would an author be in the Perk & Grind? “You actually write books that can be found in bookstores? I could pop into a Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and see your name on the spine of a book?” She didn’t believe it. The man across from her did not look like a writer. There was no Ernest Hemingway or James Patterson vibe about him.

He nodded his head and then brushed his bangs out of his eyes with his fingers. “You can. Just look for Theo D. Edwards in the fantasy section. Hopefully, you enjoy the genre.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever read anything in it, but now I’m going to have to since I’ve met someone who writes it.”

He smiled at her, his eyes soft, inviting. “Well, hopefully, I will get to meet you again, so you can tell me what you thought about it.” He pointed to the stack of folders in front of her as he reached for his coffee mug. “And what are you working on this Tuesday night?”

Nikki took a deep breath as she was reminded of the work night ahead of her. “Nothing as exciting as the adventures of a mermaid. I work for an ad agency and have to finish the end of quarter reports. It’s a battle of numbers that constantly fight with me, refusing to balance like they should.”

“Ah, yes, numbers, the vilest villain in the modern world.” His laughter brought a twinkle to his dark, hazel eyes, the light reflecting off the gold flecks around his iris’s edge, and she found herself changing her first opinion of him. He still seemed odd, but now it wasn’t in a creepy, loner, serial killer kind of way. Now, he was a creative kind of quirky as many writers were said to be and she found herself enjoying it.

They continued to talk throughout the evening, only pausing long enough for Nikki to order a mocha frappe. The entire time Theo never removed his finger from the book as it rested on his lap, as if he were ready to return to his reading at any moment. It was almost as if he forgot he was even holding it. His right hand was a series of movements, however, from picking up his coffee mug, to continuously brushing his disheveled hair out of his eyes, to simple hand gestures as he spoke. He asked her a myriad of questions about her work, as well as herself, and every time Nikki attempted to turn the conversation back around to him, he would answer her question and then ask her one right back. “It’s not all that exciting,” he told her when she asked about being a writer. “I live in fictional worlds. You, however, you help sway the real world. Your ads make people buy something or get them to vote a certain way. Now, that’s exciting.”

And she could tell he actually meant it. He wasn’t just being nice. Even after she reminded him that she was merely a number cruncher, he wanted to hear more. He could have ignored her, gone back to his writing, but instead, he kept the conversation going. Before she knew it, they were on their third drink and her reports still had not been touched. She would regret it in the morning, but, at the moment, she didn’t want it to end. It had been too long since she had found someone who actually cared about what she did or how she felt about things. It was a nice change from having someone who only wanted to talk about themselves.

The noise level inside the Perk & Grind started to diminish. Glancing around, Nikki noticed more than half the customers had cleared out, heading for home or wherever else the night called them. A peek at her phone revealed the hour to be almost half past midnight. More than four hours! How in the world had the time slipped away from her that much?

Following her lead, Theo glanced around the coffee house and then at his cell phone. “Wow. I guess I wasn’t a big help with you getting your reports done. I’m sorry. Really. Once I start talking. I don’t know when to shut up.”

It wasn’t his fault. Nikki knew she could have shut him up at any time, but she had allowed herself to become lost in the conversation. She had to admit she needed it. Living alone was too quiet—except for her neighbor’s parties, that is. Oh, it was nice that first hour home from work, but after that, the silence was sometimes louder than the classic rock she played to drown out the quietness.

She let out a quiet sigh, realizing that the night was over. With reluctance and not regret, she slid her stack of untouched folders back into her briefcase. “Actually, it was an enjoyable night. I think I needed the company more than I needed to finish these reports. Thank you for allowing me to interrupt your research.” She stood and he stood with her.

Extending his arm, Theo took her hand into his. A simple handshake, but its warmth sent a tremor of excitement through her body. Human touch was about as scarce for her as conversation. He smiled at her and she felt herself wanting to stay.

“It was a refreshing evening,” he said. “And my research will always be there. I much preferred our conversation. I hope you don’t get into too much trouble at work.”

She squeezed his hand before forcing herself to let go. “It was worth it.” She returned his smile and then turned to leave, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do right then. At the door, she turned to glance back one more time and, to her surprise, he was still standing, watching her as she left. He gave a slight wave, which she returned with a smile before stepping out into the dark, quiet night.