Nerdcam Pt. 12

Nerdcam Part 12

"Out of twenty... Three dollars and eighty seven scents is your change. And your receipt. Have a good one." Anna leaned on the counter and watched one of the shop's regular customers depart.

When the bell over the door had ceased ringing, she felt around on a shelf under the counter. Finding her phone, she called up a calendar/planner app. Friday. Halloween was eleven days away. On a Tuesday. She'd be working all day, but she didn't mind so much. A friend, Irina, who they had met through Crystal and Nicole, had invited Anna and Jack to an early Halloween party on the Saturday prior. Next Saturday, that is.

For this weekend, on the other hand, Jack had earlier said he had something planned for them. He had been away most of yesterday, but when she had asked about it, he would only go as far as to say 'Preparation. Trust me."

She had tried texting him on her lunch break - to ask if his surprise plans would require a nice outfit, but hadn't heard back from him.

Replacing her phone, she felt for the latest issue of Gamer Weekly, which she had set aside while stocking magazines. She made it halfway through an article about the exponentially escalating system requirements of modern computer games when she noticed a figure approaching. Looking up, she found a familiar, if still surprising, face.

"Hi." Jack gave an awkward little wave. "Uh..."

"Hey." Anna gave him a curious look. His manner was... Off.

"Maybe you could help me..."

She arched an eyebrow. He was acting like... Like they didn't know each other?

"Mmmm-aybe," she rested her elbows on the counter, settled her chin in her hand. "What are you looking for?"

"Do you carry any manga?"

Anna stared blankly for a moment before smiling.

"Why, are you a weeb?"

Jack convincingly delivered his reply as if he'd never had this conversation before.

"Nah, just a general nerd. I like Western stuff, too."

"Ah, okay. Probably a few. They're with the- lemme show you." she closed the magazine and moved out from behind the counter.

While Jack followed her past a few aisles, Anna wondered how far he planned on taking his little game. And if it was going somewhere. Maybe something to do with the promised surprise?

"Here you go." she gestured to a corner where a couple of magazine racks full of comics stood near a section of shelves lined with graphic novels and, yes, a handful of manga.

"Thanks, uh... Sorry, you don't have a name tag or anything..."

"Anna. If there's anything else I can help you with, lemme know." she started to turn away.

"Actually-"

She stopped and gave him an inquisitive look.

"I noticed you were reading a gaming magazine."

"You stalking me?"

He gave a self deprecating chuckle and scratched the back of his head. She had to admit, his act was good. Made it easier to play along.

"No. I was hoping maybe I could use it to segue into conversation without looking weird or stalkerish." he shrugged. "Maybe next time."

"Well done." Anna teased, smiling. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Give it a shot anyway. For the sake of argument."

"I guess I'd start by asking; computer or console?"

"Mm. Both."

"And you're not entirely casual. You like some retro games."

"Lucky guess?" Anna carried on upholding the charade, as if this was all new.

"The tat on your arm. Pong." Jack pointed out. "Speaking of which..."

"Speaking of which what?"

"The ink on your other arm. From a certain movie?"

"And?"

"I know a place where they make a decent turkey club. Or just coffee. Any chance you'd like to meet whenever you get off work - talk about retro games, 80s movies, and, uh, what it's like working in a book store?"

As pickup lines went, she'd heard worse. Wasn't going to stop her having a little fun, though.

"That sounds kinda nice, but... What if I'm seeing somebody?"

Jack nodded, looked down, then back up again.

"Yeah, I kinda figured." he shrugged. "The offer stands- dinner or coffee - as... potential friends? You could invite him. Or her?"

Anna's mouth hung open for a moment, then she bit her lower lip to stop herself smiling.

"That would be," she cleared her throat, "It's complicated."

"Explain it over coffee?"

Anna smiled, rolled her eyes.

"Alright, Nerd. I get off at five. Tell me about this sandwich place when you come pay." she said, turning to head back to the register.

She wasn't sure if it was just him selling the bit, or if he had done a lot of browsing, but it was a good twenty minutes before Jack appeared at the counter again. She lifted the single volume he placed on the counter.

"No manga, huh?"

"Not this time."

"Algernon Blackwood." she read from the cover before ringing up his total.

"I read somewhere that he wrote some creepy stuff way back when. Influenced Lovecraft, among others."

"Oh yeah? Learn something every day. And that'll be four nineteen."

He handed her a five, along with a card which turned out to be an old dentist appointment reminder.

"Flip it over." Jack said.

On the other side - in the middle of the other side - was written:

'(Directions to Ellison's)'

And nothing else. Anna shook her head, but played along.

"Thanks." she covertly flicked the card back toward the trash bin behind her. "Your change is eighty-one cents. Aaand I'll see you at the diner around five-thirty?"

"I'll be there."

"Your treat, did you say?"

"Well, I'm not sure I actually said that, but-"

"Oh, I must be mis-remembering." Anna said innocently.

"But it would be my pleasure to treat you." Jack finished.

When she got off work at five, Anna considered stopping by the apartment to change and freshen up, but decided against it. The first-meeting game Jack had going not withstanding, it was just dinner at the diner.

Nonetheless, rush hour traffic and a detour around an accident meant it was closer to six when she arrived.

Entering and looking around, she half expected to find Jack seated at the same table they had used this time last year, on their first real date. A handful of high school kids occupied the spot. A glance found Jack at the next table along the wall, already nursing a drink.

"You came." he said, sounding pleasantly surprised, when he noticed her approach.

"Sorry, I'm a little late. Traffic." she explained, taking a chair opposite him.

He waved this off.

"Don't sweat it. Menu?"

"I've actually been here before."

"Oh. And... no boyfriend?" he asked, lifting his drink.

"You seem nerdy. What do you know about quantum entanglement and the many worlds theory?"

Jack sputtered when a knee-jerk laugh tried to escape around a swallow of Dr. Pepper. He grabbed a napkin and coughed into it until he could breath properly.

"Ahem. You weren't kidding when you said it was complicated."

"It's sort of a Schroedinger's Cat situation." Anna elaborated, enjoying herself. "For our purposes, we can assume I'm single... Unless a boyfriend shows up."

This time it was Jack trying to suppress a smile.

"That's... A very intellectual rationale. Sounds a little sketchy."

"Trust me." Anna replied airily.

Jack started to say something, then stopped when a waiter appeared at the table. Again diverging from the choices of their first first date, Anna ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and a coke. Jack opted for a BLT. Naturally they both got fries.

"So, 80s movies in general," Jack asked when the waiter had gone, "Or just a special soft spot for The Goonies?"

"Both?" she shrugged. "What about you? I didn't see any tats. Got a fave 80s flick?"

"A favorite?" Too many great choices. The Thing, Blade Runner, Terminator, Predator. Lost Boys, The 'Burbs, The Breakfast Club... Back to the Future."

Anna smiled, nodded.

"Good picks, N-"

"Legend, Ladyhawke, Labyrinth. Big Trouble in Little China, Willow, The-"

"Okay, okay." Anna laughed. "Too many to choose one. Got it."

Shortly, the food arrived. True to habit, Anna immediately scooped up half the hot, salted sticks of potato goodness from her plate and transferred them to Jack's.

"Ooh, hot." she sucked at a couple of her fingers before wiping her hand with a napkin.

Looking up, she saw Jack was giving her a curious look. She wondered again how long he planned on staying in character.

"Mm, theoretical boyfriend gets half of all potato based food. You'll have to stand in as proxy. You're skinny enough."

"Happy to help, if you're sure. Must be how you keep that figure, huh?"

"And exercise. Could stand to lose a little more figure from some parts."

"Not where I've been looking." Jack muttered.

"Oh really?" she munched down a fry. "Mm, good thing my theoretical boyfriend isn't around."

Jack nodded, finished a bite of BLT.

"Yeah. That would be complicated." he agreed amiably.

"Smartass." Anna smiled.

They went on to retread old ground, trading banter and occasionally happening upon some new insight. Having met at the book store, they eventually circled back around to preferences in reading material. And it was after some talk about horror novels versus short story collections that Jack set a slip of paper on the table between them.

"This is probably too forward, but there's a haunted house thing I'm going to later. I can vouch for the host."

Anna lifted the paper - just a piece torn from a sheet of printer paper this time, not a repurposed card. Lifting it, she read off a time and an address.

"Do I have to wear a costume?" she asked, while pondering over the address.

"I think that's optional."

"Mm. Are there going to be treats?" she smirked.

"Chocolate, at least. Course, you're welcome to bring your own... Treats... Or tricks..."

She gave him a long cool look.

"I dunno. That's pretty forward. I'll think about it."

Jack nodded.

"This address..." she trailed off.

"Yes," he said with a bit of extra emphasis, "That is the address."

So this wasn't just a gag, she thought. The address was for an apartment, not a hotel. A little ways uptown. Was this something he had roped a friend into helping with? Maybe another old buddy who owed him a favor? Presumably nobody she knew, or she wouldn't be drawing a blank on the address.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Anna leaned forward and spoke.

"You know, Jack, I'm not like other girls."

"I noticed that. Instead of saying you're not hungry, then eating half my fries, you gave me half of yours." He replied without missing a beat.

"Kind of a smartass, aren' ya Jack?" she smiled.

Jack leaned forward a bit himself, mimicking her quiet tone.

"Kind of."

"I meant, I'm different physically. I'm trans."

"Oh," he feigned a moment of thought, "Well, I won't hold it against you, but, uh, if you ask nicely, I might hold it for you."

"Pfft!" Anna shook her head, half laughing, abandoning their little game finally. "Come on. There's no way you would've said that the same day we met. Talk about forward."

"Yeah, probably not. I mean, if we had met in person instead of a site where I had specifically clicked on-"

"That's true." she allowed. "It wasn't exactly a secret."

Jack nodded.

"Already knew you were packing, but... Everything else about you was a nice surprise." he replied before sitting back in his seat and finishing his sandwich.

Her old shy smile appeared for a second.

"You weren't all bad yourself. Nerd."

Shortly, Jack dirtied a couple more napkins, then rose from his seat.

"This was nice. Hope I see you later." he started to turn away.

"Hey, wait. Are you leaving?"

"Well, I'm gonna go pay first."

Anna gave him a look.

"There's probably plenty of time, if you wanna change or put on something Halloweeny, by the way. Go for comfortable footwear."

"You're not gonna explain? Anything?"

"Trust me." Jack gave her a wink before turning to walk over to the bar.

She watched, and when he lifted a hand as he passed on his way out, she lifted her chin in acknowledgement. When he had gone, she sat a little longer, sipping her Coke and wondering if she should go to the trouble of dressing up in 'something Halloweeny.' She couldn't muster much annoyance over Jack's surprises. Any time he went to lengths to keep a secret, it turned out to be some deeply thoughtful gift, romantic gesture, or new erotic experimentation. Sometimes all three.

There was a vague itch. She wouldn't have minded a kiss before he disappeared again, she belatedly realized. Ah well. Whatever she was going to do, she probably ought to get going.

While Anna went home and looked through her closet, Jack walked a few blocks uptown to start checking that his preparations were all in order. This involved a few different stops, but he had finished and backtracked with plenty of time to be waiting when Anna arrived at the address he had given her.

She found him standing in the hall wearing the same jeans and zippered hoodie he had worn to dinner. Not wanting to go to the trouble of a new costume, she had chosen to dust off an easy cosplay outfit. Jeans, black tube-top, leather jacket. Top hat, silver ankh necklace, and artistic application of eye liner. She was less pale and more curvy, but otherwise a good take on Neil Gaiman's Death.

"Hey." Jack greeted her.

"Hey yourself." she gestured up and down, indicating his outfit. "You hinted I should dress up, and you're still wearing this?"

"I'm Donnie Darko." He stated matter-of-factly.

Unzipping the hoodie, he revealed a black tee printed with stark white bones.

"Weak." She teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Granted, it's not as easy on the eyes as yours. I have something good lined up for the party next week. But given the plans for tonight..." he glanced down. "Ah. You wore sneakers. Good. I thought you might forget that part."

"Uh huh. How about you start explaining before I use my comfortable footwear to go back to my car?"

"Fair enough. Walk this way."

He turned, opened the door, and moved into the apartment, stepping in an exaggerated tiptoe, like a cartoon character trying to be stealthy.

"You are such a dork." she rolled her eyes, smiled, followed.

Jack flicked on a light while she closed the door behind them and ran the bolt. Looking around, her first impression was that the place was rather empty. Jack had stepped over to a little TV tray. As she moved closer to have a look, he lifted a pair of clipboards and held one out to her.

"Is this a husbando performance review? 'Cause I have some notes."

"You know I'm not a masochist."

"Har har." The first sheet appeared to be a floor plan for the apartment. "What is it, then?"

"You know how we've talked about getting a place together, but it's a pain making time and scheduling to check out places?"

"I do..." she flipped the sheet and found headings for each room with prompts and blank lines to write in notes. The prompts were Pros, Cons, and Notes. There was an extra heading at the end which read simply Other Notes.

Jack handed her an ink pen.

"Anna, welcome to your all-expense-paid apartment crawl." he put on a Price is Right announcer guy voice.

"My what?"

"Well, it's only a few. It is a pain in the ass lining stuff up all for one day. And they don't normally let you do this so late in the day."

"Deeply thoughtful... Gesture." Anna mumbled. "Weird, but thoughtful."

"Sorry?"

"Uh, nothing. How did you get them to let you do this?"

"Combination of bribes and favors. And cronyism."

Her brow furrowed.

"Cronyism?"

"You'll get it when we reach our last stop. For now, just follow me for your tour of prospective apartment number One. Remember to jot down your thoughts, and feel free to ask questions."

She followed him into the center of the empty den.

"What did you memorize all the specs for the- For three apartments?"

"As far as you know." Jack joked. "No, I have notes here." He waved his clipboard.

"Oh, well, just give me-"

She moved around to stand facing him, only for Jack to slowly lift he clipboard up overhead as she reached for it. Shifting her sights from the notes to his face, she slid her arms over his shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. When, after several seconds, she took hold of his sleeve and drew his arm down, he put up no resistance.

"You play dirty." Jack accused while she transferred the notes to her clipboard.

"Mm. Dishonor on my house?" she asked with a pout of mock contrition.

"Well, we're kind of the same house at this point. And maybe literally in the same 'house' soon." he pointed out.

"Oh yeah. Dishonor on our house." she turned away, then backed up against him. "You gonna teach me some discipline?"

Jack wrapped his arms around her and rolled his hips forward to give her ass a suggestive bump. Tipping his head down, he whispered, "While you check the place out, I'll write down some ideas on the best ways to do that, but... If we start now, we'll never make it to check out the other two places."

Anna gave a murmur of disappointment, and a wiggle of her ass, before grudgingly agreeing.

"Alright Nerd. You went to a lot of trouble. I guess we should."

"Thank you, Snookums."

"Ew. So does this mean there's no haunted house?"

"Well, we can pretend if you want, but the ambience and decorations and stuff are sparse. Sparse may be too generous, even."

"Whatever, Nerd. Hey, you do more of the cooking. What do you think about this kitchen?"

So they made their way through the apartment, pausing here and there to discuss various details and jotting notes on the forms Jack had made. The apartment had three bedrooms, one and a half bath. All of which were relatively barren until they came to the last room. Jack flicked on the overhead light, then stepped aside to let Anna in.

In the center of the room were a couple of large cardboard boxes stacked one atop the other. Moving to look closer, Anna found a third, smaller box on top - partially propped up with an actual forked stick. Sitting in the shadow of this Loony-Toons trap was a wee little box of chocolates.

"You're gonna need a bigger box." she smiled.

"Actually, that's the perfect size for-"

"My ass." Anna nodded, lifting the little box and reading the label. "Ooh, espresso dark chocolate. Keep leaving traps like this, you might get my ass after all."

"Heh. Oh, check out the room while you eat. We gotta get going soon."

"Yes, Dear." Anna borrowed what was usually Jack's sardonic rejoinder.

Anna made a circuit of the room, scribbled down a few notes, and came back to where Jack leaned in the doorway. There had only been four chocolate bonbons, and she lifted the last one close to his face.

"Last one?"

Jack shook his head faintly, leaned around her hand, and replied, "Just a taste," before stealing a kiss.

"Mmm."

When they parted, Jack looked thoughtful, nodded.

"Not bad."

"Right? Okay, let's get going, Schedule Boy."

As they exited the apartment, Anna popped the last chocolate in her mouth.

"'is iz fud." she paused, chewed, swallowed, "Fun. We should go apartment shopping every holiday."

"I dunno. I think I might be spoiling you."

"You make it sound like a bad thing." Anna pressed her keys into his hand. "Here. You know where we're going."

"Alright. You take these for now." He traded her the clipboards.

Fifteen minutes of driving - which might have been less had they walked - saw them arrive at their second destination.

"Hey, if we're driving anyway, why'd you tell me to wear comfortable shoes?" Anna asked as they entered the building.

"Uh, heh," Jack gave her an apologetic smile, "Funny you ask. The elevator was out in this building last I checked, and..."

They reached the elevator and found a sign advising them that it was, in fact, still not operational.