Page 115 of Hooked
“Yes.” She set the food and her purse down on the counter. “Now with one hundred percent more Martians. Where are you and how are you seeing me?”
“I’m in the back corner by the manga.”
She raised her eyebrows. “What kind of manga are you reading? Are tentacles involved?”
Tayla walked around the corner and saw Jeremy with a helmet that looked like something out of a comic book. The outside was painted bright aqua blue, and a long periscope shaped like a tentacle covered one eye and stretched up and over the bookcases. “Wow. Tentacles actuallyareinvolved. What is that?”
“Tarlec the Squid Man. Someone ordered a helmet and it just came in.”
“And you needed to test the Tarkec—”
“Tarlec.”
“Test the Tarlec the Squid Guy helmet out?” Tayla stepped closer.
“I mean…” Jeremy reluctantly removed the helmet. “If it was broken or something, he’d need to send it back.” He held it out to Tayla. “You want to try it? It’s pretty cool.”
“Does the periscope actually work?”
“Yes.”
She shrugged and reached for the helmet, but instead of handing it to Tayla, Jeremy carefully placed it on her head and then adjusted the eye piece.
“Oh cool.” Tayla swung the periscope attachment toward the front windows. “Hey, you can see stuff!” She noticed Emmie walking out of Café Maya with no box in her hands. “Uh-oh. Ox is going to be hungry.”
The helmet came off and Tayla turned to Jeremy. “Thank goodness we were here for quality control.”
“It’s cool, right?” He looked lovingly at the helmet. “I can’t really justify spending that kind of money on something like this since I don’t cosplay at cons or anything like that.”
Oh, he was such an adorable geek.“But if you did cosplay at cons, it would be completely worth the money.”
“Oh yeah.” His eyes were wide. “This manufacturer works directly with illustrators to create genuine— You’re messing with me, aren’t you? You think this is stupid.”
She broke into a smile. “Do you think hunting for hours for a vintage Louis Vuitton bag is stupid?”
“Uh…” He wrinkled his nose. “Honestly?”
“You don’t have to answer, because I know you think it’s stupid, especially since I already have one.” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “And that’s okay. We all have our stupid things that aren’t stupid to us.”
“So you think I should order a Tarlec the Squid Man genuine helmet replica?”
“You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t expect me to kiss you while you’re wearing that thing.” She nodded toward the front. “Come on. Tacos are getting cold.”
She turned around, and Jeremy patted her ass as she walked away.
Tayla looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Just saying hello?”
“Quality control,” he said. “I have to appreciate a fine ass when I see one.”
“I hope your skinny ass is ready for tonight.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m always ready.”
“To your right,”Cary yelled. “Your right. The other right!”
“You don’t have to be so rude!” Tayla yelled down. She was three-quarters of the way up the tall wall. She’d made it farther than she had in two months. “This sports bra is cutting off circulation to my brain.”
“You’re doing great, Tayla!” Ashley and Jeremy were her constant encouragers. “You’re almost there.”
