“This isn’t weird?” Mary asked bluntly, feeling so insecure and unsure.
“Who cares if it is or isn’t?” Karen replied.
“I mean, I am not ready for anything more than friendship, and your friend Glory was making it sound like she wanted there to be something romantic…”
“Be a friend – and enjoy this,” Jace replied kindly, looking at Karen and raising an eyebrow. “No wonder you were skeptical. It’s just friendship with a really decent person.”
“And he’sreallylike this?” Mary asked for the third time.
“Yeah,” Jace chuckled. “Yeah, he really is…”
“Wow,” Mary uttered under her breath, reeling. “Okay. This is so cool.”
She walked back over to her apartment, just staring at the iPad in disbelief – reading the email over and over again. He was so open, so seemingly happy, and so genuine that it was wonderfully touching.
Her hands were trembling as she locked the door behind her, plopped down on the couch, and began to reply back to his email… incredulous.
* * *
Hello Jax,
Wow. I do not know what to say. Your email threw me for a loop, because it was like I was writing myself for several moments there.
Blood type: O positive
Favorite food: pizza… but let’s be honest? It’s gotta be deep-dish Chicago pizza like Giordano’s.
I’ve been to GenCon, Wizard World Chicago (hence the pizza comment), and Star Wars Celebration – please tell me you aren’t one of those die-hard Trekkies where it has to be one or the other, because I genuinely love both.
ComicCon is on my to-see list, but it might be a while before I get to go. When did you go to GenCon? I’ve gone the last four years with a VIG (very important gamer) pass – it’s funny to think that we might have missed each other… and what a small world this is.
My favorite character in Star Trek is Seven-of-Nine because she’s so cool, brave, and standoffish. I like how she can just tell people how it is – and then raises that eyebrow like their opinions don’t matter.
… And thank you for the books. That was most unexpected and incredibly kind of you. I certainly wasn’t anticipating that and appreciate it.
Can you tell me more about yourself? I’m not sure what else to say, you know? This is strangely awkward and exciting at the same time.
By the way, totally got your ‘tap’ reference – I used to play Magic the Gathering and some RPG games… so my ‘nerd’ is mighty, too.
Write when you can,
Mary
P.S. – Do you read on a Kindle or an iPad app? I could send you a book or two also.
* * *
About two hours later,she was watching a weird sci-fi movie on television, groaning at the special effects, and folding towels when her phone briefly lit up. Touching the screen, she was stunned to see that Jax had replied already.
Opening the email, she began to read.
* * *
Hi Mary,
Thank goodness you aren’t running for the hills… and I’m so sorry.
I can come off really badly and most girls don’t like the same things that I do – or simply don’t want to hear about it. I’m sorry, if you are looking for a suave or cool guy… because that isn’t me. I’m about as open, honest, and dorky as they come. I wish I had ‘game’ – but I don’t.