Chapter 3 #2
I shuffle out, not waiting for Badpun to follow.
I’m pretty sure my cheeks are glowing brighter than the neon in here.
I bolt for a bathroom. Cold water on my neck and a few minutes to catch my breath do me a world of good.
I need to find Adam and give him a piece of my mind.
He could have given me just a bit of a warning.
I wind my way through the maze of boxes toward a control room with a dozen monitors.
“Hey, great work,” Adam says when I’m still steps from the door.
“Yeah? Any good shots?” It’s him. Badpun is with Adam. But not in character. Not sounding like a psycho. Not oozing unhinged danger or sexiness. Professional. Human. Everyday.
“This one, after you pulled Bea onto the marker. Good call pulling her hair back.” I hear keyboards clacking.
Wait. He was touching me to get me in line for a shot?
“That’s not bad. What if you cut between that shot and the one of her shaking near the code box?”
More keyboard clacking. “What did you say to her to get her in character there?” Adam asks offhandedly.
The part where he threatened to kiss me, and I was shocked—okay, into it, but also shocked.
“Oh… I asked her to play along, is all. Do you want us to go back in there? Get some audio?” He sounds completely disinterested.
“Nah. I’ve already got your audio. And gasping, screaming, and panting send the wrong message.” There’s a pause in the keyboard clacking. “Like the makeup. Like the costume. Maybe greasier hair next time? And black fingernails.”
“I can do that.”
“I’m thinking we get some shots of you and Bea in the other rooms as customers.”
Oh no. There’s more?
Adam continues. “Bea brought tacos down from Del Mar. Not as good as ours in PB, but still plenty tasty. They’re in the break room if you’re hungry.”
“Nice. Maybe after the next set?”
“Yeah, get set up, and I’ll be in just as soon as I find Bea and make sure she isn’t traumatized. No offense, Mike. You’re terrifying.”
Mike, aka Badpun, snorts. “She wouldn’t be the first woman to run away from me screaming.”
Adam laughs. “Funny. You’re genuinely funny.”
I dart back to the break room before I have to come face-to-face with this cosplayer who flirted with me in character as a psycho villain and had me trembling and nearly begging for him. Great.
Adam finds me first. “You’re a natural.”
“Thanks,” I say, then smack him on the back of the head.
“Ow!”
“Next time, tell me when you’re going to throw me into a locked room with a deranged man.”
“I’m sorry. I needed some authentic reactions for my promos.”
“You need to have every customer sign a waiver if you’re planning on locking them up with cosplayers.”
“On it,” Adam says, waving a stack of paper in front of me.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t sign one. I can still sue you.”
“Come on. Mike’s harmless. And it wasn’t that bad. I was watching the entire time.”
“Do you include video recordings in your waiver?”
“Yes. It’s watertight. Now, are you ready for more? We’re going to shoot in some of the other rooms. Mike’s just getting set. I promise he’s completely harmless in real life. Met him on campus, a genuinely nice guy.” Adam pauses. “You okay?”
I sigh. “Just dreading the drive back. And a rebuttal I have to write for one of our cases.”
Adam groans. “Spare me.”
Yeah. Never fails. Bringing up the law is great misdirection.
I follow Adam through more hallways to an escape room.
“Welcome to Abandum City Cyberattack.” I walk into a room that is impressively geeked out in tech and has me feeling like I’m on a movie set.
“This is one of my proper escape rooms. Lots of puzzles. Great linear story line. Very fun. No time for you to escape tonight, though.”
A regular-looking dude—well, not regular. A handsome, fresh-faced, twentysomething dude, with curious eyes, hair pulled back into a neat bun, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, walks in. He smells faintly of thyme and eucalyptus. I search for traces of the cosplay, but they’re all gone.
“Hey, Mike. This is Bea, who you met.”
“No, actually. Meeting in character hardly counts.” He sounds slightly peeved, and I’m into it.
“Hi, Bea. I’m Mike Benedick.” He extends his hand, and I shake it.
Because that’s the professional thing to do.
Never mind that I shake it side to side like a fish tail instead of up and down like a normal person. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah,” I say like an idiot. Adam snaps a picture.
“Thanks for being a good sport in there. Sorry if I scared you. Adam said—”
“I’m fine.” Mortified, but fine.
Adam doesn’t look up from his phone. “You two look great. One hundred percent on point for my target audience. Now act like you’re on a date and pretend I’m not here.”
What? No. This might be worse than the Badpun cell.
Adam snaps a picture, and the flash burns into my retinas.
“So Adam said you’re a lawyer?”
“Yeah. Corporate litigation.”
“Fresh out of law school?”
“Two years since I graduated. What about you? Adam said he found you on campus.”
“I graduate this December.”
“Cool. Did you grow up around here?”
“A bit.” He fidgets with a toggle board.
I can’t stand it. “What happened to your voice?”
“My voice?” He considers. “Oh. You liked the other guy?” He smirks. “That’s a little kinky, but he can come back out to play if you want.”
I blush but press on. “Isn’t it like…like a method-acting thing? You have to be in costume or…”
“Say a magic word? Nah.” He rolls his neck and then a single shoulder. He smiles, and it’s the same intensity as before. Maybe it’s more without the cosplay to go with it. “You don’t look scared anymore.” His voice has slithered back into the pull and push of that bizarre cadence. “Still pretty.”
“Really good, guys.” Adam says snapping more photos. “Mike, can you step closer? That’s it. Bea, smile up at him, but keep your hand on those switches. Great. Stay there. I’m going to get some shots from the stairs.”
“That’s remarkable,” I say quietly. “You feel real.”
“I am real.” He relaxes, and the tension dissipates.
“No, grounded. I completely believe you’re a creepy psychopath.”
“Thanks,” he says with more than a hint of sarcasm.
“Are you?”
“Oh, Bea. You could at least buy me a drink first.”
I can feel the blood drain from my face. “I didn’t—”
He steps closer. “Why don’t we wrap this up, and then if you’re still curious, we can…
” He reaches for the phone in his back pocket.
Is he seriously asking for my number? That hasn’t happened since junior high.
His phone screen is lit up and buzzing. He holds up a finger.
“I’ve got to take this. Adam,” he shouts, “I’m taking ten. ”
“K.” Adam hustles down the stairs. “How about some shots of just you, Bea, at the console in the back?”
“Sure.” My head is reeling. “Is uh… Is Mike, okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. He said he was expecting a phone call.”
And clearly had no intention of getting my number. I pull out my phone and check my company email, then toggle over to my personal email. “I’m turning into a pumpkin. We good here? I swear, if you take another picture, I’m liable to break your camera.”
“Yeah, we’re good.” He swipes through some of the shots on his phone. “What do you think of Mike?”
“Talented.” Intriguing. Handsome. Deeply tempting, especially since I would have sworn there was a connection, but I don’t have the time or the energy to chase unavailable men or unstable actor types. “Do you think the 5’s cleared up by now?”
“Are you kidding? You’re better off going up past Soledad to Torrey Pines. Why don’t you stick around? There’s this ice cream shop a couple of blocks from here. We could get some after I get this uploaded. You could crash at my place. Geek out over Mississippi Bake-Off.”
“Pass.”
“You want to see the videos, make sure I got your good side?”
“They’re all my good side.” I’m not Molly McKinney’s daughter for nothing. “I’m gonna get going. I have a deposition tomorrow morning. Bright and early.”
“And that rebuttal.” He hands me an envelope. “Thanks for saving my neck.”
I arch an eyebrow.
“Complimentary passes to the escape room when we open in two weeks,” he explains.
“Sweet.”
“You get it, right?” He shifts the weight on the balls of his feet. “I know you’re not a nerd like me, but—”
“You’d have to be comatose not to get it. It’s amazing. Even with the boxes and half-painted mural.”
“Thanks, Bea. I owe you one.”
“Oh, I’m counting on it.”