Off The Pages

I.

Manny woke up and showered, then put on some clothes he’d bought. Being skinny for the first time since before high school had forced him to buy a new wardrobe for his male self. The microwave reheated leftovers from the night before and he ate his breakfast in his bedroom. As he pondered the previous days’ events, one major problem hit him. The outfit he’d been wearing in his female form didn’t fit anymore. Sure, his grandmother had some clothes from when she’d lost weight, but even then, she hadn’t gotten quite as thin as the woman he turned into, and furthermore, the height difference hadn’t bothered him at first, but it started to as the acts of heroism increased in frequency.

He unlocked his cell phone and dialed his friend.

“Hey, Manny,” Ed said, “how’s it going? Would you believe I was at Burger King last night, and some lady called me the N-word?”

Manny scoffed. “That’s terrible!” he lamented. He collected his thoughts. “Say, do you think you could get Annie to take my friend out to shop for clothes?” His friend and Ed’s girlfriend seemed like the obvious choice. The girl had a common, average frame, long, chestnut-colored hair and an above-average face. That combined with her ability to form a stylish look without being rich made the decision.

There was a pause. “You mean that girl that John said you had living with you?” Ed asked.

Manny closed his eyes and silently swore. He knew he shouldn’t have texted John that picture. “Yes,” he said. “She just wants another woman’s opinion about clothes, because she’s not that fashion-savvy.”

A laugh escaped Ed’s end of the line. “A woman who doesn’t have fashion sense?” Ed said, skeptically. “That’s a new one. Anyway, I’ll ask. Hey, uh, what’s her name?”

It took Manny a brief instant to realize Ed wasn’t talking about Annie, whose name he already knew. “Oh, uh,” he said. In haste, he fired off a command to his mind to produce a name, posthaste. “Jennifer. Jennifer Black.” His eyes slammed shut and his teeth grit. Damn it, he thought, that’s a terrible name.

“Hmm,” Ed replied. “Doesn’t sound familiar at all. I usually recognize names pretty well.”

“She’s not from around here,” Manny explained. Immediately he regretted his words.

“That’s what I figured!” Ed exclaimed, his hypothesis confirmed. He just knew a woman that looked like Jennifer couldn’t be from southern Illinois. “Where’s she from?”

“California,” Manny said, stating the first place to pop into his mind. Please don’t ask where in California, he mentally pleaded.

“Where in California?”

Think of a city, Manny told his brain. “Santa Cruz,” he replied to Ed’s question.

“Neat!” Ed said, excited at the prospect of meeting someone from the west coast. “I’ll get Annie to call you, and then you can put your friend on the line.”

“No problem!” Manny said, hanging up. “Well that was a disaster.” He took a drink of his Diet Coke and waited. About five minutes later, his phone rang. “Yes?”

“Hey, Manny?” Annie said. “You said your friend wanted me to take her out and help her buy clothes?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “She wants to expand her wardrobe and she isn’t used to buying clothes that often.”

“No problem!” Annie cheerily replied. “I’d be glad to help her out. Just put her on the line.”

“No problem,” Manny said.

A few seconds later, Jennifer held the phone up to her ear. “Hey, this is Jennifer Black,” she said. Obviously, this wasn’t going to be the only step she’d have to take. In the near future, she would have to get all kinds of official paperwork sorted out so she could do business in her female form, and be official, but she had to remind her self that things worked in steps. Also, this expanded her wardrobe beyond the basics.

“Hey,” Annie replied. “So, which place did you want to go to? What is your budget?”

“I don’t want to break the bank,” she answered, “but at the same time, I don’t want to look cheap. Does that make sense?”

Annie laughed. “Yeah, that does,” she said. “So I’d recommend a place in Edwardsville. It’s about a half mile from the Hardee’s and the Fish place.”

“You mean the store by what used to be a barbecue place?” Jennifer asked.

Annie paused. “I thought you weren’t from around here,” she thought out loud. “Well, yeah, anyway, that is the place. So, you know how to get there?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll meet you there.”

“See you there,” Annie said. “Bye.” The call ended with a beep.

Jennifer got all of Manny’s identification and the money in cash since she couldn’t use his card in her form. She put on the best fitting of her mother’s outfits and headed out. She had to drive carefully because she didn’t want to get pulled over and have to change back into Manny and attempt to explain that whole mess that would follow.

After close to a half hour of navigating traffic at the safest of paces, she arrived at the clothing store. Annie exited her car and greeted the woman at the front. “Hey, you must be Jennifer!” she greeted. “Nice to meet you.” She stuck out her hand. “Wow, you are tall.”

Jennifer stood at six feet tall and she suddenly became acutely aware of it. “Nice to meet you too, Annie,” she greeted, putting her calm face back on.

They went inside the store. “First,” Annie said, leading her. “Let’s get you some pants and skirts.” She looked at the woman carefully. “You’re built like a gymnast or a body builder, you know that? Let’s see what’ll fit these tree trunks.”

Jennifer noticed something peculiar to her. “None of these pants have pockets more than a couple inches deep,” she said.

Annie laughed. “Yeah, that’s common,” she replied. “I don’t get it either.”

They examined several racks of pants. There were stylish jeans, both blue and black, and pants of imitation leather and similar fabrics. Annie gave her advice on each one, and after a good forty-five minutes, they had six different pairs of pants for various types of events, both casual and slightly formal.

“What about these?” Jennifer said, holding up a skirt.

Annie looked at it. “Might look a bit odd considering how tall you are,” she advised. She searched through the rack. “Ah! Try these instead.” She held up a similar design, but a few inches longer.

Jennifer tried it on, and when she stepped out of the fitting room, she got a thumbs up. “What about tops?” she asked.

Annie did a balancing gesture with her hand. “We have to thread a fine line,” she explained, “between looking like you’re showing off, and wearing a tent.”

Jennifer picked out a top. “What about this?” she asked.

Annie looked at it and cringed. “If I wore that,” she said, “it’d probably be acceptable. If you wear that, you’ll definitely be the center of attention.”

Jennifer cocked her head in confusion. “Is that bad?”

The shorter girl blinked a moment. “Just try it on,” she advised, “and tell me what you think.”

Jennifer looked down at her chest a moment. Then she thought about herself wearing it. Then she cringed and her hand shot out to put it back. “Oh wow,” she said. “No. No thank you.”

Annie gave a chuckle. “Anyway, try…” She sorted through a few different outfits. “…Try these.” She presented five different tops.

Jennifer examined each one. She hadn’t initially thought they were that stylish, but as she tried each of them on, she realized they looked great on her. The patterns and designs complemented the color scheme of the outfit very well, and it impressed her how Annie could tell just by looking at it. After that, they approached the bra fitting section.

“It looks like your bra doesn’t fit quite well,” the woman said. “Would you like a professional bra fitting?” The employee led Jennifer to a private area where they sat obscured from the rest of the store. She removed her shirt and the woman regarded the undergarment with a look of sympathy and confusion. “I’m definitely seeing that this needs replacing. It’s entirely the wrong size.”

Due to her powers, she hadn’t felt any pain, because it couldn’t hurt her, but once she realized it, she went with it. “Yeah, absolutely,” she told the employee. “I can’t wear this for very long.” It had been just one more thing that she hadn’t had a chance to get used to since she’d only been in this form for less than a week. What more would she learn was obvious to women who’d been that way their whole life? She removed her bra.

“Stand still, arms up,” the employee advised. She pulled out her tape measure and made a measurement under the breasts. This number made its way onto a notepad. Then, she wrapped the tape around the torso, covering the outermost part of them. This number made its way onto the notepad. A quick bit of math later, and Jennifer had a number and a letter, and she had a vague sense of what they meant but decided not to make an ass out of herself. “There’s good news and bad news.” She looked at her customer with a frank expression.

“Bad news first,” Jennifer implored.

“Alright,” the employee said, “very practical. Most bras are not made for women of your bust size. All the cute and expressive ones are largely designed for more petite women. Fuller framed women such as yourself typically find their selection rather bland. Oh! Also, expensive. They’re not typically cheap.”

Jennifer scoffed. “What’s the good news?” she asked.

Eyebrows went up and down. “The good news is,” the woman replied, “that we carry bras in your size.”

Jennifer shot her a skeptical look. “Good news,” she lamented. “Right.”

As she put her shirt back on, the tall redhead made her way to the section of the brassiere racks where her size could be found. Passing by a selection of wonderfully decorative and artistic bras she might have wanted, but were much too small, she came to a pair of metal racks where some beige and brown brutalist monstrosities that looked like government assigned clothing hung next to a few scant ones that had a halfway decent design to them.

“The good news is,” the woman advised, “most of the blander ones are at least built well. These have a reputation for taking a beating.”

Jennifer looked at one that certainly would do the job, and her eyes went wide. “Ninety-six dollars!” she mouthed. The woman silently nodded.

“We even have a few sports bras in your size,” the woman said. She cocked her head. “I think.” She pulled up the store’s app on her phone. “Ah! We do. Give me a moment. How many do you want?”

“How much are they?” Jennifer asked.

“One hundred twenty,” the woman stated.

I can always cheat at the casino again, the super thought. “Three. I think I can do with three.” She looked in her purse and saw that she had gotten enough cash out of the bank as Manny for the transaction.

“Very well.” The woman nodded politely and headed towards the back room.

Jennifer decided to forgo style and grab a few of the more reliable looking ones, as no one was going to be seeing her bra anytime soon. It amazed her that it was easily the most expensive part of the outfit.

About five minutes later, the woman returned with the sports bras. The super stood in awe of the amount of fabric present in the products in front of her. Nevertheless, she took them and put them in her shopping bag.

Thankfully, she got a reprieve from difficult shopping when it came to shoes. She wasn’t wearing heels, period. That was that, she decided. So, Annie helped her pick out several shoes, some for running, some for casual events, and at least one for formal. That only took about fifteen minutes.

“Your total comes to eight hundred and fifty-two dollars and eighty-seven cents,” the cashier said.

“Most expensive thing was the bras,” Jennifer noted.

“Yeah, that’s the crappy part,” Annie noted. “Clothing designers aren’t making clothes for outliers.”

Jennifer paid in cash, counting out the bills. The change stuffed into her purse, she grabbed the bundle of shopping bags and headed outside. She popped the trunk and put the bags in. “Did you want to get something to eat?” Annie asked. She’d been feeling hungry for the last twenty minutes but hadn’t wanted to say anything until the shopping was over.

“Yeah, no problem,” Jennifer replied. “How about the Italian place down the street from the comic book shop?”

“Sounds great! I’ll meet you there.” Annie gave an approving hand wave and headed to her car.

When she saw her friend get in her car and leave, the tall hero opened the trunk again. A quick glance around saw that no one was looking in her specific direction, and the cameras for the lot would not be able to see inside the front of her car. She grabbed a top, some pants, and a bra, and set them in her front passenger seat. Her mother’s shoes would work for the time being, so she shut the trunk and got back in her car. Everything froze still around her as she changed clothes in the front seat. Her hands teased her hair into the right formation. Convinced she looked more than acceptable, she drove off towards the Italian restaurant.

“This place always has great pasta,” Annie noted, as they sat down and waited to order. “I think their chicken dishes are always great.”

“The chicken spiedini is to die for,” Jennifer agreed.

“What would you ladies like to drink?” The waiter asked.

“Diet Coke,” Jennifer replied.

“Sprite,” Annie answered.

As the waiter walked away to get their drinks, Annie briefly looked at her phone. She blinked in surprise. “I didn’t know how much of this whole ‘super powers are real’ thing I believed,” she admitted, “but if the government is making statements about it, like they are now, then enough people think it’s real that, well, it’s real.” She put her phone away.

“It’s different, I’ll tell you that,” Jennifer replied. “You’d think everyone would start causing mayhem, because, hey, isn’t that what movies have always told us?”

Annie leaned her elbows on the table. “Yeah, why do you think that hasn’t happened?”

Jennifer gestured outward with her hands. “I dunno. Maybe most people are nervous and the few cocky people who think they’re all that aren’t strong enough not to get taken down by a small army of cops.” Her friend seemed to accept this explanation.

The waiter returned and set down the drinks. “What would you like to order?” he asked.

“Chicken spiedini and a large salad with house dressing,” Jennifer ordered.

Annie glanced over the menu. “Tutto mare and a small Caesar salad,” she requested.

“I’ll have these orders right in!” the waiter exclaimed, then left.

“So,” Annie asked, “how did you meet Manny?”

“Well, you know.” Jennifer used her enhanced intellect to assemble a believable story as hastily as possible. “I had just arrived in town and I needed a place to stay and he was the only person at the local Wal-Mart who said he would help me and didn’t want to hit on me. He said he wanted to help me in whatever way he could.”

A surprised look washed over Annie. “I have to admit, I didn’t think he had it in him, but hey.” She lifted her eyebrows a moment and took a drink. “People can surprise you sometimes.”

The redhead couldn’t hide her mixture of mild disgust and confusion. “What’s wrong with Manny?”

Annie scoffed as she took another drink. “Nothing’s wrong with him.” She took a moment to assemble her thoughts. “Honestly, he’s a good enough guy, it’s just that I find him to be a bit…drifty.” The look of confusion she got told her to continue. “Well, you know, Manny is kind of unmotivated. He got a job making minimum wage because he needed to, and now it’s been a few years and, what, he makes a few dollars more than he did before?”

“I just don’t see why he has to have some grand goal in life.”

The chestnut-haired girl let out a chuckle. “Oh, believe me,” she replied, “I don’t actually mind what he does. It’s his life. I just think it’s kind of a waste because he could do so much more.”

“He might surprise you yet,” Jennifer shot back.

“Excuse me,” a male voice, possibly late fifties, said.

Both women looked up to see an overweight man, gray strands in sandy hair, standing with a look of apprehension and excitement. Jennifer glanced over at his phone and saw an image of when she pulled the semi out of the river in Kansas. There had been some people and she hadn’t gotten away in time. “Yes?” she asked.

“Forgive me if I’m wrong,” he began, “but you look just like the woman in this picture. If you are, I just want to thank you for helping out in the wildfires and the traffic that went into the river.”

Jennifer’s eyes glanced over, and she saw that Annie sat dumbstruck. She could play it off now, but it would seem suspicious. After all, she might have superpowers but acting wasn’t one of them. So, a wide smile painted itself on her face. “You’re welcome,” she said. “Someone’s got to do something.”

The man gasped in amazement. “That’s something, all right,” he said. “So you just woke up one day and you could do this stuff?”

Jennifer’s eyes drifted upward. “I guess it was the Lights,” she offered.

“Wow,” the man uttered, entranced. Then he blinked, realizing that his presence began to grow awkward, and he nodded. “Well, I’ll leave you to your dinner.”

He returned to his seat.

And Annie’s amazement had turned into mild suspicion. She cocked her head slightly. “Tell me,” she stated, “how does a literal superhero come to stay at the house of a guy like Manny?”

Jennifer blinked, head moving back a bit, startled. “What?” she replied. Her eyebrows went higher. “Do you think there’s something going on?”

This seemed to disarm her friend. “No, not at all, I just find it to be odd.” Internally, it did cross her mind, but the rational part of her mind argued back that, should this person want to take advantage of people, Manfred Voren wasn’t exactly the best target. Nonetheless, something nagged at her and she would take this to Edward and see what he thought.

Jennifer knew she would have to get on top of this. “I’m going to be honest with you.” Jennifer then let out a sigh and put out the best lie she could come up with. “I don’t trust a lot of people. Manny and I talked, and I trust him.”

Annie’s hand gripped her chin and mouth in a pondering grasp as she contemplated these statements. After a long minute, her relaxed expression told she’d made a decision. “I guess he is the most reliable guy I know,” she told. “So that is like him.”

A few minutes later, the waiter arrived and brought several plates. Jennifer had a large salad of various greens and vegetables coated in a rich dressing and sprinkled with parmesan cheese, along with perfectly seasoned chicken over a layer of pasta and sauce. Annie got her small salad and a gorgeous seafood pasta in white sauce, and the waiter grabbed their glasses to top them off.

They ate in relative silence for a few minutes before Annie set her fork down. “Look, if I offended you,” she said, “I’m sorry, it’s just that, there’s been a lot of confusion going on lately.”

“It’s all right,” Jennifer replied. “There is a whole lot of weird stuff going on right now, with people getting powers and all that.” It gave her a sense of relief that Annie wasn’t pushing this any further. Maybe her friend was coming around. What she didn’t think of, mostly because she wasn’t used to devious thinking, was that her friend wasn’t going to let this go. She had just decided not to make it obvious.

Annie finished her meal a few minutes later. The waiter came by with two checks, and Annie handed over her debit card. As Manny’s friend handed over the cash, she couldn’t help but continue to be suspicious. If this woman didn’t have paperwork, how did she earn the cash? Did she charge the people who she saved for saving them? She blinked; no, best to at least give some benefit of the doubt. Maybe they gave her a reward. Still, why was she driving Manny’s car if she could fly? As if by command, the rational side of her mind interjected and she figuratively smacked herself; it was because she needed to take the stuff home without damaging it. Clearly, she decided, she alone didn’t have the wherewithal to adequately decide if this made sense by herself, so she would tell Edward, and possibly, John as well. Even though her friend was kind of a pervert, he still had his wits about him almost all the time.

“Hey, thanks for helping me pick out some clothes!” Jennifer exclaimed, heading out to the car.

Annie put on a smile as she got to her car. “Hey, anytime,” she replied. “I try to help my friends out.”

Jennifer got in her car and drove away. Annie sat down and shut the door. She opened the messaging app and put Edward’s cell number in the destination box. “I’d like to ask your advice on something,” she wrote.

II.

Annie got out of her car at the Glamour Styles in the mini mall with the bookstore and the craft store that always smelled like old wood. Her eyebrow curled upward a moment as she saw the leggy, curvy redhead with the granny clothes step out of her friend Manny’s car. The woman had Italian eyes and a sculpted Greek statue face with amazing cheekbones. It took her by surprise that such a woman would be with her friend, much less driving his car. She hated being the kind of friend who mocked them behind their back, but this woman had to be desperate if she was willing to bang someone like Manny. Not that he was a perv, like John, or a noted womanizer like Jake, but still, Manny seemed like the kind of guy who would date an ordinary looking chick, not this gorgeous model. This person struck Annie as a high-dollar woman, someone easily capable of wooing the richest men, or raking in top billing as a supermodel, not the kind of person who would be dating a guy from the Midwest.

She put on her politeness and approached the absolute museum statue of a woman. “Hey!” she greeted, cheery and polite as she could muster. “You must be Jennifer!” A handshake, basic and formal, she offered. “Wow, you are tall.” The living pin-up stood a head and shoulders above her.

A brief instant of embarrassment flitted across Jennifer’s face, and Annie just barely noticed it, before the polite calm face returned. “Nice to meet you too, Annie,” the woman replied.

Somehow, Jennifer had a look on her face of complete hopelessness at the prospect of picking out a decent looking wardrobe, so Annie picked up on the cue and motioned them in the direction of the inside of the store. “First,” she began, leading her by hand gesture towards the lower half section of the store, “let’s get you some pants and skirts.” With a careful eye, she gave her shopping partner a twice over. The ill-fitting senior citizen clothes did her a disservice but having done wardrobes for all her female cousins for weddings, she knew how to identify body structure through the worst fitting attire. Where she couldn’t tell, she would pat the clothes against the skin to get a better idea. She let out an impressed whistle. “You are built like a gymnast or a body builder, you know that?” She paid extreme care to the legs. “Let’s see what will fit these tree trunks.”

She pushed through the rack of jeans, with a glance sorting out the ones that didn’t have enough give. This woman was active, and likely what crappy women’s sports magazines called ‘sporty.’ That meant that she couldn’t have pants too tight or she might tear them, because somehow, she didn’t imagine this person not doing something athletic while wearing casual clothes. She would therefore have to look at jeans that had enough give as not to tear when running. The first of several good candidates popped up and she pulled them from the rack and handed them to her physically gifted shopping buddy. After a small handful of both blue and black jeans, she moved over to the formal pants, both khakis and similar trousers. Some obvious good choices poked out and she handed them over.

“What about these?”

Annie looked up at Jennifer’s question, having been snapped clean out of her shopping reverie. It was clearly not designed for tall women. One strong breeze in the right direction and the surprise was out. She tried to avoid betraying her mental image on her face. “Hmm, might look a bit odd considering how tall you are,” she advised. The design certainly was appealing, so it made perfect sense that this woman might want it, but the shortness kept it as a no. Her hand found its way to the part of the skirt rack where the one had been. She scanned through them, looking for one that better fit. She came across one that looked like a mirror inverse of the design, but also longer. “Ah! Try these instead.” She handed it over.

Jennifer took her pants and entered the fitting room. Annie stood and waited. The first thing she tried on was the skirt. Sure enough, it looked great on her and it also was long enough. She gave a thumbs-up. Her input had certainly paid off; each time the woman stepped out with a different pair of pants on, it suited her frame perfectly.

“What about tops?” Jennifer asked, placing the pants on the cashier’s desk to be held.

Annie stepped back a few feet and positioned her hands to assemble a mock picture frame. She closed one eye and then the other and examined each part of Jennifer’s torso. “We have to thread a fine line,” she explained, “between looking like you’re showing off, and looking like you’re wearing a tent.”

The tall redhead’s face betrayed her confusion, until she thought about it a moment, then got it. She scanned the rack for designs she liked and came across one. “What about this?” she asked.

Annie took one look at it and couldn’t hide the cringe in time. That was the kind of outfit that required copious amounts of tape to wear out in public. “If I wore that,” she stated, “it would probably be acceptable.” She paused a moment to let her words sink in. “If you wear that, you will definitely be the center of attention.”

The woman bore a look of not knowing. Annie almost couldn’t believe her eyes. Surely this woman knew better. “Is…that bad?” Jennnifer asked.

Annie stood at a loss for words. “Uh, just try it on,” she advised, “and tell me what you think.”

The woman looked down, then a moment later, jerked back as if tased. A visible cringe came to her face and she shot out an arm to put it back. “Oh wow,” she said, almost laughing. “No. No thank you.”

A genuine laugh escaped Annie. “Anyway, try,” she began. The rack showed a few different styles of various cuts, patterns, designs, and each one presented a different side of the same person. “Try these.” The woman took the five Annie presented her and went into the fitting room once again.

Predictably, each one fit Jennifer quite well. They formed a cohesive outfit, with matching color schemes and designs, and Annie could immediately tell a different version of her shopping partner would be presented with each. Then, came one of the least pleasant moments of any woman’s shopping effort. They approached the bra section. Honestly, the straight-haired brunette didn’t envy her redheaded ally. Unlike her shopping buddy, she wore the kinds of bras that could be both affordable in price and flexible in design. It didn’t break her bank account to have to buy bras. Jennifer, by contrast, did not have the kind of frame that allowed bras to be affordable or varied in neat, stylish designs. Plus, she’d heard from some of her friends in the same bra range that there were multitudes of other problems, ranging from minor to infuriating, that had to be dealt with.

While her ally went off to get professionally sized, she shopped around for clothes for herself. Twenty minutes of looking through various tank tops resulted in two that she could use for various informal get togethers. After she’d picked a handful of tops, her shopping partner approached and had a selection of undergarments Annie felt glad she didn’t have to buy and set them on the counter. They held the clothes as she helped her friend to the shoe section. Thankfully, this woman had ordinary feet and the selection process proceeded smoothly and effortlessly. They chose a pair for the typical occasions, and took them to the counter, where the cashier totaled everything up and read out the price.

“The most expensive thing was the bras,” Jennifer scoffed, opening her purse, and handing out the bills.

“Yeah,” Annie said, “that’s the crappy part. Clothing designers aren’t making clothes for…” her eyes darted to her fellow shopper’s upper torso, and she struggled for a word, “…outliers.”

She snapped out of it and noticed the woman was paying with cash, and there was almost two grand in cash in the purse, and yet, the woman was staying with Manny. As the clothes got bagged and the two took their purchases to their vehicles, the need for answers, combined with hunger, got the better of Annie. “Did you want to get something to eat?”

“Yeah, no problem!’ Jennifer answered. “How about the Italian place down the street from the comic book shop?”

“Sounds great!” Annie replied, waving as she walked towards her own car. “I’ll meet you there.” A short drive later, and she arrived at the restaurant. She parked and went inside, reserving a table, and waiting for her acquaintance. She noticed the woman was wearing one of the outfits they’d chosen earlier. Had she changed in the car? That struck her as odd, but she didn’t worry about it because it wasn’t relevant. They got to their seat and began looking over the menu. “This place always has great pasta. I think their chicken dishes are great.”

“The chicken spiedini is to die for,” Jennifer said.

The fact that this woman was from out of town but familiar with this restaurant bothered Annie, but at that moment, the waiter arrived.

“What would you ladies like to drink?” he asked.

“Diet Coke,” Jennifer said.

Annie looked at the beverage list. “Sprite,” she answered. A moment later, as the waiter left, Annie’s phone dinged, and she opened the news tab. There had been a report on the Lights, as the media had taken to calling the event, and the government had announced the President would be making a formal statement about the people in the world developing superpowers. “I didn’t know how much of the ‘superpowers are real’ thing I believed, but if the government is making statements about it like they are now, then enough people think it’s real that, well, it’s real.” What was the world coming to? She let out a sigh and put her phone away.

Jennifer shook her head a bit. “It’s different,” she replied, “I’ll tell you that. You’d think everyone would start causing mayhem because, hey, isn’t that what the movies have always told us?”

Annie rested her arms on the table. That was a good point. Perhaps she had harshly prejudged this woman. “Yeah,” she asked, “why do you think that hasn’t happened?”

The redhead gave a hand shrug. “I dunno.” She paused to think. “Maybe most people are nervous and the few cocky people who think they’re all that aren’t strong enough not to get taken down by a small army of cops.”

That startled the brunette. It made sense, and yet, it seemed a bit…what was the word she wanted…naïve? No, she decided, not quite. Perhaps a bit…optimistic. Yes, she realized. That was it.

Almost on cue, the waiter returned, setting down the drinks. He widened his fake smile. “What would you like to order?” he asked, looking at Jennifer first.

The woman closed the menu with a snap. “Chicken spiedini and a large salad with house dressing,” she ordered.

That’s an awful lot of calories, Annie thought. She made a show of glancing across the menu. “Tutto mare and a small Caesar salad,” she stated. The waiter made some statement confirming that he would put the orders in. She felt she had to broach the obvious question. “So, how did you meet Manny?”

“Well,” Jennifer said, obviously stalling, “you know.” The shorter woman prided herself on her ability to read conversation with people and this woman just threw up red flags every which way. Something about her just bugged her and she didn’t know exactly what. The woman recovered in record time, however. “I had just arrived in town and I needed a place to stay and he was the only person at the local Wal-Mart who said he would help me and didn’t want to hit on me.” The next statement seemed, not out of character for her friend, but rather, not the kind of statement he would give to someone he literally just met at Wal-Mart. “He said he wanted to help me in whatever way he could.”

Annie felt her face betray her thoughts, and she immediately told her brain to do damage control. “I have to admit,” she said, course correcting. “I didn’t think he had it in him, but hey.” She paused to take a drink to prevent her voice from cracking. “People can surprise you sometimes.”

The statuesque woman responded oddly; she looked offended, at least to a minor degree. “What’s wrong with Manny?”

Annie scoffed; the turn had caught her off-guard. “Nothing’s wrong with him,” she pointed out. Her ability to predict the direction of the conversation was dwindling fast. One thing she had to do was get a feel for why this woman was bothered by it. “Honestly, he’s a good enough guy, it’s just that I find him a bit…” she struggled for the right word, “drifty.” Now this Jennifer gave a clear tell: she showed a look of confusion. The look that indicated she needed more detail. “Well, you know, Manny is kind of unmotivated. He got a job making minimum wage because he needed to, and now it’s been a few years and, what, he makes a few dollars more than he did before?”

“I just don’t see why he has to have some grand goal in life,” Jennifer said.

Now Annie just knew this woman was a creep, stalker, or the like. No one could get this attached this quickly. “Oh, believe me,” she replied, playing it cool to keep the conversation in control, “I don’t actually mind what he does. It’s his life. I just think it’s kind of a waste because he could do so much more.”

“He might surprise you yet,” the redhead answered.

Annie felt like she had a good grasp on the freakish attachment this woman had to Manny, but something happened next that set off alarm bells in her mind. A pudgy, older guy came up to the table, looking a mixture of impressed and nervous, and his phone was at table height, displaying an image of…

Annie’s eyes snapped to attention as she recognized this woman as the picture on the phone, the story she’d heard about a hero saving people from the wildfires in California and pulling a series of vehicles out of a flood in Kansas. The fact that this woman could kill everyone here in a blink wasn’t her first concern. Her first concern was the fate of her friend. What part did Manny play in all this? Was he still alive? She tried to smash her feelings down and return to calmness so as not to reveal her thought process, but all hopes of that dashed to pieces when Jennifer glanced over and saw her. Fuck! She thought.

“You’re welcome,” Jennifer said, glancing intermittently between Annie and the man. “Someone’s got to do something.”

The man stood in sheer awe. “That’s something, all right,” he said. “So you just woke up one day and you could do this stuff?”

“I guess it was the lights,” she replied.

The man let out a semiconscious “wow” and then blinked, realizing he was making it weird. “Well, I’ll leave you to your dinner.” After that, he made his leave.

Annie put on her best unaware face. She cocked her head slightly, trying to put on an air of minor suspicion, yet full awestruck. “Tell me,” she said, “how does a literal superhero come to stay at the house of a guy like Manny?”

Jennifer blinked, clearly taken aback. “What?” The next expression indicated confusion. “Do you think there’s something going on?”

Thank Christ, she bought it, Annie thought. She pretended to be disarmed by that. “No,” she defended, “not at all. I just find it to be odd.” It made no sense, her rational mind argued. There were lots of bigger targets she could go for. Was Annie reading the superhero all wrong? Still, she wasn’t going to let this go, and Edward would tell her what he thought.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” Jennifer answered. She sighed and seemed upset. “I don’t trust a lot of people. Manny and I talked, and I trust him.”

Annie rested her chin in her hand, a thinker’s pose. This seemed the oddest turn of events. At first, she’d been utterly sold on the notion that this woman was a stalker, absolutely bad news in a lot of different ways. However, Annie felt like she was nothing if not good at detecting people being deceptive in conversation, and this woman oozed sincerity. Either that, or she was such a phenomenal actor that she deserved to go after bigger targets than a guy working minimum wage. She gave up on it for now. “I guess he is the most reliable guy I know,” she said, “so that is like him.” The meals came a few moments later, and they ate their rich pastas and sumptuous salads. No words were said while foods were savored. “Look, if I offended you, I’m sorry, it’s just that, there’s been a lot of confusion going on lately.” That statement was to test the waters.

A smile and laugh came from Jennifer. “It’s all right. There is a whole lot of weird stuff going on right now, with people getting powers and all that.”

After they ate, the waiter came by with the checks and they paid. A laundry list of questions shot through Annie’s mind again, and she thought about each one. One obvious question came to mind. Why was she driving Manny’s car if she could fly?

Because she needed to take it home without damaging it.

God, you’re an idiot sometimes, Annie, she thought. The answer seemed so obvious.

“Hey,” Jennifer exclaimed, as they headed to their cars. “Thanks for helping me pick out some clothes!”

Annie put on a smile. “Hey, anytime,” she said. “I try to help my friends out.” After she drove away, she pulled up to a gas station a few miles down the road and texted Edward. “I’d like to ask your advice on something,” she wrote. Then she explained everything she knew.