I stood in front of the utilitarian dresser in my hotel room and tugged at the bottom hem of my royal blue crop top. I had spent over a year dieting and working out to get in shape for this weekend, but that didn't change my personality. I was still uncomfortable in such a revealing outfit.
My friends and I had flown to California for a four-day weekend at the world-renowned San Diego Comic Con. Rose, my best friend, who had chosen to go as Wonder Woman, sat on the bed adjusting her cuff bracelets. My sister, Eve, had made her own "Hipster Harley Quinn" costume and was perched on the edge of the only chair in the room as she wove her long hair into pigtail braids. We had decided to rent separate rooms so that we didn't smother ourselves in togetherness. As usual, I was the last one to be ready, so Rose and Eve had stormed into my room and forced me into my costume.
I was reluctant to deviate from my typical jeans and t-shirt garb, but my friends had whittled me down with their well-reasoned, logical points like 'We didn't come all this way for nothing' and 'This trip has already cost us a lot of money.'
"Stop fussing with your costume, Steph," Rose called to me, leaning over sideways to look around my body and scowl at me in the mirror.
"I'm trying," I insisted. "I'm just not used to wearing tiny clothes."
Rose stood and strode over to the dresser. She gestured at my body, sweeping her hand down from my head to my feet. "That isn't tiny. That's amazing."
I inspected my reflection and looked at each part of my costume individually. I had chosen Supergirl and, when confronted by nearly a dozen different costume variations, I had gone with the long-sleeved crop top emblazoned with the Kryptonian symbol of hope that had a knee-length red cape attached at the shoulders, a red pleated mini-skirt that sat low on my hips, and knee-high red patent leather boots. Eve had lightened my hair from it's natural medium brown to a bright platinum blonde that I was still not used to. The smokey gray eyeshadow that she had swept over my lids made my blue eyes stand out even more against my fair skin.
"You worked so hard to get this body," Rose said, playfully pinching my side. "Show it off, girl!" I giggled and hugged her.
Eve climbed to her feet and came to stand beside us. "If we don't leave now, we'll get stuck in a massive line," she said in her husky voice.
I checked the time on my phone then tucked it into the waistband of my skirt at my hip. "Well let's get this show on the road."
When finally got to the convention center across the street, we quickly joined in the small line that had already formed at the entrance. While we waited to be let into the building, we chatted with a cluster of people in front of us who were dressed as Power Rangers. They were from Holland and the group behind us had come from New York. After about twenty minutes, employees from the convention opened the doors. A cheer went up from the group as everyone rushed to get in.
We stopped at every table and booth we encountered. I was actually grateful that I had left my wallet in the hotel room and wasn't able to buy anything. Otherwise I would have been trying to carry home thousands of dollars in collectables. The hall wasn't as crowded as I had expected. Years ago, I had attended a comic book convention in my hometown and because it was held in a hotel ballroom, rather than a convention center, everyone was practically walking on top of each other. Here we had room to breathe and move.
I had never been to Comic Con before and it was a lot to take in. Thousands of people in dressed as every imaginable version of so many pop culture characters that I thought that the event coordinators should consider renaming it. People were dressed as characters from comic books, of course, but there were also characters from video games, Disney movies, and sci-fi tv shows. Some costumes were clearly homemade and slapdash at best, but others looked as they had been professionally made. I thought I was pushing it for having spent $100 on my getup and here I was surrounded by people who had spent several hundred, if not several thousand dollars on their costumes. For some people, cosplay is life.
As we made our way around the central space, we stopped at a snack stand to grab some munchies. I promised my sister I would pay her back and she bought me a soft pretzel and a soda. As I happily accepted my food from the smiling vendor and turned to head towards the tables, a painfully familiar voice over my shoulder nearly made me jump out of my skin.
"Hey, Belle."
I froze. I felt my eyes go wide and my jaw almost dropped onto the floor. Quickly shutting my eyes, I took a moment to compose myself then slowly turned to face the man who had spoken. I found myself face to face with someone whom I thought I would never see again. But there he was, live in living color, Derek, my ex fiance. We hadn't seen or spoken to each other since I had broken off our engagement over four years ago. I was actually a bit afraid that he would start screaming, but I was just as hotheaded as he was so it was also just as likely that I would be the one screaming.
"Hey," I mumbled. I looked up at him and allowed my gaze to wander his tall, thin body. He was wearing his beloved TIE-fighter pilot costume. It covered him from head to toe in solid black. The monotony of his clothing was broken up only by the various textures of each piece.
"Gods, you look great," he breathed. "How have you been?"
"Um, I've been alright. You?"
"Fine. How are the kids?"
"They're good."
"Good."
Derek did something highly unusual for him: he shuffled his feet and looked at the floor. He suddenly looked much younger than his mid-thirties, even younger than he was when we met fourteen years ago He looked so vulnerable and...cute. Ever since the day we met, when I was just seventeen, I had always thought of him as hot, sexy, alluring, and all those other adjectives that summed up carnal desire in one word, but I couldn't recall a single moment in which I had thought of him as cute. Usually it took all of my inner strength to summon the residual contempt I had for him in order to not throw myself at him and start taking off my clothes. He had that affect on me. No matter how much time passes, no matter how much we have hurt each other over the years, I still felt a visceral urge to wrap myself in his arms The sexual tension between us burned like napalm. But today, watching him shuffling his feet like a schoolboy was deeply unsettling.
"Have you seen Beauty and the Beast?" Derek asked, his voice soft and unsure.
"Yes."
"Good." He nodded slowly as if he were trying to think of what to say next. "Have you seen-"
"-the new Star Wars movies? Yes." I scowled up at him. "Are you
seriously
trying to make small talk right now?"
His face instantly changed as if someone had slid a wet rag across a chalkboard. His nervous, soft eyes were suddenly piercing and angry. I fought not to roll my eyes. I'd struck a nerve.
"I was
trying
to," he said, annoyance clear in his voice. "It isn't unreasonable to assume that we might be able to have a pleasant conversation like mature adults."
I smirked. "'Mature' isn't a word I'd use to describe our conversations," I told him, pursing my lips.
Derek rolled his eyes. "You're right," he said through a grimace. "I forgot what dealing with you is like." Planting his heel in the garishly-patterned carpet, he turned away.
