Lag (The boys of RDA #2)(19)

“You should worry, Finn, soon she’ll be asking for one of her own.” Trey points between the other couple and both of them look shocked at the idea.

“Um, no. I mean… yeah sure… but… not now." Aspen barely recovers first. “Have you made Simone play with you yet, Trey?”

“Oh, God,” the warning comes a second before brown liquid comes splashing down over the coffee table.

Trey jerks his feet to the floor before standing.

“Yeah, Trey. Have you made Simone play with you yet?” I look up to see a balding man standing at the opening of our group with a tall mug in each hand — one of them surely emptier than the other as half the contents are now on the table and floor.

“What?” Aspen asks from her side of the couch. “Ohhhh!” She laughs when she makes the connection.

“No, Simone hasn’t played the game. Can you two stop making innuendoes and get a towel?” Trey’s reply isn’t angry, but more resigned as if this is a normal occurrence at Cosmo’s.

“Well, at least you’re starting to fit right in, Aspen.” Trey sits back on the couch next to me.

Aspen’s hand stops on her chest. “Trey, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Thank you.”

Next to her Finn laughs at the entire exchange before two new mugs are placed on the coffee table and the guy begins to clean up the spill with a large white towel. The name Jason is embroidered over the pocket of his shirt and I can’t help but wonder where Cosmo is. I still want to meet this uniquely named friend.

“You want another hot chocolate, Aspen?” Jason asks after the area has been wiped clean.

“No, thanks. I have to head out soon. You’re in charge of Finn today. Don’t let him go hog wild on the new shipment,” she playfully nudges Finn and smiles as she speaks.

“Hey, I have to make rent around here somehow.” Jason walks back behind the counter laughing.

Finn and Aspen lean in together and whisper back and forth to one another. In the absence of our small group’s chatter, the store falls silent with only the occasional crinkle of paper as a customer digs through the comic bins to break up the quiet. Trey’s leg bumps against mine as he adjusts closer.

“Jason owns the place. He inherited the store from his grandfather, Cosmo.”

My excitement at being in the comic shop falls. “So I don’t get to meet a mysterious friend of yours named Cosmo?”

“Sorry.”

“No, I’m not going on another raid with you,” Aspen’s voice carries across the small space and I look up.

“Aspen, it was a one-time thing. It won’t happen again,” Finn argues from his side.

Trey leans in enjoying their disagreement, his arm resting on the back of the couch around me. “Is he trying to make you take on the Black Cave of Torment again?”

“Yes! And it’s not going to happen. I lost my best axe last time. Can’t you ban the players who stole it or something?" She pushes Finn on the shoulder trying to force him into action. “Use your skills.”

He looks to her and his lips fall into a straight line before he turns up one eyebrow. He laughs at her distraught face but replies with a simple but non-giving, “No.”

“Come on, Finn. How can she be a good Gimbley without her axe?” Trey asks.

“Huh?” his comment flies way over my head.

“It’s a character from The Lord of the Rings. He carries an axe,” Finn deadpans like its knowledge everyone should know.

“The one with all those walking trees, right?” I ask.

Trey’s face turns to shock at my question, but I can’t tell if it’s because I know the movies or maybe I called them the wrong objects. Are they not trees? They're tall and have leaves. Everything screams tree. Well, except the fact they walk and talk, but everything else is pure tree.

“Finn made me watch those. Soooo much walking.” Aspen rolls her eyes and shakes her head at the apparent memory.

Finn’s body tightens at Aspen’s comments. “You fell asleep during the walking and missed all the good parts.”

“It still counts.” She lifts one shoulder to him as an answer. “Plus it’s a stupid title.”

“What?” Trey asks with his head cocked in her direction. “It’s about the ring, Aspen. Did you sleep through that part?”

“Yeah, that’s the point. There is only one ring. It should be called The Lord of the Ring.”

“There used to be more rings,” Finn jumps back into the conversation sounding a little frazzled.

“But in the movies there is only one. ‘One ring to rule them all.’ One. Singular. It makes no sense.”

Trey is silent as he stares across the seats toward Aspen with his lips parted a fraction.

Finn leans into Aspen’s side, but we all hear his comment. “Be careful, Aspen. Remember what happened the last time you argued movies with me.”

She doesn’t reply, but from the shade of red her cheeks turn, I imagine what Finn’s alluded to. I run out of time to decide if I have enough courage to ask when a phone breaks the silence from Finn’s comment.

“Hey,” Aspen answers the pink gemstone dazzled device from the table.

“Yeah, I’m leaving right now.”