“Cisco. Get this young man another cup,” Lewis said to the girl, before turning back to the younger man. “Cisco. Nice to meet you. Name’s Lewis.”
He smiled at the kid. He looked familiar. He thought about it, and realized he was one of the kids from S.T.A.R. Labs. No trace of his son, but here was one of the other people he was looking for.
“You on your lunch break?” Lewis asked. Just a friendly stranger, making conversation while waiting for coffee.
Cisco smiled as he took the cup. “Thanks, Lewis.” He took a sip and nodded, “Yeah, something like that. I set a lot of my own hours, and I needed a break from the lab.”
Dating is hard. And that’s coming from a guy who once hooked up a refurbished Soviet-era NK-43 rocket engine to his dad’s crummy Oldsmobile 88 with nothing but a Handyman toolkit and a vat of orange soda. Girls are different. There are no equations or blueprints to get them to like you. And there’s a certain void that even quantum mechanics and the latest tech toys can’t fill. Why am I waxing and waning about love? That foot-popping kiss from the Golden Glider last week (yeah, that happened) made me realize that sure, I get to hangout and kick-ass with a bonafide superhero, but what is a life of daring heroics without the opportunity to get a little romantical on the side?
Every other Friday night, while all the Romeos are out with their Juliets, CC Jitters hosts “An Espresso Shot at Love.” Basically, speed dating. I know, I know – totally lame, right? But the thought of kicking off yet another weekend watching reruns of Xena: Warrior Princess made me throw on a bowtie, pop a breath mint, and slap on a nametag.
When I got there, the ladies were already stationed at tables scattered around the room, doing some last minute primping and not-so-subtle-selfie-checks with their phones. There was a solid age distribution – everything from the college freshies to the middle-aged cougars. I had prepped my game with the latest issue of Cosmo (and those hair care tips are on point) so I was feeling pretty good by the time I plopped down across from Olivia, a super cute philosophy major at Hudson U.
Things started off great – she laughed at my Christopher Walken impression, she puts strawberry jelly on her PB&J (none of that grape nonsense!), and she totally dug my time-is-relative wristwatch. The pheromones were shooting between us like fireworks. But when she touched my hand with her French-manicured fingers, something happened…
All of a sudden I was no longer making goo-goo eyes at a potential mate – I was staring into a terrifying row of dagger-like teeth. My heart starting hammering, I broke out in a cold sweat, and there’s a high probability that I screamed like a little girl. What the hell was that? A monster? A meta? I tried to get my wits, but the vision swam and I was back at Jitters, the bell was dinging, and some overeager lothario was shoving me out of my seat so he could take a shot at Olivia.
I had to get out of there. I had to figure out what the heck I just saw. Guess my love life will be DOA for the foreseeable future until I can figure out what’s going on with my brain – I just wish it wouldn’t mess with matters of the heart!
Cisco backup 