Laney pushed the thick lock of auburn hair away from her eyes with a puff of annoyance. She glanced back down at the paper in her hand, with directions scrawled across it in her messy handwriting. She squinted in the fading light, struggling to read the already illegible script.
“Turn right at…” she squinted harder, “Aslon...Askin...Aspen! Aspen Drive!” She smiled, then frowned, her eyes widening. “Aw crap.” She looked around frantically, “Aspen, Aspen, Aspen…” she bit her thumb. Nowhere in sight could she find a friendly green sign saying Aspen Drive. It seemed she was lost. Again.
She sighed dejectedly and pulled out her phone, her heart plummeting as she stared at the cracked screen. 11:51 pm. It was almost curfew and she was as lost as could be. She unlocked her phone to call her new roommate, but watched in horror as her phone flickered to life, then died. Her bottom lip quivered as the street lights around her switched off, one by one. She envisioned each light as her hope for this new experience, slowly vanishing before her eyes, leaving her stranded and alone in the darkness.
Laney attempted a brave smile, squinting harder than ever in the moonlight, determined to make it to her new home here in Wilmington North Carolina. She started walking tentatively in the dim light, then as she gained confidence, began to take longer strides. Unfortunately, in the darkness, she missed the steps that lay haphazardly in her path, and found her feet whipped out from underneath her. She didn't have time to scream, and instead gasped loudly, dropping her suitcase, and curled up, prepared for impact.
It never came, instead, when Laney opened her eyes, she came face to face with a masked man. Believing it to be some criminal at first, Laney jumped out of his arms, and opened her mouth to scream.
The man raised his hands, his eyes widening, “Don't scream! It's just me, Aero Dynamic, Aero for short. Ya’ know,” he struck a pose, “This area's official superhero!”
Laney stared for a moment, “You gotta be kidding me.” She rolled her eyes and groaned, “Great, a superhero, that's all I need to make this horrible day even worse.”
Aero’s smile faltered, “Worse? What do you mean worse? I just saved you?”
“Yeah,” Laney complained, “Without my permission, and now, you’re gonna try and get me to pay you! Well sorry dimwit, since I didn't ask for help, I don't owe you any money. It's the law. Look it up if you can be bothered to do so.” And with that, she brushed herself off, walked back up the steps, and grabbed her bag. Laney began walking away, ignoring the superhero as he tried to get her attention. Finally, Aero leapt in front of her, almost knocking Laney down again.
“Hey! I was talking, you know!” He grumbled, “Don't ignore me!”
Laney huffed, and tried to keep walking, no longer caring where she was walking to, “It's not against the law to ignore someone of unimportance, now leave. Me. Alone.”
Aero smirked, “No, but it is against the law to be out past curfew.” Laney froze, Aero raised his chin triumphantly, “Got your attention now?”
Laney couldn't contain a small whimper as tears welled up in her eyes. Aero’s eyes widened in horror, and he began flailing his arms, hovering above Laney’s face and shoulders, but never actually touching her. “Wait, no!” He cried, “Don't cry! I never know what to do when people cry! Uh…” he looked around, “Ok, um, so, you- you're new here, right? I've never met you before.”
Laney nodded, sniffling, “I just moved here from Davidson, I'm a transfer student.” Laney cringed on the inside, she hated acting so pathetically in front of a superhero, but today had been terrible. She had missed her bus, and so missed meeting her roommate Kate at the original drop off, had to take a cab that smelled of moldy cheese and was far overpriced. Gotten lost several times before realizing he had dropped her off at the wrong Walden street, ended up in a short bout of evening rain, missed dinner, and now this. She was tired, hungry cold, wet, and positively miserable.
Aero bit his lip, “Listen, I should report you, but for a measly five dollars, I'll help you get home and forget all of this ever happened.”
Laney growled, “You superheroes, all you ever care about is money.”
“Well, yeah,” he shrugged, “It is our main source of income.”
Laney sighed, “As much as I hate all of this, I'd rather not go to jail, so fine.” She dug in her purse and pulled out a crumpled five dollar bill, “ My address is 160 Birch Lane. Now hurry up and take me home.”
Aero smiled, “Ok, but I must warn you, I don't travel like other superheroes.”
Laney raised an eyebrow, “What do you-" her question was cut off as she suddenly found herself and her bags gathered up into his arms and lifted up into the night sky. Laney screamed as she watched the ground slowly grow farther and farther away.
Aero began laughing, “Geez, calm down crazy lady, this is way faster than walking! And more fun, too!”
Laney didn't answer, she was too busy screaming.
Finally, Aero landed before a small, friendly looking townhouse. “You're lucky,” he said, “I've actually been down here before, I know the tenant, although they never told me they were getting a new roommate.”
Laney pushed herself out of his arms, her hair wild and tangled, her eyes glowing furiously. “Woopdeedoo, good for you.” She yanked her bag out of his hand violently, “Now excuse me, today has been horrible and I would just like to go to bed.” She turned to the door and reached into her pocket, only to find her house key missing. Her heart plummeted once more as she gazed at the darkened windows of her sleeping roommates.
Aero chuckled, “Locked out, huh?”
Laney turned to him, her face burning, she pointed an accusatory finger at him, “This is exactly why I hate superheroes! They're selfish, miserly, cruel, and-and-!”
“Woah, woah, slow down there miss!” Aero chuckled again and tossed his dark hair, green eyes that Laney had previously not seen in the dim light glinted mischievously, “Surely you don't mean it! Everyone loves superheroes! We're the bane of your existence!”
“And completely incorrigible and dimwitted. Do you know what ‘bane’ means? Cause right now, you are the bane of my existence.” Laney finished, “Now go away and leave me alone, I already paid you and I want nothing more to do with the likes of you.” Laney turned around as Aero stared on in shocked silence. She noticed some vines climbing up to a large window. She did the math, thinking of the blueprints and pictures of the house she had looked through earlier, and realized with a sigh of relief that they lead to her window. She began climbing the vines.
“What are you doing?” Aero asked worriedly, “You're going to hurt yourself.”
“I'm...fine.” Laney grunted, her fingers slipping on the wet plants, “Just...go...away.” She grabbed the next vine, only to find that the rain from earlier had loosened the dirt that the vines clung too, and the plant pulled away from the house and dropped Laney unceremoniously upon the hard ground. She rubbed her sore bum and cursed loudly.
Aero watched the whole scene like one watched a sitcom, in quiet humor. “Need help, princess?”
“Don't… call me...princess!” Laney grumbled, trying to climb again, only to have to same outcome. She screamed furiously into the air.
“Quiet, princess,” Aero said, ignoring her previous statement, “You'll wake the neighbors, and then they'll all know you were out past curfew.”
Laney fumed, kicking the wall of the house, then holding back a string of curses as her toe bounced painfully off of it.
“You know,” Aero said, “If you apologise for all those things you said earlier about superheroes, I might be able to help you.”
“I won't apologise.” Laney growled, “What I said was true and I stick by it. Besides, I don't need your help.”
“Really?” Aero smirked and pulled a copper key from out of nowhere, “Then I guess you don't be needing this either?”
Laney gasped, and began leaping for the key, Aero keeping it just out of her reach the entire time, “You thief!” She growled, “I can't believe you stole my house key!”
Aero clicked his tongue and shook his finger at her, “Everyone knows superheroes don't steal. I just happened to notice this upon the ground and, knowing it belonged to some poor, miserable civilian, picked it up with the means to return it to this poor, miserable civilian.”
Laney glared and did something no civilian had ever done before, and punched the superhero squarely in the jaw. Aero dropped the key in surprise and rubbed his chin. Laney quickly picked up the key, unlocked the door, and tossed her bag inside. She then slammed the door behind her and locked it tightly without a single word or glance back to the superhero.
Aero stood outside that beat up, yellow door for a moment, thinking. “Wow,” he whispered in amazement, “That is one crazed up chick.” he turned and walked away, still rubbing his jaw, which was slowly beginning to bruise, “Perhaps I should try to avoid her in the future,” he mumbled, “For safety reasons.”
Unfortunately for both of them, fate had other ideas.
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