I laid back against my headboard, his words running through my head. "You lost it?!" As much as I wanted to tell him that it wasn't true, it was. I lost his mask. I spent a while dwelling over the horrific, terrifying, realistic truth before remembering another sentence that pushed my brain into overdrive. "I wouldn't appreciate if my girlfriend cheated on me."
Did he have a girlfriend? I couldn't help but wonder if all the nights we'd been together, he had someone waiting on him. He was a superhero, there was surely someone who was in love with him out there somewhere. The real question was, is he taken? Did he have that one special girl that was 'his' and no one else's? This town was filled with girls screaming and dreaming over the man with the green sash. It was all everyone talked about. The girls were crushing, until the man stepped forward, claiming to be the town hero. He was claiming to be my hero.
He wasn't, though. I was sure that my masked hero was younger, closer to my age. I closed my eyes, imaging the way his lips moved against mine. There was no way that my knight in shining armor--or more like my hero in a green sash--was an older man.
The breeze howled outside, causing the tree branches to rap rather loudly on my window. Each time I heard the slightest movement, I sat up quickly, fully alert. I was waiting for superman to return.
Hours passed, and I had switched positions several times; my current one now had my back turned to the window, my eyes focusing on the alarm clock. The small red numbers glowed, lighting up the wooden nightstand it sat on. The window made a slight noise, but it was nothing I hadn't heard in the preceding hours. By this point, I had given up all hope in superman’s return. This wasn’t the first time I had heard the noise, and I was sure, with the wind so strong, it wouldn’t be the last. It wasn’t until my room grew drastically colder that I turned around.
“Hello?” I whispered.
The man, still in his darkened clothes, took a seat next to be. “Move over.”
I slid over slightly, giving him more room. I kept my head low, not wanting to look up at him for fear of being scolded again. I felt bad enough losing the mask, did he have to yell too?
“Avery,” His voice started off stern, and it made my stomach twist up into knots, “Look.”
I looked up slowly, expecting to see one of his masks. I wasn’t sure which of the two I expected. He was superman. He had a way of finding out who was in trouble, especially when I was in trouble, surely he would be able to track down his lost mask. But he wasn’t wearing that. I leaned closer, squinting my eyes, searching for the bright green that was on the mask he was wearing earlier in the day. I couldn’t find the green, and I leaned closer. I searched for signs of a third mask, but when I couldn’t find any, I gasped.
He wasn’t wearing one.
But the wasn’t why I gasped. I felt my eyes widening, my mouth dried up, and I had trouble finding the words I wanted to say.
“Jake,” I whispered, “You can’t be here.”
The edges of his lips pulled up into a smile, but I couldn’t smile back. My heart was racing, my stomach in knots.
“Aves,”
“Jake, you have to go. I’m—” I stopped myself. What was I supposed to tell him? I was waiting for a man I didn’t know to sneak in my room? Jake was my boyfriend now, and if superman showed up, that would change. I leaned towards my nightstand, tugging on the small pink chain dangling for the lamp. The room lit up quickly. I turned back towards Jake, my eyes even wider when I saw what he was wearing.
