Hero

Chapter Twenty

“Thanks, Nova,” I said, rolling my eyes.  “I know that I fucked up.  But seriously, what should I do?”

“What should you do?” asked Nova, her mouth curving into an ‘O’ of shock.  “You know what you should do.  You should never tell Ezra and just…not do anything else with Tempus Manum again.”  She scrunched up her face, like the thought disgusted her, and shuddered.  “Ever.”

“See, and I disagree,” said Simon, chewing thoughtfully on a bite of his cereal.  Now Nova and I both looked at him in shock.  He shrugged, swallowed his cereal, and finished wiping up the rest of his cereal from the table.  “What?  I might not like superheroes, but even I can attest to the incredible godliness of Tempus Manum.”  He feigned swooning and sighed.  “Woo, the things I’d let that man do to me.”

“So…what are you saying exactly?” I asked him, frowning in confusion.  Sometimes with Simon, you couldn’t tell whether he was giving advice or going on a tangent.  “Is this an ‘I think you should dump Ezra’ speech or an ‘I’m so hot and so is that celebrity, we should have babies’ speech?”

“It’s not an anything type of speech,” he replied casually.  “I’m not saying you should dump Ezra right this second, but I certainly wouldn’t write Tempus Manum off so easily.”  He put the spoon down and leaned forward, grinning like he knew something we didn’t.

Nova scoffed angrily at him.  “I’m sorry, please explain to me in what universe there would be a logical reason for Mina to consider the possibility of leaving a stable and happy relationship with Ezra for one with Tempus Manum, a person she didn’t even like the theory of until a few weeks ago.”

“This universe, okay?” he said, rolling his eyes at Nova.  He turned back to face me.  “Listen, Boo.  You’re cute.  If I was straight, you’d be on my short list.  And you know how short that short list is, so you know for a fact how incredibly reliable my word is here.  And I’m not just saying this because you’re my best friend…"

“One of your best friends,” said Nova, making an extra large chop with her knife.

Simon smiled tensely and nodded.  “Yes, Babe.  One of my best friends.  I’m not just saying this because you’re my best friend, but because you’re my best friend, I think that you deserve to get whatever you want out of life.  It’s why I’m trying to deal with this…you know…Stryker phase that you’re going through.  I’m only looking out for you and I only have your best interests in mind when I say all of this.”  He sighed.  “So here’s the truth.  Tempus Manum…he’s famous.  He regularly manages to save damsels in distress from evil villains.  For the love of God, the man is a time traveler.  And he kissed you.”

I bit my lip nervously before taking a sip of my coffee.  “Well, I’m not sure who actually kissed who…”

Simon stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm.  “Honey…Boo…listen, don’t flatter yourself.  Even if you consciously knew that you liked Tempus Manum, we both know that you wouldn’t have made that first move in any scenario.  It just isn’t you.  So we have to assume that he’s the instigator of that kiss, and that means that he likes you.  A superhero, a legitimate knight in shining armor, likes you.  I’m sorry, but I’m not going to let you just throw an opportunity like that away just because you have a boyfriend right now.”

“Yes she can throw that away, Simon, and she will if she knows what’s good for her,” said Nova sternly.  “She loves Ezra.  She would never betray his trust like that.  I hate to say it, but…”  She looked at me sadly.  “If she were to do anything with Tempus Manum right now, she’d be no better than her mother.”  My breath hitched in my throat and I couldn’t move from the intense gaze of Nova’s eyes.  “Isn’t that right, Mina?”