“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 fromThe 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 calledThe 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.”
She stands, and we all wait in silence for her conversation to finish.
