The guy who’d been flipping out over Daisy quickly changed his mind about what to be excited about, and before I knew it, I was surrounded. It made me grumpy, and I was starting to have trouble breathing well.
“Everyone,” Daisy clapped her hands. “Line up. Get in a nice straight line behind this row ofcomputer chairs…”
“Computer chairs,” a geeky guy snorted pushing his glasses up on his nose. “She meansgamingchairs,” he laughed with his friends.
Daisy gave them a look. “Whatever. Anyway, get behind these chairs and Jack will sign autographs for the next twenty minutes only. And can I get a store manager over here, please?”
A manager came running, huffing around a corner and nearly taking out a shelf of neatly stacked notebook computers in the process. “Can I help?” he gasped as he made it over to us.
“Yes.” Daisy looked at him, clearly unimpressed. “I need one manager to control the crowd and the other to take Jack’s order.”
I watched her in shock and awe, beginning to breathe better, and, if possible, become even more enamored with her. It was then I realized I had a death grip on her hand. I loosened my hold slightly, but not enough for her to get away.
She patted my hand. “You have to let go so you can sign autographs,” she whispered.
“What am I supposed to sign?” I asked quietly, staring at the long line forming.
“Whatever they have,” she said. “Butnot,” she pointed to a busty girl who was adjusting her cleavage, “that girl’s boobs.”
I smirked, pleased she was somewhat jealous, while a teenager nearby snorted and brayed like a donkey. “She said ‘boobs’,” he cackled.
She gave me a look. “I see what you deal with on a regular basis,” she murmured.
“Nah,” I shook my head. “I avoid all of this shit like the plague. But it’s better with you here. How’d you know what to do?”
She smirked. “I have five younger sisters, and I ran dance camps every summer for younger kids.”
“I can tell you were good at it.” I turned to the manager and began spouting off my order. When I finished, I gave him a few hundred extra dollars and asked for it to be delivered to the lobby at Salazar Heights within the hour.
Then I signed autographs for a while before Daisy cut things off in a much nicer way than I ever would have.
Before I knew it, we were back out on the street and headed home like nothing had even happened.
“You were amazing back there,” I said in awe of her.
She shrugged. “People need to be herded sometimes.”
I grinned and kissed her on the cheek at the exact moment someone started taking pictures.
“Jack, who’s your newest lady?”
“Fuck off, man,” I growled, grabbing Daisy’s hand and pulling her along with me protectively. I didn’t care about being plastered all over social media or entertainment shows in pictures with Daisy. But I wasn’t sure how she felt.
The guy laughed as Daisy and I jogged down the street towards home, and I’d never been more thankful for a lobby with a doorman.
Later that night, as we ate pizza and playedCaveSphereon Daisy’s new state-of-the-art system, I remembered she’d never had a chance to answer my question.
“What were you going to say at the store earlier before all hell broke loose? About makingCaveSpherebetter?”
“Oh,” she said absentmindedly, her mind on the game, “I was just going to say I bet you’d have a lot more female fans if you had a character we could relate to in the game.”
“But I made Seraphina for female fans…”
Daisy started laughing so hard she almost spit out the sip of Coke Zero she’d just taken. “Please. Seraphina isnotfor female fans. Have you seen the boobs on that poor girl? It’s a wonder she can stand up. Ridiculous. And she’s a side character, anyway. I’d like a strong, smart girl to be able to play as. She could be pretty with a good body, but don’t make thatallshe is. She needs to have special skills just like the male characters do.”
“Seraphina has special skills…”
“Seduction doesn’t count, Jack.”