Paul labored in the storage room while the Wonder Twins and Jeremy took it easy out in the front of the store. Paul didn’t mind the work, and certainly working in the back kept him away from the customers. He didn’t like the customers. They asked too many questions and invariably brushed off his opinions.

In his 16 years, Paul had read lots of comics and developed lots of opinions on characters and storylines. Growing up he really only read the superhero stuff, but in the past few years he’d begun to find the non-superhero stuff. The books that were really taking a chance, like DMZ, Demo, Y: The Last Man, Preacher and Strangers in Paradise just to name a few. Unfortunately, with the rise of the comic book superhero movie most people who came into the store didn’t want to hear about those books.

He thought that was unfortunate because he wouldn’t have been exposed to those books if it hadn’t been for Jeremy’s friend Ann. She was older, but he didn’t care. She worked at the video store at the end of the strip mall and came into the store every week to pick up her comics. He always wondered how that video store survived what with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other services being so popular. He liked it when Ann would come into the store. At those times he’d rather not be in the back logging new shipments and bagging and boarding old comics. He liked to be out front then.

He was bagging some comics from a collection Jeremy recently bought when he heard the bell over the front door jingle. He didn’t think much about it until Jeremy yelled back, “Paul!” Paul was startled and dropped a stack of comics. He looked at the mess and then walked out onto the main floor. “What’s-” he started but couldn’t finish the simple question because there she was. Ann.

“Um, hi, Ann.”

She smiled at him. He melted.

“Hey Paul. How’s it going?”

He stammered a little and looked at the floor. The Wonder Twins, Zooey and James, sat at a table up front and played with action figures. They were in high school, but Paul didn’t think they ever acted like it. They always wore cosplay, no matter where they were. He thought it was weird they were dressed as Enid and Rebecca from the comic Ghost World. They looked at him and giggled.

“Umm, it’s fine.”

“Can you grab Ann’s books out of the back?” Jeremy asked.

“Yeah, sure thing.”

He ran to the back and in no time flat stood in front of Ann with her box of comics.

“How’s your art coming?” he asked.

“It’s good,” she said. There was silence. The Wonder Twins and Jeremy looked on as Paul delicately kicked at the floor.

“Thanks for the books.” She grabbed the box and set it on the counter. Before Paul knew what was happening, she leaned in and gave him a hug. His eyes opened wide in surprise. He couldn’t move, not even to return the gesture. She released him, grabbed the box and turned to Jeremy.

“Thanks, J. I’ll see you guys later.”

The Twins giggled as they went back to their action figures. Paul walked to the front window to watch as Ann hopped in her car and drove off. She gave him a slight wave and a smile.

“You okay, bud?” Jeremy asked.

“Yeah,” Paul said as he watched Ann vanish from sight. “Yeah. I’m just fine.”