Les Tales Read online

  “Last night was amazing. I’m hoping for an encore tonight,” she told him.

  “Yeah, um, see . . .” Jason faked a smile.

  “Oh, there’s my people. See you later.” She kissed his lips again before joining a group of other overweight Sailor Moon characters.

  We stared at Jason while Carlos’s deep laugh filled the air. Jason punched Carlos in his arm.

  “What happened last night?” I asked.

  Jason shook his head. “You don’t want to know.”

  We continued to laugh at Jason’s expense until Nia walked back over to us and motioned for us to gather in a huddle.

  “Um, we have seats saved for us.” Nia grinned. “Follow me.”

  We left the line and headed to the ballroom doors. We saw the men’s handler standing at one of the doors. We greeted him with hugs, then followed him into the empty ballroom. We took seats on the left side, in the front row.

  Jason looked at us. “Maybe we should be asking what y’all did last night.”

  We just grinned at each other.

  We watched as the massive group of people started walking in and taking their seats. A few moments later the room was completely filled. The lights went out, and something began to play on a large movie screen. The crowd cheered as clips highlighting the careers of the men played. The crowd went crazy when Ursula’s name appeared. They showed various clips from all the movies and TV shows she had been in. The crowd roared when they showed her in her famous battle stance as the Amazon queen. I felt my eyes tearing up as I watched a scene from the show, which was a major part of my childhood. At the end pictures of all four stars appeared on the screen. There was a standing ovation as the group was introduced. Kirk came out with his usual energy. He pointed over at us as he did his signature growl.

  I sat up as the moderator announced Ursula’s name. She walked out and looked directly at me. I noticed a subtle change in her facial expression when she saw me. She quickly reverted right back to her smile. I didn’t know what that was about.

  The panel was hilarious. It was obvious they were more at ease with being at the convention. It was the final panel, and everyone was relaxed and silly. Les demonstrated how Ursula would look at him whenever he was caught sleeping with a human. All the men sang her praises, saying how she was the most amazing woman to work with.

  Nia got in line to ask a question. Cree and I sat with the guys and listened to the dumb questions people were asking. We rolled our eyes at the obvious lack of true fans in the room. They asked questions that had been fielded at the earlier panel and questions anyone who truly watched the show would know the answers to. One girl asked Les for a date, causing Cree to roll her eyes. Soon it was Nia’s turn.

  “Since you are all Dragon Con virgins, I was wondering what you thought of our con community. And will we be seeing you guys again in future years?”

  Les leaned into his mic. “This has been the craziest experience of my life. I have been to San Diego Comic-Con and some other conventions, but I have never seen anything like this. You people are devoted, and it’s awesome. I mean, the costumes are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”

  “And the parties . . . When do you people sleep?” Mason said, jumping in.

  “We sleep when we get back home,” Nia joked.

  “I swear, I want to put on a mask and party with you guys tonight,” Kirk said, making the whole crowd cheer.

  “I want to say that I have truly enjoyed myself. I might have carpal tunnel from signing so many autographs, but it was worth it, and I can’t wait to come back again. You people are truly one of a kind.” Ursula looked directly at me for a second before looking back at the crowd.

  Cree squeezed my hand, obviously catching the glance from Ursula.

  The celebrities said their good-byes and stood together for group photos for a few minutes after the panel. We noticed the handler heading back in our direction.

  “The fellas would like for you to come backstage,” he told us. We all followed the handler as the room cleared out.

  Before we went backstage, Carlos hugged each of us. “Okay, ladies, y’all be safe. Don’t be letting those men get your goodies. If you need us, call. We will be at the heroes and villains ball for a while.”

  “Okay, and for the record, we are fans, not groupies. No goodies will be got,” Nia said and rolled her neck at the guys.

  “Yeah, right,” Jason said, throwing his two cents in before they left.

  “Who am I kidding? If Les tries, he will most definitely succeed.” Cree affirmed as she high-fived Nia.

  We walked backstage, where a few reporters were waiting for the group of celebrities to come off the stage. We stood off to the side as the group came down the stairs. The convention staff thanked and hugged Mason, who walked off with his wife and manager. I watched Ursula talking to a reporter while the guys walked over to us.

  “Ladies, thanks for coming today.” Les hugged each of us.

  “Of course,” Cree said. Les hadn’t taken his arm from around her.

  “So we were thinking that it’s the last night and we want to truly experience this convention,” Kirk said with his usual sexy, energetic voice. “Would you like to be our tour guides?” We looked at each other. It took no time for us to agree.

  “How are you guys going to make it around without a mob?” I questioned as I snuck peeks at Ursula. The jeans she was wearing were giving me a fever.

  “Please! We aren’t that famous.” Les motioned like it was no big deal.

  “Well, if you want to, cool. But should we change so we don’t look insane with you guys?” Nia said. She had somehow moved from by me to right next to Kirk without me noticing.

  “Sure. We have a few interviews to finish up. Here is my number and Levi’s number. Call him, and he can tell you where we are.” Levi, the handler, nodded his head. “This will be fun, ladies.” Les hugged Cree one more time before they walked off with their people.

  “Oh my God, I am going to be so damn sexy tonight, that man is going to want to take me back to Vancouver with him.” Cree was already planning her outfit in her head.

  “Well, hello, ladies.” We all turned when the familiar voice spoke to us. We saw Ursula walking toward us. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the other two lovely goddesses from yesterday.” Ursula was mesmerizing. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Nia nudged me, bringing me out of my spell.

  “Oh, these are my friends Nia and Cree.”

  “Ah, yes, I heard the men are planning on partying it up with you guys. Watch them. They are live ones.” Ursula winked at the girls. She then turned her focus to me. “Temple, can I speak to you for a moment?”

  I walked a few feet away with her without hesitation.

  “I truly felt bad about backing out last night. I was wondering if you would like to try dinner again tonight to make up for yesterday.”

  “Uh . . . um . . . yeah, sure. Of course.”

  “Great. I need to go to my room and freshen up. I’m staying at the Ritz. I can give you my number, and you can call me. Do you have your phone?”

  My face dropped. I realized I hadn’t seen my phone since I threw it after the call from Ciara. I heard Nia clear her throat. I turned around to see her holding up my phone. I walked over to her, mouthing, “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, we figured you might want this back at some point.” Nia smiled.

  I walked back over to Ursula and watched as she punched her number into my phone. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I knew at any moment I was going to wake up and find myself sleeping in my bed, next to Ciara, back in Memphis. Ursula handed me my phone.

  “Great. I will call you soon,” I said. The words sounded funny coming out of my mouth. I was going to be calling Ursula Moore.

  “Great. See you soon.” She kissed me on my cheek, sending shock waves through my body. She turned to walk away but quickly turned back around. “Oh, and that outfit . . . very nice.” She winked as she walke
d off with her bodyguards.

  I couldn’t move from the spot I was standing in. Nia and Cree ran over to me the second we were the only ones left in the room.

  “Is this happening? This is really happening.” Nia was now jumping up and down.

  “This type of shit doesn’t happen, right? This is some weird fluke,” I said, shaking my head.

  “I don’t care if it’s a fluke or what. Hell, I don’t care if those men think that we are easy pieces of ass while they are at a convention. It’s up to us to prove them wrong. I say we charm them so well that they want to make us friends instead of possible fuck buddies.” Nia stood with her chest poked out.

  We headed out of the large ballroom. The lobby was packed as people started to prepare for the night’s shenanigans.

  “So even if they want to, we aren’t going to sleep with them?” Cree questioned, instead of confirming what Nia had said. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” Nia held our arms. “We are fangirls. They are going to respect us as such.”

  Cree frowned. “But it’s Les. Did you see how he had his arm around me? It’s Les.”

  “Would you rather give it up now and he never calls, or would you rather spend such an amazing night that you one day get a call to come hang out in Vancouver while he’s taping?” Nia asked. “Let’s try for long-term friendships instead of one-night stands.”

  “Well, I don’t have to worry about that, like you guys have to. I’m just having dinner.” I looked over to see the expressions on both their faces. “What?”

  “Please, girl, if Ursula wasn’t flirting with you, then Les wasn’t flirting with me,” Cree said as we fought our way through the crowd to the elevators.

  “No, she wasn’t,” I insisted.

  “I have to agree with Cree,” Nia said. “I think there is something more there than just a dinner invitation.”

  “You guys are crazy.” I got in one of the elevators after it finally cleared out.

  “Okay, think what you want, but I know flirting, and there was some extra energy there,” Cree observed.

  The elevator doors closed, leaving me in my thoughts.

  Chapter 6

  There were so many scents in our hotel room at one time, it smelled like a Bath and Body Works store. We were dressed to impress. Nia rocked a pair of denim short shorts with a shirt that hung off her shoulders, while Cree had opted for a pair of supertight brown jeans and a matching halter top that showed off her amazing abs. I had tried on outfit after outfit before finally settling on a pencil skirt with a black romper with a lace back. I had put on a pair of black stilettos and had let my hair curl up naturally in a ’fro.

  We headed out of our hotel room and back to the elevators. It took forever for an elevator to arrive, which was normal during the convention. We finally made it to the lobby level. The girls were meeting the men at Sear, the restaurant in the hotel.

  “Okay, ladies. Behave yourselves,” I said as I looked at myself in the mirror on a wall in the lobby.

  “You too,” Nia said and hugged me. I hugged Cree before heading out of the hotel.

  I caught a cab over to the Ritz-Carlton, which wasn’t far at all. The lobby wasn’t nearly as insane as those in the host hotels for the convention. There was only one group of obvious convention attendees sitting in the lobby. I took my membership badge off and stuck it in my clutch.

  I pressed DIAL on my phone. Each ring made my heart skip a beat. Finally, I heard Ursula’s voice on the other end. She told me to come up to her room.

  The elevator ride was excruciating. My whole body was hot. I just knew I had to be a sweaty mess. I got out of the elevator on her floor and stopped to look in the large wall mirror. To my surprise, I wasn’t sweating at all.

  Get it together, Temple. I took a deep breath. My phone began to ring. I looked down to see Ciara’s face appear. I suddenly felt guilty. I had missed several text messages and phone calls from her since I had left my phone on that chair. I had made the mistake of reading the text messages. Each one had sounded more and more desperate. I then remembered where I was and what she did. I put my phone on silent and headed down the long hallway.

  I stood outside Ursula’s door. I couldn’t bring myself to actually knock. I did the breath test with my hand just to make sure everything was right. Before I could knock, I heard the doorknob turning. There stood Ursula in a red dress in front of me.

  “I thought I heard someone outside. Come on in.”

  I wanted to die. I wondered if she had seen my breath test. The room looked more like an apartment than a hotel room. In the living area there was a table laden with food under silver domes.

  “Temple, relax. Trust me, I don’t bite . . . usually.” Ursula winked as she walked farther into the room. I just knew I didn’t hear her correctly. She motioned for me to have a seat at the table.

  She obviously hadn’t spared any expense, or perhaps the meal was all on Dragon Con. We dined on surf and turf, lobster and steak. After my first glass of wine I began to see her not as the goddess Ursula, but as just another friend. We laughed about the convention. She talked about some of the crazy people she had met while signing in the VIP room.

  “I think that’s why I found you and your friends refreshing. You weren’t dressed as the Amazon queen. Actually, I don’t think I saw any other people, except men dressed from Olympus. That dress you had on was amazing, and quite accurate.”

  “I had it made.” I blushed. “I actually thought about bidding on the original one, but it’s, like, six thousand dollars now on eBay.”

  “Crazy, I know. I love my job, but I honestly don’t know if I could be as dedicated as some people are. I mean, I was just playing a character.”

  “No.” I looked at Ursula. “You were more than a character. You were a revolution.”

  “How so?” Her eyes locked on me.

  “When I was younger, I had no one to turn to. I knew there was something different about me, but I couldn’t consider that I could be gay. I’d heard in church how being gay was wrong. I just knew that I was going to hell for the rest of my life.” I took another sip of wine.

  “But watching the Amazon queen, it made me feel . . . I can’t really explain it, but your character made me feel strong.”

  Ursula wasn’t taking her eyes off of me. It was like she was looking inside of me. Her lips were pressed hard against each other. Her eyes were slightly slanted and were making me feel like I couldn’t hide anything from her. I just wanted her to stop looking at me before I started crying again.

  The room was awkwardly silent. I could hear my thoughts racing through my head. She continued to stare at me, and all my self-esteem slowly started to disappear. I wanted to run out of the room. I knew I had freaked her out. She was probably regretting the fact that she’d allowed me to come to her room.

  “I’m sorry,” I muttered, hoping to salvage the rest of the evening. “I didn’t mean to say so much.”

  Ursula finally moved. “Oh, you have nothing to apologize for. I should be apologizing to you.”

  “For what?”

  Ursula’s eyes locked on me again.

  “Because while you were speaking, I honestly couldn’t stop thinking of how badly I wanted to kiss you.”

  Chapter 7

  Nia and Cree couldn’t stop laughing at Les and Kirk. The guys were so down to earth, the only things that reminded them that they were with celebrities were the Black Cards that hit the table after the meal and drinks.

  “So where are we heading to first?” Les looked at Cree.

  “Well, that all depends on how far into Dragon Con you want to go.” Nia smiled at Kirk. “We can keep it simple by going to a party in a ballroom, or for real craziness, we can hit the bars first, then some room parties.”

  “I vote for crazy. I want to get real crazy,” Les said. He stared at Cree, who wouldn’t take her eyes off of him.

  The group headed out of the restaurant. To their surprise, the men weren’t notice
d as much as they had expected. They walked up the stairs to the bar at Pulse, the hotel’s bar and lounge. The men were quickly noticed by a few drunk guys, who gave them high fives while offering up their seats at the bar to the group. After they were seated, Les ordered rounds of shots, which they downed quickly.

  “This is awesome. I just want to yell something out.” Kirk put his arm around Nia.

  “Do it. Trust me, it’s okay.” Nia nodded her head.

  “Okay.” Kirk stood up on the footrest below his seat. “Dragon Con is awesome!”

  Like normal, the crowd cheered and glasses rose in unison. Les stood up, and he and Kirk pounded fists as camera flashes went off. Les sat back down and put his hand on Cree’s thigh.

  “I’m going to regret this in the morning, when the pictures hit the blogs. What are you two trying to do to us?” he said.

  “Nothing you don’t want me to.” Cree put her hand over her mouth, realizing what she had said. Les gave a devilish chuckle. Cree looked at Nia, who, judging by the expression on her face, obviously didn’t approve of the comment.

  Les laughed. “You are amazing, Ms. Cree. Simply amazing.” He called the bartender over to order more drinks.

  I was still in shock. I must have dreamed that Ursula Moore said she wanted to kiss me. I wanted to slap myself just to wake up, because the dream was getting out of hand now. I closed my eyes and then opened them, hoping I would wake up. There sat Ursula, staring at me.

  “I am guessing you weren’t expecting to hear that,” she said.

  “Um . . .” I had to take a big gulp of wine. “No, definitely not. I mean, you are Ursula Moore.”

  “I’m also a woman who is very attracted to another woman.” Ursula stood up from the table. She walked over to a smaller table that had a bowl of fruit and two other bottles of wine chilling in silver buckets. She picked up one of the bottles and popped it open. “What can I say, Temple? I was attracted to you the moment I saw you at the panel.”

  “Why?” I knew it wasn’t proper etiquette, but I put my elbows on the table and placed my hands on my head. “I just don’t understand.”