Chapter 4: Nora

His face was still fresh in my face I wandered around for a while thinking about him then I saw my friends sitting on the floor talking. I walked up and sat down on Miranda’s lap with a thud.

“You’re lucky you only weigh like a hundred pounds or that could have killed me!” she said pushing me off to the ground next to her. I laughed and leaned my back against the wall. I just sat and listened to them talk about what they hoped to learn from the panel and I just people watched. There is no better place in the entire world to people watch than a comic book convention. People of every shape and size roam these halls and I love every second of it.

Just as I turned to say something to Miranda he sat down next to me. He didn’t even look at me; he just pulled out a comic and started flipping through its pages. He had a weird yet kind of sexy smirk on his face. I wanted him to say the first word but I knew I was going to lose that fight.

“Umm Mr. Riddler can I help you with something?” I asked in my best Catwoman voice and without skipping a beat he said: “If you can answer one riddle I will leave and never come back.” I turned my head trying to answer it with my eyes but he barely turned his head. “When did I say I wanted you to go away?” I asked putting more sexiness in my voice. His body went kind of stiff and he said “Is it what you want or not?” “I like to play with my food before I eat it,” I said back to him. He swallowed hard enough for me to hear.

“What is a cat’s favorite color?” he asked flashing me a brilliant smile. Salmon was the first thing that popped into my head but his smile had done something to the inner workings of my brain and I couldn’t really concentrate so I just blurted it out. He just laughed at me. “Was I right?” I asked as I pawed at his arm pretending to be a kitten. “Afraid not Kitty Cat; looks like you are stuck with me. I have been wanting a cat for a long time” he said with an insane amount of arrogance and sarcasm. “Meow! I’m more of an outside cat and I don’t really think you could handle me.” I said and growled at him.

He made me laugh and smile as we continued to talk. He seemed so smart and casual. He asked me honest questions about who I was and we even got to talk about Batgirl and why I love her so much.

I just watched his mouth as he talked. I have never wanted to kiss a stranger more in my life. His face was covered up mostly by his green domino mask and his matching bowler hat hid most of his hair. It was like he was a riddle himself. I just wanted to crack it but I also liked not knowing all of him right away. I mean he was probably going through a much harder time than me since I was pretty much hidden from head to toe. I loved how intense he is when he looks me in the eyes. I know he is listening and engaged; it’s strange. Usually, guys just stare at my chest and ask boring standardized questions hoping that sometime in the near future I will show them.

I told him about my passion for Science Fiction over comics and I was surprised to see that it didn’t bum him out. If anything he seemed more engaged after that. I could feel Miranda’s eyes on the back of my head as we kept talking and I tried hard to ignore it but I knew she was about to embarrass the hell out of me so I got to my feet just as the door to the panel opened. Everyone started to get up too but I didn’t want to stop talking to him. We just stood next to each other as the line passed us by. As soon as almost everyone was in he turned to walk away. I watched every somber step trying to find something to say to make him come back then it came to me. I reached out my hand and grabbed him again.

“What was the answer to your riddle?” I asked looking up at his face. He just looked down at me and leaned in close enough to feel his breath on my ear. It made the hair on the back of my neck tingle. “Purrrple” he said softly rolling his r’s like weaving word magic. I couldn’t help but laugh because I had never had someone turn me on with just one word before. I wanted to grab his face and kiss every inch and before I could argue with my hormones my lips were pressed against his. I had been imagining this moment for a few hours and holy hell was I wrong. My dumb brain wasn’t even close to how fucking fantastic this felt. My toes curled in my heels and every inch of my pleather-covered body was growing hot.

I pulled away and swung around quickly. I felt kind of bad because I left black lipstick on him but he didn’t seem to mind. I gave him one last look and went and found my friends.

The door closed behind me and I saw that they had saved a seat for me near the back of the room. As I approached they all shared the same disapproving look.