A Wish Come True

Chapter 1 When I was a young boy I’d had a pen pal. It started in third grade when my then teacher, Mrs. Horowitz, proposed it as a project for the class. She had a friend who was a teacher on the other side of the country—Vermont, to be specific. So the pen pal exchange was between her class and Mrs. Horowitz’s. My pen pal was another boy my age named Spencer Macalister. He’d lived in Vermont all his life, just as I had lived in California for all of my eight years at the time. Most of the class gave up on the letter writing as soon as the semester—and therefore the assignment—was done. Spencer and I, however, maintained our friendship this way for several more years. We had a lot in common, as it happened, both loving Science Fiction books, movies and television shows, and later both realizing we liked boys, though Spencer also liked girls. Early on in our shared correspondence we talked a lot about space and astronomy. I used to do a lot of stargazing even then. And I started this thing where I would end my letters with “Make a Wish,” referring of course to “wishing on a star.” After a few letters signed like this, Spencer began to end his the same way. It became a thing between us, though I don’t think we ever had any formal acknowledgement of it. By my senior year in high school, the letters did start to come with a greater amount of time between them. The letters back from Spencer, that is. I still sent mine with regularity—every two weeks—but his return letters began to come monthly, then every couple of months, and by the end of the summer—after what was graduation for both of us—his letters ceased altogether. I continued sending mine at first, but when fall came, then Christmas, with no response from Spencer, I finally gave up. I didn’t know what caused him to stop writing me. If something happened to him. If it was something I did. Whatever. I briefly mentioned it to my mother and she’d told me that sometimes that was just life. So with college and my first real boyfriend, I forgot about Spencer Macalister. I got my degree in astronomy of all things, no real surprise there, and after my bachelor’s, I went for my master’s, and then ultimately my PhD. I taught at the University when all was said and done. And so it was when I was sitting in my office between classes and my cellphone rang. I answered without even looking at the caller ID. “Martin Brooks.” “Marty, it’s me,” my little brother, Jack, screamed loudly into the phone. I held the receiver further away from my ear. “You’re piercing my eardrum, kid. What’s up?” “You’ll never guess.” I pushed my glasses back into place after they slipped, yet again, down my nose. “Probably not, so why don’t you save us both time and just tell me.” “God, you are no fun at all,” Jack said. I was sure my brother was pouting. “Well, anyway, you are going to love me. Love me.” “You won the lotto?” Jack snorted. “I wish. But it’s almost as good.” “Look, if this call is to tell me Heather finally gave in and had s*x with you—” “Shut up!” Jack laughed. “I wouldn’t call you to tell you that. Well, okay, maybe I would. But that’s not it either.” My laptop beeped, alerting me to a new e-mail. The e-mail was from “Jack Brooks.” “What’s this?” “The details, of course. Two weeks from now, you and me, baby, are gonna be in Seattle.” “Seattle? What for? It rains there all the time. I don’t even have rain gear.” “You will cease to whine as soon as I tell you why. Don’t click on that e-mail yet.” “The suspense is killing me,” I said dryly. “I’ve got tickets to the convention for Space Heroes.” My heart rate went shooting up. I straightened. “Space Heroes?” Space Heroes, 1 and 2, were my absolute favorite movies. Ever. The third one was in production and was due to be released next year. Space Heroes was my obsession. My laptop screensavers showed the cast. I had a Space Heroes mug. T-shirts. My damn watch was a Space Heroes watch. If they made a breakfast cereal, I would probably buy it. So yeah, I was a geek. I could live with that. “Ah! I knew that would get your attention,” Jack said gleefully. “Not only tickets, but the Gold Tickets. Do you know what those get you, Marty?” “No.” “Front row seats when they’re on stage and first in line for autographs and pictures with the cast, that’s what! Also a convention T-shirt…and an appetizer party with the cast and director.” “Wow.” That was all I could manage to say. “I’ve rendered you just about speechless, huh? I’ve got it all planned, dude. The convention is Thursday afternoon through Sunday. I figure we’ll fly there Thursday morning. Registration begins at noon at the hotel. Fly back Sunday night. You have to take only two days off work” I clicked on the email and saw cast photos and vendor’s merchandise appear in the emailed newsletter. “Who’s going to be there? Like…the entire cast?” My brother chuckled. “You mean is Derek DeLong going to be there, don’t you?” I swallowed, my palms instantly getting sweaty. Derek DeLong was the hottest actor, the hottest guy really, I had ever seen. I had a huge crush on the sexy, perky blond who played the android, Five, in the Space Heroes movies. I had freeze-framed my DVD so many times on DeLong’s bubble butt in his tight uniform pants the disc was probably worn out in that spot. “Maybe,” I said evasively. “Don’t worry. He’s going to be there. They all are. Sebastian Lookinland, Dee-Dee Cabot, all of them. The whole cast.” He paused. “So, are you in?” “Hell, yeah.” * * * * “You have got to be kidding me?” I glanced at my fellow professor, Angela Horne, who had just snatched the printout off my desk from the email my brother had sent me about the convention. “Do you mind? Give that back.” Angela was a biology professor, a tall, thin brunette. She was what most straight men would think of as hot. She smirked. “A Space Heroes convention? Really? God, Brooks, I knew you were a geek, but I had no idea how much of one.” I glared at her and took back the printout. “What do you want anyway?” “Lunch. I know it’s a little late, but I’m hungry. You’re really into all that, huh? I mean, I know you’ve got the watch, I’ve seen it. But all the rest?” “So what if I am?” Angie smiled. “Don’t get all bent, Brooks. I think it’s cute.” “Sure you do.” “Do you dress up in a costume when you go?” I sighed and reached for my mug of coffee. “This is the first one I’ve been to, but I don’t plan on it.” Angie grinned. “I think I remember you have a bit of a crush on one of them.” “Shut up.” She laughed. “You so do! Is it Sebastian Lookinland? Because I gotta say, I don’t blame you there. He is so hot!” I rolled my eyes. “In an obvious sort of way.” “What’s wrong with that?” I waved my hand. “Well, you know, it’s so typical good looks. Who doesn’t think he’s hot? Including, I suspect, him. Totally not my type.” “Ridiculously hot guys are not your type?” Angie shook her head. “You are one weird gay dude. Just saying.” She reached for the printout again and perused the picture on the first page. “Which one, then?” “Derek DeLong. Plays the android.” I stabbed my index finger at the picture. “Him. Plus, he’s gay, so that’s a plus in his favor, too.” “A gay android? Are androids allowed to have s*x?” “Well, he’s not gay in the movies, dummy.” Angie leaned back in the chair. “I still say Lookinland is way hotter.” “You can have him. As long as I get Derek, I’ll be happy.” I sighed and pushed some buttons on my keyboard. “Not that I really stand a chance with someone like him.” “Why not?” “Come on. You see me, and you see him, and you have to ask? You said yourself, I’m a geek.” “To your friends, yeah, but not to strangers. I bet some would think you’re a real hottie.” “You can’t even say that with a straight face, Angie. Look at me. A gay, geeky astronomy professor who wears glasses and is obsessed with Science Fiction movies.” “I know all that, but look at you. You’ve got muscles. A really hot body. And killer eyes. I bet there are a lot of gay dudes who’d want you.” I glared at her. “You are seriously not helping.” Angie shrugged. “Sorry. Hey, why don’t you put all that down and go to lunch?” “I haven’t graded a single test.” “Yeah, but I’m starved. Come on.” She stood and pulled me from my desk chair. “You can tell me all about Space Heroes over lunch…and martinis. If you’re gonna talk space movies, I need a lot of those.”