away, because she added, “From Voyager and First Contact?”
Cole shook his head. He had no clue if that was supposed to mean something, but apparently it was, because she turned to Christy with her eyes bugging out in shock.
“He doesn’t watch TV,” Christy excused him.
“Oh boy, this is bad.”
No shit.
“Where are the guys?” Christy asked.
“Over there. Discussing which panels to attend.”
Cole and Christy followed the girl to three guys in fervent discussion. A Vulcan, a Klingon, and one painted in gold, with funky contact lenses, and wearing the Starfleet uniform. Was that some kind of hybrid between C3PO and a Starfleet officer? Either way, he wasn’t asking.
“I want to go to Spiner’s Q and A,” the sparkly, goldy guy said.
“The actor who played Data, the android on the Enterprise crew,” Christy whispered. “Vic is dressed like him.”
Ah, so Cole hadn’t been so off base after all.
Vic wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m meeting an Orion woman there—you get my drift, right?”
“The sexy and scantily clad green women are Orion sex slaves,” Christy said.
“The ones with the antennae?” Cole felt compelled to ask.
“No, honey. Those are blue, and they’re Andorians.”
Oh. Of course. His bad.
“But I want to attend Leonard Nimoy’s in memoriam,” the Vulcan, Brett probably, said.
“Spock,” Christy offered. “The original.”
Like that should mean something to him.
“Zachary Quinto will be there. I want a signed picture with him,” Brett continued.
“The new Spock,” Christy translated again.
In between the loud rumble of the crazy people around, the bickering of this bunch, and Christy’s commentary track, Cole was developing the mother of all headaches.
“I’ll need a second to change before that. I’m going as Uhura,” D4C interjected.
Christy turned to him. “Spock’s girl.”
The Klingon snarled something that sounded horribly like Christy’s pissed-off texts and everyone shut up. “First Spiner’s Q and A, then Nimoy’s tribute while Data gets his kicks with the Orion woman. Then signed pictures for Brett and D4C. We all convene at the panel about the ethics of the temporal prime directive. Q is making an appearance and revealing their agenda. Agreed?”
All nodded.
Christy opened her mouth, but closed it again, shaking her head. Good, because no amount of translation was going to suffice.
Only then did the three guys seem to notice Cole.
They looked him over from head to toe, clearing their throats as they noticed his bruised knuckles. Then the Vulcan turned to the others and asked, “Were we chipping in for a bodyguard?”
Man, this was going to be a long-assed weekend.
* * * *
“You were such a trooper,” Christy said and kissed Cole on their way to their room. He hadn’t faltered, not even once in the whole day. She loved her geeky gang, but they were hard to take, especially in full-blown Star Trek mode.
“It was…interesting,” he said, though by the look on his face, “mental” was more what he meant. “Especially when your YouTuber friend threw herself onto that Vulcan actor and he almost fell off the chair.”
She laughed. True. “She has a crush on him and doesn’t care that he plays for Brett and Pete’s team.”
“And the charity auction? What do you have to say about that?”
“Brett really, really wanted that item, and no one saw him tripping that Romulan up.”
Cole snorted, sitting on the bed. “Nuts.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet. The convention isn’t over. Tomorrow there are pretty interesting panels. And the preview of the new Star Trek movie.”
Not to mention the treasure hunt on the Strip afterward. The jewel of the crown.
“I can’t hardly wait,” Cole muttered.
Her phone ringing interrupted them. Martha. It looked like her mom had finally gotten over the shock and indignation of Christy driving her to Logan and putting her in a plane to LA.
Cole leaned on the bed and studied her while she listened to her mother’s snippy tone.
Some things never changed. “…in Vegas, right? Again that childish convention. I don’t know when you’ll grow up and behave like a—”
“Off-limits,” Christy cut her off, her voice hard. She was ready to hang up if Martha started being a drama queen, but to her surprise, her mom mumbled an apology.
Some things never changed. Then again, some did.
After a couple more off-limits from Christy, a couple more sorrys, and one it’s-impossible-to-talk-to-you-nowadays from her mother, the conversation ended.
“Well?” Cole asked.
She crawled to him. “In short? She thinks now that we’re in Las Vegas, I should get you drunk and marry you when you’re not watching.”
Cole let out a bark. “You know how we can shut her up, right?”
“Burying her in the desert? I confess, I thought