A Wish Come True Read online

  A Wish Come True

  By Shawn Lane

  Published by JMS Books LLC

  Visit jms-books.com for more information.

  Copyright 2019 Shawn Lane

  ISBN 9781646560288

  Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

  Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

  All rights reserved.

  WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

  No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

  This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Published in the United States of America.

  * * * *

  A Wish Come True

  By Shawn Lane

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  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 sex 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 brunet
te. 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 sex?”

  “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.”

  Chapter 2

  As it turned out, I had classes scheduled only for the Thursday before the convention and I was able to schedule make-ups for all classes that day pretty easily.

  Our flight from San Diego to Seattle was just under three hours and Jack had been anxious to get there early, so we departed just after eight in the morning and arrived by eleven. Jack had chosen to wear his Space Heroes T-shirt that I had gifted to him at Christmas.

  Jack wasn’t quite the Sci-Fi geek I was, but he did have a thing for Space Heroes and, most especially, for Dee-Dee Cabot. Jack had prepaid for a photo-op with Dee-Dee. She’d be signing autographs in the vendor’s room as well, and Jack intended to visit her table.

  I hadn’t decided yet with whom I wanted to get photo-ops. I was pretty sure I wanted Derek—and Jack had tried to convince me I should have bought the photo ahead of time—but I was mulling over whether to have Dee-Dee or even Sebastian Lookinland as well.

  It was true, I found Sebastian a little too polished and sure of himself, but I couldn’t deny he was fabulously good-looking. And when else would I get such an opportunity? The tickets were absurdly expensive and self-indulgent. I even thought about one of the group cast photos and that would run me a couple hundred dollars. The hotel where the convention was being held was costly even with the convention rate. And then there was the two hundred dollar flight. I couldn’t see myself doing such a trip again.

  While I was inside my head, trying to justify how much money this was all costing me, Jack was hailing a cab to take us to the hotel.

  “A bus would be cheaper,” I murmured, temporarily coming out of my convention stupor.

  “Yeah, sure. And a big pain in the ass. I’m not changing buses five times to get to my hotel just to save a few bucks.”

  “That’s a big exaggeration.”

  “Maybe. But not much. I don’t know the transport system here, do you?” Jack eyed me, somewhat balefully, I noted.

  “I do not.”

  “Well, then, for Christ’s sake, shut up and get in the cab.” Jack gestured to the back seat of the cab that had just stopped for us.

  Grumbling mildly, I watched as the cabbie hoisted my suitcase into the trunk along with Jack’s, then I slid across the back bench seat. Jack got in next to me after providing the name of our hotel.

  “At least it’s not raining,” Jack commented as he gazed out the window.

  “Weather’s supposed to be good for the whole convention.”

  “It’s going to be the perfect vacation.”

  “Too much money, though.”

  “You really need to give it a rest, bro,” Jack said. “It’s not like you spend a ton of money on frivolous things. When was your last real vacation?”

  I couldn’t really remember, actually. I took daytrips here and there, but never anything longer than a weekend. Even this trip wasn’t that many days.

  “Okay, point.”

  “About time you admitted it. Relax and have fun. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, Marty.”

  The hotel was one of those big chain hotels with numerous conference rooms, and when we reached it, Jack wanted to check-in and go right to register for the conference even though I found myself to be kind of hungry.

  “We can eat after,” Jack said, dragging me toward the hotel reservation desk.

  To save money, the two of us had decided to share a room, so after we got our keys, we took our bags up to the room on the eleventh floor.

  Jack slung his suitcase onto the queen-sized bed closest to the bathroom. “I call dibs.”

  Since it didn’t matter to me which bed I slept in, I just shrugged.

  “Okay, let’s go down.”

  “Shouldn’t we do some unpacking?” I didn’t really want my clothes to stay all wrinkled from the suitcase.

  “Later, after we register.”

  “I thought we were having lunch after that.”

  “Well, after that, then. Come on, Marty. Unclench.”

  With perhaps an overly dramatic sigh, I followed Jack from the room.

  * * * *

  I now wore a gold plastic wristband as I waited for Jack outside a restroom near the pre-registration. It was to prove that you were a Gold Ticket attendee, apparently. I also had a folder full of fliers, a special Space Heroes lanyard, and tickets that entitled me to special dinners and free gifts. I had to admit it was too cool even if it was absurdly costly.

  I turned to study a nearby easel that held a poster for Space Heroes.

  “Here for the convention?”

  I turned to glance at the guy with the deep voice. He was a little taller than me, maybe an inch or two, with stylish blond hair. Even with the frameless glasses he wore, I could see his eyes were an intense blue, like sapphires. He was very good looking and I found my pulse racing immediately.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “How’d you know?’

  “The wristband.” He smiled at me with the most perfect white teeth. He really was stunning. “I’ve seen a lot of those around here today. The
gold is the top tier, isn’t it?”

  “That’s right. My brother and I splurged. You here for it, too?” He didn’t really look like the Space Heroes Convention type. In other words, not particularly geeky, but I was never really certain. Lots of people were inner geeks.

  He nodded. “I definitely am. I was about to get some lunch at the restaurant over there. Would you and your brother like to join me?”

  As though Jack sensed he was being discussed, he suddenly appeared beside me. He blinked kind of rapidly at the guy, though I couldn’t really say why.

  “Uh. Hi,” Jack said.

  “Hello,” the cutie said. “You must be the brother.”

  “Yeah.” Jack turned to me, his eyes wide. “Marty—”

  “Ah, so that’s your name. I just invited your brother to lunch. You want to?”

  “Lunch with you?” Jack sounded breathless. It was weird.

  “Jack, what’s with you?” I asked. “This is my brother, Jack. And I’m Martin.” I held out my hand to him.

  He took it and shook it. “I’m Sebastian.”

  And then it hit me as I looked into his gorgeous eyes. I glanced quickly at the Space Heroes poster. Then back to cutie. Now Jack’s behavior made sense.

  Sebastian Lookinland. And he’d just asked me to lunch. Us. Us to lunch, I reminded myself.

  Holy shit.

  Chapter 3

  Jack and I followed Sebastian into the hotel restaurant. It was a bit of an upscale café. That was something else I’d had to budget for. Eating out every meal. As I waited at the front of the café in a bit of a daze, I couldn’t help wondering if Sebastian would take care of the meal since he had invited us. That would be pretty presumptuous, though, on my part.

  The hostess gave us a dazzling smile. Or I should say, she gave Sebastian one and barely glanced at me and Jack. Much to Jack’s dismay. He had it in his mind that he was a babe magnet.

  “This way, gentlemen,” she said politely.

  Sebastian sat in the back corner of the table and I sat to his right with Jack on his left. “This your first convention, Martin?” Sebastian nodded his thanks to the hostess as she handed him a menu.