Gotham Nights, Part 8 (of 9)
By. C. Leuch
Lyrics copyright Dave Matthews Band
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It had been a long day of anticipation, of thinking through all the possible outcomes and reactions to Matt’s meeting with Laura. He had overanalyzed everything he was sure, and he had tried to keep himself occupied with other things just to keep from going crazy. But as the sun went down and the time to put his plan into motion came near, he felt an overwhelming sense of calm, and any nervousness went away.
After taking the screens off the living room and bedroom windows and then cracking them open, Matt made his way to his closet and pulled a large, black case out of the back. Inside was his most prized possession, a guitar that his dad had gotten him for his 14th birthday. Gently setting the case on the ground, he opened it and pulled out the guitar, then made his way to the living room couch. He took a second to tune the strings, then started randomly playing songs that he had been playing for years – songs from Green Day, Bob Dylan, and Pearl Jam, among others – humming softly in place of singing the lyrics. After he was satisfied that he was sufficiently warmed up, he cleared his throat, took a long look at the window, then turned back toward the guitar.
“Laura, I don’t know if you can hear me, or if you’re even listening, but this is for you. If you want to come over and talk, I’ve removed my window screens, so…” He stopped, squinting slightly then continued. “And, um, if any criminals are listening, I know Batman, so don’t try anything.”
He then began to strum the guitar strings, starting a song that seemed to have been written just for him, in this very moment.
I am no Superman, I have no reasons for you
I am no hero, aw that's for sure
But I do know one thing
Where you are is where I belong
I do know, where you go, is where I wanna be
Where are you going? Where do you go?
Are you lookin' for answers to questions under the stars?
Well, if along the way you are growing weary
You can rest with me until a brighter day you're okay
I am no Superman, I have no answers for you
I am no hero, aw that's for sure
But I do know one thing
Where you are is where I belong
I do know, where you go, is where I wanna be
As he reached the bridge of the song, he felt a gust of wind, but he dared not look up. His fingers kept confidently picking out the chords, and he found that he wasn’t shy now that he was fairly certain that he had an audience. He repeated the chorus one more time, then finished the song, letting the last note reverberate before finally stilling the strings. Only then did he look up, and he couldn’t help but smile as he saw her standing there, clapping lightly, a vision in dark-colored spandex.
The previous time he had seen her in this outfit, it had been so brief that he had barely been able to absorb what he was seeing. He had assumed her outfit was all black, but in the lights of his apartment he could see swirls of dark purple and maroon within the fabric. She didn’t wear a cape, high heels, or any frilly adornments, just a plain black mask over her eyes, which she casually removed from her face as he watched. Her hair was pulled up tightly onto her head, held into place with a hair clip. He had never seen her hair up like that outside of uniform, and it was amazing how it changed the shape of her face. As she stood like this, the resemblance to her famous father was unmistakable, but the more he thought about it, the less surreal it seemed. It was just Laura in a silly costume, standing in his living room like she had dozens of times before.
“Bet you didn’t know that I had this hidden talent,” Matt said, eliciting a smile from her.
“I would’ve never guessed. You seem so mild mannered,” Laura answered. Matt gestured to the couch next to him, and Laura crossed the room and sat down.
“Well I don’t do it for the fame or the chicks.” He glanced at her. “Well, maybe a little bit for the chicks. But mostly it’s a stress reliever. Been getting a LOT of practice in the last week or so.” His fingers began to absently strum a different Dave Matthews Band song. “So, I’ve showed you mine. It’s time for you to show me yours.”
She gave one quick laugh and leaned forward. “Excuse me?”
“The special talent that you’ve kept hidden from the world. I don’t imagine you can play bass – we could set up a little band…”
Her expression became one of long-suffering amusement. “I played a little bit of trumpet in high school, but I was always too shy to do solos. And I am NOT joining a band.”
Matt kept playing, though he glanced appreciatively at her outfit. “Shy, huh?” She crossed her arms across her crest and raised an eyebrow, causing Matt to chuckle lightly. “So, come on, let’s have it. I want to see what you can do.”
Laura looked around the apartment and bit her lip. “Uh, I can tell you how much change is in your pocket.”
“Yawn.”
“Light a candle on the other side of the room?”
“Eh. Kinda seems like a parlor trick.”
“Yeah.” She uncrossed her arms and stood. “I mean, the stuff that can be done inside the confines of an apartment, honestly, is not going to be very impressive.”
“So think bigger,” he said, a twinkle in his eyes, and she began to smile as the possibilities occurred to her.
“Do you like wine?” she asked, and Matt also smiled with the possibilities.
“You’re not 21 yet, are you?”
“Well, the drinking age is lower in most of the world. What if I get you a little something that you can’t get around Gotham?”
“I think I might be impressed,” he answered, and with that she disappeared. It was somewhat disconcerting, to see her literally vanish in front of him. His playing faltered for a moment, but then he continued, softly singing the song lyrics after a few seconds.
About 30 seconds after she left, she was back, standing just where she had been before she left, still wearing her outfit sans mask, this time with a bottle in her hand. The writing on it was oriental, though he didn’t know his languages well enough to determine which country it came from. He stopped playing and looked at her in anticipation, the back of his neck tingling a little at what he had just witnessed. He knew academically about what she could do, and he was trying hard to keep perspective. It was just Laura, after all, and up to this point, the little glimpses of what she could do were impressive but brief. As he witnessed her powers on a larger scale, it was a lot easier to see her as Superman’s little girl and get a little bit overwhelmed. But in keeping a dialogue with her, joking with her, teasing her, he reminded himself that she wasn’t some fantasy character, larger than life, that she was first and foremost who she had always been, just with extra talents.
“This is rice wine from Japan,” she said, holding up the bottle. “A type of sake. That’s what this says. ” she said, pointing to the symbols on the bottle. “I even have a receipt, proving its origin.” She held up a small paper with unintelligible writing and gave a triumphant smile.
Matt put down the guitar. “I’m…impressed,” he said, wishing he could think of a more adequate word. After a second, something occurred to him. “Wait, you know Japanese?”
She shrugged. “I know enough to be passable. If you’re going to travel, you better know the language.”
“Another secret talent.” He gave a half smile and moved to stand. “Let me get some glasses.”
“No,” Laura said, quickly moving next to him and putting a hand on his chest. He sat back down, and she sat next to him, not too close, placing the bottle on the coffee table in front of them. “I think we need to talk, and we should probably both have clear heads when we do.”
He sighed and nodded. For a moment they just looked at each other, then they both turned their gazes to the floor, fidgeting slightly, neither particularly willing to say the first scary words.
“Hold on,” Matt said, quickly standing and closing the windows that he had left open for her. While he was fine with his music drifting out to the listening ears of everyone within a certain radius of his apartment, they certainly didn’t want the neighbors hearing this part of their conversation. The act of moving seemed to get his blood flowing and clear up the mental block that had come over him a few moments earlier. Instead of sitting back on the couch, he decided to remain standing, peripherally aware of how it changed the dynamic. “This is the part where you point out to me in the most direct way possible that you do, in fact, have superpowers. Am I right?”
“Yeah. We seem to dance around the emotional conversations all the time, like we’re afraid to confront things head on.” He nodded in agreement, though it wasn’t fear that was driving that bus, at least not on his end. Life was too short to spend analyzing the meaning behind everything, getting worked up over what may or may not be. He didn’t like to confront the deeper emotions because he preferred to just enjoy the ride, but sometimes it couldn’t be helped. “This isn’t something I want to talk about in coded conversations or allusions. Doesn’t all this…intimidate you?” Laura asked, gesturing toward her outfit.
Matt gave a rueful laugh. “You were intimidating enough to me the first time I saw you, without knowing about any of that. You were so far out of my league, if felt like climbing Mt. Everest just to go talk to you.”
Laura scoffed. “What does that even mean, out of your league?”
She honestly had no idea, he realized. All that she was, how she affected other people, even without anyone knowing all the other remarkable things she could do. She was truly extraordinary, worthy of attention from much better men than him, and he had to make her understand that. “It means that you are the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen, and it’s not even close. It means that you are so confident and smart and accomplished…you’re the whole package. You light up any room you walk into, you elevate any conversation you’re in. You care about what happens to the people in your life and you do what you can to make sure that they are always at their best. You can tell a joke with the best of them, and you use that humor to take away the pain when the bad times come. Because of all this, you could have anyone you want, and I do mean anyone.” A sweet, almost sad smile spread across her face, and his voice lowered. “I’m just some skinny nerd who happens to be lucky enough to know you. Girls don’t give me a second look, and nobody’s ever going to accuse me of being the most dynamic person around. I’m not particularly talented at anything, really, and there is nothing about me that stands out above anyone else around here. Why would you want me? What could you possibly see in me that you couldn’t find in any number of other men out there who have other, better, qualities that I just don’t?”
Laura scooted forward, her eyes soft, comforting. “Give yourself some credit,” she said gently. “When I first got to campus, I thought you were the smartest guy around, and even as I got pretty smart myself, I still considered you the one person with all the answers to any question I might have, be it about the school or politics or entertainment. You’re thoughtful, you’re compassionate, you make me laugh and most importantly, you’re my friend. I can talk to you about anything and you won’t judge. You’re not some shlub with bad habits and no future prospects, who my parents are going to disapprove of. You have a talent for whatever you do, be it music or writing or other academic pursuits. I know that you don’t believe that, but it’s true. And as for looks, well...maybe I have a thing for skinny nerds.” They smiled at each other for a few moments, then she looked down at her feet again. “As for me, well, I’m a giant mess of insecurities. I’ve talked myself out of dating for years because I was afraid that whoever I gave my heart to would hate me once they found out about everything. That they would feel threatened by what I can do.”
Matt took a couple steps toward her, then reached out and cupped her chin in his hand, drawing it up so that she was looking at him. “I could never hate you for what you can do. These powers, your special talents, they’re a part of what makes you who you are, who you always have been. The way I see it, you’re no different now than you were two days ago, before I knew about all of it. You’re just more complete, I guess, and the sum of the parts makes for an incredible whole.”
“Yeah?” she asked, a tear welling up in the corner of her eye.
He removed his hand from her chin and sat down next to her. “I admit that it’s a lot to take in. But given everything else I mentioned, threatening or intimidating are not words that I would use for your talents,” he said with a grin. “If fact, I think they’re pretty cool. The fantasy date…it’s back on the table.”
She gave an outrush of breath and her most charming smile. “I suppose it is, if you’re good. But you understand that it won’t be just a fantasy, right? You strip away the exotic location and gourmet food and it will just be you and me?”
“I understand,” he said, remembering what she had said the other day about how superheroes were reality, their lives far from fantasy. What she had really meant was that there were people underneath those costumes, and once the crises were over and the costumes came off, they had lives to live, in the same world that everyone else inhabited. That they were just people, not really much different than anyone else, with real problems, real feelings, and real experiences. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted, to be with you, wherever that may be.”
Her eyes showed genuine affection, though she appeared to be trying to not let her feelings get the better of her. “Okay then. But maybe we start out smaller. Semi-formal date? Next weekend?”
He had to hold back letting out a shout of joy as he realized what she was saying. It was acceptance, affirmation that she wanted this just as much as he did. He had wondered if she would ever really feel that way, and after the revelation the day before, he worried she would stay away out of fear or embarrassment. But it ended up drawing them closer together, leading to the discussion that might never had happened otherwise. Without any more thought, he leaned in and kissed her, and this time, in addition to the passion that their first kiss held, there was something else, something that spoke of a new understanding. There were no secrets between them, no insecurities, no reason to hold back, and the result was spectacular. He could get lost in a kiss like that, and he was pretty sure that they did, at least for a while. And this time when they pulled apart, there was unquestionably the promise of more to come, hopefully very soon.
“So what’s the semi-formal date?” he asked after a moment. She sat up and looked at him thoughtfully.
“You know, nice clothes but not a suit. Maybe a dress for me, but not a super expensive dress.”
“Not spandex – that’s kinky date territory,” he said, and had to laugh at her expression, which was half scandalized and half sly. She narrowed her eyes and pointed at him, then smiled in a way that made him appreciate her even more.
“Doubly kinky,” she said in a sultry voice, “If you’re also in spandex. That could also be called a working date – not in THAT way, get your mind out of the gutter – with rooftop views, a little action, maybe a visit to see Gotham’s finest. We could do dinner in a nice, damp, cave with some interesting artifacts. And it can all be arranged, if you’re up for it.”
“Actually,” he said, ducking his head. “I think I already had that date last night with your brothers. No dinner was served, but we did finish a pack of cookies.” She looked surprised, so he told her all about his adventures from the previous evening. Just a look in her eyes told him that she was plotting revenge, but he suggested that it might be a lot more fun if she joined them next time, assuming there was a next time.
“The fact that you decided that you still wanted to enter into a relationship with me after meeting them tells me that you’re braver than I thought,” Laura said with a twinkle in her eye. “CJ…Sam, by himself, is bad enough. You put the two of them together and you have the dictionary definition of the word incorrigible.” She pointed to his bookcase, which contained a sizable dictionary. “Go ahead, open it up, I dare you. Their pictures will be in there.”
“I had a good time,” Matt said. “They made me feel welcome. Plus they allowed me a little perspective about all this,” he said, gesturing toward her suit. “I mean, when you spend the night chumming around with costumed superheroes atop a skyscraper, it’s hard to got too flustered the next time you’re faced with someone in spandex.”
“You’re saying I should thank them?” she asked, incredulous.
“All I’m saying is that maybe we should all hang out sometime. It would be fun.”
“Getting Jon out of the house isn’t that easy these days,” Laura muttered. “I’m actually kind of impressed that you guys were able to get together.”
“So have him bring the family, too,” Matt said, but Laura shook her head. She seemed like she was going to say something, but then took a deep breath and smiled.
“So our double kinky date, let’s put the kaibash on that for the time being. The lonely skyscraper scene has lost some of its allure now, for whatever reason. How about I let you choose our semi-formal date setting?”
“Okay. What about a movie? I’ve been wanting to see the new Superman one once that opens.”
She put her head back and sighed. “Uhhhhgh. I think I would rather be buried alive.” She turned toward him, and judging from her expression, he was pretty sure she was serious. “I read the manuscript, you know. Back when they were developing the movie, Dad brought it home from the Foundation and we all got a good laugh out of it. He thought the Fortress of Solitude thing was genius, I saw it more as a load of crap. It was absurd enough that of course everyone would believe Superman lived there, and it was iconic enough that it’s now become part of the lore and taken as truth.” She gestured at him. “I bet you believed it, right?”
He shrugged. “Maybe, but what else was I supposed to think? The truth is so simple as to be almost unbelievable, and for most people it would take a stretch of logic or a complete reexamination of their beliefs to get there. You can’t fault people for believing what they’ve been told. I mean, I’ve been to your house. So no, I know the truth now.” He put his hand on her knee and gave her his most charming smile. “I was actually kinda thinking that the movie would be fun. Get a laugh at the absurdity of it all…you could whisper secret truths into my ear.”
She looked conflicted, but after a moment she seemed to acquiesce. “Well, Sam thought it was a scream… but he would find the humor in a slasher flick, so…”
“I need to watch some movies with him,” Matt muttered thoughtfully.
“I’m sure you’ll get your chance. Anyway,” she said, putting her hand on his. “I think your time is better spent with me.” With that, she regarded the bottle of wine she had picked up from Japan, “I think it’s time we opened this up,” she said, taking it off the table and turning it over in her hands. He reached for his guitar and started strumming a few chords, intending to play another song for her. “It says serve cold, so….” She puckered her lips and blew, sending a shot of freezing air toward the bottle, bathing it in frost. With a satisfied grin, she set the bottle down again and stood.
“So, when should I expect you to hit it big time with your act?” she asked, pointing to his guitar.
“Oh no, that’s not happening. Only you and my neighbors know about my awesome talents, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.” he said with a self-effacing grin. “It really is just something that I do for myself. I tried the garage band thing in high school, but…that didn’t work out. Some things were said by people I thought were my friends, and so when I got out here, I kept it to myself. And I honestly didn’t think I’d have an audience tonight.” He kept strumming, getting ready to start singing, as Laura walked toward his kitchen to fetch some glasses. As he watched, though, her figure became a blur for a second, then she was wearing her normal clothes, not missing a stride as she continued toward the kitchen.
He immediately stilled his hands. “Wait a second,” he said, which stopped her motion. “Did you just take your clothes off in my living room?”
Her smile became sly. “Maybe.”
“You were naked in my apartment,” he said teasingly, which only increased her grin.
“What, you think I go commando? I wasn’t naked.”
“Then you were MOSTLY naked in my apartment,” he said, and she just smiled at him, then continued toward the kitchen, quickly grabbing a couple of glasses. She shouldn’t know where they were, but, he realized, she could probably look right into the cabinets and find what she was looking for in a fraction of a second. Must be nice, he thought, then poised his hands over the guitar again. “Okay, I’m going to give this a try. I’ve never played this before, but…”
He started playing again, the song instantly recognizable. He played the opening chords and sang the first verse of, “Let’s Get It On,” trying to channel his inner Marvin Gaye, but missing quite a few chords along the way.
Laura arched an eyebrow at him. “Smooth,” she said, keeping her face straight for a few moments before finally breaking down into a fit of laughter after another missed chord. She set the glasses down on the table in front of him and joined him on the couch again, still laughing.
He stopped playing after getting through the chorus the first time, since he really didn’t know any more of the song. Smiling, he looked at her. “My sexy voice doing anything for you?” he asked, still in character.
“You are just an adorable, dorky teddy bear,” she said with a laugh.
“Thanks?” he said, earning a kiss from her. When they pulled apart, she leaned into him, then sat up, opened the wine, and poured it out. “It works for you, though,” she said. From that point on they chatted like the old friends that they were, only there was something new now, a relaxed manner about Laura that had never been there before. Now that he was able to witness it, Matt couldn’t help but realize in retrospect how guarded she had been in the past, even when he thought she had been comfortable and honest with him. Seeing her this way, hearing her voice when she talked, knowing that she didn’t have to hold anything back, made her seem that much more vibrant, and that much more beautiful, if it was possible. And now the stories that she told, the things that she said, didn’t have that cryptic quality to them, and all the odd little things that she had let slip over the years made perfect sense. So he took the opportunity to question her about those, to try and get the whole picture of who Laura Kent and her family were.
“Cheating while cooking?” he asked.
“Heat vision, obviously,” she said. “Why cook a roast for 2 hours when you can zap it for 20 seconds?”
“Bet it doesn’t taste the same,” he said, pondering what that would be like.
“Well, we have our hits and misses. I think mostly we try to do it the right way, but if time gets short, it’s handy for getting the pink out of the middle. Which, might I add, I can see without needing to poke a meat thermometer in. Our roasts always end up very juicy.”
“Handy,” Matt said with an appreciative nod. “Okay, this one I’m really interested in. You said the other day that you met the Flash.”
“Ohhh I did say that, didn’t I?” she said, looking slightly embarrassed. She took a few seconds to collect her thoughts, then started. “So, every summer our family packed up the car and took a road trip to see my grandparents in Kansas.”
“Couldn’t you just fly? I mean, road trips are notorious for, shall we say, interesting family moments.”
“The thing is, none of us knew about Dad being Superman until we reached that magic age, around 14 or so, and started developing our own powers. And even when my brothers found out they didn’t tell me. So throughout my childhood we played the normal family, packed up the car, and suffered through several days on the road. And our car trips had their own share of interesting moments.” Matt briefly thought about asking her to elaborate, but he was too interested in hearing where this story went, and anyway he was pretty sure he would have plenty of time to hear more in the future.
“Central City is more or less on the way out to Smallville, so we would stop there every time we went that way, ostensibly to meet up with an old colleague of my folks, and of course to get some of their famous barbeque. Flash’s wife is a journalist, see, so they could play that card and none of us would be any the wiser, not that we cared that much anyway. Sometimes when we stopped by, his nephew Wally was there-“
“Wally? There’s a name.”
“Yeah I think I’d have taken on a secret identity as a kid if I had that name, too,” Laura said with a slight laugh. “Because I was the youngest, he was usually pawned off on me, and he was very much the attention hound. He also thought he was God’s gift to the ladies, like I was supposed to be impressed with him or something. But, see I didn’t know back then that he was Kid Flash, or that Dad’s buddy Barry was Flash, or any of that.”
“Would it have made any difference if you did? I mean, would you have thought, hey, it’s Kid Flash, he must be pretty cool?”
Laura smiled that playful smile of hers. “An annoying twerp who can run fast is still an annoying twerp. Anyway, my point is that the first several times I met Flash and Kid Flash, I met their real selves, and they really aren’t people that you would pick out in a crowd. Barry is a nice enough guy, a little bland, and he always, and I do mean always, brought potato salad to every potluck I’d ever seen him at. And I’m not talking about German potato salad or that really nice stuff you get at a good deli. I mean the Betty Crocker recipe that you find at every church potluck across the Midwest.”
“Hey, I can make that stuff.” At that, Laura made a face that revealed her true thoughts on potato salad, and Matt decided that maybe he wouldn’t be making that for her anytime soon. “Heroes are normal people who sometimes have bad taste in side dishes. I get that, really I do. And you believe that your family is nothing special, too.”
“Also with bad taste in potluck food sometimes. My mom makes this jello salad that I’m pretty sure has been declared a crime against humanity if fed to someone unsuspecting. Though I think that applies to most of Mom’s cooking….”
Matt laughed lightly. Even the new Laura said things that he wasn’t quite sure how to take, he supposed. She smiled at her joke, and for a moment Matt got lost in that smile and forgot the point he was going to make. But soon enough his mind kicked back into gear. “I wonder, though, if you understand what heroes like Flash and Superman and Batman mean to everyone else out there who doesn’t hold your unique perspective. Heroism isn’t just about being able to do extraordinary things, it’s about being an example to others and making a difference in the world. I know that you see the ordinariness in people and use it to dismiss them as something less than the perfect heroes that the world sees. But when I see their ordinariness it just makes me respect them more, because I know just what it is that they are sacrificing to do what they do. They sacrifice time with friends and loving family, time that could be spent earning a living, and they potentially sacrifice their very identities, their lives, if the wrong person were to find out about them. It takes a special kind of person to do that.” He brought his hand up to her face, stroking her cheek. “Someone like you.”
She closed her eyes and turned away from him, out of his soft touch. “You assume I’m going to follow in the footsteps of my Dad and my brothers. I wish I could say that I will, but I can’t.” Matt dropped his hand and regarded her curiously, though he didn’t interrupt. He had a hard time believing what she was saying, and he suspected that she did, too. She seemed introspective for a long moment, then began to speak again, quietly but intently. “My hearing - I can’t turn it off, you know. The sounds of the city, they are everywhere, all the time. Sounds of crime and violence, screams and laughter, joy and pain. I HEAR it, day in and day out, good times and bad. Yet I sit and do my homework, go to lectures, write articles for the paper and hang out with friends. I ignore it all, because I have to. There aren’t enough hours in the day, even for someone who can move as fast as I can, to fix all the problems in the world, get an education, and be myself, so I have to choose. I tell myself it’s for the best, that my life is first and foremost mine, that I won’t be able to have any kind of future without an education and that life would be awfully hollow without friends and family. And anyway, I’m probably not ready to see all that’s out there waiting for me, the gruesome crime scenes, the death and whatever other terrible things. Jon didn’t go out until he was basically done with college, CJ did the sidekick thing at my age, but didn’t become Batman until after that plane crash. Dad was several years out of college before Superman was created, so there’s no hurry for me, not now.
“But the time will come, after I’ve established my life, when those excuses for inaction will go away, and it will be my turn to take up the family business. And I would be lying if I said that it didn’t scare me, because I’ve seen what comes with it. Fame, groupies, expectations. I saw my brother on the cover of one of those Teen Beat – type magazines before I even knew it was him in the spandex. All my girlfriends had a crush on him. You know how weird that was for me when I found out?”
“It was probably twice as weird for him,” Matt said with a small smile.
Laura bobbed her head in agreement, and sighed. “I see the press critiquing him and my Dad, talking about what they do and how they act, analyzing what they wear, trying to figure out our family dynamic. At some point they also start to ask why – why don’t they help everyone? Why do they go to this disaster and not that one, why did this person have to die while someone else was saved? Who is worthy of their time, and what could possibly be so important that it keeps them away from all these terrible things going on in the world? Guilt seeps in around your conscience, and what started as something that you did out of the goodness of your heart, because of some naive sense of hope and optimism, becomes an obligation. Something that’s expected of you.
“All the powers, all the things I can do, can be absolutely exhilarating. How it feels to fly, to really let loose the speed, to put all my strength into something – lifting a cruise ship, say – just makes you feel alive. It’s joyous, it’s wonderful. The day that becomes an obligation, the day that the sacrifices I make in my life to help others becomes compulsion is the day I don’t want to do it anymore.”
Matt snaked his arm around her shoulder and gathered her in to a protective hug. “I don’t believe that you would turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. You’re too good of a person for that. I also don’t believe that you would ever care about what some anonymous journalists or busybodies who don’t know you and have never met you say. You’re Laura Kent, for goodness sakes! You routinely make fun of people who put too much stock in the opinions of others – why would you ever fall into that trap?” She smiled crookedly, and Matt could tell that he was hitting a nerve. “The Laura I know would go out there and give those people something to talk about. Wear outrageous outfits, maybe, or do things with your hair. Save someone while singing a Taylor Swift song, I don’t know.” She was laughing lightly now. “You would make it fun, because as long as you love what you’re doing, it can never be an obligation.”
“I never thought of it that way, I guess,” she said, thoughtful. “I could do stuff like that and still be ethical, professional, but in a fun kind of way.”
“You get to control the conversation,” Matt said. “And make the professionally offended squirm. It’s a win-win.”
She looked at him with a new respect, her expression reflecting what he liked to interpret as burning desire, though it could just be wishful thinking on his part. She reached a hand over and started absently playing with his shirt, causing a wave of warmth to wash over his body. “So, uh, when I become famous, it sure would be nice to not have to do it alone. You sure you don’t want to take your act to the big leagues?”
“Yes I’m sure. I do passable covers of other people’s songs. That’s hardly the road to stardom.” He picked up the guitar again, and he saw her pout slightly as he started to pick at the strings. “But I’d be willing to give you a private concert.”
She put her chin on his shoulder and wrapped an arm around him. “Opening at the Gotham Forum, Matt Owens and his much more creatively talented band. Has a nice ring, huh?”
He laughed. “Yeah, no,” he said, then started singing. His song of choice this time was the acoustic version of Eric Clapton’s “Layla,” only he replaced “Layla” with “Laura.” She seemed a little embarrassed at that, but at the same time she also appeared to be drinking in the attention. After the song wrapped up, he put the guitar away once and for all, and they just enjoyed each other’s company until it was late enough that he wondered if they would be able to watch the sunrise together. In the end, Laura decided it was best to leave while they could still get some meaningful sleep, and she kissed him before promising to stop by the next weekend for a real, honest-to-goodness date. And he couldn’t wait.
