'We should go to the cosplay convention!!' Brad suggested to the group, almost bursting with excitement.
'What the fuck would I do at a cosplay convention?' Jane laughed, rolling her eyes at him.
'Well the obvious thing would be to cos-play, it would be awesome,' Brad replied, trying not to let her dampen his enthusiasm.
'Oh yeah, that would be fabulous,' Nikki laughed. 'We could dress up and mingle with geeks, gamers and all the other losers in the world.'
'Oh come on you've never even been! It’s not as bad as that,' Brad sighed.
'Yeah, lets face it, where else can a guy find 47 bikini-clad Princess Leia's?' John chimed in.
'Trust you to think of that,' Jane teased him.
Brad grabbed his iPad and Googled some cosplay images.
‘Look Nikki, tell me you wouldn’t be into this.’
'Damn, that guy is actually hot! This might not be as bad as I first thought,' Nikki said, sitting up straight on the couch.
'Oh God, here we go, Nikki's about to turn something completely geek into something dirty and fucked up,' Jane warned the guys.
'Oh come on, I'm not that bad!' Nikki protested.
'Let's face it Nikki, you really are,' John replied.
'Oh and you're complaining are you?' she said accusingly.
'Hell no, you know there's nothing that I love more than the fact that you are a complete and utter sex freak,' he laughed. 'You're the only chick I know that is open about what and who she does and then brags about it like a dude.'
'Yeah, and don't you just wish you were a recipient?' Jane teased him.
'Hey I'm happy with being a friend, I know that going for Nikki would be batting waaaaaaay outta my league,' John conceded.
'Hang on, does this mean we're going to the cosplay convention or not?' Brad asked.
'Well I 'm up for it, but it depends on whether Jane is willing to play my game or not.'
'Oh no, count me out,' Jane replied, already scared about what idea Nikki could be baking in her crazy brain.
'Oh come on, you haven't even heard what it is yet,' Nikki complained.
'I know, but you're a sex crazed maniac and I there's no way I will want to or be able to compete with you in whatever you come up with.'
'What a party pooper,' John laughed.
‘Hey, are you going to play her game?' Jane asked him.
‘Sure, I'll play. There's a damn good chance that I won't win whatever crazy-arse game she comes up with but I'll give it a go. Tell us what it is Nikki.'
‘Cosplay Bingo!' Nikki answered with a grin, as if that would explain everything that they needed to know.
'Excuse my ignorance, but what on earth is that?' Brad asked her.
'It's simple, before we go, we draw up a bingo card with comic characters ... you know, Batman, Spiderman, The Hulk and then when we're there, everyone has to try and have a sexual encounter with that character. The first person to mark off all their characters wins.'
'You don't see any flaws?' john laughed.
‘Nope.'
‘Not even like the fact that if you put Batman on my card there is no fucking way on God's green earth that I am going to look for a sexual encounter with him!'
'Oh,' Nikki laughed. 'Well I'm sure you comic nerds can come up with some female characters or some way to make it work. You can have girls and Jane and I can have boys and girls. '
'I think I'd rather watch you fill your card than play,' John laughed.
'Anyway, even if no one knows who I am and even if I wanted to play, I wouldn't even get the first square filled in. Of course, I'm going anyway, so it doesn't really worry me,' Brad informed them.
'And I just don't want to 'encounter' a dozen different geeks in that way!' Jane said adamantly.
‘You know you will Jane. She'll talk you into it, you may as well just say you'll play and accept the fact,' Brad laughed at his sister.
'Shut up Brad,' Jane said, her voice betraying her exasperation. The worst thing was that she knew that he was right. Nikki had a way of talking her into doing the most ridiculous things. She was sure that one day she was going to end up on the national news, or some dodgy website as a result. Nudie runs was the least of what she'd been talked into, especially once they started having a few vodkas together.
'I tell you what, why don't we let Brad and John draw up the cards and the rules and then we'll see,' Nikki suggested, the twinkle in her eye letting Jane know that she was in exactly as much trouble as she suspected.
'Fine, but there's one more thing I need to know.'
'Oh?' Nikki asked.
'Yeah, the stakes. What does the winner get?'
‘I have no idea, I only thought of the game a minute ago,' Nikki laughed.
'Well given that you're clearly going to win, what's the point of even worrying?' Brad laughed.
He knew that the only reason that he and John even moved in the same sort of orbit, let alone social circle as Nikki was because of his sister. Jane had always been the popular athletic one and he the nerd; computer games, role-playing games (not the sort Nikki had thought of!) sci-fi, fantasy, books and chess. The list of his nerdy pursuits was long. There was no way that Nikki would have ever known who he was if not for Jane.
Jane had befriended her through their participation in athletics together and over time, Brad had managed to get to know her through her frequent visits to their house. Jane had explained to him at some point that Nikki enjoyed his company because he never seemed to put any pressure on her for a date. She claimed he didn't drool or fuss over her like so many of the other boys at school and she could actually relax.
Every time that Brad thought of it he would blush. He could have fathered a small nation with the amount of sperm that he'd pumped down the drain thinking about his sister's friend. He was forever worried that she would find out the truth; that he idolised her like every other guy that they'd gone to school with.
John was his 'partner-in-crime'. They'd been best friends all through school and had set off for the same college. Jane and Nikki had ended up elsewhere but they were all back for the summer and bumming around looking for things to do. John was always happy to hang around whenever there was a chance of being with both Jane and Nikki. Brad tried not to think about what John would do alone with thoughts of his sister, but he was realistic enough to acknowledge that she was hot and that it would be unrealistic to think he didn't lust after her. After all, he'd seen the way John looked at both the girls. If Jane hadn’t been his sister, he would have looked at her in the same way. He lusted after Nikki, but as it was his sister’s friend, he hadn’t ever gone there.
'Right, well let's leave the nerds to make up the rules, I feel like going to a party. There must be someone we know having one,' Nikki stated. She picked up her phone and started Facebooking, searching for somewhere that they could have some fun.
'Hey, we like to party too you know,' John objected, wanting to try and stay close to the two girls. They only had to walk into a party with the two girls to do wonders for their credibility. Even though they were two years older and now studying across country, their hometown reputation was proving hard to shake.
'I guess we should take pity on them,' Jane suggested. ‘If this game of yours gets off the ground you know they'll end up moping about with blanks.'
'No problem at all, but they have to do their homework tomorrow if they party tonight,' Nikki laughed.
~~~~~~~
'So who do you want Nikki to hook up with?' John asked Brad.
'Er, Me,' Brad replied lamely.
'Yeah, me too, but we're not in fantasyland, remember? I mean what sort of people, characters and the like at the cosplay convention dufus.'
'Yeah I know. Um, well how about we make the list more generic than what Nikki suggested.'
'What do you have in mind?'
Brad took up a pen and paper and made a list.
