I am his biggest fan.
I have his two posters from the Angry Emerald series hanging up in my room. I have pictures of him from when he started in the Rogue Isles on the other Earth, and later in Paragon City. Finding those pictures was hard. He never wore spandex. He always wore a biker jacket and jeans. They say he killed people, but only bad guys.
He was tough. When I heard he was actually retired and flipping burgers at a local pub, I couldn’t believe it. The Knight of the Road, one of the greatest anti-heroes of all time, flipping burgers?
I knew that a Knight of the Road was a euphemism for a bandit. But he didn’t steal anything from anyone, he did the job that had to be done. He hurt the bad guys.
So when Primus ran the contest, that one-in-a-million contest that said you could spend one night with any hero of your choosing, I entered. And I put down Knight of the Road.
I won.
What would I wear? What dress? Heels? Or boots? Where would we go? What would we do afterward? Would he kiss me? I heard he was married. Maybe he wouldn’t kiss me.
My friends said I should have picked Defender or one of the other famous heroes, not this minor league guy. But he was registered with Primus, so he had to go, right? Two days after the contest winner was announced, Primus notified me that Knight of the Road was not one of their members anymore. They offered Angry Emerald instead.
I was devastated. How could that be? He was a hero, right? After a day of crying, I took their offer, and his people called me to set up an evening date for a week later.
I did get dressed up, but not as much as I would have liked to. I wore a simple dress and boots, a peasant’s top, and a minimum amount of makeup. Who did I have to impress, anyway?
I went to the fancy restaurant, and saw the paparazzi was there, taking pictures of all the different celebrities. I heard the rumble of a bike. I turned, and saw Angry Emerald ride up on the back of a monstrous Harley, with…Oh, my God, it was The Knight of the Road! Lights flashed taking both of their pictures as they dismounted, and I only had eyes for Knight.
He was tall, broad, and his long blond hair was cast back from his face. Angry Emerald was in green, as usual, and waved to the paparazzi as if he was born to it. Knight hunkered down as if the lights themselves bothered him. Angry Emerald saw me just inside the door. “You’re Miss Harper?”
“Y…yes,” I said, and saw the Knight was right behind Angry Emerald. I looked up and up at him, into smoky gray eyes. The posters didn’t do that justice.
“I’m sure you know Knight of the Road,” Angry Emerald said, and stepped aside. Knight stepped forward, holding out his hand to me. I went to shake, but he turned my hand and kissed the air above my knuckles. I shivered, but felt all warm inside.
“A pleasure,” he said, a deep, rumbling bass that I could listen to all night. “I heard that you wanna have dinner wi’, me,” he said, glancing at Angry Emerald. “I’d be honored.”
I looked for a moment at Angry Emerald. “But–”
He waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll just go to the bar. You two have fun tonight. Pick me up when you leave.”
Angry Emerald went to the maitre’d, and told him that we were going to take his table. “Send me the bill,” Angry Emerald said, and waved goodbye as he went to the bar.
Knight held the chair open for me when I sat down. “Can I get you a wine?”
“Some’in’ sweet,” said Knight.
“We have a nice light Reisling. Would you like a bottle?”
Knight looked at me. “Would y’ help drink ‘t?”
I nodded. I’d do anything the man asked.
When the waiter left, Knight smiled at me and picked up the menu. “Anythin’ you wan’,” he said, “Scott’s got’t covered.”
He ordered calamari to start. I noticed he was trying to intentionally be neat, use the right fork, sip the wine instead of gulping it down.
“Where you from?”
“Old Detroit,” I said, sipping the wine.
“Y’ don’ look old enough t’ be here for th’ war,” he said.
“No,” I laughed, “My parents had me about a year later.”
“What d’you do?”
“I take applications for the housing authority and research them.”
“Like their incomes an’ shit? Sorry.”
I laughed. I never knew he swore, and hearing him swear brought him down to human, which relaxed me even more. “Yes, like that,” I said, smiling and sipping the wine. It was really good.
He told me he worked at O’Keefe’s, that I should come by and have dinner with him there sometime. “It ain’ as fancy as this.”
“It’s like O’Malley’s,” I said, “except it’s real Irish food.”
He chuckled, “Damn straight it is.”
We talked more, and drank more wine. Had the calamari and I ordered chicken parm while he ordered swordfish. He told me about the things he had done in the Isles to help people, and then in Paragon. I asked after his husband. He brightened up, and I could tell he was absolutely in love with the man.
I wasn’t going to get a kiss.
We had an after-dinner wine, and the place started to fill up with people. I was starting to get antsy, and I noticed he was as well. It had been a good time; he was kind, generous, and his stories were funny.
“I’d better get Scott an’ head out,” he said, and got up. I got up too, and he dashed to my side of the table to hold open the chair for me. He put his arm around me, a comforting gesture that made me shiver like I did before.
He guided me toward the bar, and Scott was drinking what looked like either a Long Island Iced Tea or a Coke. “Have fun, you two?”
Knight smiled. “Hope y’ weren’t bored.”
“No,” he said, and got up. “Bill’s settled, so we can go.” He turned to me. “It was very nice meeting you. We had a wonderful time.”
I laughed. Knight hadn’t let me go yet. In fact, he escorted me out, back to the paparazzi, where they took pictures of the two of us, his arm still around my shoulders. “Will your husband be mad?” I said to him.
“Nah,” Knight said, and the valet took his ticket and mine. I liked having his arm around my shoulders. He was so big, strong, and comforting.
Then came my car first, a beat up rustbucket compared to some of the other vehicles here. I stepped out from under his arm. “That’s my car.”
Scott slipped the valet some money and the valet waited patiently for me at the car. Knight turned me gently to face him, and I was looking at those beautiful gray eyes of his. “Hope t’ see you again,” he said.
He did kiss me, tasting of wine. It was a teaser. I wanted to melt. I thought I was melting. And it lasted forever.
He let me go, and turned me to my car. In a daze, I walked over to it, as his bike showed up moments later. I turned to look at him and got in the car, watching him and Scott mount the bike. I pulled out into the driveway with them right behind me.
I took a right. They took a left and were gone.
742. Your favorite wrestling super star has selected you in a contest to go out with him to a club and hang out for the entire night. How does the night go? What are all the crazy weird things he tells you about his life?
Cohen, Bryan (2010-09-23). 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More (p. 86). . Kindle Edition.