At the Convention

David looked around and watched the people wander around the convention center. It was already late in the afternoon. Some of the tables where indie authors sold their books were really busy and had a lot of people lined up. Other tables already had their “Sold Out” sign hanging from it. David looked back at his table. He managed to sell a few copies of his newest book, but most were still there and no one was lined up. This was no surprise for David. He only brought thirty copies of his book and had expected to have to carry them all back home, so he was already happy that his load was even a few books lighter. If at least one of the people that bought a copy liked it, he would be happy. David didn’t hope for more. In his experience hope only leads to disappointment or in some cases even despair and since he already had enough of that, he had stopped hoping at all a few years ago. David sat at his table and had nothing to do, so he did what he always did in these situations and let his mind wander. Normally this was the time when he came up with new story ideas or refined those that he already had, but today was somehow different. His thoughts circled around a certain topic or rather person.

I wonder what she’s doing right now. She said she will look for me, but I doubt she’ll find me here. She’s probably in the main hall… Well, whatever… She probably only said that to be nice… It’s not like she was interested in me or something… I was just a convenient way of getting rid of those men, that were trying to hit on her… Maybe that “Friend in need” was also just an excuse to get away from me…

David sighed and noticed a slowly growing urge to pee. He looked around. There still was no one in front of his table.

Doesn’t look like I’ll miss a sale…

David placed the “Be right back” sign on his table and went to the nearest toilet. A bit later he came out relieved.

Maybe I’ll just call it a day and pack up. I won’t just start selling like crazy, so no reason to wait around and take the last train. A few new episodes came out today, so I could just watch anime in the evening…

He took out his phone and looked for the train schedules.

Forty minutes ‘till the next one arrives… If I pack up now, I should make it easily…

David was so in thought that he nearly bumped into the person that was standing in front of his table as he got back. It was a woman with reddish-brown hair in a half-up style. She was flipping through the pages of a copy of David’s book. The woman looked up and noticed him next to her. Her surprised expression quickly turned into a warm smile.

“Mister Foot Soldier! There you are! I looked all over for you in the main hall. Good thing I decided to look around here as well!”, she said happily.

“Uhm, yeah, hi…”, David responded and began to scratch his beard.

“What have you been up to? Found any interesting books?”

“No… well I wasn’t really looking, though…”

“Oh? Okay…”

“What about you?”

The woman's smile grew wider and she turned, bringing her huge bag in front of her.

“Oh, I found a few… Mostly fantasy and romantasy books. I’m a sucker for those… and I also found some interesting looking ones of the… uhm…”, she looked around and came a bit closer with a devious smile, “… spicier variation, if you catch my drift.”

“Oh, yeah I understand.”, David said with a slightly nervous expression.

“And maybe I found another one. This one here looks interesting as well…The numbers of the Abyss… Apparently, it’s about two young girls getting kidnapped by demons and getting turned into demon warriors. Sounds intriguing.”

Should I tell her now? Or…

David bit the inside of his lip in order to stop the stupid smile that threatened to betray him.

“You think so?”, he asked innocently.

“Yeah! It says on the back that there are some spicy scenes as well, so that comes as a bonus! Bummer that the author isn’t here… But they are kinda trusting in people, leaving the stall unattended. Someone could just come and take one without paying…”, the woman answered and pointed at the sign on the table.

“Maybe he doesn’t care if some get taken?”

“Why?”

“Less to carry back?”

“That may be true, but still no reason to just take a copy.”

“You could just leave the money. The price is there on the sign.”

The woman looked at where David was pointing and there really was a small sign with the price.

“Hmm… yeah, I could do that, but if you would be an author, especially a small indie one, wouldn’t you much rather see the ones buying your work, instead of just the money?”, she wondered, “Would you wait with me until the author comes back?”

David blinked at her in surprise for a moment.

“That’s… really nice of you… I think you’re right about that…”, he said after recovering, “Yeah, I’ll wait for you until he comes back.”

The woman looked at him confused.

“How do you know that the author is a man?”, she asked.

Guess it’s time to come clean…

David smiled and went past her to the other side of the table.

“Last time I checked…”, he began very pleased about her confused face, “I still was a man… or else I would have been to the wrong bathroom just now.”

“You… are the author?”, she exclaimed flabbergasted.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself an author, but… Yeah, I wrote that story.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked.”

“True, bu-“

She was interrupted by her phone ringing.

“Sorry… one moment…”, the woman said and answered her phone, “Yeah?... I’m in the Indie Seller Hall right now… What? Shit, is it so late already?... Fuck! Yeah, I’m hurrying over!”

She hung up and looked at David apologetic.

“Have to scram again?”, he asked with a faint smile.

“Yeah… My favorite BL author is having a meet and greet in a few minutes… I would love to talk to you more, especially after finding out you write! That’s so cool! But… you’re here until it the convention closes for today, right?”, she replied with a hopeful tone.

David looked at his phone, where the train schedule was still open.

“Yeah… I will be.”, he said and closed the tab.

“Great! I’ll see you then!”, she exclaimed happily and rushed off.

But after a few steps she turned around and came back.

“Here!”, she said and put a money note on the table, “That’s for your book.”

“One sec, I’ll have your change.”, David responded and took out his wallet.

“Nah, it’s fine! The rest is for the coffee earlier! Sorry again! See you later!”

She hurried off again but turned around one more time.

“I can’t wait to read your story! I bet it’s gonna be fantastic!”, the woman shouted enthusiastically and waved.

David watched her vanish into the crowd.

That woman… is she?... NO! Stop thinking about that! It’ll not end well, you know that!

David quickly tried to quell this notion running through his mind. Luckily there were suddenly people flocking to his table, which distracted him from those unwanted thoughts.

Half an hour later, David put the “Sold Out” sign on his table. He checked his phone still in disbelief.

What now? It’s still a few hours ‘till the convention closes for today… Should I wait?