Ever since I was young, I was always the kid late to everything. It never really mattered what the situation was, whether it was showing up to school on time, figuring a concept in math, finding out girls aren’t the monsters we make them out to be, I was just always late. It was kind of annoying, but I sort of just accepted that part of my life. Like think about it, with the showing up on time thing I can go early, but understanding things foreign to me takes awhile. Anyways, It was 5 o’clock Saturday afternoon, and I was rushing to get ready to meet Johnny outside. Johnny is my best friend, he and I bonded over our love for comics after I was kicked to the curb by Rosemary in middle school. He’s the one who got his car first, so whenever we hang out he always insists on being the one to pick me up. Right as I’m about to leave, I grab my things and start heading out the door, but then I’m stopped by my Mom’s yelling.

“Mason honey! Do you think you can babysit Roland for me tonight? Jaq cancelled on me.”

“I can’t Mom. I already made plans with Johnny to go to the book signing,” I yell back.

“Oh that’s right! Shoot! Can’t you cancel on Johnny?? You know you’re Roland’s favorite!”

“Mommmmm.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll just ask Marilyn if she can.”

“Thank you, I'll see you later.”

Tonight is Mom’s busiest night of the year. It was the Crescent Hill Committee's annual school fundraiser. Every year it was a themed dinner of some sort and all these adults gather together with their spouses to bid on random things, so she can’t really have Roland running around. The reason why Rose and I were always together was partly because both our moms are on the same part of the committee that takes care of all the events. Whenever they had an event, we would be put together and babysat at the same time. Roland or Ro as I like to call him, is my four year old brother. Between he and I, we’re thirteen years apart, but still very close. My Mom had me when she was really young and still with my Dad, right out high school, making the gap between my Mom and I pretty close as well. Except when my Dad left, she got remarried to Phil whom she met through work, and together they had Roland.

I finally get out of the house, and Johnny is already there waiting for me. He honks his horn as he yells at me to hurry up. “Let’s go! Come on!” I walk towards the car door, and get in. Johnny starts the engine and we start driving towards town. Today was the day he and I were going to meet our favorite comic artists, Joseph Springer, who specializes in webtoons about a boy named Lewis who goes on these crazy adventures trying to recover his memories stolen by this bad guy named Max. His drawings our amazing, it’s like a mashup of Tin Tin and Marvel comics. Johnny and I have been waiting months for his newest release and the fact that he’s coming to one of our local bookstores for signings is the dream.

When we arrive to Stan’s bookshop and the line for Joseph Springer is massive. It’s so long that the end goes around the end of the block. People of all ages stand around, eager to meet their favorite author. Emo looking kids, Adults, Moms with their kids, Dorky nerds, the diversity of Joseph Springer’s fan base is incredible.

“This is going to take forever,” Johnny complains.

“Who cares? At least we’ll get to meet the guy.”

“This better go by fast. You know how impatient I am.”

After two hours we only managed to get to the halfway point of the line. I’ve never actually been to a book signing, but man, it’s like camping out in the street. I totally should’ve brought an arm chair or something. Snacks? All of sudden, people in the front turn around and start retracting. Confused, Johnny and I stay in the line and keep moving forward to see what’s happening as they leave. Thinking they were tired of waiting, I was excited, but then Stan with a solemn look on his face comes out.

“I’m sorry everyone. Unfortunately Joseph has to leave due to an unknown event he’s scheduled for. I know you all wanted to see him and have been waiting for forever, but there’s nothing I can do about it. He does have signed copies of his newest installment if you would still like them, so feel free to ask.”

I look over at Johnny, and his tired face morphs into a face of frustration.

“What the hell! We waited so long and we don’t even get to see him!”

“This is such shit.”

“I’m so pissed.”

“What do we do now? We just leave?!”

“I guess.”

All of sudden he walks up to Stan, and yells. “Stan! What the heck! You couldn’t make him stay! We waited so long!”

“I’m sorry boys, I know how much you wanted to meet him. If I could’ve done something to make him stay, I would’ve. But there was nothing I could do.”

“It’s fine. At least you got free signed copies,” I say.

He gives me a pat on the shoulder and walks away.