Courtship

Roger was painfully aware that he lacked style, money, and charisma, but Stella had said yes to dinner anyway (even when he’d clarified that he meant it as a date). “Still yes,” she’d said with a smile, and he’d never seen a prettier one. As he reflected, some flaming pile of shit-for-brains just about forced them off of the road to cut in; Stella screamed. “Now, don’t you worry,” Roger said, speeding up to be right behind the guy. “No lady of mine needs to be afraid.” He pushed the button next to the Start and two forklift prongs shot out from underneath and buried themselves into the car’s frame (earning the driver’s full attention). Hitting the button again, there was a brief grinding noise and a jolt, but the car was tossed from the road like it had been shot from a catapult. The prongs receded as they drove on; Stella craned her neck back to see where the car had ended up. “I’m going to fix that jolt; it’s a work in progress. Used to have a terrible reverb, but that’s all gone.” Stella was wearing that smile and a bit of a happy blush. “So far, I like that you brought your A game,” she’d whispered, and Roger felt like a million bucks after that.