“That’s…”
“See, I was a librarian when we met. One too many books sent me into a constant dream state, if you know what I mean.”
“Nope,” I shook my head. “Not much for reading.”
Her jaw dropped in disbelief. You would have thought I’d shot her puppy by the way tears were welling in her eyes.
“That’s…so sad.”
“What can I say? I never really found something that interested me. Besides, who wants to read when you could just watch the movie?”
The gasp that flowed from her lips was almost comical, as was the matching look of horror on her face.
“The movie is never better,” she said fiercely.
“Okay,” I mocked. “Seriously, it’s not like anyone could effectively write about cars being blown up or play out a love scene the way some of these actors can.”
The woman pursed her lips, glancing away in a haughty fashion that nearly had me busting out laughing. She took this so seriously. Honestly, who cared if I preferred watching movies to reading a book?
“I just…need a minute,” she croaked out.
Geez, talk about melodrama. “Listen, not everyone?—”
“Ah!” she cut me off, still refusing to look at me. “Some of us aren’t so casual in our dismissal of great writing. I just need a minute to wrap my brain around the fact that I rescued a woman who has no imagination or appreciation for the written word.”
“Oh, come on! Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic? We’re stuck in a—” I glanced around, taking in my surroundings with a sigh. “In a concrete bunker! There are no windows, one door, and not a single thing to help us escape. And you’re worried about whether or not I like to read?”
Her eyes widened in horror at my words. “How do you think people get ideas on how to escape?”
“They use their brains.”
“And ideas from books they’ve read.”
“Or maybe they watch a lot of MacGyver.”
She snorted at that. “I’m sorry, but no episode of MacGyver could rescue us right now. What we need is a man. A well-trained military hero who will drop down from the ceiling, tear off our bonds, and have his way with me before killing every single baddie in the place.”
The dreamy look in her eyes suggested this was not the first time she’d considered this scenario. And that was both amazing and disturbing at the same time. If only I had an imagination like hers. Maybe I wouldn’t be so freaking lonely all the time. I could just think up men to come to my rescue.
On the other hand, waiting around for a man just wasn’t in me. If I wanted something done, I did it myself. That was the way I had always been, and I didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
“Well, while you dream of Superman, I’m going to work on these ropes.”
“I’m telling you, he’ll be here any minute.”
“Yeah,” I snorted. “That’s nice, but I live in the real world, and over here, men don’t drop down from the ceiling or fly in with a cape tied around their necks.”
“Don’t be silly,” she sighed. “The cape isn’t tied around his neck. That would choke him.”
“Of course,” I muttered, rubbing the ropes together. Slowly, the pieces frayed the harder I rubbed, but it would take forever at this rate. It would be easier just to untie them.
“Hey, scoot over this way.”
“Why? So you can take part in my fantasy? Not gonna happen.”
I rolled my eyes at her belligerent attitude. “No, so that we can rescue ourselves.”
“And why would I do that? Seriously, the whole point of a rescue is that the man swoops in and saves the day!”