Hard to Get

Nanosec never really thought that the most romantic moment in his entire life would be happening in the back of a police car. For half the drive, he felt bad about Swindle’s fate, before remembering the Swindle was one of them – them being big robots that didn’t treat him all that well, really. He then belatedly remembered that Slo-mo was in the car with him (Archer and the brat were in the other police car, thankfully). Slo-mo was looking both impatient and nervous. He felt kind of bad for her, too – she was a rookie, and she didn’t know what it was like to get tossed in jail. But a pretty thing like her, an articulate smart girl with no record… she’d probably get let off the hook in due time. Only Nanosec (and especially Archer) were in for any real hard time. At least he wasn’t old anymore…

‘You don’t think I’ll get in too much trouble… do you?’ asked Slo-mo, in that incredibly haughty way that was both terribly annoying and amazingly cute.

Nanosec did kind of want her to seek comfort from him – some sort of moral support – but he wasn’t about to make things worse by pretending she was bad off. ‘Nawh,’ he said distantly. ‘They ain’t gonna listen to the girl, and they don’t listen to Archer much either. And they probably won’t even remember who I am for a while, really. Last time they saw me I was an old fart.’ Nanosec smiled as best he could manage. ‘I’ll put in a good word for you.’

Slo-Mo didn’t look any different in expression, but she did seem to relax in some way. ‘I’ll try to put in a good word for you too,’ she said breezily. ‘I mean, it isn’t like we did too much damage. Most of it was Swindle’s fault.’

Nanosec nodded obligingly. Of course, the cops didn’t exactly know about Swindle, and the Autobots probably weren’t going to start talking. But, well, Slo-Mo would be okay. And somehow Nanosec always came out on his feet.

The two of them slipped into an uncomfortable silence.

‘Maybe I’m worse at this than I thought,’ said Slo-Mo after a few minutes.

Well… probably, but Nanosec wasn’t going to let her go on thinking she was the only one. ‘I think maybe we all are,’ he said. ‘We all got caught. Can I have your e-mail?’

The question came out so fast he didn’t even realize he’d said it for a few moments.

‘I prefer snail mail.’

Well, that wasn’t exactly a denial. ‘Can I have you cell phone number?’

‘Do they let you have cell phones in prison?’

‘No,’ admitted Nanosec. This was starting to sound more and more like it was a denial after all. ‘But you’re not going to prison, right?’

‘Right,’ said Slo-Mo. ‘Do you know how to text?’

Nanosec wasn’t sure why she thought he’dbe able to do that from prison. Or that he even had a cell phone in the first place. He tried to steal one from a electronics store but it never really worked unless you paid for a plan. ‘No.’

‘Oh.’

They both looked away uncomfortably. ‘Are you turning me down?’ asked Nanosec bluntly.

Slo-Mo cleared her throat uncomfortably before she responded. ‘I thought I was playing hard to get.’

‘Oh.’

Nanosec looked out the window for a while, and Slo-Mo looked out her window. They were both rookies right now, that was for sure. He didn’t even know what he could ask. He could ask her address, maybe, but he doubted he’d remember it and he couldn’t really write it down right now.

‘We could hold hands,’ said Slo-Mo, sounding awkward.

‘No, we can’t,’ said Nanosec. ‘They’re cuffed.’

This apparently was no deterrent. Slo-Mo scooted over and managed to angle her arms to him. He did the same, and they successfully managed to entwine two fingers together. It was cute, and he was happy, but it began to cramp up after a minute or two. He shifted, and so did she, but they kept it up. After so long, it was way more painful than cute.

‘So you will e-mail me, right?’ said Nanosec.

‘And you’ll text me?’ asked Slo-Mo back.

Nanosec nodded, and Slo-Mo gave him a kiss on the cheek – the most that could be managed without incurring the wrath of the cops.

Nanosec wasn’t sure how this was going to work since they seemed to keep having issues finding ways to get a hold of each other, but he was sure she’d turn up one day or he somehow would stumble across her, and things would work out. After all, Slo-mo tracked him down a lot of times without fail. It would work out.

Yes. Somehow.