For the record, our mouths met halfway. It wasn’t like I attacked him. We attacked each other.
We kissed hard. Our two unfinished kisses plus a hundred more, to make up for lost time. We kissed desperately, voraciously, the way you think you only can in your mind until you do it for real. This was so completely for real. I wrapped my arms under his armpits and up his back, the fabric of his uniform as soft as I always imagined it might be. Camden put both hands on my face, anchoring me to the spot I belonged in.
Azor. Mine. Azor. Mine, mine, mine. Lips, wet, taste. Skin, heat, pressure. Give, take, fall, climb.
Had I always been this greedy?
After a time, Camden drew away. Somewhere in the kissing, he’d threaded his fingers through the hair of my wig. I’d clutched parts of his uniform that I quickly smoothed down, hoping I hadn’t ruined them.
“Okay,” he simply said, trying to recover his breath. He glanced over my shoulder, then leaned in to whisper. “They’re coming.”
We broke apart to see the others gathering around us in a circle. Eliza was wearing Camden’s Marr costume, but it had been altered to fit her. Her natural bravado and swagger went a long way toward filling an Arrow One command uniform.
“Oh please, you two,” said Eliza, surveying us, our hands still intertwined. “Don’t get all county-fair cute on me. Remember, we’re subverting.”
“You can be cute and subvert at the same time,” said Camden casually, like we had not just done this gorgeous damage to each other, our lips moist and swollen. “You can’t tell me you don’t want to kiss Max on top of the Ferris wheel or have a bumper-car war.”
“I don’t want to kiss Max on top of the Ferris wheel,” she said firmly. “Although other things would be acceptable.”
“You guys,” said James. “Don’t be gross tonight.”
“Don’t listen to him,” said Max to Eliza. “Be gross. Please, please, please be gross.”
Eliza and Max held each other’s glance. Then Eliza looked at me and Camden with pride, and I realized how she’d set it all up. Them coming separately, Camden waiting behind the Ferris wheel so we’d be alone in the moments we first saw each other.
Kendall and James stood side by side with a comfortable gap between them, both clutching their cameras around their necks.
“Okay, here’s my plan,” said Eliza. “We head straight over to the fun house, because those shots may take us the longest and I want to get them out of the way while there’s still natural light.”
James nodded. “Golden time, as they say.”
“So where’s the fun house?” asked Camden.
“It’s in the same place every year,” I said. “Follow me.”
As we walked, I let go of Camden’s hand to fall into step next to Kendall, then lean in to whisper in her ear.
“When we’re done with the shoot, you and Jamie should go do your own thing. Something’s bound to happen at the fair, right?”
Kendall shrugged. “You’d think so.”
Fortunately, there was no line for the fun house, which was decorated, as always, with gigantic, distorted portraits of music icons. The leather-skinned carny guy at the entrance looked at us for only two seconds longer than he looked at everyone else.
“They must see it all,” said Camden as we walked over the rickety bridge.
“I wonder what it would take to really ruffle them,” I said.
Camden shuddered. “I actually don’t want to wonder that.”
We climbed to the second level where the maze of mirrors started. “Okay!” said Eliza. “This is it. Right here. Things are starting to feel awesome.”
She directed me to stand by one mirror, opened her purse, and handed me Satina’s trademark measuring-everything device. It was light as Styrofoam, and I remembered that night they were dumpster diving. I laughed, then held it skyward like Satina often did.
“You feel stupid, right?” asked Eliza. I nodded. “It’s okay. Embrace that. But in your mind, try to turn the stupid into fun. And free.”
I said the word Satina in my head. Do it, Ari. Shake off your skin and feel hers.
With silence and great seriousness, Camden crouched in front of me, his bare palm spread out on the floor like Azor did when he was telepathically reading a time and place.
“Look at that messed-up picture of Britney Spears,” said Eliza, directing us to look at the wall mural. “Keep your eyes on that.” She backed up to where James stood with his camera. “Yes! That is so perfect. Hold it there!”
James and Kendall stood on opposite sides of us, moving around a bit to get different angles. We got really into character now. Camden drew his gun and aimed it off camera, and I held out my device to test the atmosphere. After a few minutes, we had to pause to let a group of kids go through. They scanned us up and down, then giggled and kept going.
“Maybe they think we’re part of the fun house,” I said to Camden.
“I’m sad nobody’s recognizing us,” he said.
“I’m glad they’re not. I’m glad this just belongs to us.”