Page 33 of A Little Campfire Blues

“More like staring at your tat,” I muttered, kicking myself when they turned to look at me. “Sorry. I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut.”

“Why?”

“So I don’t blurt out stupid shit.”

“There’s nothing stupid about being honest,” they said. “Besides, I put them there to be stared at whenever I wore anything cropped or mesh, like this. Cropped mesh is the best of both worlds, which is why I wore this top today.”

“It’s beautiful,” I admitted.

“Before you ask, no, I didn’t get it because of what you said to me; I got it after I attended a pride parade as a pixie prince. I liked wearing the wings so much that I wanted a permanent set to remind me of how awesome the day was. The artist who put them there was handing out cards and temporary tattoos at the event, and after seeing their work online, I just knew they would be the perfect person to ink my wings for me.”

“That’s fuckin’ awesome. I love Portland’s PrideFest; the band and I played it several years in a row. Their drag show was fabulous. This performer there, Plastic Princess, and I got to be friends, and she convinced me to give it a try a few times, which was hella fun. Wish she hadn’t moved to Palm Springs, or I might have gotten more into it.”

“Whoa, back the hell up. You did drag?”

“Just a few times. It was fun, especially shopping for outfits. One year she glammed me up in this beaded lavender mermaid dress, and then we dyed my hair lavender and streaked several darker shades of purple through it, which looked amazing. We curled it too, so it fell in waves except for the braids we put in, with seashells and seaweed woven through it. I so looked like a mermaid by the time she got done.”

“I bet you were stunning.”

“I don’t know about stunning, but when I looked in the mirror, I loved the transformation. I still have the dress.”

“Okay, now I have questions,” Ezzy declared.

“Go for it.”

“What song did you sing, and don’t tell me you didn’t perform something—not if you actually took part in the show, so what did you choose, and what the hell was your drag name, because damn, now that I have the image in my head, I hope you’ve got pictures stashed somewhere, ‘cause I’d love to see them.”

“Lavender Laguna, and yeah, there are pictures; there may still be a couple on my phone. I’ll have to look later.”

“And the song? It was Under the Sea, wasn’t it?”

“Like I said, it was totally cliché, but every second of it was amazing.”

“Oh my god, now I’m hoping for a video to go with those pictures.”

“I may have one of those on here too.”

“Uh-huh. May have. You are so showing me later; that is just too cool not to share.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll pull them up when we get back to the cabin.”

“Yes!”

“When I made that remark to you about the way you looked, all glittered up and sparkling, I wasn’t just upset because you’d gotten threatened and harassed over it,” I said, wanting to deliver on the explanation I’d promised them. “I was jealous and I handled it in the worse way imaginable.”

“Of me? Why? You were the one with wannabe groupies trying to hang off you at school.”

“Not so much of you, but the way some people stared at you like they wanted to take you away from us,” I admitted. “And why wouldn’t they? You were amazing. Never be afraid to just be you. I was afraid that one of those times you’d meet someone awesome and realize that you could do way, way better than me.I always figured that Roman was the glue that held us together, and with him leaving for basic training, you’d start to see how many better options there were out there, and then I’d be on my own without either of you.”

They looked thoughtful as they stared at me, tears welling up in their eyes. “So you ruined it before anyone or anything else could.”

“Pretty much.”

“Didn’t you know that no matter who else came into my life, you and Roman were the only ones for me?”

“Back then, no, especially not that night. God, that whole fuckin’ night sucked.”

“Why, what else happened?”

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