Tyler snickered, and I glanced over to find him smiling at me like he’d told me so. Bastard.
So I reeled it in — phase two was to take control of the situation. “Ah, hey, Bayleigh? I need to grab a couple of things from the back, could you help me out?”
She snapped out of it and smiled at me. “Yeah, of course.” She turned to Greg. “Hey, you got this for a second?”
He gave us a Spidey thumbs up with his free hand on his hip and his shoulder blades tight.
I slipped off the stool — Tyler made a face at me, and Martin watched after Bayleigh with a look I could only describe as longing. I just gave an awkward wave.
“We’ll be right back. Come on, Bayleigh.” I grabbed her by the arm and hoped I didn’t look like I was dragging her into the back of the store.
As soon as we were through the doors to the back, I let her go.
I blew out a breath. “Man, that was close. I think Martin’s into you.”
She smiled hopefully. “Really? Do you think?”
“Absolutely, poor kid. You’re way out of his league,” I said matter-of-factly as we walked up to the liquor cage and I pulled out my keys.
Bayleigh frowned. “I don’t really have a league, Cam.”
“Sure you do, and it’s not Martin the accountant. It’s Greg with the arm porn. It’s Spiderman, not Peter Parker.” I opened the door with a metallic squeak of the hinges.
Her frown deepened. “Peter Parker is the real guy though. Spiderman’s just a mask.”
“Yeah, but Peter isn’t sexy without Spiderman,” I said as I passed her liquor bottles.
“Right,” she momentarily agreed, “except Spiderman is just for show.”
I waved a hand like I was swatting away flies. “Doesn’t matter. Greg is the hot beefy good guy, and you’re an inch away from sealing the deal.” She didn’t look convinced, so I tried a new approach. “You know, he was telling me how much he loved your costume earlier. He thought it was classy, and he said Gwen was his favorite of Spiderman’s girlfriends.”
She bit her lip. “He did?”
I nodded. “Mmhmm. I’m telling you, he’s into you. Like when he caught you earlier? He stopped you from busting your shit, breaking two bottles of liquor, and kept you from having to wash those lemons again. I mean, you probably would have fallen on them and messed up your costume. He’s basically your knight in shining armor, and for a second there, when he was holding you up, I thought he might even kiss you.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God. I thought I imagined that.”
“Nope. It almost happened.” It could have happened. Probably. “Listen, be cool to Peter, but go for Spiderman. He’s really the one you want.”
She sighed, the flush in her cheeks pink. “He really is kind of the ultimate, isn’t he?”
I grabbed two bottles of rum and handed them over, feeling instantly better. “Sure is.”
A PROPER MATCH
Tyler
THE GIRLS HAD ONLY BEEN gone for a few minutes, but Martin had been looking in the direction they’d walked since they walked away, waiting for Bayleigh to appear again. The music seemed to have gotten louder as the bar filled up and people spread out through the bookstore, only coming back to the bar to order drinks. Some of the costumes had been fantastic — I’d seen Harley Quinn walking around with a giant mallet on her shoulders, a chick Joker with long, green hair, a guy dressed in a Loki costume who actually looked like Loki, and a guy in the coolest Rorschach costume I’d ever seen with an LED screen on it to make his mask look like it was a constantly moving ink blot. There were people dressed up as manga characters, the Japanese comics Cam liked, and a few characters from The Walking Dead, then of course the ones who didn’t wear costumes and were given loaner masks and capes in primary colors.
Everyone seemed to be having fun. Cam was right — what was new. People love costume parties.
The girls finally reappeared, little Cam with her Rogue wig and leather jacket — though she didn’t ditch her glasses for the cause — somehow sweet and sexy, fully clothed in a room full of spandex. Bayleigh’s smile was tighter than it had been before, and she passed by, asking if we wanted drinks before moving down the bar to help Greg. I didn’t miss the fact that she spent a long time talking to him and away from us.
I tried to tell Cam telepathically that she was being an ass, and she held out her hands in question, like it wasn’t her fault she’d meddled.
Just as she was about to take her seat so I could give her my unsolicited opinion on the matter, a girl behind us said, “Cam?”
Cam grinned. “Sarah? Are you kidding me? I can’t believe you came!” She walked past me, and I turned to see her hug a girl in a Wonder Woman costume.
The girl let Cam go and leaned back to look at her. “You busted out Rogue, huh?”
“And I see Diana Prince is alive and well.” Cam laughed. “Damn, it’s been too long.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been by, but we’ve been super busy at Shady’s since you’ve been gone. Things just aren’t the same without you.”
Her smile faded into something that looked a little bit like guilt. “I know. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
“No, I know.” She smiled back with a sad sort of comfort, but her eyes went wide. “Oh! Cam, I’d like you to meet my friend Adrienne.”
She stepped out of the way to reveal a Catwoman the likes of which I hadn’t seen since the pinup girls from the old, campy show in the 60s. Adrienne was tall, probably five-ten before the six-inch patent leather spikes she wore to match the rest of her leather catsuit, with deep brown skin and red lips, eyes big and sparkling from behind her Catwoman mask.