I dropped it and walked over to him with a smile, taking the picnic blanket when he handed it to me. “So, where’s our epic date?”
Z gave me a grin. “Someplace we can go reflect on our relationship.”
“You don’t strike me as the thinking type,” I teased with a grin, wondering what the hell he meant. He was clearly being punny.
“I’m not. Definitely not.” Zavier took my hand in his and then lifted it to his lips, placing a soft kiss there. “But I do have to say, the first day I saw you was one of the best days of my life.”
“One of? Not the best? I’m insulted.”
“Can’t be the best, because every day since has been better.”
His tone was so sweet, so sincere. And I just couldn’t handle it, the tears welled up in my eyes. How did he do it? How did he flip a switch and go from being such an obnoxious little jokester one moment to the most perfect, honest, romantic guy ever a moment later? After everything that had happened today, I couldn’t hold them in, the tears just came.
“Whoa! No crying on my date,” he scolded, but he stopped walking and pulled me in for a hug. “You’re supposed to be happy.”
“I am, can’t you tell?” I started to laugh even as tears streamed down my cheeks and onto my neck. “You ridiculous man. Gah! I love you so, so much.”
The smile that lit his face wasn’t typical Zavier. It was soft and gentle and almost shy as he softly swiped the tears from my cheeks. “Hey.” He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on each of my cheeks. “You know what?” he said, his deep brown eyes observing mine solemnly.
“What?” I asked, in a choked-up whisper as I tried to talk through my tear-clogged throat.
“You have good taste.” His solemn face was replaced by an overwrought arrogance in under a second. “I’m quite the catch.”
I laughed and jabbed his ribs. “No you’re not.”
“Oh yeah? Try and catch me!” Z used his power and was gone in the blink of an eye, reappearing twenty feet in front of me.
I stomped toward him. “Hey, you aren’t supposed to be using your—” He was gone before I could finish my sentence.
“Zavier!” I growled, spinning in a circle, the crumbling asphalt crunching underneath my shoe as I scanned the amusement park in the grey twilight, trying to spot him. He was leaning against the main post of a swing carousel ride. The swings had long since been stolen, but the dangling chains remained, giving it a creepy, clowny BDSM feel.
“Come out of there, you nerd,” I told him.
“Come make me,” he taunted, holding the bag of burgers up to one ear and making moose antlers with the other.
“You know I can’t,” I laughed. “Now get your cute butt over here and stop wasting your magic!”
“Admit I’m a great catch.” He crossed his arms and jutted out a hip.
“Fine. You’re a great catch.”
His arms were around me instantly. I hadn’t even seen him coming before he was there—squeezing me to death in a monstrous bear hug. “See, that wasn’t hard. Now, let’s get this date on the road!”
I shook my head against his shoulder. “I can’t believe you wasted that much magic to prove a point.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it up with a nice long power up,” Z’s tone dripped confidence.
“Oh will we?”
“Yup. Third date. So long as you don’t throw your burger at me, I’m gonna be putting out.”
I chuckled as I slid my arm around his waist and tucked myself in even closer. “Good to know.”
Z led us straight to the Wacky Shack, which made me raise my eyebrows in confusion. “What …” I trailed off. Since the vampire’s slept here, I had considered this off-limits. But, of course, Zavier wouldn’t, the little troublemaker.
“We’re going in through the vamp’s back door. Get it?” He laughed at himself as he led me around to the back of the shack and pointed out an employee entrance.
“I don’t think Callum and them would appreciate …”
“Relax. I told him this was the only enclosed building left other than the bathrooms and that we needed a little one-on-one time. Besides, you really think we’re coming back here after tonight?” Zavier asked.
He had a good point.
I let him open the door for me and used my hand to create a glowing orb of soft yellow light so that we could see once we were inside. The walls were painted black and cobwebs stretched in long, unbroken webs from the ceiling to the top of stacked boards on either side of us.
“This has got to be the most romantic, uncreepy thing I’ve ever seen,” I snarked.
“It’ll be hard to top the last date on creep factor,” Z replied, letting the door fall shut behind us.
We maneuvered around several rotted set pieces and severed head props that were clearly earlier versions of the Wacky Shack’s glory. Then, once we’d passed those and opened a sliding door, we found ourselves in the hall of mirrors that we’d only glimpsed last time we’d been here. Unlike the rest of Joyland, the mirrors were in pristine condition, probably because most people came through the front of the ride and were deterred by the idea of wading through the ball pit. Mirrors lined either side of a narrow hall, creating a small maze for us to wander through. As we walked forward, some of the mirrors were normal and some were twisted.
We walked by a mirror that made my lower half apple shaped.
“Oh, your ass looks good, girl!” Zavier exaggerated his tone and then gave a long whistle. I gave a little twerk, falling into a silly mood with him and we danced in front of that mirror for a second before heading around a corner to another mirror that stretched us thin, our heads tiny pinpricks on top of our shoulders.
“I think this one is an accurate presentation of your mental faculties,” I told Z as I swiveled my body around in the mirror and watched it distort further, my arm becoming as thick as Andros’.
“I think my mental faculties are gonna give your faculties detention.”
I grinned up at him as I hugged him around the waist. “That was lame.”
“What do you expect? You gave me the word ‘faculties’ to work with. Who talks like that?”
We walked around the maze, hugging each other, the smell of the burgers filling the space and making me realize just how hungry I was. A minute or so later, we came out into a circular open space that was surrounded by mirrors. We’d made it to the middle of the maze. Unlike the rest of the tiny labyrinth, these mirrors were straight and undistorted, an icosagon with twenty perfect sides. I tossed my ball of light into the middle of the room, letting the miniature sun hover there. Twenty different versions of it winked back from the mirrors, just as multiple versions of myself and Zavier did.
“Group date?” I quipped.
“Orgy,” Z snapped back.
We both snickered as he set down the food in the very center of the black wooden floor. Together, we laid out the red plaid picnic blanket. He pulled out our burgers and handed me one. And as he unwrapped his, an Anti-Conception Amulet fell out.
I laughed. “Subtle.”
He shrugged, tossing it in the bag. “Responsible.”