Love & Geckos (multiple-author collaboration)

Chapter 13: Cammy

"And now she's crying!" Cammy dropped on the edge of the small fountain they'd been assigned to for the night and peered up at Mathias seated on the childlike, horribly inaccurate forms of Cupids on top of the fountain. No human noticed them of course, nor did they notice that time and again Mathias pretended he was spewing water from his mouth, bored. "Will you be serious?"

"Can't. We're supposed to look like these guys, and they are children... I'm only trying to play the stereotype." Mathias chuckled, floating down to the ground to join her side. His big wings flapping more than needed, creating a gust of wind the humans didn't question the origin of. "Besides, you can't do anything yet, not unless she makes a wish. And that boy she's pinning after – he's like thousands of miles that way!" He pointed in the general south direction. "We can't very well fly to Australia and bring the boy here ... I mean, we could, but do we really want to? 'Cause, it's a bit far away, Cam, and you're not the best flier."

Cammy pulled a face. The face said: "You stay shut up, Mathias Valentine! Just 'cause it's a festival of love named after your family, doesn't mean you get to be an ass."

"Or you hold on tight and I'll fly us there, but if you lose your grip, I'm not telling your folks I lost you in the Pacific Ocean cause we were doing homework." He chuckled, pulling her in his arms, a sensation — and an action — Cammy was still getting used to. "Just pick someone else. It's just a silly Valentine's Day heart's desire grant. It doesn't have to be 'the one and be all'. We can't even use our weapons tonight, just the incantation."

"I know that." She tried not to focus too much on his arm slung over her shoulder, or the heat radiating into her body. Today wasn't a day for Cupids. It was a day for humans to fall in love. Focus, Cammy! She told herself, still unable to believe that the hunky boy – cupid—hanging off her neck was her Games partner. "But I feel for her. I know that girl, that girl who sat alone on a bench in a crowded mall wishing someone would notice her ..." she was rambling now. "I mean, I was that—" girl.

She shoved Mathias' arm off her shoulder, staring at the door through which Sydney Malaitai had run off, wiping tears from her eyes, eyes that could have easily been Cammy's own some months ago. In fact, that girl was Cammy every Valentine's Day since she'd learned what the festival was about. This time last year she'd been pining for Reggie Sanchez. Now, she pined for—

Cammy cleared her throat. "While Mr Aziz is trying to figure out what our second assignment is, he's given us homework. I don't know about you, but I intend to do this well and he said specifically that we are to find someone who truly could do with some joy in their life right now, and that girl, that girl deserves it more than her brother, who's pretty much had this entire mall eyeing him as he got here. That girl in there, however, she's—"

"Invisible?" Mathias interrupted, not in a mean, malicious, or even candid way. When Cammy turned to him, he was staring at the lanky boy still debating, this time whether he should follow Sydney or send her brother after her. "What?" Mathias's easy smile lit up his face, and that sweet dimple formed again, causing a butterfly effect in her stomach.

"Nothing." She felt a blush come on. "I thought, for a moment, you might know what that it's like, then I saw you"—she eyed him up and down—"and I can't imagine it. I mean, you're a Valentine! VA-LEN-TINE! The festival is named in honour of your fam—"

"That doesn't mean I don't know what it's like"—Mathias' eyes fleeted back to the boy before settling on Cammy. It made her feel seen. It made her insides turn into jelly. Forget love and romance for the humans, part of her wanted it for herself. To go somewhere where the world could melt away and only they'd remain, her, and Mathias, teaching her how to fly again, and again until she crumbled, tired into his strong arms.

"Hello? Earth to Cammy?" Mathias waved his hand in front of her face, forcing her back to the matter at hand. "Find another target. We've been here for hours, and there's literally like a hundred teens in that food court inside. Chop, chop, Kamdev. I'm dying to switch forms and chow down on some grub. Watching people eat is making me hungry."

"Easy for you to say, you've already thrown away your grant." She eyed the raven-haired, tanned boy sitting across the fountain with a boy. A boy he had in his mind the moment he'd playfully dropped a coin into the fountain while arguing with his sister about hiding out in the courtyard earlier. The same girl who'd run away to cry, unnoticed by her love-blind brother.

She turned to Mathias then, inspired. "What about puppy love? She could have puppy love, right? I mean, I could grant her a small harmless, fleeting insta-love." Cammy pointed to a boy lurking by the giant folding doors to the courtyard. "I mean, that kid with glasses has been umming and ahhing about Sydney all this time." She nudged Mathias towards the skinny boy she was talking about. The boy in black stood by the ginormous indoor potted plant at the entrance to the courtyard from the food court. "I mean, his thoughts are rampant and loud. He clearly has a thing for her and he's been debating whether he should approach Sydney and share his candy floss with her for the past half hour. Like a thousand times. I'm ready to shove him forward."

"We can't get physical with humans or their decision-making tonight, Cam. Remember? No interference in any way unless they seek our help tonight." Mathias made a point to look at the very few coins glistening at them from the bottom of the fountain, one of which belonged to the raven-haired boy.

"And the only way they can ask for help tonight is to make a wish on the wishing well. I know!" Cammy groaned, hands on hips, "Can't I just whisper in her ear: Sydney, drop a coin in the well? I mean she's already made her wish."

Mathias was about to counter her when Cammy spotted Sydney's handbag on the bench. A handbag it seemed the lurking boy was keeping an eye on for the girl he liked. A handbag that may have a coin, a coin that belonged to the girl, and just like that, an idea formed in her head.

She turned to Mathias with a devilish grin, her still unruly wings choosing that moment to unfurl behind her unprompted once again.

"What?" Mathias followed her gaze. Then back to her, no doubt piecing it together. "Oh, no, don't you think about it!" But by the time he'd even finished that sentence, she'd beat him to it.

Cammy reached into Sydney's bag, calling forth a coin belonging to her, and without much digging, much to her surprise, a cold metal coin slipped into her palm just as Mathias Valentine tackled her into the fountain, splashing the water about them.

"Don't Cammy!" he was saying.

Cammy held the coin away from him, giggling. "It's her coin. That's all we need right, that's all that's missing. She's already made her wish and all I need is her payment?"

"But that's cheating, Cammy Kamdev. Cheating!" Mathias growled – oh so cutely – above her, but it was too late for that, cuteness or growl. Nothing was stopping Cammy from helping little Sydney out for the sake of all the lonely teens around the world tonight. For all the young Cammy's who never thought they'd ever feel loved, or even liked.

With the smile still plastered on her face – and the blush from being pinned by the handsome Mathias Valentine in one of the gaudiest fountains she'd ever seen – Cammy let that coin fall into the water with a plop that sounded like symphonies to her ears. "I have to do this Mathias," she whispered, barely able to look away from his lips temptingly close to her own. "Either help me make a girl's night or let me do it alone. Your choice."

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evacharya
Eva is a Nepali-Australian who has been making up stories for a long time. As a two-time Watty winner, she has a lot to offer readers. She mostly writes adult contemporary romance, with realistic MCs, but also loves tinkering with other genres, such as sci-fi and retellings in YA. Cammy and Mathias are characters from her 2021 ONC attempt, Love Bound. Do check it out if you like them here!