Chapter Text
“Eda, I look dumb!” said a panicked voice, climbing an octave when she saw her reflection in the small hand-held mirror.
“That’s cause I’m not done yet, Camila!” Eda retorted, swatting away the hand mirror and leaning in again, makeup brush clutched in hand like a weapon.
Camila did her best to stay still and “trust the process.” She focused on the way Eda stuck her tongue out in concentration, the feeling of the brush dab beneath her eyes, Madonna’s voice in the background playing from the cheap boombox that say precariously in the edge of Camila’s desk, singing about love and lust and everything in between (anything but the closeness of the two or how amazing Eda looked in her costume, her own makeup expertly applied, sharp wing starkly contrasting against the smudgy mess that was her eyeshadow, the sharp bow of her bold red lip–)
Camila stopped that line of thought immediately, trying to school her expression without messing with Eda’s work.
“Close your eyes now, Cam,” Eda instructed, selecting another brush from her arsenal and dabbing it against the drug store makeup pallet. Camila complied, and without any more, erm, distractions , let her mind wander to the conversation that led to this situation.
Ever since Eda had fallen face-first into her life a little over 5 months ago, Camila knew she was different than other kids her age, and it wasn’t just the whole oh- yeah- I’m- from- another-dimension-and-I-totally-just-ran- away- from- home -so- I- can -study-all-types-of-magic-also-magic-is-real-and-I’m-a-witch thing. That was easy enough to digest, Eda had been conversing with a raccoon the first time they met for crying out loud. The possibility that she would be open to matching Halloween costumes from Camila’s favorite series in existence, Cosmic Frontier, however?
Absolutely astounding.
Camila only wished she had proposed the idea sooner so they could have had more time to prepare their costumes, she thought glumly, feeling the cheap fabric of her clothing chafe on her skin uncomfortably.
In Cosmic Frontier’s newest book, the space crew landed on this sparsely habitated planet with strange residents that the author clearly molded after the myths of fairies. The crew was welcomed by the community, and a star-crossed love story between two from each side began. Kalaiah (the character that Camila was dressed up as) was the daughter of a prominent noble family within the fairy society, and had met Evangeline (the crew member that Eda was dressed as) when her family was hosting the group. It was all quite cliche, in all honestly, but such a bold love story between two women was incredibly rare, so Camila took what she could get.
Unfortunatly, the book ended on a cliffhangar, leaving the fate of the two lovers up in the air— or, space, as it was.
“Ok, you can open your eyes now.”
Camila tentatively did as she was told and began to reach for the hand mirror again when Eda took her hand and pulled her to her feet.
“Hell no, I need you to get the full effect,” She insisted, leading Camila to the full-length mirror leaning against her bedroom wall.
Any of Camila’s protests evaporated when she saw her reflection.
Before, in her hastily throw-together get-up, Camila had felt like a little girl playing dress-up, feeling as though she was drowning in the layers of the cheap full skirt. The plastic vines and flowers she had spent so long painstakingly arranging and gluing to the dress looked juvenile before, the product of late nights and fabric glue.
Now, though–Well, she could almost believe herself a fairy princess.
The array of greens that Eda had spent so long on looked absolutely gorgeous on Camila’s warm brown skin, encircling her eyes in a way that made her look mystical and enchanting, perfectly complimenting her dark eyes. Glitter sparkled on her cheeks, giving the illusion of a defined bone structure that while subtle, did not go unappreciated. Camila covered her painted mouth with her hands, at a loss for words.
Eda nodded in agreement, grinning wildly at Camila’s expression. “Exactly, I told you I knew what I was doing! Look at you, speechless and shit.”
“Eda, I-I don’t know what to say!” Camila stammered, unable to look away from the reflection
Her friend snorted. “Yeah, we established that already.”
Camila, in a fit of bravery, raised to her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Eda, landing a chaste kiss on the witch’s cheek.
“Thank you, Eda. For everything.” Camila felt that those last words couldn’t possibly encapsulate all the gratitude she felt, how seen she felt in that moment, but she hoped with all her might that the way she held Eda with a firm gentleness rebuked all Eda’s suspicions and claims of being of being made of shattered glass and too-sharp teeth and rusting nails and everything untouchable and dangerous because when she hugged Eda, what she felt was not sharp or edged or violent, but the worn-out fabric of a hastily thrown together half of a matching costume for a book series Eda had no interest in, but would pretend otherwise because of Camila.
Eda was stiff in her embrace up until the end, completely caught off guard by the sudden affection. Camila quickly separated from her friend feeling embarrassed by Eda’s less than enthusiastic reaction, wringing skirt in her hands and unable to lift her gaze.
“Don’t, uh, mention it, Cam,” Eda replied at last, nervously rubbing the back of her neck.
The moment stretched on like that for an uncomfortable amount of time, and Madonna, oblivious to it all continued, let me cover you with velvet kisses, I’ll create a look for you , unknowingly making the moment even more tense between the two young girls. Finally, Eda walked over to the boom box and cut off the music.
“Hey, it’s about time for that trick-and-treat thing, right?”
“Oh, actually, it’s trick-or-treat,” Camila corrected, with some relief that the silence was broken.
“Aw, shit, really? What am I supposed to do with all these smoke bombs, then?” Eda reached for her bag and showed off the way it was definitely filled to the brim with smoke bombs.
“Eda, when the heck did you even have time— you know what, it’s fine, we’ll find a use for them eventually.” Camila laughed and headed to the door, shaking her head at Eda’s contagious chaos with a smile all the same. “Hey, since we’re hitting the rich neighborhoods first, what if we put the smoke bombs behind their tires so when they back out tomorrow-”
“ BAM ,” Eda interrupted, spreading her arms out wide when she caught up with Camile to mimic an explosion. “Genius!”
“I know.” Camila threw her long, curly hair over one shoulder, channeling a sort of confidence she only really felt around Eda. She picked up her skirts when they reached the stairs, taking care not to trip and face-plant.
“Hey, Cam, do you think we could meet up at the park? I gotta stop by my place really quick.” Eda took the stairs two at a time, boundless in her energy and reaching the landing quicker than her.
Camila hesitated before answering, thinking about how Eda’s “place” was an abandoned house with broken windows and cobwebs. “I’ll just go with you. What do you need?”
Eda used one hand to wave dismissively and the other for the front door, holding it open for Camila. “Don’t worry about it, babe, it’ll just take a second.”
Camila was too caught off guard by the pet name to question further, and willed herself to be cool as they veered towards where Eda’s “place” resided.
The scent of autumn permeated the air, fallen leaves crunching underfoot when they reached the untamed lawn. Camila tensed the closer they got to the house, taking in the neglected exterior and wondering how on Earth Eda ever lived there. Nowadays, she spent the night at Camila’s, either just never leaving or sneaking in through the window on the nights Camila’s mom made it home for dinner.
Maybe, if Camila had been less preoccupied, she would have realized the way Eda was glancing nervously between her friend and the house, chewing at the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste blood.
“You sure you don’t wanna just go on without me?” Eda asked when they got to the door. “I’ll catch up.”
“I’ll, uh, just wait for you out here,” Camila said, antsy at the idea of doing so but even less willing to leave Eda there alone.
Eda shrugged, but there wasn’t quite enough nonchalance in the movement to be sincere, and said, “Suit yourself, princess,” before disappearing through the doorway.
Camila turned her back to the door, facing the setting sun and spreading her arms wide to catch those last few rays of sunshine. The streetlamps would come on soon, illuminating the roads and beckoning costumed kids out into the night and through the winding streets of Gravesfield . This would be one of the first Halloweens in a while that Camila would join them, her best friend at her side and a smile on her face, ready to stuff herself full of candy and watch bad horror movies afterwards.
She wondered, briefly, if this would be the night she told Eda how she felt.
Usually, at times like these when Camila found her thoughts wandering a bit too much, getting a bit too honest, she would shake away her thoughts and push it all down again, but in this moment, bathed in the setting sun and surrounded by the early night forest sounds, she didn’t dare. It would feel too much like sacriledge,like stepping on a gravestone, like lying in the face of god. So she didn’t push away that thought, only letting it settle deep into her soul, featherlight and sure.
Turning to face the doorway that Eda had gone off in, Camila came to a decision. She bundled up her skirts in her hands, and stepped through into the (only some what) terrifying abode, determined and bursting with hope.
And then it all went to shit.