Page 42 of More For Me

Everly

“Are you sure this isn’t annoying you?” I ask, doing my best to keep still. “You could be on Space Mountain right now.”

“Nope. Screwing with River and Fox is definitely worth it.”

“This way, please,” the artist says, and I realize that we’ve both turned to grin at each other. We hurriedly face her again and she continues her drawing.

We started off pretty tame, texting the group thread ride pictures of us. Since Bodhi is a Disney expert, he knows where all the ride cameras are and we made sure to adopt romantic poses whenever we got close.

We tried to have the pictures progress like a story. So there’s a shot of us intensely staring at each other on Space Mountain. His arm around me on Pirates of the Caribbean. My head on his shoulder on the Haunted Mansion. And, best of all, Bodhi kissing me on the drop on Splash Mountain. Of course, his hand was covering my mouth, but you can’t see that in the picture.

We’ve been sending these shots to my cousins without commentary, and laughing at all the freaking out they’re doing on the text thread.

Now we’ve taken a break to have our caricature drawn by one of the artists on Main Street. She’s put our little cartoon bodies in an embrace and given us both hearts for eyes. I laugh when I see the finished product—we asked for romantic but this is so over the top.

“I’m keeping this,” I tell Bodhi after he snaps a picture with his phone to send to the others. “I’m framing it and hanging it in the living room. Right above the fireplace.”

He laughs and slips the rolled-up drawing into a plastic shopping bag for safe keeping. I rub my hands together, looking around. “Okay, what other fake-romantic things can a couple do at Disney? The Storybook Canal boats? The Carousal?”

He considers. “We could go over to California Adventure and go on the Ferris Wheel. That seems pretty romantic.”

“That’s pretty good, but I feel like we need to step it up, you know? We need something bigger than the fake kiss.” I catch sight of the iconic building over Bodhi’s shoulder and grin. “Perfect.”

There are a few official photo spots around the castle where you can get a pro picture taken by one of the Disney photographers. Since Bodhi always pays for a photo pass for the entire season, we’ll be able to pull up the pictures from his account online right on our phones.

We wait our turn, munching on the last of our popcorn as we watch other people pose for their shots.

“That guy looks like he’s feeling the magic,” Bodhi mutters in my ear, and I snort into my popcorn. The photographer is trying to get a sullen faced man to smile while his wife attempts to keep the kids in front of them from crying and hitting each other.

“He’s wondering why in the hell he spent two grand on this vacation just for the kids to act as bratty here as they do at home,” I whisper back, making Bodhi laugh.

“Okay, what’s our plan here?” he asks. “We need to top the Splash Mountain picture.”

“We should kiss again,” I say, feeling silly when that word sends a little thrill down my spine. “Like, really get into it this time. Think you could do that backward dip like they do in old movies?”

He scoffs. “Girl, big romantic gestures are in my blood. I’ll dip you like a pro.”

Another couple takes their turn. Right when the photographer announces she’s ready, the guy drops to his knee and pulls out a ring. There are gasps and ooh and ahhs as the people around us realize what’s going on. I look up at Bodhi, a truly ridiculous idea taking shape.

“No,” he says, pointing at my face. “No way.”

“Bodhi, they’ll lose their fucking minds.”

“And then your Dad will murder me before we can tell him it’s a joke.”

“SoI’llpropose toyou.”

He looks uncertain. “Lele…”

“Come on, Bodhi! This is perfect. We’ve spent all day trying to mess with them. This would be the ultimate.”

I expect him to agree, or argue more. Instead I see his eyes go to the couple, embracing now, the girl crying on her new fiancé’s shoulder. Something wistful crosses his expression before his jaw hardens. “Fine.”

And just like that, this doesn’t seem so funny anymore.

“Bodhi—”

But he looks back at me and smiles, whatever expression I thought I saw disappearing. “You’re right. This is the ultimate. Your cousins will go crazy.”