It all started out as an ordinary day at work, well, as ordinary as working at Disneyland could possibly be. Working here, no two days were ever the same, but today was different. My shift started at 1, finished at 4, and started back up at 6 and lasted until 9, when the character meet and greets ended for the night. I'm only sixteen, and really tiny, so I always end up dressed up either as Alice, or Tinkerbell.
Anyway, It was mid-January, and it wasn't a peak-day, so not that many people were there. I wasn't expecting much, some tantrums, boogery noses, a cute boy being dragged over to meet me by his little sister, maybe someone I knew. But this? I there was no way I had been expecting this.
It was around three, and the line to meet Tinkerbell, Silvermist, and the rest of the gang had long died out. There were around four groups in line waiting to get their picture taken with one of us, and I was standing on my knees smiling next to a little girl dressed up just like me when I saw them. The four of them walked into Pixie Hollow laughing, the sunshine spilling out from the leaves overhead and sparkling onto them. Well, maybe that was a bit much, but they certainly made an entrance.
They patiently waited their turn in line, laughing and cracking jokes while I signed autographs, took pictures and talked to the kids. Then it was their turn up. I was awestruck, I just hope it didn't register on my face. The four of them walked onto the platform where we stood, and smiled at us. I stepped forward, a huge grin on my face.
"Hi there, my name's Tinkerbell, and these are my friends, Vidia, Silvermist, Rosetta, Iridessa, Fawn, and Terrence." I said, introducing them and gesturing to them as it had been ingrained into my mind over the past few weeks.
Nathan stepped up first and waved. "I'm Nathan. Nice to meet you, Tinkerbell." He said and winked, fully knowing that I wasn't actually Tinkerbell.
Mikey hifived me as he jumped up and shouted. "I'm M&M, Michael Martinez in the houseeee, yo!"
Zach and Cameron walked up last and Zach pushed through his friends so he could introduce himself and Cameron. "My name is Zach, and this here is Cameron, who was wondering if he could inquire about obtaining some pixie dust." Zach said, laughing, causing Cameron to elbow him.
Cameron. Oh, Cameron. He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back before extending his hand towards mine. I gingerly put mine into his and shook his hand, still unable to believe that I was meeting Allstar Weekend. "Actually," Cameron said, smiling. "It would be pretty neat to fly. But Nah, M&M over there wanted to take a picture with Peter, but we couldn't find him. Figured Tinkerbell was the next best thing."
I had to keep my cool, I was working after all. "Peter, huh?" I said, stamping my foot indignantly and turning around, crossing my arms. "Why don't you go find Wendy, I'm sure she knows all about where Peter is."
Silvermist, who was really one of my co-workers, Lindsey, who also loved Allstar Weekend, came over and put a hand on my solder. "Tink, I know leaving Peter was hard, but don't take it out on them," she said, smiling and gesturing towards them.
"Oh, right." I said, giggling. "Blazing bells, what a terrible first impression you all must have of me."
Zach laughed in that easy-going way of his that I had only seen through the computer until now. "Nah, 'course not, Tink."
Nathan looked back at me. "So, can we take a picture with you?"
I could hardly believe it. THEY were asking for a picture? With ME? It was surreal. "Oh, of course you can." I said, smiling.
Zach looked over at the photographer. "Can we have one with all of the fairies, and one with just Tink?" He asked kindly, smiling and nodding his thanks when the photographer agreed.
I stood in between Cameron and Nathan, very aware of Cameron's arm draped around my wait, and Nathan's around my shoulder. We took the pictures, and my "fairies stood off to the side, while I posed with Allstar Weekend some more.
They were figuring out how to pose when Cameron exclaimed that he had an idea. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and his other behind my knees and swiftly picked me up, like it was no big deal. I didn't weigh much, but the wings on my back much have been awkward to hold, yet he did it with such ease. He smiled down and me and I blushed. The photographer was snapping pictures like crazy, assuming he could probably make some money off of pictures of them.
Cameron lifter me up, closer to his face. "You know . . . for a girl dressed up like a fairy, you are . . . kinda . . . cute." He whispered to me, stumbling over his words. I blushed again and a reply was on my lips, but then Mikey had to ruin it.
Mikey whistled. "And does this mean Cameron finally gets a girl?"
Cameron turned bright red and put me back down. "Michael Martinez, you are just jealous you didn't think of it first." He said, trying to maintain some of his "swag," that Mikey had so unceremoniously taken away from him.
I was probably about as red as Cameron. I brushed my dress back down to normal and turned to them. "I shouldn't be playing around humans, in any case. If Queen Calrion finds out that I've been hanging around you humans again, she might not let me go to the mainland this spring!" I said, shaking my thoughts of CAMERON QUISENG HOLDING ME, and focused back on my job.
"Fine, fine, we'll spare you the trouble you might get into because of us." Zach said, his adorable crooked smile still on his lips. "You've just got to take one more picture with us."
I nodded. "Alright, but watch out for the flash on that camera, it's almost brighter than Iridessa's light beams!" I exclaimed, smiling over in her direction.
Zach had been whispering something to Cameron, and now they were arguing over it, whatever it was. I stood between Zach and Cameron, with Mikey and Nathan standing behind them, since they were the tallest. Mikey whispered something into Cameron's ear as well, though I didn't catch it, and Cameron turned around and shook his head, still smiling.
The photographer knelt on the ground and put his camera up to his face. "Ready?" He asked. We were all just smiling, my elbows propped up on Cameron and Zach's shoulders, and their arms around my waist, Nathan and Mikey making funny faces in the background. "One . . . Two . . ." The photographer counted.
Beside me, Cameron was moving around, he seemed jittery, almost nervous. Like he was going to do something he didn't know if he could do or not. But then he took a deep breath and collected whatever thoughts were jumbled inside of his head.
"Three," the photographer said, the first pre-flash going off. Then, Cameron Quiseng kissed my cheek.
