At 2 am, we had eaten all the snacks. We demolished the sodas.

We played Uno a million times before exhausting it.

I crawled into the backseat to be beside Lizzie. Too tired to make any more decisions, Lizzie let the radio play. Every now and then, the connection would go all wonky and the static would fade in and out, then back to the oldies station. We lowered the seats and just listened to the music and stared at everything, the car's fuzzy gray ceiling, the dark world outside or the lifeless Miss Patty's Salon window, still mocking me.

Groaning, I stretched my legs out and draped them over Lizzie's thighs. I wedged myself between the door and the cushion and studied Lizzie's face. I said, "I'm bored."

She rested her hands on my legs, pinching my pants fabric. "Well, what do you want to do? Play another game?" Her round brown eyes stared back at me, expectantly. "We could walk up and down the sidewalk a little."

I bit my lip, trying to play it cool and keep my grinning at bay. "Wanna make out?"

Bursting with laughter, Lizzie rolled her eyes and she shook her head towards her window. Curling my legs back towards me, I hoisted myself up. I grabbed the seat handle and yanked it, making the backseat tilt back even farther. We both wavered and a surprised laugh flew out of Lizzie's mouth. She giggled, raising onto her elbows.

I told her, "I can't think of a better way to pass the time."

She rolled her eyes again and I realized that was the best reaction I could get from Lizzie. It meant that I just said the very thing that would make her heart flutter, the perfect thing to make her smile. I draped my arm over her head, leaning across her frame. She stopped laughing, sucking in her lips as her eyes flickered around my face.

With a warm smile, I used my free hand to caress her cheek. She was so soft to the touch and inside my palm, I could feel her body tingle. My chest tightened as the nerves set in. This part always made me nervous, but the need to kiss her beat out the fear.

"Can we?" I asked.

"Come here," she whispered and cupped my face.

I lowered my lips, pressing them against hers. Once. Twice. Three times, slow kisses that drowned out the radio playing. Lizzie took a deep breath through her nose as she arched her back just enough so I could slide my hand underneath. My fingers slid to the small of her back and I traced the line of her spine. Lizzie shivered and my smile grew. This kind of thing made sparks dance across my skin.

She combed her hand through my hair and I silently thanked the me a few hours ago that decided to leave it down. My lips parted hers as I slipped my tongue inside, whirling around and back and Lizzie followed my lead in this slow dance. Tasting her warmed my skin better than the richest hot chocolate, better than the warmest camp fire.

My hand wandered around and up her stomach. My hand brushed the edge of her bra and Lizzie shuddered again as her surprised gasp made me jump. I retracted my hand to meet Lizzie's eyes.

My blushing scorched my face as I blabbered, "Oh, uh sorry. I won't if you don't-"

"N-no!" she insisted. "I just..."

She blushed in return, sinking against the seat cushion. "It's just no one's really..." She didn't need to say more for me to understand and I wasn't so evil that I was going to make her.

"Is it okay?"

"Yes," she said. I smiled, before pressing a kiss to her nose.

She chuckled and pulled me back in for another kiss. Her kissing felt deeper, felt more eager than before as if she just needed the permission to lose those pesky inhibitions. Her teeth dragged down my lip and shooting stars bounced against the walls of my body. As I slid my hand back underneath Lizzie's sweatshirt, Lizzie's hand wandered up mine. The touch of her fingertips tickled my skin and my mind went quiet as I focused only on her touch and the way it made my baby hairs stand.

My hand slipped up her shirt and I savored her warmth and her softness. A slight tremble threatened my arm, still holding all my weight and I suddenly wished I had better upper body strength, but I was never moving from this spot.

Thumbing across the skin peaking over her bra, I tilted my head and kissed just below Lizzie's ear, kissing down her neck. I nibbled the crook of her neck, sucking the skin there as Lizzie's entire body reacted, pressing closer against mine.

Knock. Knock.

A pair of knuckles rattled the window and I jumped, snapping upright and smashing the top of my head against the roof. Moaning, I leaned against the far window and rubbed my poor head and said goodbye to my precious brain cells.

"Sorry! Sorry!" a muffled voice said from the outside of the car.

With a little wave, a stout man smiled and told us, "Didn't mean to interrupt your reenactment of Titanic. Couldn't tell if you girls were fighting or not," he admitted and I could hear the twang of a southern accent. "But it seems like ya'll are doin' just fine, so carry on. Just try to come up for air once in a while."

Covering her face with her hands, Lizzie said loud enough for him to hear, "Thank you."

I just glowered at the guy, more than just slightly creeped out about some guy just peeking into someone else's car. Sure, it's like almost two in the morning and that might seem suspicious, but still... my eyes followed the man walking right up to Miss Patty's Salon door. I watched him rummage through his bags and his pockets, until he revealed a key.

He slid the key into the door.

"Holy shit-!" I spat out, scrambling for the door handle. Without readying myself, I nearly backflipped out of the car. I nabbed the seats in time and righted myself upright on the cold concrete. "H-hey!" I shouted for the man, running up to his side.

Closer, I realized he was actually quite tall, towering over me with a barreled chest and while he had a shiny bald head, he had a pretty thick brown beard with coiled gray hairs. He wore a flowy floral print shirt with pink corduroy pants that matched his pink jacket.

God, it was like looking into a mirror of some alternate universe.

"I'm sorry, uh are you opening the Salon?" I asked, hearing my own desperation.

"Yeah, if the door will let me," the man said, glaring at his keys jiggling inside the lock and finding only resistance. "Come on, open for Barry."

"Barry? Um, I've been trying to get inside the shop for uh well, forever."

"That's a long time."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, I can only open it so fast- There we go!" He grunted, twisting the key and pushing the door open. My heart took flight. Suddenly, I couldn't feel my body as if my soul floated over this town. If it wasn't for my raging heartbeat, I'd assume I was dreaming.

Lizzie raced out of the car to my side. She grabbed my hand and squeezed. "Oh my god."

"Oh my god."

Taking a deep breath, I walked over the threshold to Miss Patty's Salon. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes as Barry found the light switches, causing lights to flicker awake one by one, lighting up a section of costume jewelry, a section of vintage thrifted clothes among costumes and more mannequins than I ever imagined in crazy costumes. I walked across overlapping rugs and underneath lanterns and banners and twinkle lights and ribbons and kites.

On the far wall was a line of different pride flags. Actually, there were all the pride flags from the rainbow gay flag to the asexual flag and my heart leapt at the bisexual colors.

Framed by an ornate golden frame with a draped feather boa was a portrait of the most fabulous drag queen. A queen of great stature and the most stately curves, wearing a sparkling sequined dress of every color of the rainbow and a pink wig that was styled so high to the heavens, every southern woman burned with jealousy. A spotlight hit the queen as she spoke into a microphone.

I recognized that queen immediately.

Looking back at Barry, who was dropping his stuff at the counter. The words formed as my thoughts did. "Are you... are you Miss Patty?"

"The one and only." Barry gave this huge cheese ball smile, holding his hands out as if his existence was the greatest presentation of them all. He motioned to the portrait. "I was fantastic, wasn't I? Look at me. I was stunning. They used to call me Miss Patty Cakes." He shrugged. "Some still do."

"Can we call you Miss Patty?" Lizzie asked, dragging her hand down a sequined dress that changed colors depending on the direction.

"You two?" He gawked. "Are you kidding? If you call me Miss Patty, I'll slash your tires." Lizzie snatched her hand from the dress as all the color rushed out of her face, which made Barry, or Miss Patty, cackle and shatter the quiet. "I'm kidding! Call me whatever you like! I'm sure I've been called worse, so you—"

He pointed at me.

"Parker," I said.

"Parker, you've waited forever to get here. You're here, what can I do for you?"

"I have to know first, I'm sorry but why do you open at two am? I've been here like a million times and it's always closed. I mean, what's your hours like? How do you even stay in business? Does anyone even know it's open-"

As if I summoned them, a woman barreled inside with her arms full of canvas bags. Lizzie jumped to attention and offered to help. Relieved, the woman let out a long sigh as she greeted Barry at the counter, "Evening Miss Patty! I've got some more envelopes and I gave Lana a call. She says she'll bring some more sizes of the baseball tee later."

"Thanks Kim." He smiled.

The woman, Kim, led Lizzie to the back and left me alone with Miss Patty.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm kind of excited."

"Don't apologize. You're curious. It's good to be curious. This place is open from two am until six am. Just a few hours..." He came around the counter and walked the store. I trailed behind him, soaking it all in. "I got tired of the stand-up comedy scene, not that I don't make an appearance every now and then, to host something or join a Youtube video, but I really found my calling with my online store. I wanted to curate a safe place where good queer people could find what they needed, find what made them, them or grab something to show a bit of pride."

We arrived at a wall and it took me a few seconds too long to notice it was a wall of binders of all shapes and sizes and colors.

"Kim comes by and helps me package orders. Most of our business is from online purchases. The shop closes at six, but I'm still hanging around until nine or ten in the back. We've got a studio there, so feel free to give us a knock if you ever need somethin'."

"It's not..." I looked around the store again. "It's not what I expected."

"Thank you." Miss Patty smiled. "Well, Parker, I have a business to run. I give information for free, but I'd love to sell you something. Is that your girlfriend? I sell couples' fanny packs over there."

"I'm dead," I said, imagining Lizzie and I wearing those around school. But I shook my head and tried to remain on task. I pointed at the mannequin in the store window. "I mean, I need that tiara. I'm making the costumes for my school play, um Cinderella, and ever since I saw that tiara, I knew where it was meant to be."

Miss Patty melted a little, sighing wistfully as he made his way to the mannequin. "Before I was a comedy queen, I threw my hat into a pageant or two. God, that must've been almost thirty years ago..." He plucked the tiara off its perch and admired its sparkle. Little flecks of light danced across our faces.

"And you won?"

"Oh, hell no," Barry laughed. "I was such a mess! Really made a mockery of the whole affair! The winner, Cordelia Bedelia, was such a bitch. Pardon my language, but a cat's a cat and a bitch is a bitch. I got drunk backstage and ran off with the tiara. They had to chase after me. Imagine, over a dozen queens in ten-inch heels chasing me. Thankfully, Cordelia was actually not so bad and was pretty cute underneath all that hairspray and Vaseline. We got married last year. Not to brag," he boasted, and I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt. "For me, it's all about the second impression... or maybe the third."

Lizzie ran back into the shop, holding a rainbow notebook over her head that said: The Gay Agenda. She gushed, "They've got the best stuff here. It's really dangerous. You're not in a hurry are you- Oh! The tiara!"

"I don't think it's for sale," I explained.

"Oh." Lizzie's shoulders lowered.

"Not for sale," Miss Patty agreed. "But I do love donating to the arts. I'd be honored to take part in your production of Cinderella." He sat the surprisingly heavy tiara into my shaky hands, trying not to breathe directly on it, in fear of ruining its perfect shininess. Lizzie gushed, wrapping her arms around my waist and squeezing a squeal out of me. We jumped up and down, slightly losing our minds.

We spent another hour there as Lizzie kept me from draining my entire bank account to buy a bunch of bisexual apparel, vintage clothes, and just a thousand pins and patches. Lizzie helped me narrow it down to only a few patches for my jean jacket and a bumper sticker for the glorious day I own a car.

"You didn't want anything?" I asked Lizzie as I was checking out.

Lizzie blushed, eyeing Miss Patty for just a split second and then her attention flickered back to me. "Nope. Couldn't find a thing. I think I should wait anyways, until you know, I'm out. My mom might go through my room or something, you know? I'm low on cash too and-"

"She gets it, she gets it." Miss Patty rolled his eyes and handed me my receipt. "Lizzie, sweetheart. Promise me you'll stick to music and leave the acting to the professionals."

"Yes, Miss Patty," Lizzie solemnly agreed. "Thanks."

"Thank you," I said with a promise, "I'll take really good care of your tiara."

"Just make sure you get some tickets for me and my husband."

"Front row. Nothing but the best for you."

Lizzie and I walked out into the cool Sunday morning. I collapsed into the passenger seat of her car and caught my breath. It felt like a whirlwind just blew through my life. I had to look inside the paper bag Miss Patty gave me one more time. Just to make sure it all happened.

It did.

I squealed again, hopping around in my seat. "Holy, fuck Lizzie!"

Lizzie laughed. "I know! I know!"

"I take back everything bad I ever said about this town!"

"The town forgives you." Lizzie nodded and started the car. She drove out of downtown, into the more commercial side of town and pulled into the McDonald's, the same McDonald's where we agreed to this trial. Camille still had our agreement written on that little napkin. To me, that slightly dirty napkin was a relic that would need to be preserved for future generations.

She turned off the car, but I grabbed her arm. "Hey, Lizzie."

Lizzie looked back at me, still wearing the same smile she had back at the Salon like her new favorite accessory. I told her, "Thanks for coming with me. I'm really glad you were there."

"Me too."

She smiled, really having no idea how much this meant to me. I always imagined walking to Miss Patty's Salon alone. Always imagined no one caring enough to come with me. I expected a few eye rolls and head shakes and an argument for me not to try to find Miss Patty at all. I didn't realize how much I really wanted to share this moment. Share it with Lizzie.

#

Okay! So how did your Miss Patty theories hold up! How close? How far away were you from the truth? Also, that kiss tho~ Can you guys tell I used to write romance novels? Lol. This was the first scene I came up with when outlining this book. Something about "wanna make out" is the funniest thing in the world to me. Lol.