Archive of Our Own

"I'll babysit for a week."

The girl crossed her arms. "My parents already have a babysitter for my sister, so that's a no."

"I can get your brother a date with Maria." 

Maria turned. "Girl, what the hell?" 

"Still not interested." 

Olivia exhaled through her nose. "Alright, what do you actually want, Allie? Because I'm running out of things to offer here and I would really appreciate a hint."

Allie sighed, shifting her clipboard to her other arm. "Look. Even if I wanted to help you - which I don't, for the record - Moniqsue is not exactly the forgiving type.  If she finds out I'm doing you any kind of favor, I’ll have to deal with her wrath. That is not a consequence I'm willing to live with over something that has nothing to do with me."

Unfortunately, it was a fair point. Maria tapped Olivia on the shoulder and cupped her hand around her mouth. "She bombed the last two bio tests."

Olivia, with incredible force, kept her expression neutral at the little nugget of info dropped. "What if I did your biology homework for a month?"

Allie's expression flickered. "Two months."

"One and a half."

"...Fine."

"Wonderful." Olivia extended her hand. "And obviously-"

"This never happened. Yes, I know, oh my god."

They shook on it.

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In hindsight, Olivia probably should not have worn a skirt.

She wore a yellow V-neck top with a short white skirt that wasn't too scandalous but not covering too much either.  Olivia also spent a good chunk of time this morning doing her makeup at Maria’s and she had shown up thinking all she had to do was sell a few tickets, smile at some kids, flirt with Sebastian and maybe, hopefully convince him that she could be his type. 

She had not, under any circumstances, anticipated this.

Olivia stared up at the enormous inflatable structure in front of her. A few oversized padded jousting sticks leaned against the side of it, and a banner overhead read KNOCK 'EM OFF! in bold red letters. 

Monique, she thought. Monique must’ve gotten to Allie. And if she did, and this whole shift is some kind of elaborate punishment, then that means the scheduling got changed, which means he might not even-

"Hey, sorry, sorry- I know I'm late."

Sebastian was slightly out of breath, wearing a white t-shirt under an open flannel, dark jeans, and hair a little disheveled from his excursion here. He slowed to a stop in front of her, a little flushed from the jog, and smiled. Just like that, every single thread of panic from before unwound itself.

"Ducks. A family of them was crossing the road and we had to wait and it was just a whole thing." He said quickly, realizing how ridiculous it sounded. "What did I miss?"

She gestured to the inflatable. "Looks like we're shift partners for gladiator jousting."

Sebastian looked at the structure. "Huh." He nodded slowly. "Nice, sweetttt." Another pause. "Wait, so people are using their tickets to watch us joust?"

"Oh, god, no." Olivia laughed. "We're reffing. Just keeping things moving, making sure nobody goes home in an ambulance."

"Right, yeah, of course. I was like, not that I couldn't do it, obviously, but that would've been kind of you know-" He gestured vaguely between the two of them. "I mean, I can't exactly hit a girl, right? Guy here." He pointed at himself with both thumbs. "Ruh-oh, yeah, that- that would've been pretty awkward."

The silence that followed was immediate.

Sebastian lowered his thumbs and cleared his throat. "Anyways." He clapped his hands together once. "The game. Should we- yeah, let's just go set up."

Gladiator jousting was, against all reasonable expectations, extremely popular. In fact, Olivia was developing a theory that the attraction had nothing to do with the inflatable and everything to do with this being a sanctioned opportunity to hit someone and nobody could do anything about it.

They developed a system with Olivia collecting tickets while Sebastian handed over the jousting sticks and ran a quick rundown of the rules, which mostly amounted to don’t start until we say so, no grabbing, don’t sue us (that one was more for the parents than the kids).

Most matches lasted under a minute, and a significant portion ended not from any successful hit but from a kid simply losing their balance mid-swing and toppling sideways off the platform. Sebastian had a look he did when that happened, and Olivia had to find something else to look at every single time, or she was going to completely lose it in front of a group of twelve-year-olds. 

Sebastian picked up one of the spare jousting sticks and was absently spinning it like a baton, and Olivia made the mistake of saying, "You're going to drop it."

He didn't drop it, instead he caught it cleanly and pointed it at her. 

"Ye of little faith."

Olivia rolled her eyes, going back to reorganizing the ticket box and pretending to be disinterested in his antics. Suddenly, she felt a gentle tap of the stick against her shoulder. She stopped and turned around slowly. Sebastian was already holding the stick behind his back, looking up at the clouds with the worst poker face she had ever witnessed.

"Did you just poke me?"

"Me? I would never do such a thing."

"You're holding the evidence behind your back."

"Mmm, nah I think I'm holding nothing behind my back."

She grabbed the second stick and Sebastian immediately abandoned the act and brought his out with a large shit-eating grin on his face. 

"I want you to know," Olivia said, deflecting a swing, "that if anyone from the Junior League sees this, I'm telling them you started it."

"This is definitely my fault," Sebastian agreed, and jabbed lightly at her arm. “Clearly, I lured Miss Lennox away from her very important and sensible responsibilities for this very serious and professional sword fight. ”

They went on a few rounds, neither really trying to win so much as trying to make the other one laugh first. When Olivia finally got a tap in against his ribs, Sebastian clutched his side and staggered backward against the inflatable with such theatrical agony that a passing toddler stopped to stare at him in confusion.

"You're scaring the kids," Olivia pointed.

Sebastian, with one hand pressed dramatically to his chest, sank lower against the inflatable. "O, I die, Horatio!" he gasped. "The potent poison quite o’ercrows my spirit." 

Olivia blinked, genuinely caught off guard. "Wow. Did you just quote Hamlet to me?" She tilted her head, the corner of her mouth tugging upward. "I'm impressed."

Sebastian cracked one eye open, abandoning the death scene entirely to grin up at her. "Yeah, well." He pushed himself off the inflatable and brushed his flannel back into place. "I pay attention in AP Lit."

"Clearly more than I gave you credit for." 

"And here you thought I was just a pretty face," He retorted. 

“Pretty face, quotes Macbeth, and plays soccer? Be honest, have you been keeping the secret to winning girls’ hearts from the rest of the male population?” Olivia had no idea where that surge of boldness had come from, but of course with her luck, the sound of an argument cut Sebastian’s reply off.

A tired-looking dad arrived with twin boys and one hand planted firmly on each of their shoulders, physically keeping them separated while the two argued furiously. Their matching scowls suggested this particular disagreement had been going strong long before they'd reached the front of the line.

"Never mind, Horatio," he groaned. "Looks like a fresh dose of poison just arrived to finish the job."

"Boys, boys, please! It's your turn." The dad released their shoulders.

Olivia probably should have said something. Maybe returned their tickets, cited a rule she'd just invented, cited literally anything, but instead she handed them helmets. Olivia quickly learned to regret that decision.

The second the two got onto their assigned platforms, the hits were immediate and relentless. They whacked each other with so much force that no child in the previous hour had come even close to matching. When one of them finally knocked the other off his platform, Olivia exhaled, okay good, it’sover-

And then the one who knocked off the other jumped down after his brother. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET," he announced, voice cracking, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH MY XBOX!"

"I JUST WANTED TO PLAY MINECRAFT-"

"Guys stop,the game is over, you need to-" Olivia moved to intervene.

"Wait, you're wearing a skirt." Sebastian caught her arm briefly before she could step onto the inflatable. He kicked off his shoes and climbed in himself. "I got it."

He did not, as it turned out, got it.

The twins, united briefly by the arrival of a common obstacle, redirected their energy toward Sebastian. He tried to step between them and immediately got a jousting stick to the left shoulder.He tried to hold one back and got whacked from the right. He was simply caught in the middle getting knocked back and forth between two eleven-year-olds like something in a pinball machine and he was somehow miraculously staying upright despite it.

Olivia grabbed one of the spare inflatable jousting sticks from the side of the structure and held it out over the edge. "Sebastian, over here!"

He looked slightly sick from being passed back and forth but he managed to follow her voice and took the stick. Sebastian planted his feet, recovered what remained of his dignity, and was able to start blocking the hits. When the twins realized they were fighting a losing fight they started to make a run for it, but one of them tripped over the platform and landed flat on their stomach.

"DO YOU SURRENDER?!" Sebastian yelled with the stick on top of the boy.

The boy was out of breath and, suddenly faced with an adult wielding an inflatable joust made him realize there was no escaping.

"...Yes sir," he said with a defeated tone and a giant pout as he slowly climbed out of the inflatable with his brother. The dad descended immediately, apologies coming fast and overlapping, and Olivia could already hear him starting in on the twins as he steered them away.

Sebastian climbed out as well, looking mildly concussed but otherwise fine.  His hair was pushed forward from where he'd taken at least three different hits to the head and his name tag, which was still amazingly attached to his shirt, was sitting at a completely wrong angle.

Her first instinct, before she could fully think it through, was to reach up and fix his hair. She stopped herself just as her hand came up. Sebastian shifted slightly automatically, just enough that her hand had nowhere logical to go and she redirected it smoothly, catching the corner of his name tag between her fingers and straightening it instead.

"Surprised this survived," she said.

He looked down at it and visibly relaxed. "Yeah, me too." He huffed out a breath that was close to a laugh. "How else is anyone supposed to know it was Sebastian who just got wrecked by a pair of eleven-year-old twins in there.”

She smiled. He smiled back, still a little dazed, and she turned to wave the next pair of kids forward before he could see just how wide her smile had grown. Only someone like Sebastian could be this thoughtful, take a beating up there because she wore a skirt, and still be this awfully funny about it afterward. 

"I think that's our cue," Sebastian suddenly said, pointing to two volunteers in matching volunteer shirts making their way over.

Olivia glanced over her shoulder. "Oh." Olivia hated how disappointed that sounded. 

"Hey, we're the two o'clock," the girl said. "You guys, Olivia and Sebastian?"

"That's us," Sebastian said, handing over the ticket box. And just like that, the shift was over.

"So," Sebastian said.

"So," Olivia agreed.

They looked at each other. He pressed his lips together awkwardly, and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Good shift," she said finally, which was severely understated.

"Yeah." He nodded, hands going into his pockets. "Really good shift."

It was ridiculous. They weren't saying goodbye forever; they'd probably run into each other again within the hour. Still, Olivia found herself wishing the replacements had taken a little longer.

"I'll see you around, Sebastian."

He lifted a hand in a small wave. "See you, Olivia."

As soon as he was out of sight, she let out a breath and pressed her palms against her cheeks. This was getting embarrassing. A quick stop in the restroom, Olivia decided. She needed five minutes and some cold water before her next assignment. 

The bathrooms near the west entrance were less crowded and she was cutting toward them through the foot traffic when she collided shoulder-first with someone going the opposite direction. 

Her first instinct was to apologize. Her second instinct, which arrived later when she registered the sharp, indignant intake of breath from the other party, was that she wasn't going to get the chance.

"Are you ser-" the guy started, and then stopped.

Olivia looked up and saw a guy with blonde hair wearing a purple polo shirt, and the collar flipped up in the douchiest way she had ever seen. He had been winding up for something considerably ruder than what ultimately came out of his mouth, and she could see the exact moment he decided not to.

"Hey," he said instead with a charming smile like it was always there. "It’s all good, totally my fault."

"It's fine," Olivia said, already stepping to the side to continue on her way.

"Woah, woah, where are you already going, gorgeous? I just got here, and you seem like you know your way around this place," he smirked.

She paused just long enough to glance back at him. "Well, good thing we have maps at the front for navigation." She kept her tone light. "Also, for future reference, if you actually want girls to like you, leading with the apology tends to work a lot better than waiting to see if she's worth one first."

Olivia gave him a final, cordial smile and walked away before she could see his reaction.

The restroom was mercifully quiet. Olivia ran cold water over her hands, splashed a little on her face, and assessed herself in the mirror. She looked fine, maybe one could even consider pretty, so she wasn’t such a horrible sight to see during the entire shift to Sebastian.

Maria had given her a rundown of her assignments for the day earlier, and her next shift would only take up the next three hours of her life. Olivia shouldered her bag, pushed open the door, and went to go find a food cart.

Olivia spotted the cheerful red stand on wheels parked near the east end of the carnival grounds. It had a little striped canopy overhead and a menu board painted in blocky letters advertising hot dogs, churros, cotton candy, and popcorn. 

She scanned the area and noticed the empty space behind the counter, concluding that she was working this shift alone. Ducking around the side of the cart, she crouched down to place her bag in the storage space beneath the counter. At that precise moment, Olivia came face to face with a girl crouched on the ground, who was eating a hot dog with both hands.

They stared at each other.

The girl made a noise that was half-shriek, half-choke, and clutched the hot dog tighter (an instinct that, in retrospect, probably wasn't her most dignified moment). There was a mix of actual fear and alarm in her eyes that lingered just a second too long before she smoothly masked it. Olivia grabbed the side of the cart to keep from tipping over backward, her own heart hammering from the unexpected jump scare.

"Oh my- I'm sorry," the girl managed, once she'd swallowed. She pressed a hand to her chest, her bright green eyes still a little startled while a few strands of light brown hair fell loose around her face. She was, Olivia noticed, seriously one of the most beautiful girl she’s ever seen.

"I didn't hear you come around the side, and I was just-" The girl stopped, looking down at the slightly squished hot dog still trapped in her hands. She offered a sheepish, charming smile. "Okay, there is no version of this that looks good."

"I mean," Olivia straightened up slowly, "it looks like you were enjoying a hot dog."

"I know how it looks, eating on the job-"

"Before the cart is even open."

"Before the cart is even open, yes, thank you." The girl pointed at the hot dog with a frustrated affection. "But they were just sitting here. I hadn't eaten anything since seven this morning, and let tell you I already had a LONG day and they smelled so good, and there's genuinely only so much willpower a person can be expected to have against a freshly made hot dog." She paused. "I feel like that's a reasonable argument."

Olivia looked at her for a moment. Then she reached into her bag, pulled out a travel pack of napkins, and held one out. "You have mustard on your face."

The girl turned slightly pink and grabbed the napkin gratefully. She proceeded to touch the wrong side of her face entirely.

"Other side."

She tried again, missed again, and Olivia pressed her lips together hard against a smile as the girl went for a third attempt and landed somewhere in the general vicinity of the problem. Olivia leaned over and redirected the napkin with one finger. "There."

"Thank you." The girl laughed and crumpled the napkin in her fist. There was still a faint streak of ketchup at the corner of her mouth that she'd somehow missed completely, and Olivia was weighing whether to mention it when something else caught her attention instead.

Her nametag. It was slightly crooked, clipped to the top of her dress, and it read Sebastian.

"Are you sure," Olivia said carefully, "that your name is Sebastian?"

The girl's smile dropped immediately. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she said, unclipping it and looking at it like it was the most ludicrous thing ever. "I must've grabbed my brother's by mistake this morning; we keep our stuff in the same bag.” The girl added in a laugh that was a bit too loud, and she winced at the sound.

"Wait," Olivia said. "You're Sebastian Hastings' twin sister?"

"The one and only." 

That's why she'd looked familiar. The striking green eyes, the same bone structure, the same general quality of features. Of course, she'd been looking at Sebastian for the better part of the morning and hadn't put it together until now.

That meant when Olivia had gone to Aliie about the scheduling, Olivia had said she wanted to be on a shift with a Hastings. She had meant, specifically, one Hastings. She did not anticipate that Allie would interpret this with literal generosity and put her on a shift with both of them.

"Well, Olivia, I assume we're working this shift together..." Viola started easily, but she paused abruptly mid-sentence, the same brief look of surprise and worry crossing her features as if she hadn't meant to let the name slip out so casually.

A sudden spark of excitement lit up Olivia's face. "You know my name? Did... did Sebastian mention me to you?"

"What? Oh, no, haha!" Viola let out a quick, slightly sheepish laugh, waving her hand dismissively as she pointed a finger toward Olivia’s chest. "I read your name tag earlier."

Olivia glanced down at her shirt, feeling both embarrassed and disappointed by the clarification. "Oh, right, I completely forgot I was even wearing it today."

"Same here, and I wasn't even wearing the right one," Viola said, her smile turning a bit more relaxed as she held out her hand to reset the moment. "Anyway, let's try a proper introduction. I'm Viola Hastings, and I am really sorry about dipping into the supply during the job."

"Olivia Lennox," she replied, shaking her hand with a warm smile. "And don't worry, I'm definitely not telling."

"Genuinely appreciated."

"Although," Olivia added, reaching over and pointing to the corner of Viola's mouth, "you still have ketchup right there."

Viola closed her eyes briefly. "Of course I do."

The first part of their shift was slow, almost painfully so. Most of the carnival crowd had migrated toward the rides and game booths, which meant that the food cart sat largely unvisited. So mostly, Olivia and Viola just stood there. 

But Olivia was having an internal debate. She was standing two feet away from Sebastian Hastings' twin sister. Someone who had known him her whole life, who had years of accumulated knowledge and stories just sitting there, completely accessible, and the question was simply whether it was acceptable to make use of that. It would just be a normal conversation, like getting to know a new person. Who also happened to share DNA with someone Olivia had been thinking about ever since he arrived at Illyria.

She decided, after running it back and forth a few times, that it was not ethical. It felt too much like reading someone's diary through their sibling, and she wasn't that person, and she was going to be better than that.

"I heard you're really good at soccer," Olivia said. "It must run in the family."

Viola looked over, surprised, and then laughed. "Yeah, haha. We're both pretty decent, I guess." She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "Too bad the girls' team got cut. My mom's the only one treating it like good news. Her logic is that now I can invest more time in Junior League things. You know, important stuff like selling hot dogs and wearing pretty dresses. Really making use of my talents."

She said it like a joke but there was an edge underneath that was hard to miss. "That's genuinely awful. I'm sorry." Olivia said.

"It is what it is." Viola picked up a napkin and folded it in half for no reason, then set it back down. "The school made their decision, so."

"Well." Olivia turned to face her more fully. "Cornwall has absolutely no idea what they just lost in Viola Hastings. I hope someone eventually tells them."

Viola’s face softened into a honest smile at the comment. "Thanks. Although in the spirit of full honesty, the Junior League inherited the girl who trips over her own dress at least twice every event. I was way less dangerous in cleats." 

Olivia nodded thoughtfully.  "See, that's actually kind of impressive."

"Tripping over your own dress is impressive now?"

"Well, it’s just that most people would learn after the third or fourth time."

Viola gasped dramatically. "I can’t believe I was starting to think you were nice."

"I am nice."

Viola grinned at her and the awkwardness of the early shift mostly dissolved.  "You know, for someone I met twenty minutes ago, you're surprisingly comfortable insulting me."

Olivia smiled. "I'd be much nicer if I didn't already think you were pretty great." 

"Viola! Hey- hey, hey." They both turned at the new voice.

A boy wearing a purple polo was making his way toward the cart looking directly at Viola with an expression that was a mix of relief and complete obliviousness to the frown that immediately formed on Viola’s lips.

"There you are," he said, landing against the counter. "I've been calling. Like, a lot. I’ve missed you; we seriously need to talk."

Olivia glanced at Viola, entirely surprised to see that Viola knew that same douche she encountered earlier.

"We’ve talked Justin," her voice attempted to sound level, but a hint of frustration came out. “All the talking is done.”

Justin's jaw shifted, prepping what he thought was something well adjusted to say. Olivia had been around enough boys like him to recognize the tell.

"Look," he said, scoffing the word out, "nobody breaks up over a soccer issue, okay? That's not- can you just be a girl for five seconds?"

Whatever careful composure Viola had been holding onto since he'd walked up did not so much crack as it did vanish entirely.

"For five seconds?" she repeated.

"Okay," Viola held up her hand, index finger out. "First of all, it is not a stupid soccer issue." She put up another finger. "And you’re a jerk."  She kept going, ticking off the rest in quick succession, three, four, five, her expression perfectly calm the entire time. "Oh, look at that." She turned her palm toward him, all five fingers extended. "Time's up."

She slapped him across the face before he could fully register that it was coming.

Olivia's hands flew up to cover her mouth, but it did very little to muffle the laugh that escaped anyway, especially not at the sight of him standing there clutching his cheek and gaping like a landed fish. And she wasn't the only one enjoying it. A cluster of teenagers who had been loitering a few feet behind Justin erupted almost immediately, delighted by the free entertainment.

"OHHHH- She does NOT want you, man, read the room!"

Justin's ears went red. He opened his mouth, clearly hunting for some kind of recovery, found absolutely nothing, and settled instead for shooting the entire group a furious look before stomping off across the lawn. The jeering followed him the entire way, which only made him walk faster.

Viola watched him go with her arms crossed and a deeply satisfied smirk settling across her face. 

Olivia finally lowered her hands from her mouth. "You know, I actually ran into him earlier. I was holding out hope he might actually surprise me this time and prove he has a brain cell," she said, "Okay, maybe, at least half of one."

Viola shrugged. "Don’t expect too much from stupid boys like him. Eeeyuck." Looking down, Viola suddenly grimaced and sniffed her arm. "Urgh, though speaking of yuck... I smell like straight-up hot dog water right now."

Olivia immediately clapped both hands over her mouth again, giggling helplessly behind her fingers. "Oh no, I'm so sorry! I've been totally spoiled manning the cotton candy and kettle popcorn machines today. Everything on my side just smells like melted sugar."

Unzipping her bag, Olivia started rummaging through it. "But I knew we were going to be outside with some interesting smells today, so I brought this just in case."

She pulled out a sleek little bottle and held it up triumphantly. "Sweet pear and honey body mist. Come here."

Viola stepped a little closer, suddenly hyper-aware of how close they were standing. Olivia smiled, raising the bottle and gently spritzing the sweet-scented mist around Viola's shoulders and neck.

Olivia lowered the bottle, looking up at her. "Better?"

Viola took a cautious sniff of her arm again. "Now I smell like pears and hot dog. Yumm."

Olivia burst out laughing, and Viola immediately grinned to show she was teasing. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. It's really nice, thank you." 

Viola's phone suddenly buzzed against her hip - an insistent and long pattern that meant an actual call rather than a text. Viola tried to casually press her hand over it to muffle the rattling, but the phone kept buzzing relentlessly.

"You know your leg has been vibrating for the last two minutes, right?" Olivia teased. "Seriously, go ahead. It sounds important."

"Oh, it's fine. Probably just a spam call about my car's extended warranty," Viola joked, flipping the phone open anyway.

Her stomach instantly dropped. Her screen was flashing with a wall of alerts: four missed calls from Paul, three from Yvonne, and a bunch of urgent voicemails from Kia.  Before she could even press on the first voicemail, the screen abruptly overrode with a new incoming call: Birthgiver.

Viola quickly turned her back to Olivia, pressing the phone tightly to her ear.

"Viola Hastings! Do you know where your brother is?" her mom’s voice shrieked through the receiver. "His shift at the kissing booth starts in five minutes and he is nowhere to be found. I swear to God, if he’s off fooling around with some girl, I am banning him from his little band practices for a month!"

I"m supposed to be dressed as Sebastian at the booth right now, Viola thought, a wave of panic hitting her. 

Hunching her shoulders, she frantically whispered into the phone, "Mom, Mom, chill, I'm literally looking for Sebastian right now! I will find him and drag him there myself, I promise, just don't cancel his band stuff! Bye!"

She slammed the phone shut and faced Olivia. "Okay, this is going to sound completely insane," she began, already reaching for her backpack. "I just remembered that I left- actually, there's a situation with my grandmother. She's expecting a phone call at a very specific time, and if I miss it, she gets really upset. We have this super duper important tradition, and she’s ninety-one so if I don’t answer, she’ll call my dad, saying, ‘Oh Roger, the children have forgotten about me!’" Viola pitched her voice an octave higher to mimic her grandmother.

"You don't have to explain-"

"I’m so sorry to do this to you because this has honestly been the best shift I've ever had, and I feel terrible about leaving you alone. But I really, really have to go." She had the backpack over both shoulders now and was already stepping backward. "You're amazing and it was so great to meet you!"

"Viol-"

"Bye, Olivia!" Viola yelled over her shoulder, her voice already faint as she completely vanished into the crowd.

Olivia laughed under her breath, shaking her head at the empty space where Viola had been standing half a second ago. She had just about made her peace with running the cart solo and was reaching to wipe down the counter when her own phone started chiming in her pocket. She pulled it out to see Maria’s name flashing on the screen. 

"Hey, Maria. What's up?"

Maria’s voice came through fast and a little breathless. "Olivia, okay, you are not going to believe this. Guess who just walked up to the kissing booth and is officially on duty right now?"

Olivia’s heart did a little flip. "No way. Sebastian?"

"Yes way! He literally just got here, and I almost missed it if I didn’t have a horde of girls almost run me over while getting there," Maria squealed over the receiver. "You need to get your ass over there right now!"

Olivia's face lit up, but then her eyes immediately darted to the completely unattended cart. The excitement vanished, replaced by disappointment. "Wait, I can't! I don't have anyone to cover my shift. The other volunteer just bolted on me and I'm running this entire cart by myself."

"Olivia."

"What?"

"Look back."

Olivia listened, realizing Maria’s voice was suddenly echoing. It wasn't just coming from the phone speaker anymore, but instead from directly behind her. Olivia spun around, dropping her phone from her ear. Maria was standing there with a massive grin, lowering her own cell phone with one hand while triumphantly waving a fistful of carnival tickets in the other.

Olivia let out a delighted shriek and practically launched herself into a hug. Maria caught her, laughing, and pressed the tickets into her palm.

"Consider this the ultimate thank-you. If you hadn't successfully talked my mom out of killing me when I came home with a nose piercing last month, I wouldn’t be here to give you these.” Maria stepped behind the counter and popped a piece of kettle corn into her mouth. "I've got the booth covered. Now go get 'em, tiger!"

"Thank you, thank you, you are a literal lifesaver!" Olivia squealed, clutching the tickets tightly.

Without wasting another second, she turned on her heel and practically sprinted through the carnival, her heart pounding with excitement as she headed straight for the kissing booth.

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Viola pressed her lips together behind the kissing booth counter and looked at the guys flanking her. To her left, Duke was pacing back and forth because he had spent the last fifteen minutes going on and on about his master plan. He and the rest of the guys, which also included her (Sebastian), had struck a binding, bro-code agreement: if Olivia showed up, they would immediately swap booths so Duke could finally get his shot.

To her right was Toby, who was leaning against the frame trying to look like he wasn't anticipating anyone. But Viola wasn't buying it for a second. His eyes were constantly darting into the crowd scanning for someone, she just wasn’t sure who it was. And Andrew? Well.. Andrew was just blissfully content with tossing his mini soccer ball around and being able to kiss girls.

Suddenly, Toby stiffened. "Yo. Yo, yo." He pointed into the crowd. "Is that Olivia Lennox over there?"

They all leaned forward, peering through the wooden slats. Sure enough, Olivia was weaving through the crowd, heading straight toward the booths, but more specifically Sebastian’s line as she stepped into queue.

Duke froze, his eyes widening to the size of flying saucers. "Bro! Quick, switch with me!"

"Go, go, go!" Viola hissed in her Sebastian voice, scrambling out of her seat. 

Olivia was now about five people back in Duke’s new line, and Duke was a total mess. His shoes were tapping a frenetic rhythm while his hands were sweating as he tried to look nonchalant. He cleared his throat, staring straight ahead, and asked the guys in a strained whisper, "What do you think it's going to be like?"

Toby leaned over. "I know it's gonna be really, really special."

"I just think we need to acknowledge the moment," Andrew chimed in, tossing his soccer ball aside and adopting a tone of pure reverence. "After four years, Duke is finally gonna fulfill his destiny."

Duke nodded along solemnly, intensely prepping his lips by rubbing them together. Toby stepped up, patting his back and giving his shoulders a pep-talk rub.

"Life is good," Andrew continued, staring into the distance wistfully. "Life is fair. Life is just."

But just as the word just left Andrew’s mouth, Olivia - realizing the boy at the front of the line wasn't the guy she was looking for - stepped out of the queue and moved one lane over, aiming right for Sebastian's booth.

The boys all froze. "Huh??" they chorused.

"She moved!" Duke panicked, his eyes darting. "She's in your line now, man!"

Viola and Duke pulled off another frantic, crab-like shuffle behind the counter, ducking low so Olivia wouldn't see them playing musical chairs. Viola popped up in her original spot, and Duke successfully occupied the booth Olivia was currently targeting.

Olivia, who kept her eyes fixed entirely on "Sebastian's" face, noticed the sudden swap. A look of mild confusion crossed her features, and she promptly sidestepped again, switching lines back to follow Sebastian.

"Wait, she shifted again!" Andrew gasped, pointing a finger.

"What is she doing, playing zone defense?!" Duke groaned, ducking back down. "Switch, switch, switch!"

The boys reversed direction. Duke scrambled back toward the other seat. Viola was now waving both hands, hissing "No, no, the other one, the OTHER one-" while Toby tried to steer Duke like a shopping cart with a broken wheel.

But Olivia drifted back to Sebastian's line once more, examining a flyer in her hand and completely oblivious.

"She’s dodging you, bro!" Toby yelled. "Duke, move left! Sebastian, drop back!"

Duke and Viola lunged across the booth one more time, but their coordination completely failed them. Duke tripped over Andrew’s soccer ball, Viola caught her flannel on a stray nail, and by the time they both scrambled upright, a shadow fell over the counter.

Viola looked up, her heart leaping into her throat. Olivia was standing right there at the front of the line with a bright, beautiful smile, looking directly at Viola. 

Behind the counter, Duke was splayed out on the floor, completely out of breath, while Toby and Andrew threw up their hands in defeat. It was too late. There was no switching now.

Olivia tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and looked up through her eyelashes, clutching a wad of red tickets in both hands. "Oh hey Sebastian." She gave a shy laugh. "This is so crazy, I didn't think you'd be here working the kissing booth. What are the odds, right?"

Viola stared at her, utterly dumbfounded. REALLY?! she screamed internally. You just played a game of whack-a-mole across three different lines to make sure you ended up exactly here!

"Haha, yeah that’s so crazy." Viola choked out, her mind racing for an exit strategy. She could feel Duke's utterly betrayed glare burning a hole in the back of her neck. "But listen, Olivia, you really, really don't want to cash those tickets here. I just housed, like, a massive chili cheese dog with extra onions right before my shift. My breath is currently a biohazard." She leaned in, gesturing wildly toward the booth next door. "You know who has impeccable, minty-fresh oral hygiene? Duke Orsino. I know for a fact Duke flosses, like religiously, so you'd be getting a significantly better deal over there if I'm being honest with you-"

"Oh, it's totally fine," Olivia replied, a sweet, unbothered smile on her face as she stepped a little closer. "I really don't mind a little mustard-"

"Also, I think I might be coming down with something." Viola coughed weakly into a fist for emphasis. "Could be a cold. Could be worse. You don't want to gamble your whole week on a kissing booth, do you?"

"Sebastian-"

"My lips are also super chapped," Sebastian added, doubling down. "And you know I kissed like 350 girls here and the budget is tight, so they didn’t give me any chapstick or mint. It's kinda gross and to be honest you don’t know what you could catch from me."

Olivia's gentle smile had started to falter somewhere around the second excuse, and by now it had slipped entirely. The hopefulness drained out of her face and was replaced by a crushed and dawning understanding.

"Oh," she said softly. "No, it's- it's fine. I get it. I'll just.. I'll go." Tears pricking her eyes, she turned ready to disappear back into the crowd.

"No, wait, no!" Viola panicked, her guilt overriding her self-preservation. She lunged forward over the plywood counter and grabbed Olivia's hand. Olivia stopped, looking back with wide, vulnerable eyes.

"Olivia, listen to me," Viola stammered, desperately trying to fix it while staying in character. "You are an objectively very, very hot lady. Like, seriously, a total knockout. I have absolutely zero problems kissing ya, I swear!"

Olivia's eyes widened in shock at her words, and a blush crept up to her ears, painting them a soft pink.

"SEBASTIAN HASTINGS." 

Viola’s blood ran completely cold at the sound, she recognized that banshee wail anywhere. Every head turned to watch as Monique stormed to the booth like a heat-seeking missile, with murder in her eyes locked on the sight of “her man” holding another girl’s hand.

"You get AWAY from that skank!"

Absolute panic seized Viola's chest. She was not expecting Monique to be here today, and it was starting to dawn on her that all the distraught calls and voicemails left earlier by her friends might’ve been related to this. If Monique got within three feet of her, she would immediately recognize that she wasn't Sebastian, and that would ruin everything she worked so hard for at Illyria.

Without a second thought, Viola hauled Olivia forward across the counter and smashed their lips together, burying her face completely against Olivia's.

Olivia let out a tiny, muffled gasp of surprise against Viola's mouth, but it only took a fraction of a second for her to melt into it. Completely enraptured, Olivia's hands fluttered upward, moving to grab handfuls of Viola's flannel to pull her even closer. As her hands opened, the red carnival tickets she had been clutching so tightly before slipped through her fingers, fluttering down to the floor.

Out in the crowd, Monique let out a high-pitched shriek of absolute rage, but Viola couldn't pull away. Partly to keep her identity a secret, and partly because, to her absolute shock, Olivia Lennox was a genuinely incredible kisser.

When they finally broke apart, both of them were visibly breathless, blinking rapidly as they tried to reorient themselves to reality. Olivia swayed slightly on her feet and a soft, lovestruck daze washed over her features as she stared up at Viola. Viola was equally stunned, her brain completely short-circuiting as she tried to process the fact that she had just passionately kissed a girl without compensation and kind of liked it.

But that thought didn’t last too long when Viola registered Duke standing a few feet away, staring back and forth between the two of them with his eyes blown wide and his mouth pressed into a thin, furious line.

"Bro." Duke's voice cracked with betrayal. "Bro. What the hell. You lied to me?!"

"Oh, shit," Viola squeaked. There was a brief instant where everyone seemed to understand what was about to happen before it happened. And then Viola, being significantly smaller and weaker than Illyria’s top varsity soccer player, made the only sensible decision available to her: she bolted.

"I thought you were my bro, bro!" Duke bellowed, leaping over the plywood counter with terrifying force and tore off after her.

"Bro, I am still your bro!" Viola screamed at the top of her lungs, frantically dodging a family and a giant stuffed panda. "I swear to God, it is completely not what it seems!"

Meanwhile, standing safely out of the way near a pretzel stand, Paul, Yvonne, and Kia watched the two sprint past them. Kia slowly lowered her half-eaten corn dog, her eyebrows raised in concern.

"Should we... do something?" Kia asked, watching Viola weave desperately through the crowd.

Paul took a bite of his pretzel, his eyes tracking the chase. "Nah," he mumbled, chewing thoughtfully. Yvonne shrugged in agreement, and all three of them went right back to eating.

Olivia, finally shaking off the daze, snapped back into the present just in time to see possibly the love of her life being hunted. Hiking up the sides of her skirt, she started sprinting after the boys, desperately trying to intervene. "Duke, stop it! Please, no, leave Sebastian alone!" she cried out. 

Predictably, hearing the girl of his dreams fiercely defend the guy who had just kissed her only fueled Duke’s rage, causing him to pump his arms and sprint even faster.

"YOU GET HIS LYING AND CHEATING ASS FOR ME, DUKE!" Monique screeched from the sidelines. She bent down to yank off first one heel, then the other, gripping them in her fists like weapons. And then she was sprinting after Olivia, barefoot across the grass and belting out a stream of profanity colorful enough to make a nearby parent clap their hands over a child's ears.

Up ahead, Viola’s lungs were burning. She skidded to a halt near a glass-paneled popcorn cart, throwing her hands up in a desperate gesture of surrender as Duke charged toward her like a freight train.

"Duke, please!" Viola panted, backing up. "If you could just stop trying to actively kill me for one single minute, I can explain everything!"

Instead of using his words, Duke let out a guttural yell and lunged forward, diving through the air to tackle her straight into the dirt. Viola shrieked, instantly juking to the left and ducking behind the cart. Duke was moving way too fast to correct his trajectory and crashed violently into the side of the cart with a deafening clatter, sending a small explosion of popcorn raining into the air around him.

Viola skidded to a halt, briefly stunned by the sheer success of her own dodge. But that momentary pause of surprise was her ultimate downfall.

Duke recovered with terrifying speed. And before Viola could turn to run again, a massive hand shot out from the pile of popcorn, clamped down like a vice grip around her ankle, and yanked her down to the ground with him.

Viola groaned as she rolled onto her back, blinking up at the bright afternoon sky, which was now partially obscured by the faces of what appeared to be the entire carnival's worth of spectators gathered in a tight ring around her and Duke.

Suddenly, the crowd parted like the Red Sea to make way for two women in aggressively bright, matching floral sundresses and wide-brimmed sun hats. It was Viola's mother and one of the Junior League's board members, and they both looked absolutely horrified, clutching their pearls in humiliation.

"There’s no room for violence here!" the board member snapped, her voice trembling with outrage. "This is a lovely children’s carnival, goddamn it!"

Beside her, Duke was groaning loudly and slowly pushing himself off the wrecked cart. Viola on the other hand, was busy spitting a mouthful of popcorn onto the grass and shaking the greasy kernels out of her sleeves.

Her mother now, stomped forward and pointed an anger finger directly at them. "Both of you. Out. NOW!" she barked.

Without waiting for compliance, her mother leaned down, her hands outstretched to grab her by the collar.

Viola’s heart completely stopped. If her mother got close enough to grab her, the wig and the sideburns wouldn't stand a chance. Her cover would be instantly and permanently blown.

Viola scrambled backward and found her footing as she madly sprinted into the dense crowd, leaving her furious mother clutching at air.

Olivia, who had just managed to push her way through the thick circle of spectators, stopped dead in her tracks and widened her eyes in shock as she watched Sebastian disappear into the crowd. Beside the obliterated cart, Sebastian’s mother stomped her heel into the dirt as she realized her son had successfully fled the scene.

Still catching her breath, Olivia slowly raised a hand, her fingers gently brushing against her own lips. They still tingled faintly, and one small, impossible detail rose to the surface of her mind and refused to leave.

Sebastian, she thought, smelled like sweet pears and honey.