He used his hand to push the beard hairs upward, straining as he tried to look down at it.
He couldn't tell.
Was it darker?
"Christ Macy, I should have told you to make it exactly the same as last week. I can't believe I didn't tell you that. Did you make it darker? Is it the same?"
S he smiled. "It's the same as it was last week. I'd have to make another piece to change it up. I just thought it'd be fun to play around with different looks sometime."
"It would if I wasn't—" Cam hesitated , thinking about the fact that he'd already seen Jax with it twice and she hadn't noticed any discrepancies the last time. "I wanted it to look like it did last week, that's all."
She giggled again as she pushed him bac k onto the couch. "I think it's exactly like it was last week," she said. "But if you need it to look a hundred percent identical, we should probably take a picture so I have a reference."
"Oh shit, I didn't think about that," Cam said stroking his new beard with a worried expression. "Does it look the same?"
Macy studied it, trying to recall what she'd done with the hairline last week. She thought it must be pretty similar, because it looked really natural, which is what she went for every time. "Just let me finish," she said reassuringly. "I'm pretty sure it'll look the same."
Cam leaned back stiffly as if he was still worried about how convincing it would be.
"I'll snap a picture when we're done so we'll have it for next time," she said.
He sighed and picked up his phone to search through his photos just in case, but only found the one from a month before when he had on a mustache.
"I thought I might have one, but I don't," he said, tossing his phone back on the table.
"I think it'll be the same," Macy repeated. She once again pushed him by the shoulder, forcing him to relax onto the couch. "I guess you're going under cover," she said. She didn't want to come out and ask what or whom he needed to look exactly the same for.
"I'm just going to the same bar as last time."
"Who are you taking this time?"
"Nobody."
"Going at it alone?"
"Of course." Cam was trying to hold still, so he spoke like a ventriloquist. He was pretty good at it. It was something he and his brothers used to do all the time—mostly in church or someplace like that where you had to be quiet.
"Is there a reason why you're going to the same bar?" she asked. It was better than, is there a girl you're going to see , which is really what she wanted to know. She suspected there was—especially now that he got all jumpy at the thought of her screwing it up.
"Not really," he lied.
She worked in comfortable silence for fifteen minutes more before pulling back to inspect the results again. She reached out to poke and tweak a little bit before deciding to hand him the mirror.
Cam took it anxiously and held it up to see for himself. His shoulders slumped in relief the instant he looked at his reflection. "Shit, it looks the same to me," he said, stroking it as he turned from side to side, checking it out.
Macy started packing her things. "I knew I'd instinctually do it really similar. There's only so much you can do with the lace pieces."
"Yeah, if I can't see the difference, I'm sure nobody else can either." He handed the mirror back to Macy, who was otherwise all packed up.
"Have fun tonight," she said.
"I will," Cam said, giving her a sly smile.
"What's her name?" Macy asked. She didn't expect an answer. She only asked jokingly because of how excited he looked.
Cam almost lied, but, at the last second, decided not to. "Jax," he said.
"That's a cool name," Macy said, without skipping a beat. "You look good," she added. "Good luck with Jax." She held out her hand to give him a high-five and he stuck his in the air to return it.
"Thanks," he said. "I'll need it."
She just smirked at him like he must surely be joking since Cam Bishop shouldn't need luck getting any girl he wanted. She smiled and turned to leave as Cam took off for the