Page 72 of Promise Me Sunshine

“Oh, my God.” I still. “Tell me—did I just learn—are you ticklish?”

My delight must be as palpable as our clear power imbalance.

“Lenny, I swear to God, if you make me drop this cake…”

“Right, right.” I’m scuba-diver deep in this man’s pocket right now and finally, there at the bottom, my fingers close around the keys. “Got ’em.”

Is it just me or does it take an absurdly long time to extract my hand from his pocket?

Finally, I’m free and I jingle the keys, grinning up at him.

He glances at me and then away. And yes. Those are pink cheeks.

He blushes and he’s ticklish. I literally can’t wait to ponder this later.

For now, we’ve got a mission.

We sneak into the apartment and set up the cake, wincing when the lighter seems suspiciously loud. But all goes off without a hitch and Reese gasps and laughs when she comes into a dark kitchen, lit only by the candles on her birthday cake.

“Happy birthday, Mommy!” Ainsley shouts, launching herself bodily at Reese.

Reese scoops her up and then sits right down on the kitchen floor. “Thank you,baby! I love my cake so much.”

It’s the best cake in the world. Sloppy and sliding off the plate, candles tilting wretchedly this way and that. Hot pink icing mixed with sort of a gray icing that was meant to be purple.

Miles has his hands in his pockets and he’s standing a few feet back, like he doesn’t want to get in the way of this beautiful moment.

How silly. Doesn’t he know that he’s one quarter of this beautiful moment? I elbow him forward.

“Happy birthday, Reese,” he says low. I realize then that Reese’s birthday might actually be a bit of a sensitive moment for the two of them, given their family history. But if it is, Reese chooses to breeze past it. She stands up with Ainsley and then comes over to give Miles a brief one-armed hug. It’s casual and it delights me. I hope he realizes that that kind of hug is not the polite and obligatory kind. That’s athanks, brohug.

And so the four of us eat terrible cake before dinner.

Chapter Nineteen

I’m nervous, pacing outside Madison Square Garden. I have a friend-date with a near stranger to go scream for barely legal boy banders while they shake their asses in glittery BDSM gear. What could go wrong?

Everything. Absolutely everything. This night ends with me writing an apology letter to Jericho’s mother, I just knowit.

The only thing that lifts my spirits are all my fellow fans as they excitedly laugh and shout their way into the venue. They’re dressed in band merch, toting handmade signs. Some of them are dressed up like members of the group, some in costume as inside jokes that only the most die-hard members of the fandom would understand. I love them all. I hope Jericho isn’t scared off.

I’m still pacing when I spot the best costume yet. It’s a full bodysuit, glitter lightning, OMG, this guy has re-created the killer lightning monster from their most recent music video. Amazing. I must speak to this die-hard fan—

“Oh. My. God.” My jaw drops, my finger points, I’m stock-still. “Jericho?”

He glares at me. “This is your fault. I looked them up yesterday just to learn their names and one thing led to another!”

“That’s how it always starts!” I shout, clapping and jumping up and down. “Are you stanning with me?”

He loops his arm with mine and we start clomping toward the venue. “Let’s go. I’m not missing a second of this show.”

We spend the next three hours alternating between screaming, laughing, and dancing. I’ve sent approximately fifty selfies and blurry distant stage pics to Miles. Half of me is smeared with Jericho’s silver glitter from where we’ve been smashing faces together to take pics.

When the lights in the venue finally turn back on, we stumble outside and he tugs me through the crowd and to the other side of the street.

“Hey,” he says, glancing around for a nearby metro station. “My friends are at a bar a few stops away. Wanna join?”

I’m sure I’m technically exhausted. It’s onea.m., after all, and I’ve been nonstop dancing and screaming and emoting for hours. But I’m buzzing with adrenaline and something else…I think it might be…friendship?

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