Page 103 of Flirty Dancing

“Kind of.” Archer giggled.

Mateo wiped at his face again. “Did I get it all?”

“You have a tiny bit of pink…” Archer reached for the corner of Mateo’s mouth, but then he realized what he was doing. His fingers froze an inch from Mateo’s face.

Mateo’s tongue slid out and licked along his lip. “How about now?”

“Um…” Archer’s brain tripped over the thought of what else Mateo’s tongue might want to lick. “Almost… There you go.”

Mateo grinned. “Worth the mess though.”

Archer finished his too, then they sat in a comfortable silence, sipping their lemonade and watching the passersby. Two young men, maybe eighteen or nineteen, caught his eye. They were sitting on the edge of the fountain, laughing and eating soft pretzels. One of them leaned over and pecked the other on the cheek. The man looked surprised for a moment, then kissed him back. Archer’s heart twinged.

“Things okay with you and Caleb now?” Mateo asked, startling Archer out of his thoughts.

“What? Oh, yes. I think so? I don’t know. I mean, it’s a little awkward, but… he knows he messed up. And he’s trying.”

Mateo leaned back, nodding. “That’s good. I feel like he’s trying more with me, too. He offered to write another email toThe Broadway Broadasking them to retract but…” Mateo shrugged. “What’s done is done. And I’m old news now. I don’t think anyone actually cared this time.”

Archer wanted to reach over the yellow boxes to patMateo’s hand, but instead he fiddled with his empty lemonade cup. “That’s good. People have moved on, I guess.”

Mateo straightened the string on the box and squinted into the bright morning light. “Yeah, maybe.”

They caught the shuttle, chatting easily on the way back about fine-tuning their finale, then got to work getting ready for the party. After stashing their supplies in the cabin, their first stop was picking up the karaoke machine from Eileen’s.

“Why do you have a karaoke machine here anyway?” Archer asked her as he and Mateo hefted it between them.

Eileen gave him a withering stare. “What do you mean, why? It’s coming in handy right this minute, isn’t it?”

Archer laughed at her wink. “You’re right, you’re right. I’m sorry I asked. We’ll see you tonight!”

They stopped by the theater to snag a couple mic stands from the storage room, then went back to the cabin. Archer set up the karaoke in a corner while Mateo started blowing up balloons. They put up a few colorful bunches around the room and dug in the cupboard for the leftover supplies from Archer’s party.

“When’s your birthday?” Archer asked, as he shook out the polka-dot tablecloth.

“October,” Mateo said, helping him spread it out.

“October what?” Archer asked.

“Why, are you going to show up at my apartment with some balloons?”

“I might,” Archer said with a sideways glance. “Maybe even a cake, if you play your cards right.”

“Hmm.” Mateo pretended to consider. “The twenty-sixth.”

Archer made a show of putting it into his calendar. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting.”

Archer cleared his throat, suddenly finding the room stifling. To be fair, the AC was struggling to keep up with the heat. “Deal. Now where did we put the rest of the napkins?”

Dominik, of course, was the self-appointed karaoke MC and first to grab the mic. He had paired his Hawaiian shorts and turquoise tank top with a black blazer for the occasion. “Good evening, all you shady queens.” His voice boomed around the room. A bunch of the other employees turned to give him their attention, too. “I’d like to bring up a lady who I know needs no introduction. Birthday girl, get up here!”

He led the crowd in “Happy Birthday to You” as Betty, already a few drinks in, bounced to the front and took the mic from him. “Thank you, Dominik. I’ll be kicking things off tonight with a song that is deeply personal to me.” She nodded at Harley, who had the iPad. “Hit it.”

Archer’s mouth fell open as she began to sing. Betty was a rock star. She absolutelybeltedher way through “I Love Myself Today” by Bif Naked.

“Girl, you cansing,” he told her when she was done. “That was awesome.”

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