Chin turned up in disbelief, I ask, “How many brothers does she have?”
“Too many,” he says with a warm laugh as he types something on his phone. Then he slips it into his back pocket and smiles down at me again, “I’m with the one with the perfect hair and the perfect smile and the perfect shoe size and—”
“Hey!” Mr. Perfect says as he jogs toward us, and I immediately see Kit in his dark hair and his even darker eyes. He’s just a little taller, with the same lean build, long lashes, and curved lips. Leti winks at me, and his boyfriend breathes a little heavy when he finally catches up.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he says to Leti, and Leti hugs my shoulder.
“Look who I ran into.”
I hold out my hand and introduce myself as Hailey, and Mr. Perfect tells me his name is Kale.
“He didn’t use the fairy godfriend line on you, did he?” Kale asks. When Leti releases me to smack Kale’s arm with the back of his hand, Kale laughs. “He’s been planning that one all night.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Leti orders. “Our meeting was by chance. I wasn’t looking for you at all.”
I look back and forth between them, but Kale just smiles at my confusion and says, “You looked amazing tonight. Kit said you were nervous, but you really couldn’t tell.”
“You were gorgeous,” Leti agrees. “How do you like Dee’s dress?”
“I love it,” I say, lifting the part that got caught on the pricker bush earlier, still in awe that it didn’t get torn. I glance toward the pond, wishing I could catch a glance of Mike through the masses of people.
“She worked really hard on it,” Leti tells me. “When you were twirling out on that dock . . .” His golden eyes are full of admiration when he gives a little whistle. “Just wait until you see the video. It’s gorgeous. I mean, the whole thing, really—stunning.”
He pauses a moment, with Kale at his side, and then he says, “But do you know what I thought was the most beautiful thing about the whole video?”
“What?” I ask, and he grins.
“The way Mike watched you like a lovesick Romeo during every single scene.”
Heat creeps into my cheeks, and Leti’s smile widens just before he takes me under his arm again.
“Can I bestow some fairy godfriend advice on you?” he asks as we walk, but I’m too busy flushing red to answer him. His voice abandons its humor, full of nothing but soft sincerity when he hugs me close to his side and says, “Realize that a look like that is special. It means something.”
He lets me digest that, but I already know Mike has feelings for me. I still remember the way he looked at me when he told me he was in love with me—how I could have understood his feelings by the expression in his eyes alone.
Leti pulls me from the memory when he leans down and says, “And you look at him the same way.”
He winks when my eyes lock on his, and he releases me from under his arm just as we arrive near the crowd gathered around the pond.
“There’s a funnel cake calling our name now, Hailey Harper,” Leti says as he backs away. “But should you need us . . .”
“Did you just quote The Labyrinth?” Kale asks when Leti turns around, and Leti laughs as they walk into the dark.
“I have a T-shirt with that line on it.”
I’m standing there alone, staring at the spot where Leti and Kale disappeared and wondering if I should have tried following them, when a hand slides onto my lower back. “Hey.”
I look up into Mike’s brown eyes, feeling even more lost than I did before. “How are you here?” I glance toward where Leti faded into the night, and then at the crowd jumping up and down nearby. Blue lights flash over their heads, and Adam’s singing carries over the mayhem. “Aren’t you guys playing right now?”
“I had a friend fill in for me,” Mike says, joining his hands behind my back, until I’m just standing there in his arms, weak-kneed as I gaze up at him. “We’re down to nine hours,” he says, his words laced with a desperation that I feel under my own skin. “I don’t want to waste them.”
This is his night—his moment—and he should be onstage. But he’s here, holding me in his arms, counting down each hour we have left.
My heart swells, and I don’t know what to say, but Mike saves me from having to say anything at all, because he takes my hand in his and says, “Come on. I want to show you something.”
Chapter 33
Nine hours is probably only three at best, because this night can’t last forever. Soon, the sun will rise, the magic will clear, and there will be nothing in this clearing but scraps left as a reminder—a Solo cup here, a dimmed glow stick there. But for now, there’s fog under our feet, lights in the air, and Mike’s hand in mine.
“What countries are you touring?” I ask as he walks me through vibrant colors and loud noises and thousands and thousands of faces.
“Canada, China, Korea, Indonesia—”
“Wow,” I breathe, my voice lost under the music.
“Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, England . . . I’m probably forgetting some.”
I wonder how many thousands of miles away those countries are, and then I try not to think about it.
“Do you think you’ll have Internet?” I ask, even though I know I shouldn’t.