Page 46
The baked Alaska was charred way beyond being edible, and in the center of the thing, revealed, was a bracelet that said BFF.
Rowan was mortified.
One of the older gentlemen at the table clapped heartily. “What a flambé display! Dinner and a show! This place really is fancy, Micheal.”
The male server blinked at Rowan, his burner held uselessly in his hand. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you not to blow fire in the establishment,” he said, clearly at a loss for anything else to say.
Rowan gave an awkward laugh that sounded more like a sob. “Sorry. I’m a friend. I just wanted to… I wanted to… I’m not crazy or dangerous, I promise!” I’m going to get arrested. He’d never been more mortified in his life. “I’m so sorry.”
He ran back to his table and grabbed his things.
“Rowan!” Rupert stood up from his seat. “What the hell just happened?”
“I need to go. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow,” he lied.
“ROWAN!”
He ignored the call and aimed for the exit, the female server catching him on his way to the door. “Leaving so soon?”
“Uhh, yes.” He tried to sidestep her and accidentally bumped into her. He steadied her with a hand. “So sorry.”
“Rowan!!” It was Milo’s voice this time, and something in him wanted to answer, but the humiliation was too strong.
He ran out the door and to the nearest cab.
Notes:
When you torch your crush’s cake by accident because you’re jelly. Hashtag relatable.
14
Milo
“You can’t just barge into someone’s place near midnight, you absolute lunatic,” Ray said on the phone as Milo marched his butt to the bus station.
He had spent hours stewing in his misery, anger and nerves when they got home from the restaurant before deciding to just say fuck it and go figure it out. Right from the source.
“Yes, I can,” Milo said. “Literally on my way now.”
“Okay, yes, you physically can, but you shouldn’t,” Ray said, sounding stressed. “He already thinks you’re unstable.”
“I’m unstable????” Milo screeched into his phone, drawing attention from a stern-looking man waiting for the bus and making a face at him as if to say “what are you looking at?” “He torched my cake!”
“That’s fair. But still, maybe wait until tomorrow. Approach it with a cool head and a fresh outlook.”
“I work tomorrow. And I need to sleep and I won’t be able to sleep until I find out what the fuck his problem is and…other stuff.”
“What other stuff?” Ray asked.
Milo refused to say. He did not need a lecture. “Bus is here,” he said instead. “Gotta go!”
He ignored Ray’s questions and cut the call before hopping on the bus and forcing himself to keep stewing all the way across town so he didn’t lose steam.
Ray was right that time made things mellow out, and Milo absolutely did not want to be mellow. This was not the time for mellow. No. He needed Rowan to experience the full scope of his fury and he would damn well make sure he did.
He marched off the bus, down the street, and into Rowan’s apartment building feeling like a movie villain heading into the final battle.
He jabbed the elevator button like it had personally offended him and stomped his way down the carpeted hallway like he could imprint his footsteps into the crappy beige pattern.
