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Theo nodded sagely. I could only imagine how often he had to deal with invasions of his privacy.
“Yeah well, none of you are very impressive or star-like when you’re calling me in the middle of the night from some shitty backstage toilet, so I don’t know what the big deal is,” Dane said.
Caleb snorted and Theo laughed, and I felt supremely out of my depth. I stabbed at an errant tomato with my fork and it shot across the table and hit Caleb’s plate.
“Oops, sorry,” I muttered.
Theo quickly changed the subject, voice cheery as he turned to Dane. “So, happy belated birthday, man. What’d you end up doing?”
Dane froze, carefully avoiding looking at any of us.
A twinge of sadness that he hadn’t wanted to spend his birthday with me twisted my stomach, and I tried to tell myself that we hadn’t been dating that long.
“Birthday?” I said, trying to make my voice casual. “When was your birthday?”
Dane cleared his throat. “Saturday.”
“But…Wait, but we…Saturday we went…”
Dane’s shoulders were tight and he turned to me and bit his lip.
“You spent your whole birthday with me at Coney Island and you never said a goddamn word?” He cringed. “What is wrong with you?!” I shoved his shoulder. “I ate half your hot dogs and fell asleep on you, drooling!” I said in horror.
That resulted in the tiny, one-side-of-his-mouth twitch that I was learning was Dane’s tender smile.
Caleb and Theo exchanged speaking looks as Dane sat silently.
“Dane Hughes! What the hell? Seriously. I would have gotten you a present, and—and—and cake, and done birthday things. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Dane?” Caleb said. Theo clapped a hand over Caleb’s mouth.
Dane sighed and turned to me. Caleb and Theo began eating furiously, as if they weren’t listening.
“Wanted to spend the day with you,” he said simply. “And I did. So it was a perfect birthday.”
I gaped at him. Theo made a small, tender noise. Caleb choked on a mouthful of spaghetti lasagna.
“I— It was?”
He nodded.
“But—but—but…I didn’t even get you a birthday present,” I repeated, running out of steam.
“Yeah, you did.”
“No, I— That purple monster does not count.”
Dane shrugged and went back to eating.
After a beat, Caleb leaned in. “Sorry, can we circle back to Dane?”
“It’s my name,” Dane said.
“But everyone calls you Huey. Obviously I always thought Huey was your first name,” Caleb said.
“You never asked,” Dane said.
Now it was Caleb’s turn to gape at him.
“Wow, you think you know a guy,” he said.
Theo rolled his eyes. “Dramatic much?”
“Do you want us to call you Dane?” Caleb asked.
“No.”
“Just Felix, huh?” Caleb smirked.
Dane leaned forward and glared. “Yes.”
Heat gathered in my stomach. Caleb raised conciliatory hands.
“So, uh, how’s your sister doing?” Theo asked me, blatantly changing the subject again.
My stomach clenched.
“She’s great. She’s been staying with Coco a lot while they’ve all been working on the single and planning for the tour and everything.”
Theo looked wistful, and I wondered if he missed his place in the band.
“I’m glad they found someone who jells with them” was all he said. Caleb’s hand went to his neck.
“Is that why you left? Because you didn’t jell? Sorry, none of my business.”
“Nah, it’s fine. Kind of. I wanted to be friends with them when the band started, but they were already friends and I just didn’t fit in. Then later…we just wanted different things. They loved the fame and the fast pace and the glamour. And I…uh, didn’t.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, being famous seems horrible. I mean, Sofia will love being in the spotlight. She’s great under pressure and so adventurous. But I could never do it. I hope she likes it more than you did.”
Theo smiled kindly.
“What about you?” I asked Dane. “Would you ever want to be a rock star?”
He snorted. “No.”
Theo grinned. “You’d be the best rock star, Huey. You’d scowl and growl at everyone and they’d love you, because people love what they can’t have, and the more it seems like you don’t care about them, the more they seem to like it.”
Dane shook his head, like this logic was beyond him.
When we finished eating, Theo headed to the kitchen and I helped Caleb clear the table. Dane had gotten a text from a sponsee and stepped away.
Caleb caught my arm as I went past. His expression was serious.
“You…you really like Huey, right? I mean, you’re not just messing around with him?”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by “messing around,” but clearly he was just being protective.
“I really like him.”
“Okay. Okay, good. Just…He’s wicked strong and confident and all that, and he’ll turn himself inside out to help anyone who needs it. But he’s never had anyone to help look after him. Just don’t hurt him. Okay?”
I nodded. “You think he really likes me?”
Shit, I hadn’t meant to say that. Caleb’s eyes went wide.
“Uh, yeah. Hell yeah.” He shot a look behind him to make sure Dane was still out of earshot. “Look, in all the years I’ve known him, he’s never mentioned seeing anyone, liking anyone. So, yeah, I’d certainly say so.”
