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“Definitely. What about D&D? Any chance we can add that back into your schedule?”

“Yes,” I say, suddenly serious. “I know I said I was quitting, but I don’t want to. Even if I don’t have time in the evenings to keep working, I’m not giving up the game.”

“I’m so glad you came to that conclusion on your own because, if not, I was fully prepared to convince you by any means necessary,” he replies with a smirk. “I’m talking pleading, begging, even bribes.”

“Bribes, you say? I’m intrigued, but it won’t be necessary. We still need to kill that wraith and my show tunes aren’t going to sing themselves. Just wait until it hears my rendition of ‘Memory.’ It’ll be absolutely destroyed.”

His whole body shakes with laughter. “Wow, I love you.”

He says it so abruptly that I wonder if he didn’t mean toblurt that out. But his expression turns nervous and hopeful, and I want to wrap myself around him and never let go. My heart explodes into a haze of glitter and rainbows and show tunes. I kiss him so hard he falls back against the window before pulling me tighter to deepen it.

“I love you a ridiculous amount,” I manage to say after a moment.

He breaks into a smile so radiant I’m at risk of being burned by the heat of it. It feels like heaven. He kisses me again. “I’m going to need a way to see you since you won’t be at the store every day now. Maybe you’ll need an ‘assistant to the student director’? I can make coffee runs before my work shifts. And pick you up after. I know all the shortcuts.”

I sit back in astonishment. “You’d be willing to stay after school? Because of me?”

“I’m willing to try a lot of new things because of you, Riley.”

I breathe in the words. “We’re going to havesucha great time.”

Six Months Later

“I can’t believe people are going to be stepping on our art,” Anthony complains as he stands back to survey his handiwork. “Are you sure you couldn’t have the cast walk around the set piece instead?”

I get up from the stage floor, stretching out my legs. “Given that we’re painting a set ofstairs,I think people are going to need to climb them.”

He sniffs. “Well, it’s a travesty.”

I expect Hoshiko to comment since her character will be sweeping up and down these stairs, but she’s too busy giggling with Lucas to pay attention to the conversation or the painting. After much debate, we decided onLegally Blondefor the musical this year, and Hoshiko is killing it as Elle Woods. We’re only a few weeks out from our first show and it’s definitely been a chaotic couple of months juggling rehearsals, helping Miss Sahni, plus D&D games and working at the store once a week. But it’s also been amazing. I don’twant it to end. It’s even been okay working with Paul. Not that I have time to think about him when I have many more important people in my life.

“Do you like how it turned out?” Nathan asks me quietly. He comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.

I inspect the stairs. We probably put more work into painting the molding than was strictly necessary since the audience won’t be able to see it, but it’s not always about that. The more time we put into the set now, the more real the stage will feel for the cast.

Plus, it’s fun to spend the afternoon painting with my best friends.

I turn in Nathan’s arms so I’m facing him. “It looks gorgeous. Thank you for helping.”

“You’re welcome.” He kisses me lightly on the lips. “I have to admit, the detail work for this was much easier than painting my three-inch-tall models.”

“Hey, do you remember back in the fall when you asked me about my favorite color? And we both agreed our favorite was red?”

His eyes narrow just slightly. He’s learned to read my expressions and tone much better since September.

“Yeah…”

“Well, I wanted to confirm that it’s still my favorite.” I lift my right hand and brush a smudge of red paint onto his nose. Then I grin beatifically up at him.

“Oh, you donotwant to start this war.” His voice is a growl even as he laughs. He tickles my side, and I shriek and wiggle away.

“Paint fight!” Lucas calls, but Hoshiko puts up her hands.

“No way,Director.We’re going to get in so much trouble if we get paint on the stage.”

“And, as much as I love doing manual labor for free, we need to pack up and get to the store,” John adds, and puts the top on the nearest paint can. “You guys aren’t ready for what I have planned tonight.”

Nathan and I smirk at each other, paint forgotten for a moment. John recently took over from Lucas as DM for our D&D group, and if we thought Lucas was serious, then we had no idea what we were in for with John. Thankfully we switched days so Jordan could join the game too. John’s always more chill when he’s around.