Page 15

Miles and I talk a bit longer on my balcony before he leaves.

I try to get him to tell me his type to help with my search for his true love, but he says if I’m such a good matchmaker, I should be able to figure it out.

He has a point there. Eventually he leaves, after thanking me again for helping with his bike.

I grin as I watch him carry it down the stairs.

I have such a good feeling about this. Who knows, maybe Miles and I are actually going to be friends .

But all my warm and fuzzy feelings for Miles Desai evaporate about five minutes into our first official meeting of the Love on Love Street Festival planning committee.

Me, Cara, and Miles are in LoveBug, and I can tell right away that Miles already regrets agreeing to work with us.

He’s punching holes through every idea we have.

When I suggest we get a vendor to sell love locks for the chain-link fence at LOL Park, Miles asks us if we know how heavy those are and says they will cause the fence to buckle.

“They removed all the locks from the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris, you know,” he says. “All the extra weight made the bridge unsafe. Plus, they are terrible for the environment. People always toss the keys on the ground or in waterways, which hurts the wildlife. Not to mention—”

I shake my head. “Okay, but they’re so romantic . The locks signify an unbreakable bond.”

“You think the city is going to let us keep them on the fence?” Miles asks. “We’ll be the ones with the bolt cutters severing their so-called unbreakable bond after the event.”

Cara laughs at that. I glare at her. I don’t know why Cara doesn’t find Miles Desai as irritating as I do.

It’s probably because Hannah being back is making Cara see through rose-colored glasses.

Cara and Hannah have been spending almost every waking hour together when Cara’s not working, and Cara is walking around with rainbows and hearts in her eyes all day. It’s adorable.

“Well, I don’t see how we can have a festival of love and not have love locks,” I say, adding it to my list anyway. “I also think the statue is important. There must be a way to do a temporary version of it. It could be a big draw. Like… our signature attraction, you know?”

“I’m with Sana,” Cara says. “I think we should explore options for a sculpture.”

Miles shrugs. “We should really be finding sponsors first. Then we’ll know how much money we have to work with.”

“What’s the point of getting sponsors if we don’t even know what we want?” I ask, frustrated.

“And shouldn’t we be getting permits first to know if we’re having a festival at all?” Cara asks.

“I guarantee, the first thing the city will ask is how we will pay for it,” Miles says.

“The BOA is paying for it. It’s coming out of their budget.” I tell them the amount Jenn said could be allocated for the festival.

“That’s not nearly enough,” Miles says. He has a condescending look on his face.

Ugh. Why did I want to work with him again?

He has good points, but he’s just so negative.

He doesn’t want to work on finding solutions, just problems. I need to loosen him up somehow.

I think it’s time to start on Operation Find Miles a Match.

“Hey, I have an idea,” I say. “We should all go to a neighborhood festival. For research. It’s a bit early for festival season, but there’s a small one in Little Portugal this weekend.”

Miles shrugs. “Sure. We can see what works and what doesn’t.”

I grin, clapping my hands together. “And it can be your first blind date! I know exactly who I’m going to ask to come along.” I don’t actually know who I should invite yet, but I want to gauge his reaction before asking someone.

Miles rolls his eyes while Cara laughs. I’m irked to see that my friends have so little faith in me.

“Come on, you said I could set you up, Miles! Let me prove to you that the theme of this festival is worth all this energy. And, Cara, you and Hannah have to come too!” Miles seeing Cara and Hannah’s perfect love will also prove my point that true love is more than commercialism.

Miles does that staring blankly at me thing for a few seconds, but then his expression breaks and a small smile sneaks onto his face.

“Yeah, let’s all go to a festival. But first, take a look at these event proposals I found online.

This will give us an idea of how to structure ours.

” He hands Cara and me some stapled stacks of paper.

I take the paperwork. I have a busy week—with a prom committee meeting plus working in both the flower shop and Cosmic, and of course, actual schoolwork, but I have every intention of working my butt off on this proposal too. This festival needs to be a success.

At school the next day, I’m in the cafeteria when I catch sight of a grade eleven girl I don’t know very well, Abbey Santos, dropping a full can of soda onto the floor.

She jumps out of the way, then freaks out a little and starts cleaning it up with napkins.

I’ve seen Abbey around but never really thought twice about her.

She’s Filipino, a little quiet, and kind of bookish.

Abbey seems the complete opposite of me, actually.

I doubt anyone like me would be Miles’s type, so Abbey might be his perfect match.

I go up to her. “Hi, Abbey! Do you need some help?”

She looks at me with a complete Disney-doe-eyes caught-in-the-headlights stare. She still doesn’t say anything when I grab more napkins from the dispenser and help her clean her mess. And she only nods when I ask her if I can join her for lunch.

“I don’t think we’ve ever spoken before,” I say. “I’m Sana. I love that T-shirt. It’s the perfect shade of pink for your skin.” Abbey’s brows knit together as she mumbles a thanks. She’s really pretty with long dark hair and smooth tan skin. She has an innocent, angelic kind of vibe.

Eventually, through a series of one-word answers to my questions, I discover that Abbey likes reading, cooking, and is single.

Also, she doesn’t seem to have strong opinions on neighborhood festivals or the romantic industrial complex.

She likes books; Miles works in a bookstore.

Also, she’s quiet and steady, and I get the impression that Miles thinks I talk too much and am too enthusiastic. Abbey will be a welcome change for him.

When I tell Abbey that I think she’d be perfect for a friend of mine who is a first-year university student, she seems open to it. She agrees to come with us to the festival in Little Portugal on the weekend.

Everything is perfect. The weekend can’t come fast enough.

Six of us meet at a subway station to go to Little Portugal on Sunday: me, Cara, Hannah, Miles, Abbey, and Abbey’s brother, Thomas, who I didn’t know she would be bringing along.

Thomas turns out to be two years older than me and is super cute.

He has a wide smile and white teeth and is much chattier than Abbey.

He sits next to me on the subway, which makes me wonder if this date is going to be two meet-cutes for the price of one: Miles and Abbey and me and Thomas.

But by the time we get to the festival, I’m pretty sure I’m not meet-cuteing with Thomas Santos.

He will not stop talking about the stupidest things.

Government conspiracies, cryptocurrency, and how he’s trying to make millions as a streamer instead of going to college. Thomas is a complete blowhard.

And he won’t stop talking at the festival, either. I can’t even eavesdrop on Miles and Abbey’s date because Thomas keeps going on and on. Nor can I roll my eyes and complain about this crypto-bro to Cara, because she and Hannah are several paces behind us. Probably to escape Thomas.

I sigh, throwing a longing look behind me. Cara and Hannah look so cute in their matching yoga pants and sweatshirts. Though, when I think about it, it’s actually the most dressed down I’ve ever seen Cara. Usually she’s like me and pulls together a statement-making outfit.

We finally all get food and sit at one of the tables set up in the middle of the street.

Abbey and Thomas get grilled sardines and fries, Cara and Hannah split some skewers with salad, and Miles gets an enormous Portuguese chicken sandwich.

And since there aren’t a lot of vegetarian options, I get a couple of pastéis de natas—Portuguese egg tarts—and a coffee.

I’m sitting next to Cara and Hannah on one side of the table, with Thomas sitting across from me, Miles next to him, and Abbey next to Miles.

“So, what do you think of the festival?” I ask the group after taking a big bite of my tart. It’s delicious. Sweet and creamy, with a caramel flavor from the browned top. “Oh my goodness, we need these for our festival. Do you think they have a food truck?”

Cara shakes her head. “We have to make sure the food is on theme. Egg tarts don’t work for Love on Love Street.”

“So you’re only going to allow cupcakes with hearts and flowers?” Miles asks, his nose wrinkled.

“No,” I say. “We will have cupcakes with hearts and flowers, but also cookies with hearts and flowers. And… heart-shaped pizza?” Are there heart-shaped hamburgers? I have no idea.

Thomas shakes his head, laughing. “Dude, it all sounds so lame. Love festival…”

Great. Not another anti-love guy. I expect Miles to voice his agreement with Thomas, but when I glance at Miles, I see that he’s glaring at Thomas.

I think his eyebrow is even twitching. Weird.

I need to work harder to spark the love connection between Abbey and Miles. First step, get Abbey talking.

“Abbey,” I say turning to her. “I’m so glad we did this! You told me you’re into reading. Miles works in a bookstore, you know. What kind of books do you like?”

She blinks, confused. “Um, I don’t read books. I like… magazines.”