I nodded, slid my phone into my dress pocket, placed my hand in Myles’s, and let him lead me out ofVila do Açaí.
Once we’d stepped outside, Myles began running down the left side of the street, and I laughed as I tried to keep up with him.
I noticed that every single streetlight on the stretched-out pavement was turned on, because even though it was early morning, the day was rather muted due to the chilly weather and steadily falling snow.
Myles and I sidestepped a few cars in our haste, and because I’d forgotten my coat at the shop, I pulled his beanie from his head and put it on as decently as I could, while also trying not to get hit by oncoming vehicles.
We took a sharp right, and when Myles began slowing down, I matched his speed, then came to a halt when I looked at the meager setup just a few steps ahead of me.
The group had hung fairy lights over the streetlights, which made no practical sense, but aesthetically, it looked adorable. A lavender carpet was draped over the platform they werestanding on, and they’d even erected a floral-wallpapered photography wall on top of it to give the whole thing a thematic appearance.
Come to think of it, ‘meager’ may not be the perfect term to describe the setup the group had come up with; maybequaintlyduplicatewas.
A small crowd was scattered around the platform, either talking amongst each other, or tapping away on their phones.
“Here you go, man; thanks for letting me borrow it,” Myles said to the performer who was on the stage, then handed the velvet coat to him.
“No worries,” the guy said around a smile. “I hope it helped.”
Myles grinned and jerked his head in my direction, and when the guy looked at me, I gave him a smile and a wave.
“Hey.” He waved back, and I may be crazy for saying this, but he looked kinda like Regé-Jean Page, and that slight resemblance was enough to make me blush a little.
Sorry not sorry.
“I’m Jayden,” he told me. “It’s nice to meet you. Myles here says you’re one in a million, and also a hardcoreBridgertonfan. Thanks for stopping by today; it means a lot.”
The other performers were bustling around the setup. Some were rehearsing, some were fixing their hair and makeup, while the others were either taking selfies or working on tweaking their musical instruments.
I’m Carina, I signed to Jayden, hoping he’d understand.It’s nice to meet you as well.
He flashed his teeth in a megawatt smile, and I wanted to sob because he reallydidlook like Regé.
I hope you enjoy the show, he signed, and in that moment, I came to the conclusion that he couldnotget any more perfect than that.
I loved Myles to pieces, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t fangirl every once in a while,okay?
“You know Sign?” Myles asked Jayden. “That’s great, man.”
Jayden nodded. “I do, yeah. My younger sister has sensorineural hearing loss, so we communicate through Sign, among other things. It’s as natural to me as speaking is.”
“It’s kinda the same for me, even though I’ve only known Sign for around three months,” Myles said to him. “Learnt it for Rina, and I’m so damn glad to have done it.”
Jayden smiled at him, then at me. “It sure is a completely different feeling to interact via Sign, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Myles agreed, just as one of the performers hollered, “We’re ready for show time!”
Jayden put on the Simon-coat and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “I gotta go double-check my mic. You two have fun, okay?” he told Myles and I.
“We sure will,” Myles stated.
Donation box?I signed.
Jayden pointed at a red box on the far left of the stage, then, with another wave, he joined the other members of the group behind the stage.
I walked over to the donation box and slid a $20 bill inside it.
Myles did the same, then took my hand in his before leading me back to the area close to the platform.
