“Whaa—how come you never drive it to school?”
“People just stopped bullying me like six months ago.Pulling up in this would have attracted more attention than I’d like. Besides, school is like three blocks from here. I just skate there. Are you coming?”
I realize she’s trying to get behind the wheel. “Oh yeah. Sorry!” I rush after her and climb into the passenger seat. Heaven, all casual and confident like, backs the car down the driveway and out onto the street, and a few minutes later we pull into Ralph’s. We park toward the back of the lot, in the shade, and head inside.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re doing here?” I ask her.
“You’ll see.” I follow her right to the bakery counter. I’m still confused for a second until she stops in front of some slices of rainbow Pride cake. “Take your pick.”
My friends are sweet, amazing people, but I can’t remember any of them ever doing something spontaneous like this for me. I’m usually the spontaneous one. The generous one. I look over at Heaven but can’t read the expression on her face. All I canfeelis the way I’m smiling and trying not to choke up all at the same time.
There’s one slice that looks absolutely perfect with its rainbow layers and white whipped cream frosting. It has rainbow sprinkles and a cherry on top. I grab it, and a second later Heaven snags a slice for herself before she picks up a thing of candles off the side.
“Ready?” she asks.
“One second.” I walk to the other side of the cake section and ask the lady working if they have any forks. She hands me two wrapped in plastic and I bring them back over to Heaven. “Ready.”
We go to the checkout, where Heaven grabs a Baja Blast Mountain Dew and a pack of lighters. I add a Coke of my own to the conveyor belt.
“I got it,” I say. But then Heaven playfully nudges me out of the way.
“No, you don’t.”
I actually giggle. It’s kind of ridiculous, but she used her hip to nudge me and now I know that Heaven Goo-Campbell’s hip is really soft and that’s worth a little light laughter. We head back out to the parking lot, where Heaven opens the trunk of her car and places my slice of cake in its container on the flat surface. She sticks a candle in, lights it, and then holds it up for me to blow out.
“Happy Pride, you pretty princess. Welcome to the club.”
“Thanks. Should I make a wish?”
“Why not?”
I feel Heaven watching me as I squeeze my eyes shut. It’s silly but I make a wish. I don’t go full delulu and wish for the thing I want at that moment—for Heaven to kiss me. That’s a fanfic wish. Something that will never happen. She’s just tolerating me at the moment. So I go for something a little more practical. I open my eyes and then blow the candle out.
“Congratulations,” Heaven says, handing the slice back. “You’re gay.”
“Thanks. It feels so official now. What did you do on your first day being gay?” I ask as I sit down beside her. I take a bite of my own slice and try not to moan at how moist and fluffy it is. I love you, whoever invented cake.
“Nothing? I was five. My mom said I just announced I was gay, and when my parents asked me if I knew what that was, I gave them a pretty clear explanation. Then when I was like twelve, I saw a Megan Thee Stallion video and I knew I’d made the right choice.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” I laugh. “Victoria Monét helped me see things pretty clearly.”
“You crushing on any of the lady members of our student body?” Heaven asks. I almost drop my cake. That was the last thing I expected her to say.
“N-no. I mean there are a lot of cute girls at our school. Like Poppy Carlisle, but she’s so evil.”
“God, I hate that girl,” Heaven says.
Poppy Carlisle is maybe the prettiest girl this side of the 10 freeway. She is also mean as hell. Crushworthy from a distance, maybe, but I feel she’d eat her mates if they got too close.
“Areyoucrushing on anyone?” I dare to ask. Though I regret it the second I open my mouth. She’s going to give me a name, a name that’s not mine, and then my heart will be broken.
“Nope, just me and my dreams that one day Tinashe will make me her wife.”
“Okay, well, everyone has a crush on her,” I reply, relieved. She doesn’t like anyone we know. I carefully take another bite, maneuvering the fork with my busted hand. I swallow and blurt out the thing I’ve really been dying to know for the last ten minutes. “Why’d you do this for me?”
“I mean, you’re a fresh gay, and Tatum and Emily aren’there to Pride it up with you. I feel like it wouldn’t be cool of me to not like, welcome you or whatever.”
I take another bite of my cake. Ignoring the lump that’s forming in my throat. “Well, it’s not a parade, but I think two lady gays eating rainbow cake in a Ralph’s parking lot is a pretty decent way to celebrate.”
