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Tink sighs and shakes her head. “I don’t know. Hormones, I guess?” She turns around. “It’s not a date. I really…” She breathes out, hard, arms wrapped around her almost exactly like Wendy had them two minutes ago. “Trust me, I really don’t want to go to that place if I don’t have to. But⁠—”

“Yeah, yeah, totally,” I agree quickly. “Same here.” I jerk my head at the staircase. “Should we…”

“Yeah.” Tink nods. “Let’s.”

And I don’t want to go to a casino. Obviously. Hook’s casino least of all.

But if you do have to, Tink, I think, then…

…then I’m glad I get to go with you.

I’ve never been so focused on the road before. Don’t get me wrong, I try to bike safely, wear a helmet, and all that. Obviously. But now I am hyperaware of every turn I take too sharp, every bump the wheels hit, and of my passenger holding on to me.

Not too aware, obviously. I mean, Tink’s ridden with me on my bike before, back when I was fixing hers. His, I guess. So that was different. This is⁠—

A Range Rover cuts, no signal, right in front of us. I swerve, hard, to get out of the way.

“You all right?” I say, heart in my throat.

“Yeah,” Tink’s voice crackles over the mic from her own helmet. “I’m good.”

I ease us to a stop at the light up ahead, the big street that’s the border of the marina. It’s not that late yet. The sky’s kind of pink around the edges where it meets the water, and the lights are starting to come on on the buildings that line up around all the boats.

It’d be really pretty for an actual date, I think. Like, you could do worse to show off to a girl this way. You get all dressed up, she gets all dressed up. Take her out for some Italian food. Maybe one of those restaurants with a checkered tablecloth and a guy playing the accordion, if those are even a real thing. God, is my entire idea of romance stolen from Lady and the Tramp?

I feel myself blush and pray that Tink can’t read minds, because if she could see what I was thinking, then⁠—

“Fox?” her voice again. “You’re—it’s green.”

“Huh?”

“Your light? Go?”

“Oh.” Dipshit, I think to myself, and rev us off down the street. The casino’s not that much farther. It’s the biggest building in the marina by far. With the two wings of the hotel spreading out and the big horseshoe driveway under the awning, with the pirate flag and the giant light-up letters.

I pull us in off the street, hugging the side, and following to what I’m guessing is probably a parking lot out back. There are signs, but…they’re not really gonna help me much. So I do what I do best, and guess.

As I do, I feel Tink’s hands tighten on my waist. And maybe her breathing pick up a little. Not that I’m paying attention.

Finally, we pass the buildings and emerge into a big back parking lot. I steer us over to the closest empty spot to an entrance and kill the engine. I’m halfway through pulling off my helmet when Tink shakes her head.

“Let’s move,” she says, nodding toward the other side of the lot, around the back corner of the building, where the mouth of the exit leads back to the road.

“Oh, I…” Is there something wrong with my parking place? I slam my helmet back down. “I just thought because of your heels, walking⁠—”

“In case we need to leave fast,” she says. “Better to be close to the exit, you know?”

“Oh, yeah, totally.” She’s right. She’s smart to think of stuff like that.

“And I can walk just fine in heels,” she adds.

She can. Once we re-park, I help her dismount and watch as she unhooks one foot, then the other, from the pegs and finds her balance.

“Damn, you’re so tall now,” I blurt out.

Tink gives me a look. “That’s what high heels do,” she says. “You think they were gonna make me shorter?”

“No, I…” I frown, but she smiles.