Felix had suggested Drew include her in the documentary and he’d said she stayed busy? She’d just met him. How would he know? The way Drew said it so matter-of-factly, as if he would know, was almost embarrassing. Maybe she didn’t realize they’d only just met. She had been working at the gym for almost two years. It would stand to reason Drew might assume she’d known Felix all along, not that she’d only met the guy less than an hour ago!

Unable to come up with a single reason to say no, she blurted out, “Okay,” and was instantly given a huge hug by Drew.

“Thank you!” she said, giggling a little, and Ella laughed nervously with her. Drew pulled away. “You let me know when is good for you. We’ll work around your schedule.”

“Actually,” Ella said, wanting this over as soon as possible, “tomorrow I’m wide open. I’ll be here most of the day then have to leave to work a half a shift.”

“Where do you work?” Drew asked curiously.

“Starbucks.”

Drew’s eyes brightened instantly. “Perfect! I can go with you and sit there and type up my report.” She made a face. “This assignment isn’t all just the documentary. I also have to turn in a report to my professor at school about my internship.”

They stood around, talking for a bit more. Ella and Drew exchanged phone numbers while Carmen talked to Hector, Charlee, and Felix. Sonia and a few of the other volunteers had been busy putting things away the entire time Ella had stood there talking to them. When one of them turned off half the lights in the room, Hector laughed. “Is that a hint?” he asked.

Ella shook her head. “Oh no, that was just the last class of the night. The volunteers get to go home now.”

“So do we,” Charlee said, wrapping her arm around Hector’s. “I’m starving.”

“We’re stopping to get pizza on the way home, right?” Drew asked, turning away from Ella.

Charlee nodded. Ella was about to tell Drew she’d see her tomorrow at the time they agreed when Felix asked, “What about you?”

It took Ella a second to figure out he was asking her. She pinched her brows. “What about me?”

“Do you get to go home now too?” he asked.

“Oh,” she said, feeling silly. “Yeah, this is it. As soon as we wrap it all up, we’re all out of here.”

What sounded almost like a gasp from Drew got Ella’s attention, and she turned to look at her. “Why don’t you come have some pizza with us?” She turned to Felix with a huge smile. “That’s an awesome idea, Felix!” Just as excited she turned back to Ella. “Since I don’t wanna take too much of your time, we can do sort of an informal interview while we eat, and I can get that part out of the way now.”

Felix shrugged, giving Ella a somewhat amused smile she had a feeling meant I didn’t actually invite her. “Yeah, sounds good to me,” he said.

Normally the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on Carmen’s face would’ve cracked Ella up. Instead, she was busy trying her best to continue to play it cool. Swallowing hard, she turned to Carmen, praying her voice wouldn’t squeak. “You hungry?”

Thankfully, her vocal cords didn’t betray her. She knew technically no one had invited Carmen, but Ella doubted any of them would protest if she brought her friend along, and there was no way she was doing this alone.

Carmen nodded still looking very much in a trance. Now Ella almost laughed not so much because she thought it was funny but because she needed to release some of the obscene fan-girling she was embarrassed to admit was going on inside her. This whole time she’d been “on.” The act she’d put on all this time had been exhausting and nothing short of an incredible feat. She’d been looking forward to finally being able to exhale once they all walked out of the room. How in the world would she be able to keep this up all night?

A part of her—the one that had almost won—had been so close to making up an excuse as to why she couldn’t go. But another part felt strangely reminiscent of being back in high school. The cool kids had invited her and Carmen to hang out with them. Only these weren’t kids. These were full-blown adults and not just any adults. This was Felix Flippin’ Sanchez and his 5th Street friends! As much as she would’ve hated to admit being excited back then, this was far more exciting than she’d ever admit now.

Her only hope was that the longer she was around him the sooner she’d get used to it and she could actually be able to enjoy some of this night. When she agreed, they all said they were going to grab their things and meet out by the entrance in a few minutes. The second they were out of the room, Carmen started doing her running in place thing and squealing. Sonia walked over, laughing at the sight and sound of Carmen.

“What happened?”

“We’re gonna go have pizza and beer with Felix and Hector!” Carmen said then quickly walked over to the mirrored wall. “Why did I not straighten my hair today?”

Sonia looked stunned. “You two and Felix and Hector?”

“Not like that.” Ella laughed nervously, feeling her face warm. As if. “Charlee will be there too and so will her friend Drew.” It suddenly hit her. “You should tell Memo to come. I’m sure they won’t mind and he’d absolutely flip!”

Sonia looked instantly grief-stricken. “My mom made reservations for all of us at a Chinese place downtown. We’re surprising my grandma for her birthday, and there’s only a handful of us going as it is, and she was already upset about that.” She stopped and thought about it for a moment. “I can tell him I’ll go by myself. He doesn’t have to be at my grandma’s dinner.”