Page 98 of Cream & Sugar
“Cry me a river,” says Freddie. “And, not to brag, but you know what else you’ve got, right?”
“What?” I ask, enchanted by his infectious smile.
Freddie leans forward until we’re nose-to-nose. “You’ve got me, and I’m not going anywhere.”
I grab him and kiss him again. Screw professionalism—I’m already past the point of no return, might as well embrace it. Opening my mouth, his tongue slips inside and dances with mine, sending a storm of butterflies through my body. By the time the kiss is over, I have my question ready:
“Freddie,” I cradle his hands in mine and take a deep breath, “will you go out with me? Properly, I mean.”
His face lights up like a Christmas tree. “You mean like a boyfriend?”
I feel myself blushing. “If you like.”
His smile goes wider than ever. “You bet I will.”
My heart flips so hard, I almost leap into the air myself. He saidyes!Just like that, I have a boyfriend!
“I have a boyfriend!” I blurt out, throwing my hands up in celebration. Freddie chuckles as I realise I’m getting far too excited. Composing myself, I clear my throat and say the only other word that comes to mind: “Rad.”
Freddie raises an eyebrow. “Rad indeed!”
Grinning from ear-to-ear, I clasp my hands together in front of my sternum. “Just promise you won’t make us post a video announcing it to the world.”
He throws back his head and laughs.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Although, you’ve just reminded me…” Freddie stands up, looking a little nervous all of a sudden as he slides his phone out of his pocket. “There’s something I need to show you.”
27
Freddie
TherecordingofMonday'simpromptu performance blares from my phone as Shaun watches the screen. Last night, someone—one of that group of girls, I assume—posted a reel of me singing in the café to Instagram. It had just over five hundred likes when my mate Scotty sent it to me this morning with the message: "yo, it’s you!" Stealing a glance over Shaun’s broad shoulder, I see the number is now over a thousand.
The reel finishes and immediately loops back to the start. Shaun opens the caption and reads it.
I jump in. “Before you say anything, it wasn’t on purpose! Anna asked me to look after her son and I don’t know the first thing about kids but he had that little keyboard so I thought I’d play some music with him and then… well, you’re looking at what happened next. Things got a little out of hand.”
Shaun lifts the phone up to his face, scouring the text. “Hashtag ‘the singing barista’?”
I grimace. “I know. A bit cringe, eh?”
Shaun’s head snaps up from the phone, his thick brows cast in a heavy frown. Shit. He’s annoyed. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to tell him.
“It’s not cringe at all. You sound great, Freddie.”
I feel my eyebrows fly up my forehead. “Oh! Thanks. So, uh, why do you look so mad?”
His brow softens and he shakes his head. “I’m not. I just can’t believe I missed it. Listen to that!” He holds up the phone as the crowd whoops and cheers. “The atmosphere in here must have been electric.”
Wow, he’s taking this well. Suspiciously well. I assumed he’d hate the idea of a spontaneous gig erupting in the middle of his fancy modern café. Unless…
“Has Anna spoken to you?” I ask.
“Not since the other day. Why?”
I stuff my hands in my apron pocket and rock back and forth on the balls of my feet. “She had this idea that maybe I could, sort of,playhere sometimes. I said you probably wouldn’t be interested, but I think she was gonna try and convince you it’d be good for business. People did seem to vibe with it or whatever. Obviously, it’s totally your call.” The fuzzy sound of Ethan’s toy keyboard sputters out of the phone speaker. “Before you decide, you should know I sound much better with an actual guitar.”
Shaun cracks a smile. “I believe you.”
