Instead of hiring princesses to come to your kid’s birthday party, you could hire We Play You Pay. These guys would come to the house all dressed up in a thematic character. They had Halo, Splatoon, and every Mario character you could imagine. All their elaborate costumes that they’d gone to Comic-Cons in were now serving as work uniforms. Teddi and I had filled in as Princess Peach and Rosalina a few times in a pinch. Seeing these guys at a party was awesome. They could do face painting and balloon animals, but they also would watch a kid play a video game and hype them up. Tips and tricks were shared. It was a hilarious adorable concept. We Play You Pay always pitched in when Teddi was granting wishes to kids in need.

“Are you all staying here?” I leaned closer to Bama so I could hear his answer. His co-employees were starting to chant and jump with Austin.

“Some of us. I’m going to be here. We have air mattresses, so there are plenty of places to crash.”

I followed the crew of guys in and made eye contact with Austin on our way up the path. He asked, “You okay?” without using words and I replied, “I’m fine,” the same way.

Ronna was at the door, hugging everyone that came in. She had on her paint splattered shirt, so I was guessing she had spent the morning refurbishing furniture. Mike was man slap-hugging the guys, too. When they got to me, Ronna hugged me for an extra beat. Austin’s parents were the ringleaders of this open, loving family. It seemed no matter how many kids showed up at their dinner table, there was always a place setting.

“Hey, pretty girl, how’s it going?” She leaned back a little so she could look at my face.

“I’m good.” I mean, I was okay. Doing fine. Running away from my dorm was not as traumatic a thing when the end result was living with my dream guy.

“I’m glad you’re out of there. It sounds like it was a hellscape.” She put her hand on my forehead as if she was checking a kid for a fever.

Then Bama was up for his hug and I turned to Mike Burathon to get my hug. Teddi’s dad was always ready to have a house full of people. Teddi screamed from the top of the stairs and jumped at me. Mike and I caught her at the same time. She kissed both of our faces over and over.

Austin came over and lifted her off of us like she was a misbehaving cat. She even did grabby hands as if she didn’t want to let go. Gaze and Ruffian appeared at the top of the stairs, sweating and panting. Gaze had a basketball under his arm.