Sean looks at me sheepishly, scuffing the asphalt with his shoe. “I mean, I’d love if you’d want to spend it with me. We can still do all the things we planned, but let’s just leave Dominic out of it. Plus, there are still so many movies I want to show you and so many spots here in LA you need to see. We haven’t even gone on a real date, it was always just to upstage D and Miguel, but—” Sean’s cheeks go crab red. “Wow, I’m rambling. I’ll shut up now. We can do whatever you want.”

He’s so flicking adorable. “Let’s do it; let’s go on that date.”

“Really?”

I take a step forward, my heels putting me at eye level with Sean. There’s a glint in his eye, like he’s an excited merbabe getting to see kraken for the first time. I lace our fingers together and say, “Yes, really. Where to?”

Sean has his hand on my knee the entire drive. Somehow the heat from his skin spreads through my whole body, and his thumb moves in those small circles he’s so good at, over and over, rhythmic, calming. It isn’t until we park and Sean’s hand moves to the gear shift that I realize I didn’t get carsick once.

“Here we are,” Sean says. He looks at me expectantly with his polar-bear eyes, I think hoping for some grand reaction. But honestly, he’s going to have to do better.

“Another parking lot?” What is it with everything being paved up here?

“Okay, yeah, maybe I spoke too soon.” Sean hops out of the car and jogs around the front. He opens my door and grabs my hand. I’m really starting to love that feeling of his slightly wet palm and the scratch of his calluses. “Come on. I promise you’re going to love this.”

I don’t doubt him at all. His last surprise went over so well that I still can’t get the gurgling of that whale and their calf out of my mind.

I let him lead me along a cement path until the first beautiful building I’ve seen since I came here looms in the distance. It’s wide and flat, lit with bright white lights, making it stand out like a beacon in the night. Three domes rest on top, two smaller ones on either side with a large one in the center, like three giant horseshoe crabs watching over the grounds. Just beyond, lights of every color dot the city. Lights in buildings, headlights, electronic billboards. From up here, I can’t see them distinctly, and the way they float and glide makes them look like bioluminescent plankton flashing in a current.

“What is this place?” I breathe.

“The Griffith Observatory,” Sean says.

“This view, though. Who knew all that man-made crap could actually end up being beautiful.”