“Sure,” said Vanessa without hesitation when I suggested the cupcake place.

“We’re fine with it if they are,” said Megan’s mom.

We had an evening flight to catch, but there was plenty of time to hang out. And this was exactly what I told the Squad as we packed up our bags, ready to leave the venue one last time.

“Are you doing this out of guilt? Because there’s no reason to still be feeling guilty,” said Lily.

“I’m doing this because I think you guys would love this place. And yes, I do feel bad for not inviting you to go with us the first time.”

“I don’t understand why we’re still talking about it,” said Riley. “You had me at ‘cupcakes.’”

“Same!” Trina nods, laughing.

“And you say Eliza is coming?” Megan asked, arms crossed.

Uh-oh. Here we go again.

“I was only asking about Eliza because she said there’s this place she gets cool boots,” Megan said, smiling. “I need to find out where exactly that is.”

Whew. “Yay! Then it’s settled. Let’s drop our bags upstairs and head over!”

“This place must be magical,” Lily said, her eyes darting across the colorful walls inside the cupcake place.

“That was exactly what I thought when I first came here!” I said. “Wait until you try the cupcakes.”

“It’s like we’ve walked into an animated world,” said Trina.

We jumped in line before it grew any longer.

“I’ll grab a tray,” I said.

“Did someone say TRAY?” Riley sighed. “Like Trey Thompson?”

“I’m curious, now that you’ve actually met the real-life Trey Thompson,” Lily asked Riley, “did he live up to your high standards?”

“Are you kidding me? Trey IRL exceeded my expectations!” Riley cooed. “I’m so happy we’ll have pictures for proof. And to enlarge for my wall. And my locker.”

“I’m happy for you.” I laughed. We moved up in line.

“Wait until you try the cupcakes,” Eliza said. “I think they, too, will exceed your expectations.”

I chose a peanut butter cupcake this time, with chocolate icing. Eliza picked chocolate truffle, Lily got tie-dye, Megan got red velvet, Riley got lemon, and Trina got the black-and-white. We put them all on the tray and headed to the two tables next to a window. The chaperones sat at a nearby table with their own cupcakes and treats.

Eliza and Riley made a figure eight with the tables, and we arranged the chairs around them.

“Dig in!” I said, placing the tray in between the tables.

And then silence. The only loud things were everyone’s facial expressions. Closed eyes, sneaky smiles, raised eyebrows. I’d say they were enjoying the treats.

“I have questions,” said Megan, annoyed and scrolling through her phone. “I want to know why this place has not expanded its cupcake business to Florida.”

“Just wrong,” scoffed Riley. “And selfish.”