I sighed, almost as surprised as he was.

“I'm not sure,” I said, turning to look at him. "And that's a problem, isn't it? I was a bit aghast to be interrupted like that, and I might have overreacted. All I wanted was for her to leave us alone, and it seems that she got the message.”

He raised a brow.

“I did get the message, too,” he said, shaking like having a frisson.

I turned to him, chewed from the pretzel, then threw another piece to the ducks.

"Which means that I am a dangerous person. I mean this, Hew. I can react on instinct and do some stupid things, as you just saw. You should dump me and find another singer who is not in danger of blowing someone's mind when she gets too excited. Which I mean, literally!"

He chuckled.

"Don't talk nonsense, Lores! By the way, before I forget,” - he searched inside his pockets and brought a small package out – “This is for you!”

“What's this?” - I wondered, taking the package and unpacking it.

It was a lovely pink mobile phone. Not exactly the top of the charts, but a decent one. Much better than anything I could afford. My eyes lit up at the surprise present.

"I... I... I can't afford this, Hew."

"Oh, yes, it's yours! Please!" - he shrugged - "We need a way to be able to contact you from time to time... If you lose it, we can track it. I've installed the track-my-phone's-location app; you just need to ask me!"

I hesitated, then laughed at his extra information.

“Hew, this wasn't necessary!”

“Oh, yes, it is,” – he said, with a broad laugh on his face.

I shrugged, a little annoyed by how amused he was but also happy to have a mobile phone again.

“Taking into account my mobile phone's burn rate, it is much too expensive, but I love it!”

I hugged him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He blushed, and I saw a spark in his eyes: he does like me.

“It already has a chip inside, and I've put all of us as contacts," - he explained - "If you change the chip or the number, please send us an update, OK?”

“Sure,” – I nodded.

“Doll!! Doll!! Ah, there you are!”

Lola came running down the alley and stopped hesitatingly a couple of meters from us, seemingly only now having seen Hew. I abstained from rolling my eyes at her antics.

“Hey Lola, what is?”

“I see why you missed the first hour. Miss Brooks asked about you.”

Miss Brooks was the history teacher. A rather innocuous person, so I did not give that information too much weight.

“And you came running to tell me that?” - I wondered, raising a brow inquiringly.

She inhaled sharply at my rebuke.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Oh, I didn't want to disturb your romantic hour by the lake,” - she retorted, blinking innocently - “but a certain Sunny Hemmingward visited us yesterday looking for you, and since you haven't been home for a couple of days, I wanted to catch up with you before you go somewhere else. But before I go on, would you like to introduce me to your friend?” Her long eyelashes blinked again as she looked at Hew while moving from one leg to the other, and her blonde mane swayed gently over her shoulders.

I laughed softly. She knows how to display her aces. My laugh seemed to disconcert her.

“Hew, meet my best friend and flatmate, Lola; Lola, this is Hew, my best friend.”

I saw on her face that she wanted to give me a rebuke about the two best friends presentation, but she hesitated once she heard his name.

“Hew, like Hew from Fata Morgana?” - she asked.

It was obvious that she knew about the band and probably that I was with him and now was here to check. I nodded. She raised her brows. “Oh, well, and I hoped you'd go with me...” - she mumbled, deflated.

“What's this about?” - I wondered.

“As I told you, Sunny did visit us yesterday. Sunny Hemmingward!” She repeated the name as if it should ring a bell with me.

I shrugged. “Yeah, and?” - I asked, still bewildered.

Hew looked at me while a smile started to form on his lips.

“You haven't heard about Sunny?”

I shook my head in ignorance. He continued:

“One of the great influencers in our town. We can say country, actually; he is certainly in the top one hundred.”

I shrugged. “OK, and?”

Lola's breathing accelerated. “OK, and? One of the top influencers in the world invites you personally to a party, and you just shrug?”

I snorted at Lola's exaggeration: from town to country to world in a heartbeat.

“Did he invite me?” - I wondered, and it dawned on me: the guy with the convertible – “Oh, you mean Sunny? Yeah, we met some time ago... ahm... Did he really invite me to the party? He did say something about it...”

Hew chuckled while Lola rolled her eyes.

“His parties are big society events," Hew explained. "There is a lot of publicity, and there are millions of followers who scan through those photos. He always makes something big on various themes, and a lot of celebrities are there,” he became pensive. “You know something? I have an idea; maybe we should talk later about it.”

I tsked looking at him.

“You can talk with Lola here; we are best friends, so it should be okay,” I said.

He raised a brow. “Really? I was thinking that you could use the event to unveil who you are. You know, our singer. That could be a lot of publicity for our band!”

Lola's eyes widened in shock. She barely managed to speak.

“You... you... you are the singer of Fata Morgana?”

I nodded. “It was about time I tell you. Do you think this is a good idea? What Hew says?”

She was still baffled but nodded.

“... Ahm, Yes, of course! You two should go there and announce that! That would be great! Can you really sing? Was that really you?”

“Was the invitation for me alone?”

Lola nodded.

“Yes, he wanted to invite only you, but I told him I would go with you, and he accepted. But there is only your name 'and partner' on the invitation, so it should be ok if he goes...” she mumbled.

I shared a glance with Hew. He scratched his head and shrugged.

"If it was meant for Lola, it wouldn't be fair to pass it up for us. You two should enjoy yourselves, and it might still work out for us. Basically, they could play one of our songs and then reveal you as the singer. I think Sunny would like the idea; you should suggest it to him."

That was a well-thought-out idea from him.

"It sounds like a plan," I replied. "I just wonder why Sunny came in person instead of sending an email? And for this weekend? Isn't it a bit short notice?"

Lola snorted.

"He said he already sent one, but as you didn't respond, he came to make sure you received the invitation! He seems to know you already!"

Both of them laughed.

Well, Lola is a great party partner when she's not with Tim; we'll have a good time there. I must have left quite an impression on Sunny if he's so insistent on inviting me; too bad it was with the wrong face! How am I going to fix that?