Page 100 of Play For Me

Solomon grins up at me, looking more boyish than I’ve ever seen him. “Sorry, baby. Are you mad at me?

“Aw,” Santana coos. “He calls her baby?”

Sol’s face gets red and Cade laughs from the other side of the table. “Nope. He calls herCecelia. All the time. It’s theonlything he ever calls her.”

Sol blinks. “Cecelia is her name. What else am I supposed to call her?”

“Um, CeCe,” Cade says. “Or Ceece. Or Cecaroni.”

“No one calls me Cecaroni,” I say. He ignores me.

“But no. You always say thewhole thing.” Cade draws out my name. “Ceeeceellia.”

Sol still looks confused. “Cecelia is the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard in my life. Why would I call her anything else?”

“Oh my God,” Vega sighs. “That’s so freakingsweet.”

“Cecelia,” Cade is saying, his face screwed up in concentration. “Ceceliaaaa. It kind of stops sounding like a real name when you repeat it enough.”

“So stop repeating it,” Vi says. “Jesus, how high are you guys?”

“Pretty high,” Sol says, giving me that boyish grin again, and my heart melts. He’s so cute like this, all loose and relaxed.

“Maybe we should get you home,” I say.

His face lights up. “Are you coming with me?”

“If you want me to.”

He grabs me and pulls me down into his lap, wrapping his arms around me and inhaling deeply. “Definitely want,” he mutters into my hair. “I love it when you stay with me.”

“I’m gonna stop you there, bro,” Silas says, holding up a hand. “I do not need any more information about my sister spending the night.”

Sol pretends to zip his mouth closed and then giggles. Vi meets my eye, looking about as amused as I feel. “Definitely time to head home,” she agrees. “Come on, boys.”

“What about Emery?” I ask, looking back to where I left her and finding the space empty.

Jay holds up his phone. “She said she’s going home with that girl she met.”

Cade sighs. “At least someone is getting lucky tonight.”

“Can I get lucky too?” Sol asks me in a whisper-shout he apparently thinks no one else can hear.

“What happened to zipped lips?” Silas grumbles.

“Let’s just worry about getting you home first,” I tell Sol, hauling him up from his chair.

Silas decides to stay until the rest of the band is ready to leave, but we manage to get Jay, Cade, Ash, and Sol up from their chairs while Vega calls for our drivers to meet us outside. Jay and Cade seem no worse for the wear, arms slung around each other’s shoulders while they carry on some loud conversation about aliens building the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Ash isn’t talking much, but he keeps tilting his head back to look at the stars, which causes him to stumble about a dozen times on the short walk to the vehicles.

Sol walks next to me, his posture very carefully straight. I get the impression he’s trying not to let on how blitzed he is. I slip an arm around his middle and he sighs happily, leaning against me so much I nearly stumble.

Sol and I get into the first vehicle with Violet and Jay. I hear Cade and Ash arguing over who has to sit in the back of their SUV before our driver shuts the door behind us.

“This is nice,” Sol says, slumping against me on the back bench seat. “You smell good.”

“Shut up,” Jay groans from the seat in front of us. “I don’t have anyone to cuddle with and it’s not fair.” He looks hopefully at Violet but she just laughs and pats his hand.

“What were you guys talking about that was so funny back there?” she asks. “I could hear you giggling from across the patio.”