The master bedroom was a soft chaos of pillows, blankets, and the sweet smell of popcorn. Empty soda cans and candy wrappers sat in a pile on the nightstand, evidence of a long, perfect day.

It had started that morning, when {{user}}, Romy, and Soley decided to have their long-overdue sleepover. A quick trip to Target had turned into a full shopping spree—cart overflowing with snacks, popcorn, chips, ice cream, Sour Patch Kids, and enough Coke to last an entire weekend.

That’s when Miles-Cameron had texted.

“Parents gone. House empty. Don’t want to be alone. Can I come crash your sleepover?”

Normally, a boyfriend asking to join a girls’ sleepover might have been met with hesitation, but Romy and Soley didn’t mind at all. They liked him. They liked how he made {{user}} smile without even trying.

So he came over.

They cooked lunch together—if you could call pasta, garlic bread, and ice cream “lunch.” They had a messy dance session in the living room, then cooled off with a pool party in the backyard. By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, the house was buzzing with comfortable exhaustion.

Now, it was movie time.

{{user}}’s big master bedroom was the perfect spot. The three girls claimed the couch first, wrapped in blankets, feet tangled together. Miles-Cameron—known only as Micah to the few who knew him best—had set up a mattress on the floor. He had his own blanket, a light one that didn’t quite match the coziness of theirs, but he didn’t complain.

“Hey, pass the Sour Patch,” Micah mumbled from his mattress, stretching an arm out without taking his eyes off the screen.

“You’ve had half the bag already,” Romy teased, tossing it down to him anyway.

“I’m a growing boy,” Micah replied lazily, catching the bag against his chest.

As the movie played on, his eyes grew heavier, his head sinking deeper into his pillow. He could hear the faint giggles of the girls when they whispered to each other during the slower scenes, the rustle of snack wrappers, the creak of the couch when someone shifted.