Even If the Sky Falls by Mia Garcia Read Free Book Online Page A

made to really shine later in the night—and I can’t figure out the second float, but it looks like someone took a lot of paper flowers, threw glitter on them, and set them on wheels.
    A man with a glitter tartan looks up from the flower float. Finding my eyes, he smiles and winks. Charming.
    â€œHow did you get them to let us up here?”
    Taj plops down behind me. “You know how it is. Some smooth talking. Promises you don’t intend to keep.”
    Danny weaves around Taj, rustling his hair before jumping away from his swinging hand. “Or a friend of my mom’s owns the building.”
    â€œAh.”
    â€œCome on.” Danny motions to the bundles of lumpy paper bags we’d scavenged before coming up, and we pile around them. “Let’s eat before it starts.”
    There’s a particularly oil-soaked bag right in the middle of the others that I don’t recognize. Must have come from Danny, who’d disappeared for twenty minutes before we reunited. Taj leans down and tears it open. “Café Beignet or Du Monde?” he asks Danny.
    â€œBeignets?” I’ve been dying to try beignets—fried dough is one of my favorite things in the world—but hadn’t had the chance. Another one of Tavis’s promises not delivered and number one on my list of things to do in New Orleans. “We are going to have beignets?” I perk up, ready to tear into whichever bag holds those delicious little treats. I hadn’t noticed any of the boys stopping to buy them, and I have no idea how they managed to sneak it by me.
    â€œHell yeah.” Danny wags his eyebrows then turns to Taj. “Neither. Too far. These are from the local joint a couple of blocks away.”
    We begin to break into the bags, arranging the food in front of us. Along with the beignet there are some deli-meat-type sandwiches called mufa-something or other.
    â€œBut just to be clear, if I had, I would’ve gotten Café Beignet,” Danny says.
    Taj checks his head in mock disgust. “Why are we even friends, man?”
    â€œAww.” Danny takes Taj down with a giant hug.
    â€œHey, man, be cool!” Taj shouts from the ground. “Be. Cool.”
    There’s an ache in my stomach. Watching Danny and Taj joke around makes me miss Kara and Em so much. For a moment I try to forget how much I’ve screwed up my friendships as Taj pushes Danny off him, straightening his shirt and pretending to be mad as hell. I watch Miles smile at his friends, chuckling; when he catches me watching the grin gets even bigger. He gestures toward his friends as if to say, “What can you do?”
    â€œHow many shifts did you have to promise for all of this?” Miles asks as he takes the Bottom hat off and tosses it down next to him.
    â€œJust one,” Danny replies, then pauses, “on Saturday.”
    â€œOuch.” Miles pats Danny on the shoulder. “A great sacrifice.”
    Indeed, but looking around at the awesome spread I kinda think it is worth it. “Thanks, Danny. These look amazing.”
    â€œIt’s so beautiful it’s making me cry,” Taj jokes, holding back fake tears as he basks in the glory of our feast.
    â€œThank you so much, really; you didn’t have to bring me along and feed me.”
    â€œYou’re welcome!” Taj says as Miles hits his shoulder.
    â€œDon’t worry about it. My mama always said you can learn a lot from a person by breaking bread together,” Miles says.
    â€œYou can? How?”
    â€œActually I have no idea. But she’s really big on the idea, and my mama is never wrong. So, who’s going to dive in first?”
    No one makes the first move, and I don’t know why. This has to be the most delicious array of delicacies I’ve seen in a long time. I break the trance and dive for a beignet before the sugar becomes an oil-soaked glob. I open my mouth to take a bite of the delicious