Luke Carter closed his eyes to make a wish, then blew out the candles. Before he could finish in one breath, the others joined in the fun and helped blow them out together. Afterward, Logan Wright exclaimed excitedly, "Cut the cake!"

Luke Carter laughed and teased him, "You still aren't full? All you know is eating. How do you even survive in the school cafeteria?"

"Just get by," Logan Wright said. "I get two servings every day, what else can I do?"

Everyone laughed and joked around for a while, then each person got a piece of chocolate cake.

Wanda sneakily grabbed some cream from the leftover half piece of cake on the food cart, circled behind Luke Carter, showed off the cream in his hand, and winked at the others.

Everyone understood immediately.

Luke Carter was unwrapping a present. Even though he had shamelessly asked for it, he still acted surprised when he opened it: "Wow, oh my god, isn't this the gift I've always wanted! My dear Da, you really know me so well—"

Before he could finish, his dear Da smeared cream all over his face.

Wanda took the lead.

The cake-smearing game grew bigger and bigger, until everyone was chasing each other around the private room.

Ethan Young had barely eaten any cake when Henry Howard pulled himself out of the chaos, still not satisfied with the fun. He saw the kid sitting alone, walked over, patted Ethan Young on the shoulder, and while Ethan Young leaned back to look at him, smeared cream on his face.

Ethan Young: ""

"Old Young, you can't dodge it," Henry Howard said. "The cream that needs to be smeared still has to be smeared."

Then Luke Carter and the others watched as the two most formidable guys in their class started fighting again.

But this time, it was a cream war.

Ethan Young grabbed a big handful of cream and aimed it at Henry Howard's head: "You—having fun? Are you happy now?"

Quinn Shaw, though everyone respectfully called her Brother Qing, was still a girl. Basically, she only smeared cream on others. When she got tired, she stopped to rest, then took out her phone, smiled, and snapped a photo: "Hey—should we take a group photo? I'll count three, two, one, and everyone say cheese."

Henry Howard had a natural flair for the camera. Even with his face and hair covered, he still hooked his arm around Ethan Young's neck, trying to pose: "Cheese! Old Young, look at the camera."

Ethan Young clearly didn't want to cooperate: "Look at what?"

Quinn Shaw didn't care whether they were ready or not. As long as she was ready, she pressed the shutter with a "click".

The class monitor's seventeenth birthday.

Everyone's face was smeared beyond recognition, especially Luke Carter himself, with only his eyes still visible.

And in the last row, two boys, one in black and one in white.

Quinn Shaw suddenly thought, this is really nice.

After reading so many coming-of-age novels, even though her own days weren't that dramatic, just ordinary days, worrying about exams every day, staying up late doing homework by the lamp—but it was still really nice.

After eating and making a mess of the cake, Ethan Young grabbed a few napkins to wipe his face, but found it was still sticky and wouldn't come clean.

Henry Howard suggested going to the bathroom to wash up, worried the restroom would get crowded soon, so the two of them slipped out the back door.

"You really went all out," Henry Howard said, sticking his head under the faucet as he washed. "Anywhere else?"

Ethan Young washed quickly, just a bit on his cheeks and nose. After finishing, he carefully started washing his hands, turned his head and said, "Back of your neck."

Henry Howard lowered his head and reached back, "Here?"

"No," Ethan Young said, "a bit lower."

Henry Howard fumbled for a while but couldn't find it, bending over until he got tired, bracing himself on the sink, and said casually, "Are you messing with me?"

Ethan Young reached out—his hand was still wet, cool as he pressed it to Henry Howard's neck: "Here."

Henry Howard: ""

Luke Carter and the others had been wiping with napkins for ages but still couldn't get clean, so they came in too.

Seeing Henry Howard and Ethan Young in the bathroom, both looking a bit odd, they couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you two doing?"

Ethan Young didn't answer, just stepped aside and walked out of the bathroom.

Henry Howard blinked, water dripping from his eyelashes, wiped his face and said, "Nothing, all done here, you guys go ahead."

Luke Carter didn't have time to think more, because Wanda and Logan Wright had already rushed in to grab the two empty spots. He said sadly, "You two, can't you take care of the birthday boy?"

Logan Wright shook his head, grinning, and leaned toward the sink, but managed to miss the water stream perfectly.

Wanda wasn't much better. He started twisting his waist in front of the mirror: "Music, music."

Luke Carter realized something was off: "You guys aren't... drunk, are you?"

They were supposed to go sing karaoke, but with a few drunks in the group, they had to give up.

"Haozi, you and Dingding carry the PE rep back," Henry Howard said while supporting Wanda, "Old Young and I will take care of this one, we'll just take him straight back to school."

Wanda's steps were unsteady. When he heard "back to school," he used his last bit of sense to say goodbye to the class monitor: "Haozi, happy birthday."

Luke Carter struggled to support Logan Wright: "Thanks, let's just leave it at that—man, how are these two so bad at holding their liquor?"

"It's not just that they're bad at drinking," Ethan Young said, "at the table they kept bragging about how they could drink a thousand shots and not get drunk."

Henry Howard added, "These two have no idea what their real limits are."

They kept ordering bottle after bottle.

Bragging, "This little bit of alcohol is nothing, I don't feel a thing, I must be the legendary one who never gets drunk! Come on! Keep going!"

They got a taxi. Luckily, Wanda's drunkenness wasn't that bad, and he didn't insist on dancing anymore. He fell asleep as soon as he got in.

"Driver, to Liyang No. 2 High School."

"No. 2 High, got it." The driver checked the route and focused on driving.

The ride was silent.

Henry Howard could hold his liquor, but after drinking with Luke Carter today, he had a bit too much. Now that things had quieted down, he felt hot all over.

His stomach was burning too.

He wanted to open the window for some air, and when he turned, he saw the kid next to him had also fallen asleep.

Ethan Young's hand was right next to his—just now, the hand that had been wet and touched his neck. The same hand he had grabbed on the first day of freshman registration, asking about "black nail polish."

The scenery outside the window flashed by.

Henry Howard felt that the emotions he had been desperately suppressing all day suddenly burst out because of these seemingly insignificant little details.

Just like Sean Parker said, about to explode.

Ethan Young just had a headache, and after getting in the car, the bumping made it worse. He closed his eyes to rest, his mind still very clear. But as he rested, his hand was suddenly grabbed.

But this time it was different—their fingers were interlaced.

The boy's fingers were bony and a bit uncomfortable, and Henry Howard held on carefully, as if he didn't want to disturb him, but couldn't help squeezing tighter. The burning heat from his hand, even his heartbeat, seemed to pass over bit by bit.

Ethan Young felt like he was burning up too.

------------

50. Chapter Fifty

Ethan Young kept his eyes closed.

Everything was dark, and his other senses became sharper.

Like breathing, heartbeat, and their fingers intertwined.

Ethan Young felt very calm, without those previous indescribable emotions, and didn't feel like hitting anyone. Henry Howard's dog life could be spared for now.

That inexplicable irritation seemed to have found an outlet all of a sudden—a certain answer faintly surfaced.

Maybe it had pointed to that answer countless times before.

There was almost no sound in the car, except for Wanda's sleep-talking hums in the front, and the sound of traffic and honking outside the window.

It was already close to evening, the light dimming. When the car entered the tunnel, Wanda smacked his lips, woke up again, and asked in confusion and alarm, "Where's my lighting? Lighting guy?"

With all the music and dancing, now he still wanted lighting. Looks like this guy had a superstar dream sleeping inside.

After Wanda finished, Ethan Young felt Henry Howard's hand stiffen a bit. He seemed very nervous, even his breathing lighter.

Luckily, Wanda only said those two sentences, then closed his eyes again and fell back asleep.

Henry Howard moved his fingers, hesitating whether to let go.

After a long hesitation, he still didn't move. He couldn't bear to let go.

The red light passed, the car kept moving forward, and the fare slowly ticked up from the starting price.