Mami is going to kill me.
Miles pulled on his jacket as he ran up the stairs of his apartment building, having already forgone tying his shoelaces in favor of unstick the zipper. The new dalmatian guy (The Spot?) had taken way longer than he'd hoped. Not to mention getting the cake, leaving the cake on top of the taxi, the taxi driving off, getting the cake back, taking the train, the train stopping because of Armadillo, stopping Armadillo, completely losing the cakes somewhere a few streets later, you get the idea.
Now all Miles had to show for his effort was a barely put together outfit and a couple of apologies ready for his Mama on the tip of his tongue.
He paused at the door, taking a deep breath before pushing it open.
The party was in full swing behind it, music blasting from the DJ booth as people danced to the rhythm. Miles wove his way through the crowd, stopping when people said hi but ultimately trying to avoid anywhere his parents might be.
A hand grabbed his arm, and for one terrifying moment, Miles thought it was his mom. To his relief, a family friend smiled up at him, warm and friendly. “The cake was very thoughtful, Miles. I’m sure your father appreciates it.”
Confused, he nodded, and the woman smiled again before patting his arm and disappearing into the crowd. Anxiety started to creep into his thoughts. Ay Dios mio. Did his parents realize he was late and order a cake saying it was from him?
I'm so dead.
Feeling light-headed, Miles made his way towards the food table, narrowly avoiding an elbow to the gut from a dancer who was a little too into the music. Grabbing a cup and focusing on anything but the shaking in his hands, Miles pour himself a drink and took in the food.
It all looked very nice, with lots of different options, but his eyes were almost instantly drawn to the end of the dessert table. Holy-
A three tier cake with blue and white marbling sat at the end of the table. White chocolate shards were stuck in the top with white and blue roses detailing the bottom tier's sides. A gold badge with 'CAPTAIN' printed on it was on the second tier, and the words 'World's Best Dad' were on the third.
It was a beautiful cake. Much nicer than what he'd almost brought.
"Miles!"
Miles had about two seconds to process that someone had called his name before he was bear hugged by his parents.
"Glad you finally decided to show up, mijo," his mother smiled. "Although you didn't have to get such a fancy cake. When your friend delivered it instead of you, we were so surprised! How come you never introduce us to your friends?"
"I-"
"It's a nice cake, Miles," his dad interrupted. Miles looked at him. "Look, I know we haven't exactly seen eye-to-eye recently, but this... it means a lot."
Rio elbowed her husband. "He cried."
"He doesn't need to know that."
After a few more words, Miles was left to himself. Reeling a bit from how much this meant to his parent, that "he" had gotten such a nice cake in celebration of his dad's promotion, Miles found himself looking at a small business card near the bottom of the cake.
Müller's Bakery, huh...