Promise Me Sunshine

Lenny is happy to hear that Ainsley is still teaching Miles to dance a few days later. Later, both Lenny and Reese are shocked when they hear Ainsley and Miles loudly laughing together while watching a silly reality show on TV. As Lenny and Miles leave Reese’s apartment, she tells him that Jericho agreed to go to the concert with her, and they go out to celebrate. However, Lenny uses this excuse to get Miles to do something he actually needs to do: get glasses. Lenny has noticed Miles squinting when he reads, and she forces him to see an optometrist. Miles learns that he is farsighted and lets Lenny pick a pair of glasses for him, but he also buys a fun pair of heart-shaped sunglasses for her. Lenny finds Miles even more attractive in his new glasses.

Lenny takes Ainsley to Miles’s apartment for a “secret mission” to make Reese a surprise birthday cake. They formulate a plan for Ainsley to distract Reese while Lenny and Miles set up the cake, and Reese is pleasantly surprised. Lenny is pleased when Reese hugs Miles to thank him for his help with the plan, despite their tense past regarding her birthday.

Lenny anxiously waits outside Madison Square Garden for Jericho to arrive for the 5Night concert. She is shocked to see that Jericho has become a big fan of the group since she invited him to the concert, and they have a great time. Jericho invites Lenny out to get drinks with friends afterward, and he suggests that she invite Miles, so she does. They all go out with Jericho’s friends, Rica and Jeffy, and Miles is happy that Lenny is happy. Lenny gets closer to Rica and tells her about how Miles is helping her. Rica initially seems interested in dating Miles and asks Lenny if there is anything romantic going on between the two of them, but she backs off after she hears how close Lenny and Miles have gotten. Miles suddenly invites everyone to go camping with him and Lenny, as it is something that is on her Live Again list, and they all agree.

Lenny and Miles collapse on his couch two hours later, and the next morning, they talk about the concert and how Lenny wants to talk to Lou about it. Lenny sees paint in her hair from Jericho’s costume last night and feels overwhelmed by the loss of Lou. When Lou lost her hair to chemo the first time, Lenny also shaved her head, but when she relapsed, Lou made her promise that she would grow her hair out. Lenny grabs scissors and is about to cut her hair off, unable to stand the reminder of Lou and wanting to do something she will regret. Miles stops her and gently helps her wash her hair out and put it up. When Lenny lashes out against him for not letting her do something she will regret, he agrees that it is unfair of him. He suggests that they do something that she will regret—but not cutting her hair—and Lenny suggests that they go get a tattoo.

Miles checks to see if Lenny really wants to do this as they get to the tattoo parlor, and she says that she does, especially because it is not something on her list. Miles asks if their tattoos have to be matching, and Lenny didn’t think that he was going to get one, too. Miles lets Lenny choose whatever she wants. She tells him that he doesn’t need to get a tattoo, but he goes through with it, and they watch one another as they get their matching tattoos. Lenny opts for a design of a wolf howling at the moon, a silly design that she thinks Miles will hate her for since it is a lonely image. However, Miles lets her know that they can’t be lonely because there are two of them, and when wolves howl, they do so to find one another.

Lenny, Ainsley, and Miles go thrift shopping, and Lenny gives Miles her phone when she goes to try on silly T-shirts. Her phone vibrates in his pocket several times as her mother tries to reach her, but Lenny is still ignoring her parents, so they don’t see the depth of her grief. They go on their camping trip with Jericho, Rica, and Jeffy a week later, and Miles has prepared everything since no one else has been camping before. They hike to a swimming hole a few minutes away, where Lenny is surprised to see Miles do a cannonball. Miles is surprised to learn that Lenny talked to Rica about Lou and that she does it again when they are camping. Lenny admits that she doesn’t actually regret getting her tattoo, so she and Rica brainstorm for other things she can do and regret. Lenny feels wonderful as she is out in the sunshine and able to talk about Lou without crying.

Jeffy and Lenny beat the others at a card game, and Lenny teases Miles for it, so he takes her to the river and is about to dunk her in before he changes his mind. The others boo. Later that night, they all talk about their love lives and whether any of them have ever dated each other, and it is clear that the others are teasing Miles and Lenny. Lenny pushes Jericho into Miles’s tent so that no one will expect her to share a tent with him. Yet only afterward does Lenny remember that she still cries most of the night, so Miles takes his sleeping bag to stay outside with her. The two of them talk about how Miles pushed others away while he was in the worst of his grief, and that is why it is hard for him to get close to others. Yet with Lenny, he knows that she is too loyal to leave him, so he can be his whole self with her.

As they pack up the campsite to leave, Miles reveals that he is not actually going back to the city tonight but is instead going to check on his house upstate. He invites Lenny to come over and stay the night as the others head back to the city after making dinner plans next week. Lenny is surprised by the ease with which Miles interacts with the home in which he grew up, and she loves the personality of his house. Miles admits that he came upstate because he was invited to a wedding, and Lenny agrees to go with him before she even knows what they are doing. The person getting married is Cody Ketterman, an old friend and the older brother of Miles’s ex-girlfriend, Kira, who will be at the wedding. Though Miles tries to convince Lenny that she doesn’t need to come, she is excited to be able to go with him and help him. Lenny borrows one of Miles’s mother’s dresses for the wedding, and as she gets ready, she is surprised to see how regular and healthy she looks. She is also stunned speechless by the sight of Miles in a suit, and Lenny jokingly flirts with him to diffuse the tension. While looking for a coat closet, Lenny comes across the room of Miles’s cousin, Anders, and it is clear that Miles never touched his room since his death. Lenny realizes that Miles has not quite processed his cousin’s death as he did his mother’s.

Miles is nervous as they drive to the wedding, and Lenny prods him until he reveals that he is nervous to see everyone in his small town, who all looked at him differently after his family died and he broke up with Kira, the town’s sweetheart. After the ceremony, Miles is even more nervous when he runs into Kira and learns that she is seeing Sean Vogel. When Miles and Kira were dating, she cheated on Miles with Sean. Miles took her back afterward, afraid of how the town would treat him if they broke up. Lenny feels crushed for him, but the moment ends when some high school friends find Miles. Later, Lenny runs into Kira in the bathroom, and she warns Lenny that while Miles is a great guy, he often hides himself and needs a gentle touch. Lenny wonders how Kira could have dated Miles for five years and not known him like she does.

Lenny gets Miles to leave early after they watch Kira catch the bride’s bouquet. As they drive back home, it begins to rain heavily. Running into Miles’s building, they see that the power has gone out. They make their way into Miles’s bedroom in the dark to get fresh clothes and get changed. Miles makes a fire, and when they settle in front of it, Lenny asks Miles if he is still devastated over Anders, and he knows that she has seen his bedroom. He reveals that Anders was five years younger than him. When he came to live with him and his mother, Miles became Anders’s big brother. Lenny says that she likes hearing about his family and that he can tell her about them if he feels like it. Reminded of something, Miles goes to get a present for Lenny—a locket with her and Lou’s picture in it—because Lenny said that she always wanted to have a picture of Lou with her to show people. She wonders what photo she should put in the other side of the locket, and she decides that it should be a picture of Miles.