“Right,” he murmurs, nodding. His eyes dart down to my mouth, then meet mine again. “Ten o’clock sharp.”
NINETEEN
Oliver
My phone ringswhile I am finishing the last graph on my presentation for the next principal’s conference. I look down at the caller ID and smile.
“Hi, Ma,” I answer.
“Hoy!Anak! Turn it to FaceTime!” she yells in her accented English, FaceTime sounding more like PaceTime.
I click the button on my phone. My mom’s smiling brown face appears on the screen. Dad stands behind her, blue eyes and white hair cut off at the top of the screen, since Mama stands so much shorter than him.
“Hi Ma. Hi Dad,” I say. “I can’t talk for long; someone’s about to come in for a meeting.”
“Oh woooow, Ollie is much too busy busy to speak to his pamily, hah?” Mama pretends to frown.
“Leave him alone, Gloria,” my dad tells her. Mama snorts. “We just wanted to say hi, Ollie. We haven’t heard from you all week,” Dad says.
“I know,” I sigh. “Things have been crazy around here. I promise a long phone call soon.”
“You work too hard,” my mom says. “How about youcome to the house next weekend instead? The whole family is coming. Plus your Tita Jasmine, and your Tita Christine, and Tito Boy, Tito TJ, cousin?—”
“Sure, sounds great,” I cut in, before she really gets into our massive family genealogy. “Are you cooking?”
“Of course I’m cooking. Look at you. You look emaciated. Make sure you bring Tupperware so you can makebaon,” she scolds.
“I’m actually quite happy with my weight right now, Ma?—”
“Psh. You are gaunt in the face?—”
“Gloria—” my dad warns.
The phone screen shakes as she shoves him away and takes the phone. Her voice drops to a stage-whisper, one at the volume of her regular speaking voice. “Tala tells me you have a crush. Will you bring her to the house, too? What does she like to eat? She’s not a vegetarian, is she? Please Lord, tell me she’s not a vegetarian.”
“MA!” I glance around my empty office, confirming that it is indeed empty. I drop my voice to a whisper, too, but it’s coming out just as loud as hers. “Ma, Tala is out of her mind. That woman is a teacher of mine, a subordinate. There isnocrush?—”
“OOOOOOO!” she squeals, sounding just like my sister. “How SCANDALOUS! Just be careful,hah, don’t get caught. That’s very inappropriate.” The phone screen is bouncing up and down. “Is she pretty? Is she smart? Is she a doctor? No, wait, she’s a teacher. That’s good. Is she a vegetarian? Does she like lumpia? I can make veggie lumpia.”
“She’s not… I don’t… Ma, your veggie lumpia has shrimp in it. It’s not really veggie?—”
She frowns. “It’s like, 99% vegetables. It’s vegetarian.”
There is a knock on the door of my office. I turn down the volumeof my phone.
“I have to go, guys,” I quickly tell my parents, both of whom are now bobbing their heads around, frowns on their faces, mimicking straightening their imaginary ties and adjusting their non-existent blazers, their “I Am Very Important” act. I smother a laugh, remembering Georgia doing something eerily similar a few weeks ago. “I’ll see you next week.”
“Just text us what she likes to eat,” Ma yells.
“No, Ma, no one is coming?—”
The door to my office opens, and I quickly hang up the phone. Lina walks through the door.
“Hey, boss,” she says.
“Hey. Hello. Hi, Lina.”
She eyes me. “The fuck is wrong with you?”
