Mara did not seem the least surprised that this was the conclusion. She sighed and held out a hand to her dad. “Let’s herd the family, then. The Luisa’s people are waiting for us to leave.”
She glanced at Jay, and he hoped she couldn’t tell that he was still feeling a little shaky in his leather shoes. But they left him quickly, and Jay headed back to the ballroom himself. He might as well help encourage people to go home to make the job easier.
After grabbing another cone of ice cream (honey and milk, yum-yum) and telling a few guests that the venue was closing, Jay found himself back near the dance floor, staring at the last remnants of the Barretto-Gonzales wedding. Most of the flowers were gone—the guests had clearly helped themselves. But the red-tinted vases were lined up perfectly on top of the presidential tables, one of the staff wrapping them up in newspaper to pack away. There was confetti on the dance floor from when the party first started, and Bruno Mars was singing mournfully from the speakers like the last tito left at karaoke. The remaining guests waved at each other, in varying shades of disarray and a little too much partying.
He heard a laugh from a corner and saw Marina and David emerging from the photo booth. The booth had a backdrop that was especially created for tonight—tall velvet arches holding cascading flowers and a large version of Marina and David’s initials monogrammed together. There were flowers tucked behind their ears, and they were unable to keep their hands off of each other.
They tumbled out of the photo booth together, laughing at the faces they made as they looked at the photo strip. They looked deliriously happy, like absolutely nothing could ruin it, especially not tonight. And in this moment, he felt that rare moment of being happy that he had the smallest hand in getting them together. Curse or not, they were both good people, with dreams that they found fulfilled in each other.
Jay turned on his camera and snapped a photo. He felt strange, preserving this version of his friends. Would they stay this much in love? What if they fought? What if their dreams changed—would they stay together? If they had kids, would they bury their resentments so deep they only came out after being married for thirty years? He sincerely hoped not. For now, at least they were together, and happy. Sometimes that was more than what one could ask for.
“Shall we go?” Mara asked, coming up beside him. Her cheeks were flushed red, her breaths short, and she was sweating just a little.
“You’re all flushed,” Jay said, brushing away a strand of hair that had come undone from its hold. The action was instinctive, and made Mara’s eyes go wide in surprise. He quickly dropped his hand. “Let’s go home.”
They made it to his car soon enough. Jay was already sitting in the driver’s seat when Mara opened the door. He hadn’t remembered that he left his Snoopy plushie on the passenger’s seat, and the poor guy’s head tilted toward his guest.
“Sorry!” he said as Mara quickly caught the plushie in her hands. “He gets excited.”
“Whoa, down, boy.” Mara giggled, clearly in a good mood. Or maybe she was a little nervous? She tucked the doll under her arm and sat in his passenger seat, juggling the plushie, her purse and her skirts with the expertise of someone who did this sort of thing her whole life.
“Bad dog.” Jay fake scolded the plushie and put him in the back seat, relegated next to an odd-looking heart character with tentacles and a pouty lip. He had to remember to bring that up for Luna.
“Oh. Snoopy has a friend?” Mara asked curiously.
“That’s my niece’s,” Jay explained. “She keeps telling me Snoopy is lonely.”
“That’s sweet,” Mara noted, grabbing the seat belt. When she struggled to find the place to put the buckle, Jay helped her, tingles shooting up his arm when their fingers touched. “Thanks.”
“Sure,” Jay said. They were both quiet for a moment, letting the fact that they were about to do this sink in. It was no easy feat, committing to spend two hours (or longer) in a car with someone you, for all intents and purposes, just met. “Um. Just let me know if you need to make a stop on the way or whatever.”
“Okay,” Mara said, her eyes fixed on the figurine on the dashboard. The little squirrel bobblehead happily offered them an acorn as Jay started the engine. “Yours, or your niece’s?”
“Mine. My front teeth grew in before the rest, and I was a squirmer when I was a kid, so my family called me a squirrel.” He sighed fondly, shaking his head as the car hit the highway. “Imported rat, as my sister joked.”
Mara laughed, and Jay thanked his younger self. The poor kid didn’t know that more than twenty years later, his little origin story would make a beautiful woman smile. But first things first. One thing that Jay had not considered when he offered to drive Mara home waswherehome was for her, exactly. Marina had a car for the short period of time that they dated, and the subject of where she lived on the weekends didn’t exactly come up.
“Our house is in Timog, near ABS and GMA,” Mara explained. Driving through Metro Manila was all vibes and GPS locations, but Jay got the picture. The GPS estimated a one-and-a-half-hour drive ahead, which was excellent time, considering it took them about the same time to get from the church to Luisa’s just that afternoon. “There’s probably a McDo or Jollibee wherever you exit the Skyway, so you can just drop me off, and I’ll get a Grab.”
“It’s a Friday night,” Jay pointed out. When Mara stared at him in confusion, he continued. “Friday night in Manila means traffic. Traffic means less Grabs and price surges. You’re still in a dress—you can’t just walk into a McDo in a dress. I’ll drop you off at your house if you direct me.”
“But—”
“—stuff,” he said, laughing because he was fourteen years old. He didn’t even have to look at Mara to know that she was rolling her eyes.
“Where doyoulive?” she asked when he settled down.
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out at a later date. Maybe.”
The car was quiet after that, as if an awkward silence had been laid between them on a blanket. And now a metaphorical cat was rolling around the blankets and enjoying the awkwardness. Jay’s palms were sweating. He wasn’t sure why. He was just doing a friend a favor, that was all. He was the kind of guy who liked doing things for other people. This was not supposed to make him nervous.
He connected his phone to the car’s speaker system. Jay was a firm believer that the right playlist set the right mood and chose one. Unfortunately, his finger slipped, and he ended up playing “Don’t Go Home” by GD & TOP. Wow. Hello, 2012.
“Ah, fuck,” he said. Thank god she couldn’t tell how embarrassed he was since it was dark. He held his phone up to her, the screen showing the music controls. “Here, you can change the playlist. Just, no podcasts or audiobooks, please. I will fall asleep.”
He heard her chuckle as she took the phone from his hand, and there was silence while she browsed. Jay undid one of the buttons of his shirt, feeling the skin under his collar heat up. What was it about sharing your playlist with someone that made you so vulnerable?
“This is…a lot of K-pop,” Mara said. “Second-gen K-pop to be exact.”
