“I mean, he could be,” Jay exclaimed, looking back at the two of them. Yeah, they were on their second drinks, still laughing at whatever the heck a guy with an art gallery and a floral designer had in common. “You’re right, they do look good together.”
That was the part that was stressing him out.
“So make a choice.” Alex said it so firmly, like the solution was obvious. “Either step aside or fight back. Have some backbone, Montinola.”
As it happened, there was little time to go up to Mara and show he had a backbone, because there was one last thing requested of him as a best man. One thing that he agreed to because Alex told him he didn’t need to make a speech…if he did this.
Jay had always been better at talking with his body than his mouth anyway.
“Dude.” Mon winced, shaking his head.
“What?” Jay asked, having no idea why Mon was laughing.
“You seem…” Scott started, but seemed to wisely choose not to say anything as he, Mon, Jay and a couple of other members of the wedding party—including Tori’s twenty-year-old brother Jake, who had the cutest little baby eyes but could outdance them all—took their positions at the back of the venue.
“Excited?” Because like the queens onDrag Race, a fire had been lit under his ass, and he was determined to show off what a fine ass it was.
“Not the word I would use,” Mon said, wiping his brow. The man in question had performed on stages bigger than this, had literally been to red carpets viewed by way more people. He’d just married the couple less than an hour ago with an introduction that started the collective waterworks on the beach. Surelyhewasn’t nervous. “I’m sweating through my shirt.”
“I was just supposed to be a wedding guest,” Teddy Mertola piped up from behind Mon, absolutely pouting. He wasn’t thrilled, but the guy had attended every practice session, asked Jay about the choreography after each session and picked it up much faster than Mon and Scott.
“At least we got our flights free.” Van, an artist known more famously for his work than his dance moves, slung an arm around his boyfriend, Min. He knew Tori from the gallery, and Jay was willing to bet that a flight to Boracay wasn’t a big blow to his bank account. “And it’s a one night only thing.”
The idea to form a one night, one performance only boyband had been Tori’s, a wish fulfillment thing she had in her head. She also knew that the only time she had enough power to exert such an ask on these hapless guys was on her wedding day, and had been very vocal about making her one day unforgettable.
One day. Today.
What had started as the seven of them grumbling about what they were willing to do to secure Tori Bonifacio’s love resulted in everyone committing and doing a pretty decent job, at least by Jay’s standards.
Mara would not know what hit her.
The crowd’s enthusiastic cheers got them moving into position. Tori and Alex were sitting at the center, with Ate Irene holding up her phone camera behind them and Mara sitting with Luna close by. Jay grinned and made eye contact in a way to make Mara absolutely sure he was doing it for her, and the music began.
They chose a pop song that took inspiration from Michael Jackson, with the kind of sexy choreography that was still appropriate to the crowd. It was pretty cheesy, and a far cry from what he used to do when he was younger, but Jay still loved to dance. He could feel it in his body, the way it strained and stretched, that this was right. This was good.
But more importantly, he wanted Mara to know that he was dancing with only her in the audience—at least in his head. When Tori’s brother was lip-syncing (quite excellently—where the hell did this kid come from?) his solo, and Jay stood to the side, he turned around and made sure to give Mara a little wink, and a “hey.”
The way her jaw dropped open was going to count as one of the biggest wins he’d ever achieved. Much to his credit, her jaw was absolutely on the ground by the time they made it to the dance break, and he was absolutely feeling himself at that point. The movement was freeing, and it really did do an ego good, to know that someone had their eyes on you when you knew the moves. God, he really did miss dancing.
When the song ended and the seven of them hit their last pose with heavy breathing, the entire crowd had gone crazy, especially Tori, who stood up and hopped over to them declaring this was the best wedding she’d ever attended. Jay joined the guys in giving her a slightly sweaty group hug made up of delirious laughter and a promise never to do this again (their greatness had to be contained, Scott said). They dispersed from the stage, and Jay walked toward his family to applause, with Luna imitating his moves and begging Nong to teach her. Mara handed him his camera.
“I think we should let Nong catch his breath first,” Ate Irene said, reaching out for her daughter. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get some Cocomo.”
Jay waved them off. But as soon as he did, he turned to Mara and crossed one leg over the other. He leaned against her and took a selfie of them. Mara crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the camera.
“Keep doing that and your eyes will stay like that,” he joked, but Mara pretended to ignore him. He decided on a different approach.
“What did you think?” He casually put his arm on the back of her chair, leaning in a little. Thank god he had extra clothes on hand. He took a deep sip of his water while Mara was just staring at him, her eyes dark. He saw her throat work as if she’d swallowed a lump in it. She was absolutely staring at his panting mouth, his collarbone. Jay felt himself shiver from the want in her gaze. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she agreed, and Jay felt that her hand on his thigh was reward enough, mostly because Mara was that bold with how he made her feel. “That was sexy. Like…really sexy. You’re very bendy.”
“That’s something.” Jay laughed, feeling his heart patter at Mara’s slight squirming. Her cheeks were flushed, and he could tell there was a question she wanted to ask him. Every part of Jay’s soul told him that whatever it was, he was going to say yes.
“Jay,” she said carefully. “Can we advance my education tonight?”
“Your education? In what subject?”
“Mechanical physics? Aerodynamics?” At his confusion, she sighed and finally said, “Blowing.”
