“Did you hear about your classmate who got suspended for sneaking in alcohol on campus?” Auntie Baby lowers her voice and Ma’s leaning in like she’s saying,Tell me more.
“Grace found out because the student was one of the altar servers! Apparently, the girl was pouring tequila into the Mass wine. Father Melvin was rambling and slurring his words while delivering all his homilies last week!” Auntie Baby gasps with Ma as if she’s hearing the news for the first time too.
“Tragic, really.” Auntie Baby shakes her head. “But when life offers us tragedies, we look on the bright side. I figured that this girl’s graduation tickets would go to waste, so I personally volunteered to take them.”
“Very selfless,” I say, and wince when Achi kicks the back of my leg.
“Of course.” Auntie Baby beams at me. “I’m not missing seeing my two girls graduate.”
Auntie Baby holds up her arms and I forget the time for a moment to sink into her hug. Big shout-out to my altar girl classmate who made Father Melvin drunk with tequila. She made me realize that it would feel like someone’s missing if Auntie Baby weren’t there at graduation.
Just when I thought we were finally ready to go, Auntie Baby tells me she needs to borrow my student ID to claim her tickets.
I sprint to my bedroom and grab my ID in record time…
Then my eyes land on the plastic egg that’s still on my dresser.
Speaking of someone missing…
I never even figured out what was inside this plastic egg Seph gave me all those months ago.
When I twist open the lid and unfold the rolled-up paper inside, I find a long list of song titles.
“Torete”—Moira Dela Torre
“Always Be My Baby”—Mariah Carey
“Can I Have This Dance”—High School Musical Cast
“so american”—Olivia Rodrigo
At the bottom, he wrote,worked hard to remember the titles of the songs that remind me of you.
There’s more when I flip to the back of the list.
my heart’s always been yours, ilagan.
will you go to prom with me?
44
My plan was supposed to be smooth and discreet. I put a note inside the plastic egg that there’s an extra graduation ticket for Seph if he wants it.
Step one: Leave plastic egg outside Seph’s door.
Step two: Walk away to the elevator and message Seph that I left something for him.
Step three: Seph finds the egg, then decides what to do with it.
Just having completed step one, I’m backing away from the King unit when the door creaks open.
Seph is wearing another one of his shirts that’s only buttoned halfway. His brow furrows when he sees me scrambling with a plastic egg on the rug outside the door. It’s all very awkward as hell.
“Heeeeeey, you.” I stand, not really sure what to do with my hands, squeezing the egg with my fingers. “Long time.”
He’s still looking at me like I’m a weirdo with an egg. “Aren’t you graduating today?”
I nod and smooth out my dress. “Yeah, I was about to head out. Achi and Ma took forever, so I’m about…” I check the watch on my phone. Shit. “Thirty minutes late.”
