When I shut him down, Seph asks, “Any other guy you’re interested in?” He gestures to the Saint Francis class president. “Can vouch for Gio. He’s smart and fun.”
“Oh, dumb and boring guys are more my type.”
He shakes his head, laughing. “Come on. Maybe by the end of this soiree, you’ll be able to talk to guysyoufind cute.”
“I have no problem talking to you.”
The words come out of my mouth without me thinking. I blame the ice. Freezing my hand is messing with the part of my brain in charge of impulse control.
“Don’t,” I warn Seph in case he gets the wrong idea. Judging from his expression, though, I’m already too late.
“You think I’m cute?” he asks, his cocky grin on full display.
“Nope.”
This only makes his smile grow even bigger. “Can’t believe Nika Ilagan thinks I’m cute.”
“Hey, you know, I think it’s time for us to switch partners…”
My face flushes when I notice the ice cube Seph’s holding has fully melted, and my hand has been resting on his. This is actual skin-to-skin contact. Like, I-can-feel-the-calluses-on-his-fingers type of intimate contact. I know I’m holding Seph’s hand, but does this mean that we’re actuallyholding hands?!
I stop spiraling when the flash on Auntie Baby’s camera almost blinds me and Seph. Our hands immediately spring apart.
“Ay!” Auntie Baby covers her phone’s camera lens as if that would hide the fact that she’s been recording. “Beth, you didn’t tell me the flash was on!”
Great, just what we needed. Enabling Auntie Baby’s delusions of pairing her son and me together even more.
But all thoughts related to Auntie Baby’s matchmaking go out the window as soon as I notice Ma right beside her. It’s her expression when she goes to her scary quiet place again.
“Ma, are you okay?” I reach for her when I see her eyes welling up.
She pats her cheeks and waves me off. “Ah, it’s nothing,” she says. “Seeing you and Moseph just brings back memories.”
Ma leaves the room and I trail her, unsure of what’s happening. Pa appears beside me and I whisper-ask him what happened.
“Your mom was just watching you hold hands with Baby’s son.”
“What? We weren’t…” I avert my face from him when my cheeks flare up again.God, Nika, focus! There are way more important things going on than the stupid ice game with Moseph.
Was this plan too much? Maybe we pushed Ma too far?
I check in on her again. “Ma, are you okay?”
“Go, keep enjoying the games,” she says. “I’ll just freshen up in the banyo.”
Pa’s floating in front of the bathroom door when Ma sidesteps around him. “Sorry, excuse me,” she says, swerving before she enters.
…
Did Ma just swerve around Pa?
Swerving means she must see him, right?!?! One does not swerve for anyone—especially not for invisible people!
“Pa, do you think—”
I stop when I notice his feet, which are now firmly planted on the floor. I frantically check my legs and if everyone else in the soiree noticed anything. People would have some kind of reaction if the world’s gravity system suddenly changed, right? My phone would probably be blowing up with breaking news about gravity from my aunties. No, it doesn’t look like the world changed… Only Pa’s ghost did. For the first time since his ghost appeared, Pa isn’t floating.
20
