“I’ll just take this…” I excuse myself and escape another possible interrogation.
Seph and I already predicted that our families would make a big deal out of us going to prom together (not a date! a prom offer!), so he suggested that he call my phone to signal when he steps outside the unit so we can have a private moment without possible prying eyes from the Marie-tres.
I note the fact that my heart is racing from the rush of a well-organized plan, not from the excitement of seeing Seph.
In the grander scheme of things, being unsure if a boy likes me back is a blip, an event that’ll barely register when someone pens the biography of Annika Ilagan.
Now that I have the chance of getting Pa back, completing our family again, I’m not asking the universe to deliver anything else. This is it. Having Pa back is all I want.
I know firsthand that it’s dangerous to ask the universe for too many things.
When I open the door, Seph is standing there (in a suit!), waiting for me and cradling a red corsage in his hands.
He messaged about the color of my dress, but I didn’t realize he was asking so his corsage and tie could match. And I’m still processing the sight of Seph in a tie. I half expected him to show up to prom with his usual unbuttoned shirt and sando combo.
“New dress?” he asks, and I tear my eyes away from staring too long at his hair.
“Um.” My hand fixes the red strap that slips from my shoulder. “I borrowed this from Achi… It doesn’t fit so well in some areas…”
“It looks good.” He puffs out his cheeks and clears his throat. “You look good.”
My face immediately goes hot. “You look good too.”
Remember, Nika. We’re approaching things with logic today, not emotion.
God. But then the edges of Seph’s eyes crinkle, and he’s smiling at me the same way he always does—the smile that makes me stop overthinking and realize…Wait. Am I happy?
I close the front door behind us and he pulls me toward the emergency stairway beside the elevator. After we check that no one, not one family member (ghost or non-ghost), is lurking around, he pulls me in for a kiss.
While my forehead is pressed to his, I feel his hand graze my hair, then my whole body rings from his touch when he traces a path down my shoulders and arms.
“You know, I thought of a pun for your name too,” he whispers.
“If you say harmo-nika, there’s no way you’re going to prom with me.”
His chest rises when he laughs.
“Gusto Nika,” he says after a beat. “Get it? It sounds like gusto kita.”
“Disgusting.”
I roll my eyes at him, hiding how much hearing him say “I like you” means to me.
Seph reaches for my hand and plays with the hair tie on my wrist. “You’re always holding on to this.”
“It calms me down,” I tell him.
And I don’t know why I said it. Seph wasn’t even asking mea question. I could’ve ignored his comment, moved along, and carried on with the kissing. But now he’s looking at me like he expects that I have more to say.
“Whenever I had trouble sleeping as a kid, my dad used to do this.” I flip his palm open and tap the side of his wrist three times. “I don’t know why… It just made me feel safe.”
“And the hair tie reminds you of that?”
I remove it from my wrist and try to play it cool when I say the hair tie clashes with my outfit. “Never have I ever told anyone this.”
Seph dips his head to catch my eyes.
“Never have I ever thought we would actually happen, Ilagan.”
