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“How long have you known?” I ask, my cheeks flaming.
“Since the first day of our SAT class.”
So he did recognize me. I sigh and wave my hand in a circular motion. “Okay, come on, do it.”
Jase arches an eyebrow, genuinely confused. “Do what?”
“Laugh at me. Make fun of me for letting my ice cream drop. Just, whatever.”
But he doesn’t do either. Instead, he looks at me before his face melts to the tender one I saw from earlier. He shrugs and shovels a dollop of pistachio. “I felt bad, actually.”
“What?”
“I didn’t find it funny at all. I felt bad because you seemed embarrassed.”
“Well, I was. That’s why I ran away. Pretty sure that made things worse.”
“That just made me feel even more bad for you. I wanted to help you clean it up but, well, you were already out.”
Maybe I was so embarrassed that I expected everyone who witnessed my ice cream incident to laugh at me. But as I think about Jase’s answer from earlier—you were the only one who didn’t laugh—I realize now that he and I understand each other a lot more than I would’ve guessed.
“Please tell me you got more ice cream afterward,” Jase says.
Did he pay for my ice cream because he felt bad mine fell that day? My eyes descend to my cup. This giddy feeling, sweet as ice cream, courses through me. “Today I did.”
Jase grins in a works-for-me kind of way.
When we arrive, Hannah holds two stuffed prizes—a Pikachu and a unicorn—while Michael holds a stuffed dinosaur. Nora and the other two guys are still empty-handed. After Jase and I finish our ice cream, we both try our luck at the crane game. Jase gets nothing. I, however, win a stuffed, pink bunny with blue eyes and a blue stomach. The most adorable prize I’ve ever won!
In Castle Play’s outside area, we play mini golf, where Hannah proves her athletic abilities once again. Next, we try out the bumper cars, and though there’s no official score, we all bump and ram into each other as if there were. Our competitive energy only continues as we ride the bumper boats. I’m nervous since I’m not used to riding a boat or floating on water, but once I get the hang of it, my competitive energy flames again. We race across the pool like racecars on an aqua track. The pool splashes beneath us, and we all scream and laugh. We’re drenched by the time we step out, a trail of wet footprints behind us as we gather our belongings from the lockers they offered us.
Andy, whose curls are drenched and sagged, checks his phone. “Well, better get ready for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. It’s 4:15 PM.”
Oh, crap.
I should be home by now.
I fish out my phone, scrolling through a chain of texts from my mom. They alternate between Tagalog and English, all asking the same question: Where are you?
“I should go,” I say.
Jase must sense the panic in my voice. “Everything okay?” he asks.
“Hopefully.”
“Same,” Nora says, reading her phone.
We all wave goodbyes, telling each other we should hang out again next time.
Jase’s eyes take hold of mine as he says, “I had a great time.”
Mine take hold of his as well.
“Me too.”
Nora and I cross through Castle Play, our hair dripping and leaving a trail of dots across the concrete ground.
“Emilyn, wait!”
