Page 28 of Chasing Mr. Prefect

“Right,” he said, laughing a little more now, and I folded my arms, smiling at him. “Oh, good lord. Was my being tense that obvious?”

“Oh, please. I don’t blame you at all. I could feel the nasty tita energy as soon as I walked in,” I replied, and Cholo laughed even louder, not even shushing me like I expected him to. “If it makes you feel better, mine look at me like I’m dog poop under their shoes.”

“Oh my god, that sounds horrible.”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man or woman will have at least one tita that looks at them with utmost disdain,” I said, faking an accent. “Charot. But, yeah.”

“Do you know why?”

“Ewan ko nga, eh. I’m so nice kaya,” I said, flipping my hair in an exaggerated manner. Cholo shook his head and laughed. “All jokes aside, I have no idea. It’s my mom’s siblings. They treat my dad badly as well. Even after my mom passed, they expected him to help them out with money. They went along and got married and had babies left and right and made my dad pay for the parties and the beach trips. Because apparently, that’s, quote-unquote, what my mom would have done. When Dad came to his senses and stopped, they stopped calling, too.”

“Yikes.”

“I know, right? We don’t even get invited to family outings now.”

“Terrible!” he said, shaking his head.

“Yours still seem to be hanging around,” I said as one particularly loud tita chose that moment to cackle from the next room. “The party food’s probably good?”

“Nah. They’re all doing well in life.”

“Mom side or Dad side?” I asked and he caught my eye again like I had touched on something he wasn’t sure he was ready to divulge. “You can ignore me, of course. You don’t need to answer that.”

“Mom side,” he said. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“That. Inaasar mo lang ako, eh, and now I feel better,” he said, folding his arms too. “What kind of voodoo are you using now?”

“Voodoo talaga?” I said, aiming a small, teasing kick at his leg. “I can’t take full credit for that. I learned that from Gian.”

“Interesting.”

“Yep. It’s much easier to get someone to loosen up this way, rather than sitting them down and going‘we need to talk.’ Stick in a few jokes, may or may not include trashing people who treat us like shit, and we’re good to go.”

Cholo looked at the wall in front of us.

“I really needed that, Vinnie. Thank you.”

“Sus, parang others,” I said, facing him. “You can tell me things, noh. I can’t promise na ‘di kita aasarin but you’re free to talk to me. I’ll be here.”

“I’m here for you, too,” he replied, meeting my gaze. The forced smile was gone. His eyes looked tired, the dimple that usually sat on his cheek was nowhere to be found. I had never seen him like this, and it was enough to make me worry, but at the same time I was glad he was letting me in.

We both looked away and let a few moments pass. He took a few deep breaths and when I thought he was ready, I broke the silence.

“So close na tayo?” I said, smiling. “I can call you Choleng from now on?”

He shook his head and threw his arms in the air.

“Hay nako, Lavinia, umuwi ka na nga,” he said, picking the ice back up and walking towards the stairs.

I followed him, laughing all the way.

CHAPTER 13

“So what were you doing downstairs nga?”

I rolled my eyes. Here I was at the Ephemere meeting in the club room, being grilled by my teammates, Kristine and Seth.