Chapter 35 #2
Achi is still standing with Ma by the chaperone corner when I check.
I already followed up with the band twice and they promised they would play my song request. Everyone else seems to be relatively calm and not acting like their lives are at the brink of falling apart.
I guess we have some time left before they give out those prom awards …
While I’m in the middle of telling Kayla to message me right away if anything comes up, Seph keeps telling me that we will be back before I know it.
He leads me outside the gym and I finally relent and follow him to the covered courts by the senior high building—the same place where we assemble every morning.
I’m checking my phone to see if Achi and Kayla left any messages when Seph tells me to look up.
“Come on, Ilagan, there’s a better view up here.”
I sigh. “What’s so interesting about these covered courts—” Then I see Seph standing in front of me, his hands reaching out with the red corsage he bought for tonight.
Back at the condo, I told Seph I wasn’t into all the corsage, prom rite-of-passage stuff.
The real truth? I was too self-conscious to do it in case Ma or Auntie Baby saw, and for them to see if I might actually enjoy it.
He unravels the corsage’s ribbon and I reluctantly hold out my wrist for him.
“You learned this from your other crushes?” I ask, ignoring how my whole body hums when I feel his fingers graze my skin.
The corner of his mouth curves at the joke and he ties the ribbon around my hand. “There,” he says when he’s done. “More ties to keep you safe.”
Thank god none of my family members are here. I’d be mortified if they saw how getting this red corsage made me smile.
I shake my head when Seph smooths out his tie, all proud of himself in his suit.
“Prom nominations freaked you out, huh?”
“The thought of dancing with you did,” I tease.
“Grabe.” He puts a hand to his chest. “I was an excellent dance lead for High School Musical 3. Direk Myka called me a natural.”
“When did you do the third one?”
“The summer after you left.”
I’m about to ask more questions when Seph puts his finger on his lips. He then motions for me to listen to the music coming from the gym. It’s the song Troy and Gabriella dance to on their school roof in the third movie.
His face lights up when it registers. “They’re playing the catching lightning song!”
“It’s called ‘Can I Have This Dance,’” I say, laughing.
With no shame whatsoever, Seph bows and proceeds to offer me his hand. “Can I have this dance, Gabriella?”
I just stare at his hand. “That’s disgusting.”
My disgust doesn’t faze him. He goes on to recite the lyrics of the song in the middle of the covered courts.
“Take my hand, take a breath.” He does an exaggerated inhale and I scan the area in case anyone’s around and assumes that I’m with the guy who looks like he’s doing some bizarre spoken word poetry.
“Please don’t do this later if we have to dance in front of people.”
Seph responds by jiggling his shoulders in front of me. “Don’t you want the music to be your guide?”
I place my hands on his shoulders to stop him, then he slides them to the back of his neck. My breath quickens when I feel his hold move to my waist.
“See?” he says. The sides of his eyes crinkle when he holds my gaze. “Excellent dance lead.”
“Is this how you get the girls? Do you use your ‘My heart is yours’ catchphrase on them too?”
Seph makes a face at that. “Ilagan, that’s disgusting.”
The rest of the song plays and I let Seph’s arms hold me as we sway along to the melody. I don’t know how this always happens. How does everything suddenly feel okay when Seph’s around?
Maybe my brain doesn’t know how to process romance.
I mean, even during this slow dance, I’m thinking about random online videos.
There was this one night where I couldn’t fall asleep, and for some reason, I got so fixated by this random video of a duck in a river.
The duck looked like it was having a great time, gliding calmly through the water, living its best life.
But when you looked beneath the surface?
The duck was paddling furiously, like it was scared it would drown if it stopped going for even just one moment.
Being with Seph is one of the rare times where I feel like things could still be okay if I stopped paddling.
I bury my head in his chest and imagine that all I have to do tonight is stay in this moment with Seph, dancing to some cheesy High School Musical song in the middle of our high school’s covered courts. It’s the first time that whole evening where I feel like I get to breathe.
But then hearing my sister’s voice makes the wind go out of my lungs again.
“Nika.” Achi calls my name and pops out of nowhere like she’s some ghost (the actual terrifying kind). Seph and I spring apart when Achi catches us. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Are they announcing the prom awards already?”
A new, bigger kind of panic wallops my gut when I see Achi’s expression. It’s the same dead look in her eyes that comes out when she has bad news.
Then she tells me, “He’s gone.”