Chapter 14 #3
I can tell by the death grip Mia keeps on my arm that she’s playing it cool when she meets Asher.
We’re getting ready in my room before heading to her cousin’s New Year’s Eve party.
I’ve been ready for hours, opting for loose jeans and a crop top.
Asher, though, that’s another issue. In an Armani suit, he looks ready to attend the Oscars, not an informal get-together, so Kai let him borrow his leather jacket to help find some sort of fashion middle ground.
Mia showed up a few minutes ago to do her makeup at my place and snag the freebies I get from brands.
“Nice to meet you. Sorry, your name was?” Mia asks. She gives Asher’s hand a casual shake. She’s clad in a two-piece dress, her hair falling past her shoulders in loose curls.
“Asher.” He’s still wearing designer pants, but with Kai’s jacket draped over his shoulders, he looks more casual. “You’re Mia, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. Thanks for inviting me.”
“Is cool … Is cool…” She waves a hand and sits in front of my vanity, feigning nonchalance.
“She’s freaking out because Friday is her favorite show,” I tell Asher, quelling a laugh.
“Sasha, que te mato.” Mia whirls around, a wild look in her eyes as she points a brush at me. She clears her throat and faces Asher. “I mean, I’ve watched a few episodes…”
“Don’t let her lie to you. She’s watched the entire show twice,” Kai chimes in from the other side of my en suite bathroom.
“That’s it, I’m ending your life.” Mia jumps up from the chair and pounds on the bathroom door. “Or worse, I’m posting your drafts. I remember your phone’s password.”
“I mean, Friday is a good show,” Asher says. “I don’t blame you. I’ve watched it three times.”
“Of course you have,” Kai scoffs. “Did you skip all the other scenes and just watch yours?” He steps out of the bathroom, wearing a loose white shirt paired with an oversized jacket of the same color that he stole from Asher, a touch of eyeliner framing his eyes. “How do I look?”
“Hot as fuck,” Mia cries, high-fiving him. Kai gives her a finger heart.
“You look, um, all right. Glad my jacket suits you,” Asher says. His back is to us as he looks at Kai through the mirror. “Don’t ruin it. White stains easily, and it’s expensive. The fabric was actually a gift—”
“Forget it. I’m changing.” Kai groans, locking himself in the bathroom.
“No! Keep it. You’ve already worn it, so I’ll have to wash it anyway and—” Asher trips over the bed, landing on the rug with a thud.
When Mia bursts into laughter, so do I, and even Asher snickers, smoothing his clothes back into place.
Suddenly I remember something Rosa said to me at the auction.
That home is nothing but yourself. This is the most at home I’ve felt in years.
I would be happy if I could just have these moments with my friends for the rest of my life.
Mia’s cousin’s place is already bustling with people by the time we arrive. Spending New Year’s at Toni’s has become a recent tradition. He invites both Mia’s extended family and mine to his house, since he’s engaged to my cousin Malvin.
Malvin, my aunt’s eldest, used to babysit me and Sonia a lot when we were little.
Mia and I take a lot of pride in the fact that he and Toni met thanks to us, even though it was an accident.
A few years ago we both needed a ride to Six Flags during the summer and our parents couldn’t take us.
Mia convinced Toni to take her, and Malvin drove me.
They ended up spending the day with us, sparked up a conversation, and the rest is history.
In the living room, the furniture and potted plants have been pushed aside, making way for the dance floor.
The warm glow of the fairy lights spills into the yard, where tables with an array of homemade foods and nonalcoholic drinks have been laid out.
Malvin has put the booze in one of the upper cabinets, since there’s a fair number of little kids scattered throughout the party.
Asher points at a table full of food. “Kai, look, a salad bowl, your archnemesis.”
“Okay, that was one hundred percent Sasha’s fault. I’m innocent.” Kai shoots me a glare.
I put my hands up. “You have no proof.”
“Proof of what?” Mia looks between us, confused.
“It’s just a silly joke from the Friday wrap party,” I say. Mia smiles, but she looks a little dejected. I lean my head against her shoulder. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“It’s okay. I mean, I wasn’t there when it happened, so I probably won’t get it.”
In the distance, Toni walks over to Malvin and rubs a soothing hand across his back, checking in on him. My lips curl into a smile. They’re so cute. I’m glad they found each other.
“Look at them. They’re adorable,” Mia says next to me. “I want what they have.”
Something in her voice gives me pause—an unease, or a sadness, I can’t tell for sure.
“Here.” I rub circles across her back.
“It’s different.” She sighs. “I want … I don’t know, to be loved like that.”
Before I can say anything, Toni and Malvin wave us over.
I kind of want to catch up with them before we’re surrounded by relatives wanting the latest scoop on our love lives, especially since they all believe Kai and I are back together.
I shoot a glance at Asher and Kai. I’ve never spent New Year’s with Kai, since he spends it with his family, but this year he and his grandpa have decided to join us.
They should be good—they’re friends with a lot of the people here, both in my family and Mia’s.
But Asher’s out of his element, and there’s a fair amount of Spanish and Portuguese being spoken.
I sort of expected I’d be sticking close to him for the night, but one of Mia’s tías has lured him onto the dance floor.
Far from shying away, he discards his jacket and spins her around, swaying his hips to Calle 13’s “Atrévete-te-te” with a suave body roll.
Mia’s jaw slackens. “You didn’t tell me he could dance.”
“Can’t take your eyes off me?” Asher says, approaching us. His eyes briefly flicker to Kai, and he grabs his arm. “Outdance me. I dare you.”
“I dare you to shut up.” Kai tries to slip away, but Asher tugs at his arm until he’s pulled onto the dance floor. “Er, my ankle isn’t healed yet.”
Kai resists, but V? Oliveira pushes him forward.
“Vai sair dancar com ele, Kai.” His grandpa snickers, watching as Asher drags his grandson into the living room.
Kai turns to me for support. “Sash? Help me.”
“I can’t hear you,” I singsong, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. I’m wearing earplugs to block some of the noise, so I just shrug as Mia pulls me away, leaving Kai to his luck.
Time loses its grip as we dance together, minutes blending into a progression of familiar songs.
Even though we’re older now, Mia and I still remember the choreographies we used to come up with as children.
It makes me a little emotional to think about how we’ve pretty much spent all of our lives with each other.
I hope we stay like that for a long time.
“Do you mind if I borrow Sasha for a minute?” V? Oliveira asks, tapping Mia’s shoulder.
“Of course,” she says, excusing herself with a big grin to get a drink. She smiles at Kai’s grandpa. “It’s nice to see you again. You look so handsome tonight! You owe me a dance.”
“Are you sure you can keep up with me?” he says. Mia chuckles.
It dawns on me that it’s been over two years since the three of us—me, Kai, and Mia—were in the same room with V? Oliveira.
I’ve seen him a few times since Kai and I signed the contract, but only in passing glimpses—it seems like we’re both busy these days, and we haven’t had a chance to properly catch up.
I stare at him for a solid second, as if taking in the ways he’s changed since I last saw him. His hair is more silver than I remembered, and a few more wrinkles adorn his eyes. It scares me a little to notice—the awareness of time passing faster than I realize.
“I’m so proud of everything you’ve achieved,” V? Oliveira tells me with a grin, traces of his accent flitting through his voice like footprints of his life.
He looks so smooth in his white jacket, highlighting the bronze undertones of his brown skin, and his smile remains the same as always.
It lights up his face. His eyes sparkle with this sort of wonder, just like Kai’s.
They look so much alike when they smile—like I’m staring at a future version of his grandson.
I hope I get to see Kai like this one day—hair peppered with gray, still staring at the world with so much excitement.
V? Oliveira extends his hand out to me, and we dance together for a while. Well, dance is one way to put it. We give each other a look, as if reading each other’s minds, and we both start pulling the silliest moves we can think of. I pretend to be a worm while he twirls, flailing his arms around.
It used to embarrass Kai when we did this, so V? Oliveira started doing it as a joke to piss him off in public.
Once, when Kai and I were still dating, Kai tried to ride his grandpa’s motorcycle down the street without permission.
V? Oliveira took us to an outdoor mall that same evening, and he and I started pulling some crazy dance moves whenever a song came through the speakers.
Everyone was staring at us. Kai was so mortified he never tried anything like that again.
“I’ve missed being around you,” I say. “T? com saudades das nossas caminhadas.”
I miss our walks, I repeat in my mind, hoping I said it right.
“We’ve missed you, too,” he declares, switching to Portuguese. “Kai’s happier since you came back into his life, you know?”
I follow his gaze to a corner of the room, where Asher is talking to Kai. He says something that makes Kai laugh and look away. He looks so relaxed and happy—the sight makes me smile. Kai told me he came out to his grandpa after we flew back from London, and it was a special moment for them both.