Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Alonzo
A girl came up to me at the counter, but instead of telling me her order, she asked, “Are you Alonzo Reyes?”
I froze. My nametag had Lonzo printed in all caps, but she shouldn’t have known my full name. I could only chalk it up to one thing.
“You’re Tala’s brother?” the girl asked, confirming my suspicions.
I gave her a single nod. “What can I get for you?”
“A meet and greet with Jason Meyer?”
I looked at the menu and back at her. “Sorry, we don’t offer that. How about an Americano?”
She ordered our fluffiest drink that had a dozen ingredients, none of which was coffee. As I prepared it, I tried to ignore how she snuck pictures of me and did a bad job trying to hide it.
Later in the afternoon, more people came in.
I fielded questions about why I was working there and if I was really single and was Jason dropping by today.
Some people asked for photos, and when I refused, they took their shots anyway.
Even the regulars stared at me like they’d never seen me before.
Fred took a peek through the pass-thru window and stepped out of the kitchen because I couldn’t keep up with the orders.
I felt like I was suffocating, and I still had two hours to go.
When the rush finally died down, I asked Fred to hold the fort while I went to the bathroom. I needed to take a breath. And I needed answers.
What the hell had happened?
Checking my phone, I found a missed call and a couple of texts from Tala, along with one from Maya.
I called Tala first.
“Lonzo!” she answered. “Are you okay? I saw people posting photos of you.”
“Yeah, it’s been crazy in here. I’m hiding out in the bathroom for a sec. What happened?”
“Apparently, someone looked into you after the whole leak thing. They posted your college grad pic and started a thread about you.” She hesitated as if she didn’t want to share what she had to say next. “When they learned you were single, it blew up…and then they found out where you work.”
“Shit.” I scrubbed my hand down my face.
“Do you need help? I can go?—”
“No, don’t come here. It’ll just get worse.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Lonzo.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault,” I told her. “Anyway, I have to go.”
“Call if you need anything. Talk to you later?”
“Yeah. Bye, Ate.”
Dropping my head back, I stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t the end of the world. I was just the flavor of the moment, and people would forget me and move on soon enough.
I took a deep breath and read the message from Maya.
Maya
nikki said ur 1 of the most eligible bachelors in mla
Even though I should go back to work, I called her. I needed to hear her voice just for a minute. Luckily, she picked up right away.
“You ditching me?” she asked.
Despite the situation, I almost smiled. “No way. I’d go to you right now if I could.”
Maya must have heard the stress in my voice, because she said, “What’s wrong?”
“There’s a ton of people here trying to take my picture and get my number.”
“You’re famous.”
“Fuck.”
“You want me to break you out?”
I chuckled, imagining her storming into the coffee shop. She wouldn’t waste her time on diversions—she’d just get me away from here the fastest way possible. “Could you?” Then I shook my head. “I can’t do that to Fred. We’re swamped enough as it is.”
“What help do you need?”
“Knowing I get to see you after this is enough.” I took a deep breath to center myself. “I should go back.”
“Sure you don’t need an escape plan?”
I wished I could take her up on the offer. “Yeah. Thanks, Maya.”
“Good luck. See you later.”
After we hung up, I splashed water on my face and blew out a breath.
Then I squared my shoulders and headed back outside.
Cam
I’d planned to spend my free time getting a head start on a new gig I landed.
Instead, I was in a cramped jeepney heading for the coffee shop where Alonzo worked.
He’d said he didn’t need help, but the tightness in his voice told me he did.
As much as I’d already exceeded my capacity for peopling this week, something compelled me to go to Alonzo anyway.
At first, I tried to pass it off as my way of paying him back for everything he had done for me the past couple of days.
But the truth of the matter was I wanted to be there for him. I thought I didn’t have the capacity to care about anyone else other than Nikki, Jo, Eric, and Inang. Trust Alonzo to be the one to prove me wrong.
The realization made my stomach churn because caring for another person meant adding one more risk of getting hurt. But when I walked into the coffee shop and saw the moment Alonzo spotted me, I knew the risk was worth it if only to see that surprise flash across his face and the joy that followed.
Alonzo
She came.
Even when I told her she didn’t need to, even though she knew people would be around, she showed up for me.
She’d walked in, joined me and Fred behind the counter, and asked how she could help.
When I told her we were okay, she grabbed the dirty dishes that had piled up at the end of the counter and brought them inside the kitchen.
Fred had given me a look that was equal parts teasing and relieved, and then a customer called me over and I had no choice but to leave Maya at it.
Soon after, one of Jason’s security team arrived and helped manage the crowd. Good thing too, because Fred and I would have struggled to get people out at ten. They hung around hoping to see Jason, never mind how many times I told them he wasn’t coming.
Maya manned the sink until we closed the register and Fred told me to “go thank your girl.”
Maya looked my way as I entered the kitchen, and I crossed the space in three big steps. As if reading my expression, she put the dish she’d been washing in the sink just before I placed my hands on either side of her head and kissed her.
Everything inside me seemed to light up as her lips merged with mine and returned my urgency with equal fervor.
She kissed me like she’d been anticipating it as long as I had.
She gripped my shoulders, and I didn’t care that her hands were wet.
Someone could pour a bucket of ice water on us and still I’d keep my lips and hands on her because she was here and she was everything I never imagined I’d find.
Someone cleared their throat, but I ignored it until Maya drew away from me.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Fred said from behind us. “We’re done outside. Your bodyguard helped me clean up.”
Maya huffed out a breath. “Your bodyguard?”
“He’s one of the guys Jason hired when people started showing up at our house after his and Tala’s engagement got leaked,” I explained.
It amazed me how normal I sounded when it seemed that everything inside me was rearranging.
All my life, I’d believed that love happened over a period of time—a product of proximity, familiarity, and easy companionship. Maya defied that. Aside from her living hours away, I’d only known her for two months and there was still so much more I wanted to learn about her.
She was the most contrary person I knew, far from the textbook definition of easy company.
Her what-you-see-is-what-you-get personality went against the norms of diplomacy, but it worked for me.
I didn’t have to watch what I said around her, didn’t have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t.
In fact, she pushed me to be my most genuine self.
It didn’t matter if other people didn’t consider her easy company—she was for me .
Maya was teaching me that love didn’t depend on the length and constancy of exposure to one person. That it could come despite the lack of physical closeness and knowledge, even despite the unideal timing and circumstances.
Maybe love wasn’t a clear point you reached—that eureka moment when you just knew that this was it. Instead, maybe it was a journey through places that had you guessing, and winding roads that had you reeling, and sudden dips and peaks that whipped you through a range of emotions.
And maybe it was the discovery that the person you wanted beside you didn’t have to be the one you’d always pictured.
That it might just be the stranger who’d knocked you with her words and then her surfboard.
The one who shunned the trappings of social conventions and turned out to be perfectly imperfect for you.
Maybe love came in various shades of truth. And maybe I was lucky enough to find it with two different people who suited different periods of my life.
If so, wasn’t I the lucky one?