Chapter 23

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Basement was trashed. Shards of glass, broken chairs, and trampled nachos added to the layer of litter. As things began to settle down, Robbie and I were adopted temporarily by one of the wet market's poultry vendors (no joke) who wiped her plastic chair with an oily rag before offering it to me. He didn't want to leave me, but he wanted to make sure his friends at the fight were okay too, so waiting it out with Aling Idang at stall #54 was a suitable compromise.

Local cops were swarming around but none of the perpetrators got hauled away in handcuffs. I didn't see any ambulances either, and it looked like the hurt and injured were being driven off in various RK private vehicles.

"It's always like this, every week," Aling Idang was saying. "The police just have coffee down the corner and wait now. Drunk rich kids always getting into a brawl. No offense—you two look like you're rich."

"I'm not," we both said, and I must have done a bad job at hiding my surprise.

"Half scholarship," Robbie explained, as he probably did more than once already. "And it's not for basketball."

I had to laugh at that, despite everything. Of course our school didn't offer basketball scholarships. If they did, they'd have to ask for their money back from the spectacularly lousy team. "I'm on full scholarship for psychology," I shared.

"Yeah I know," he said.

We watched from our poultry station as Quin spoke to everyone who claimed to take charge of the situation—from Basement's manager to barangay officials to local cops. Each time, a short talk and a handshake seemed to suffice, and they would be on their way. Eventually only Quin, Diego, and a few other guys who took their own cars to the Bash remained.

"I think the worst is over," Robbie said. "Can I just go check? Wait for me here."

"It's not safe out for a girl this hour," Aling Idang, my self-appointed new guardian, said. "I'll make sure she stays here. With me."

She was checking out my rescuer as he left her stall, though. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"No," I said. "He's just a friend."

"How old are you, dear?"

"Eighteen."

"You're very young. People who take care of you like this probably love you a little more than you think they do."

Maybe Aling Idang would do a better job at goddess of love than me. "I know," I said instead, sighing.

* * *

I didn't get to talk to Quin for the rest of that night, and by the time Robbie took me home past midnight, I had numbed myself to the idea.

The lights were out at home. Tita Carmen was either in bed or not home yet, but even if she were home she didn't fuss over me. I actually liked that I was living with someone who had a life.

"Thank you," I told Robbie, when we got to the front door. I said that because I wanted to start the goodbyes outside. It didn't feel right to invite him in.

"It's not a problem," he said. "So... yeah. That was the Bash."

"My first."

"It's always this horrible."

"Why do they keep having it then?"

"I don't know. People forget easily."

We paused, both looking at the door.

"What did you think it was going to be like?" he asked.

I thought I was going to be there with Quin.

"I thought there would be good food and nice music, and maybe I'd get to dance with someone," I said.

Robbie smiled. "Like a prom?"

I threw my hands up. "I'm sheltered."

His next thought was transmitted straight into my mind: Ask her to dance. Right now. It was so quick that I didn't have time to form a response. By the time I thought about saying good night, he had already taken my hand in one of his, and lightly rested the other on my hip.

She's not saying no was his next thought, transmitted again at the speed of light. I wanted to, I really did. But... it wasn't unpleasant, and it seemed to mean so much to him...

I stepped a tiny bit closer, and raised myself up toward his ear. "Where's the music?" I said.

He started to hum something, and it sent a nice and comfortable feeling from my ear down to my toes. I relaxed and closed my eyes even. As soon as I calmed down, his own heart started to race.

I just might have a chance with her, he thought.

You can have a chance with anyone, I thought, trying to project it into his head. But I wasn't letting him go either. I could see how he was remembering this moment and I didn't want to ruin it.

Because, though I'd seen and felt just a fraction of all the love in the world, I knew that when people thought of love they thought of moments. Whether or not a marriage worked out, or if they stayed together after graduation, or if they did go to the big dance together, the story's end mattered less, and the highlights in between mattered more. Those are what lingered, and what people can go back to, even when they had nothing left.

Robbie and I deserved this moment, regardless of how our story would end.

After humming an entire song, he kissed my hand and said good night.

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