Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
T he part where Cholo said that everyone knew it but me must have been true, as my family did not even say anything when we attended mass with them the next day while holding hands.
“Looks like they didn’t hear us arguing,” Cholo said after the mass, because I’d been worried. “And I went back to the sofa at six this morning… I think you can chill now.”
“That champagne must’ve knocked them out pretty good, huh,” I said and I found Liana giggling beside me as we walked out of the church.
“Not me,” she said when I gave her a quizzical look. “I know he stayed in your room.”
Cholo and I both stopped in our tracks, shocked.
“Luh, teenagers?” she teased. “Ok lang ‘yan. The parents were once young too. Doesn’t seem like your dad minded when we saw the sofa empty.”
“Nothing happened!” I said to her, and Cholo gave me a look. “I mean?—”
“What do you mean nothing?” Cholo demanded.
Liana walked away laughing as I tried to reason with him that making out and cuddling was no reason for Liana to tease us over.
Cholo came over to our house a lot during the holidays. Dad and Cris were only too happy to let him eat dinner with us almost every night.
“Vinnie talks more when you’re here!” said Liana, which made Cholo grin at me from ear to ear.
They also made him bring Potato over all the time. Sometimes, Cholo would turn up unannounced with food enough for my entire family. He watched NBA games with Dad, too, and I could not really keep up anymore when they started discussing stats and stuff.
One time, I excused myself to get water from the fridge and he followed me.
“Bored?” Cholo teased the moment we got out of earshot.
I glared at him as I opened the ref. “Since when have you been a basketball fan?”
“I have a lot of interests. Your boyfriend is well-rounded,” he said cockily, pinching my nose, and then he got another couple of beers from the chiller. “You should be proud.”
“Do we count being good at drinking when you say well-rounded?” I asked, eyeing the bottles he was holding and he just laughed it off and walked away, not forgetting to give me a huge kiss before doing so.
Ew, beer breath!
I shook my head as he left the kitchen.
New Year was approaching, and I planned to ask Cholo what his plans were. He beat me to the punch when he sprung the question on me while we were watching this pretentious movie on cable.
“You guys doing anything on New Year?”
“No, why?” I asked, busy with a game on my phone.
“Want to spend New Year’s Eve with my family?”
BEEP. BEEP. GONG!
My phone vibrated as I missed one too many notes. The screen told me I had failed the stage. I threw my phone on the sofa beside me and faced Cholo.
“Is that my fault?” he asked, looking nervous.
“Why would I not want to spend time with your family?”
“They want us to spend the night with them on the thirty-first in Ortigas. I already asked your dad.”
“That’s tomorrow!”
“He said yes. We’re driving up before lunch tomorrow.”
“Look at you,” I said, making a mock-annoyed face. “Always one step ahead.”
“I wouldn’t have gone this high up on the club ladder if I wasn’t,” he gloated.
“Anything we have to bring? Do I need to do something or not say anything?”
“You’re going to be fine. They already love you.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said nervously.