Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

C holo stayed true to his word and picked me up at 7 a.m. the next Saturday.

It was awkward in the car, though. We did not talk at all. I was still sleepy and he was focused on driving. I wish I had tried, since there was no chance at all for us to talk in the venue. I came running from one station to another, telling the tech guys where the wires should go, helping the Logistics Team on where to put the cocktail tables and beer station, calling the lighting people to please arrive on time, setting up the booth and the tarps. It was a bit more confusing than the launch event because this venue was larger. Miss Co arrived to help at around lunchtime and had adobo for everyone.

Hours passed by quickly but our practice with the launch party two weeks ago paid off and we were better prepared. Ingress was done an hour ahead of schedule. No USBs or hard drives disappeared this time and unlike the launch party, we were all happy when everything was finished. Cholo declared a break for us to do whatever we pleased at around 5:30 p.m. but said we should be ready and dressed at the lobby by 8:30 p.m. for the pre-event meeting and opening of the gates.

Our girl teammates pulled me into their hair and makeup station behind the DJ booth. I saw a plethora of makeup and brushes spread neatly throughout the table. Two girls from the PR Team curled their hair near the electric sockets while Kristine sat me down on one of the chairs and started rubbing cold creams on my face. She filled me in on all the meetings that I could not attend while contouring my cheeks. By the time she was finished, I had perfect eyebrows and no one could tell that I was unable to properly sleep the past week.

“Thank you, Kristine!” I said happily, checking out my reflection. “I love it!”

“Yeah, go and dress up na!” she said with a light push. “There won’t be room in there later!”

I obediently ran and did as I was told. Thank goodness the cubicles were roomier than your average public restroom, because otherwise I would not have been able to put on the dress that Liana chose for the occasion. After hurriedly putting on my shoes, I rushed out, satisfied with how I looked and hoping Cholo would react favorably upon seeing me.

I did not have to wait long for it, though.

“Vinnie!” he said, looking upset. Not the reaction I was hoping for. “Kristine’s looking for you. Can you help her man the beer station?”

“What? You’re kidding, right? I’m assigned to the ticket booth,” I said. “And gates don’t open for twenty more minutes. What’s going on?”

“Vinnie! Cholo!” called out Seth from nearby. “Group prayer time! What’s taking you so long?”

I made a face at Cholo, wondering if stress was getting to him, and then rushed towards the entrance before he could stop me.

He caught up quickly but I was already in the prayer circle when he reached us. I was about to grab Seth (the team insisted on holding hands) when Cholo rudely stepped between us and pulled my hand instead. Rolling my eyes, I concentrated on the prayer people were taking turns in reciting. After the prayer, Cholo went into serious chairperson mode and gave a small pep talk, congratulating us on the job well done the past semester, and telling us to enjoy the night.

After a messy group hug, the rest of us started spreading out to our designated stations. I was about to go straight to the ticket booth when I noticed that Cholo was still holding my hand.

“What are you doing?” I whispered but he was staring at a point about five meters away ahead of me. There, I saw Kristine talking to someone and I felt my eyes grow to the size of dinner plates.

Shit. Miss Mikayla was here. That was probably why Cholo tried to hide me in the beer station.

A tall guy in a crisp shirt joined them. The way Miss Mikayla’s stance eased told me the guy was her senior or something. I was going to bolt right in that second but then our co-officer glanced around the room and found us.

“Vinnie!” she called out.

I looked at Cholo, whose hand tightened around mine.

“Cholo! Over here!” Kristine said.

I had no choice but to come over as Cholo made his way towards them. Miss Mikayla turned to face us, her smile vanishing as we approached.

“Hi, I’m Lance,” said the tall guy in a crisp shirt. “I’m the brand manager for Exonerate.”

Cholo and I took turns with shaking his hand. Behind Lance, Miss Mikayla was giving me the deepest look of dislike but surprisingly did not say anything.

“I’m Cholo. Chairperson for Ephemere.”

“My n-name’s Vinnie,” I stuttered as I could feel Miss Mikayla’s killer stare from where I stood. “Creatives officer.”

“She made the videos for Exonerate x Ephemere,” Kristine said, with an air of a proud mom showing her child’s achievements.

I would have been flattered if it were not for the timing. I caught her looking at Miss Mikayla a number of times and then I understood. Kristine was trying to get back at her for the launch thing, knowing Miss Mikayla won’t be able to act out in front of her boss.

Good lord, I was rubbing off on my friends.

“Oh, you’re Vinnie. Those videos were awesome,” said Lance and I felt myself blush. Thankfully, he turned his attention to Cholo.

“Time sure flies. I was in this org, too, you know. Same position as you. Is this your stepping stone to running for club president?” he asked and Cholo nodded. “Good. You’ve got it in the bag. From what I’ve heard, it looks like I’ve put Exonerate in the right hands.”

“Thank you,” Cholo replied, betraying a small hint of confusion on his otherwise smooth facade.

Wait. Was it possible? Could Miss Mikayla have forgotten to tell her boss about what happened? Lance was talking like he had no idea.

“Anyway, I won’t keep you. Good luck with the event,” said Lance. I stole a glance at Miss Mikayla, who looked like she was ready to strangle someone. “And Vinnie—I’ll see you at the interview next Tuesday.”

“Thank you!” I said, not knowing he would be interviewing me.

Did that mean I was going to be in Miss Mikayla’s department? No fucking way.

Lance waved goodbye and Miss Mikayla threw us a last murderous glare before storming away behind him.

“What just happened?” I asked him, my eyes wide. Cholo opened his mouth to respond when we heard loud voices calling us.

“Look! Holding hands! I told you they’d be okay already,” said someone.

I immediately let go of Cholo’s hand and turned around, wanting to see it for myself, and I was not disappointed.

“What the fuck?” I said.

“Asher?” Cholo exclaimed.

My jaw dropped as I saw Asher and Kuya Chan standing nearby, both looking happy, with Kuya Chip and Ate Ania following closely behind them. “When did you get here?”

“Mga thirty minutes ago? We can’t be late to your event, of course,” said Asher, who was smirking. “Why’d you let his hand go, Vinnie? We don’t mind.”

“Aha! ‘Di pa okay,” said Kuya Chan and Asher whacked him hard against the shoulder while cursing under his breath. “You owe me a thousand bucks, Ash.”

“Look at you two, betting like kids,” Kuya Chip teased and only then did I realize what was going on.

“Wait. They know?” I said, rounding on Cholo. “And you were letting them bet on whether we were okay now or not?”

“Are you kidding? Why would I do that?” Cholo snapped, glaring at his brothers. Kuya Chan raised his hands in surrender, looking like he was about to laugh.

Asher flinched under Cholo’s gaze. “Don’t look at me, Choleng. It wasn’t me who told them.”

“Actually, it was me,” said Ate Ania and Cholo’s angry expression disappeared, replaced by shock and confusion.

“Ate Ania, I trusted you!”

“You trust her but not your brothers?” Kuya Chip cut in. “You need to tell us these things, man.”

“What, so you can make bets on my choices or something?”

“Do not use that tone with me, Charles Paolo,” Kuya Chip said in a mock-serious voice and Cholo visibly flinched. “Not after what I did to get back at Mikayla.”

“Hoy Chip!” said someone from behind us and I saw Miss Co approaching.

What the heck. Was I still in Ephemere or was I in a family reunion?

“What did you do?” Miss Co went on, putting a hand on Kuya Chip’s shoulder. I had never seen her so excited before this. “How’d you do it?”

“I told Angkong about what she said to Cholo,” said Kuya Chip. “And Lance, her boss—he’s an old friend. Let’s say I pulled a few strings. But don’t tell her that.”

“What are they talking about?” I asked Asher, now thoroughly confused.

“They’re talking about Mikayla, ano ka ba,” he replied. “Earth to Lavinia?”

Apparently, the Kuyas told their grandfather about what Miss Mikayla did and their grandfather got mad at her for it. He gave her a good scolding but Cholo did not like that.

“Yes, she’ll leave me alone but what about Vinnie? She’s got an interview with her and Lance next Tuesday!”

“Come on, give your girlfriend some credit,” said Chan, smiling as he put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Cholo scratched his head in frustration. It was funny, watching him not being in charge for once. “You really think she’ll let herself get bullied?”

“What did you tell Lance?”

“Oh don’t worry. He was just going to troll Mikayla or something. Like what happened earlier—did you notice how she almost cried with the effort of keeping her mouth shut? She obviously couldn’t bully you around Lance as he was acting like a doting father and he dragged it on for as long as he could,” Kuya Chip said with a naughty glint in his eyes. I got the feeling that he was the wild child among the three siblings. “Well, I guess it’s good to let people owe you sometimes.”

“He must owe you a lot, then?” said Asher.

“And you must hate Miss Mikayla so much,” I quipped.

The kuyas laughed out loud beside me while Miss Co’s eyes went wide with hardly-suppressed delight.

“Miss Mikayla, ampotek,” Kuya Chip said.

“I don’t like it when someone bullies our bunso,” Kuya Chan said, eyes narrowing. “No one calls Cholo nasty names under my watch. Except maybe me and Kuya Chip.”

Kuya Chip chose that moment to ruffle their youngest brother’s hair, which made Cholo even more pikon.

“That’s for not telling me and Chan about your problems,” Kuya Chip teased as Cholo struggled.

Kuya Chan and Asher joined in as I awkwardly watched. Cholo caught my eye, as though asking for help, then remembered we were supposed to be fighting. He looked away before I could say anything.

“Um, they need me at the ticket booth,” I simply said, already starting to feel out of place. They all turned to stare at me. “Nice seeing you all today.”

“So formal naman, Lavinia! It’s not like you’re breaking up with us, too, right?” Asher commented, and everyone else in the circle except Cholo laughed.

“Who’s breaking up?” Cholo demanded and Asher looked at Chan.

“ Ha. No thousand bucks for you.”

“Payment at the booth. No ticket, no entry,” Cholo scolded before storming off. His siblings just shook their heads behind him.

“Look at our bunso, marunong na magmaktol!” Kuya Chan said before turning to me. “Ikaw, sell us tickets!”

As I manned the booth and helped with ticket selling, I realized I never fully understood how popular our event was with the college crowd. The line was long and we ended up selling tickets until after 11 p.m.

We only managed to stop when the others dragged us inside at quarter to midnight for the laser light show.

Upon entering the dark hall, I let my teammates go ahead. I explored the place with narrowed eyes, looking for Cholo’s blue button-down shirt, but it was impossible. With all the laser lights and smoke it was a wonder I even managed to find the stairs to the makeshift balcony.

Cholo was in the middle of the platform, dancing on both left feet. Kuya Chan was on his side, but it was Kuya Chip who saw me and waved me over.

“Finally!” he teased, patting me on the shoulder. “You’re late. Cholo was just showing us his dance moves.”

“You call this dancing?”

“Oh, give him a break, he deserves it. He’s been studying his ass off to get medals since age four,” Kuya Chan replied. Even in the darkness, I noticed how red the three of them were around the ears. “Where are Asher and Ate Ania?”

“Getting more vodka, probably,” Kuya Chip replied as his youngest brother swayed and caught his arm.

“Woohoo!” Cholo said, shaking Kuya Chip off. I was worried he might fall over when he resumed his dancing.

I wanted to laugh. Cholo sure was good at a lot of things but his list did not seem to include dancing. For a moment, I was tempted to take my phone out and start recording.

“Nakarinig lang ng vodka, o,” commented Asher. He squeezed over to us, as the balcony was getting more crowded as midnight neared, and handed bottles to his family members. “When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

“Good. We were considering giving him away already-ouch!” he complained since I gave him an evil pinch on his belly. “Cholo was not kidding about those pinches!”

“Ano, how’s Choleng?” said another person and I saw Ate Ania reaching a hand over to Kuya Chip from our other side. She smiled when she saw me. “Yay, Vinnie’s here! Did you see it na?”

“His dancing?” I asked. “Yeah, masagwa.”

“Not that, gagi,” Ate Ania admonished. “Chip, show her.”

“Cholo, we’re going to introduce you to someone,” said Kuya Chip and I was about to protest when Asher signaled me to shut up. “Lika, dali!”

“Ano ba, ang kulit n’yo!” said Cholo, swatting at his brother’s hand like a kid who was trying to throw off bullies. “I have a girlfriend!”

My eyes widened and I laughed so hard that Asher had to cover my mouth.

“This one’s so much prettier, Choleng,” Ate Ania goaded straight in his ear, looking at me from head to toe, as though inspecting my outfit. “In killer heels and a short dress, too.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t tell Vinnie,” added Chan.

“Look,” Cholo slurred, leaning on Kuya Chip again for support. “I know Vinnie’s a piece of work and we’re not in the best of terms right now?—”

“But she hurt you,” Asher cut in to get back at me.

“Yeah, that too, but she’s a good person and she’s not going to do anything like that,” said Cholo, who was swaying more with each second that passed. “We fought and she already said sorry. We’ll be okay. I love her.”

I smiled so wide I thought my face was going to break. Asher put both hands on his chest and let out a huge ‘Awww.’ Ate Ania also pulled a kilig face and looped one arm around mine and the other around Kuya Chip’s.

“And she’ll strangle me before I even try anything,” said Cholo as an afterthought. “Don’t tell her I said that, though.”

“I really wouldn’t dream of it,” said Kuya Chip and I just shook my head, smiling. “Cheers?”

“Cheers!” said Cholo, lifting a nonexistent bottle and proceeding to pass out.

We had to leave early for home after that. Kuya Chip carried his brother on his back, laughing all the way down the stairs and to the parking lot. I had to say a hurried goodbye to our teammates, carrying two backpacks—mine and Cholo’s—as I rushed out with my boyfriend’s family.

I had to leave instructions with the team via text for egress and they assured me it was all arranged and that we had nothing to worry about. That night ended with me hanging out with Cholo’s family in their parents’ living room till daybreak until we all fell asleep in our party clothes.

Not how I planned it at all…but this was better.