Read Online Fairy Tale Fail by Mina V. Esguerra - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mina V. Esguerra
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dark
chocolate soft-serve ice cream from a convenience store. We settled
in front of his car at the open-air top floor of the parking
building, and ate there.
"You definitely inspired me," I added.
"For when I decide to join Charisse and our friends
again."
"What do you mean? You're not ready to
do that yet?"
I thought about it for a minute and
shook my head. "No. I still need closure."
"Ugh," Lucas mocked a shudder at that.
"Patty said that to me a lot."
What was so wrong with
that? I needed to know, in no uncertain terms, that something
was over . I didn't
get that from Don. "Maybe if you actually sat down and talked to
her, she would know what you really feel, and you wouldn't have
spent all this time avoiding her," I said.
"I did say how I felt. Very clearly.
It hasn't changed. I think you say 'closure' but mean 'another
chance.'"
I stabbed my last bit of siomai with a
toothpick and grumbled under my breath. Earlier this evening I
started to see myself in Lucas, but really, we were on opposite
ends again.
"But anyway," Lucas said, "I hope you
had fun."
"I did," I replied, serious. "It feels
great to be around people who don't think of me as broken. I was
thinking that this was why I traveled. If only I figured out that I
should just crash strangers' parties, I wouldn't have spent so
much."
Lucas started on his soft-serve ice
cream, and for a second I was distracted by how he licked the dark
chocolate off his spoon. I was still a bit tipsy from the bar –
surely that was why I was fixating on his hands, his fingers, how
stubble had grown on his face since this afternoon.
"Why do you still think you're
broken?" Lucas said, and I snapped out of my trance. "You've become
happier, right?"
"I didn't spend all this time alone by
choice. He left me."
"Oh, you were hurt back then, but
today it's different. I don't think you realize it yet, but you are
completely over him."
"Stop it," I said. "Stop giving me
therapy. Tonight's about you."
I intended to start a
speech about this night being about his closure, so I turned to him, mind
somewhere else, and was met with his hand on my jaw, pulling me in
for a kiss. His fingers kept my skin a safe distance from the
stubble on his cheek, and the result was something playfully light
against my lips. He tasted like, gah , dark chocolate, and something
faintly umami but
that was probably me and the dimsum I had just swallowed. For a
moment there I forgot about where I was and all the baggage I had
with me. I allowed myself to be that free person again.
And then I pushed him off
me.
"Seriously?" I said,
coughing into my hand. "You think this was the
perfect time to kiss me? I tasted like siomai!"
Lucas laughed and resumed eating his
ice cream as if nothing happened. "Your obsession with the perfect
moment is cute, but now I know why your friends were concerned all
this time."
"Why, because I actually think things
through?"
"Overthinker."
"But… but I don't
even know you very
well. I don't just kiss guys I don't know."
Lucas set the ice cream cup down on
the hood of his car. "What do you need to know?"
How many ex-girlfriends? What did he
think of courtship? Why did he stop going to church? Would he ever
go back again? Did he believe in life after death? Was he in the
habit of kissing girls not his girlfriend? What did his mom do for
a living? Who did he vote for in the last election? All these
things I would have found out if I had been his friend just a bit
longer, I couldn't possibly unload all of this on him
now!
"What's that tattoo mean?" I said,
plucking a question out of the cloud.
He turned to his left arm and lifted
his sleeve slightly, and I saw more of it. Definitely not a Chinese
character.
"It means 'first officer.'"
"In what language?"
Lucas smiled and cleared his throat.
"When I was younger, my brother and I created this story about a
pirate society, like an alternate history for colonial Philippines.
We created a language for it and everything. He's
chocolate soft-serve ice cream from a convenience store. We settled
in front of his car at the open-air top floor of the parking
building, and ate there.
"You definitely inspired me," I added.
"For when I decide to join Charisse and our friends
again."
"What do you mean? You're not ready to
do that yet?"
I thought about it for a minute and
shook my head. "No. I still need closure."
"Ugh," Lucas mocked a shudder at that.
"Patty said that to me a lot."
What was so wrong with
that? I needed to know, in no uncertain terms, that something
was over . I didn't
get that from Don. "Maybe if you actually sat down and talked to
her, she would know what you really feel, and you wouldn't have
spent all this time avoiding her," I said.
"I did say how I felt. Very clearly.
It hasn't changed. I think you say 'closure' but mean 'another
chance.'"
I stabbed my last bit of siomai with a
toothpick and grumbled under my breath. Earlier this evening I
started to see myself in Lucas, but really, we were on opposite
ends again.
"But anyway," Lucas said, "I hope you
had fun."
"I did," I replied, serious. "It feels
great to be around people who don't think of me as broken. I was
thinking that this was why I traveled. If only I figured out that I
should just crash strangers' parties, I wouldn't have spent so
much."
Lucas started on his soft-serve ice
cream, and for a second I was distracted by how he licked the dark
chocolate off his spoon. I was still a bit tipsy from the bar –
surely that was why I was fixating on his hands, his fingers, how
stubble had grown on his face since this afternoon.
"Why do you still think you're
broken?" Lucas said, and I snapped out of my trance. "You've become
happier, right?"
"I didn't spend all this time alone by
choice. He left me."
"Oh, you were hurt back then, but
today it's different. I don't think you realize it yet, but you are
completely over him."
"Stop it," I said. "Stop giving me
therapy. Tonight's about you."
I intended to start a
speech about this night being about his closure, so I turned to him, mind
somewhere else, and was met with his hand on my jaw, pulling me in
for a kiss. His fingers kept my skin a safe distance from the
stubble on his cheek, and the result was something playfully light
against my lips. He tasted like, gah , dark chocolate, and something
faintly umami but
that was probably me and the dimsum I had just swallowed. For a
moment there I forgot about where I was and all the baggage I had
with me. I allowed myself to be that free person again.
And then I pushed him off
me.
"Seriously?" I said,
coughing into my hand. "You think this was the
perfect time to kiss me? I tasted like siomai!"
Lucas laughed and resumed eating his
ice cream as if nothing happened. "Your obsession with the perfect
moment is cute, but now I know why your friends were concerned all
this time."
"Why, because I actually think things
through?"
"Overthinker."
"But… but I don't
even know you very
well. I don't just kiss guys I don't know."
Lucas set the ice cream cup down on
the hood of his car. "What do you need to know?"
How many ex-girlfriends? What did he
think of courtship? Why did he stop going to church? Would he ever
go back again? Did he believe in life after death? Was he in the
habit of kissing girls not his girlfriend? What did his mom do for
a living? Who did he vote for in the last election? All these
things I would have found out if I had been his friend just a bit
longer, I couldn't possibly unload all of this on him
now!
"What's that tattoo mean?" I said,
plucking a question out of the cloud.
He turned to his left arm and lifted
his sleeve slightly, and I saw more of it. Definitely not a Chinese
character.
"It means 'first officer.'"
"In what language?"
Lucas smiled and cleared his throat.
"When I was younger, my brother and I created this story about a
pirate society, like an alternate history for colonial Philippines.
We created a language for it and everything. He's
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