“Katie, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be asleep!” Her mom was obviously still angry.
Katie kept her eyes on the floor and mumbled something about a drink of water. Kuya Ben, who appeared to have just come from work in his long-sleeved shirt and loosened tie, jumped up and said, “I need one too! Let me go with you to the kitchen.”
Before her mom could say anything, she grabbed his hand and they as good as sprinted to the kitchen. While Kuya Ben was pouring the water into two glasses, one plain grownup sized and one with Winnie the Pooh etched on it, Katie sat on one of the kitchen stools. She didn’t want to go back to her room. She just wanted to stay in the kitchen watching Kuya Ben carefully pour water into her small glass.
“So I hear you’re grounded, Ms. Katie.” He grinned, setting her glass down in front of her and pulling up a stool of his own.
Katie stuck her finger inside the glass and swirled the water around, trying to buy time. Her cheeks were flaming. She didn’t want Kuya Ben to know! Why did her mom always betray her like this? No matter how many times she promised not to tell anyone, her mom always managed to reveal every little detail about Katie’s life to her friends and relatives.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it.” Kuya Ben took a huge gulp of his water. “I was always grounded when I was a kid. I think my mom still wishes she could ground me today. Now that’s Reg’s prerogative.”
“What’s prero… that word mean?” Katie asked, glad that the spotlight wasn’t on her anymore.
“Prerogative. It means it’s her choice.” He smiled. “So have you found someone for Chris to marry yet?”
That was all it took for Katie’s entire story to come tumbling out. In her frustration, she didn’t notice that tears were sliding down her cheeks. She only realized it when he handed her his handkerchief.
“You know, Katie, you don’t have to make it your responsibility to find Chris a wife,” he said solemnly, watching her angrily rub at her eyes.
“Yes I do! I’m his best friend. That’s what best friends do. I don’t think he’s worried about it!”
“You know what?” Kuya Ben began, looking at his now empty glass. “For a long time, I didn’t want to get married at all.”
“Ever?!” Katie’s eyes widened and she looked at him in disbelief.
“Ever.” He nodded. “I was so sure that I would stay single and live the carefree life. I was happy spending all my money on myself, going out of town with friends, going on dates here and there but not—” He paused, looking like he was weighing what he was going to say next. “But not marrying any of them,” he continued. “And I thought it was the best possible life. My married friends were stressed, their kids tired them out, their wives nag—never mind.” He grinned. “Then I met your ate. And I realized I didn’t want to live without her. The life I had seemed so empty and incomplete without her. And I knew I just had to be with her forever.”
“So you asked her to marry you,” Katie said. “I am so sure that life without Ethan will be sad and empty too.”
Kuya Ben chuckled. “Probably. But you have to let Chris figure that out for himself. You can’t force a girl on him if he doesn’t want her. That would have been like me marrying one of the girls I dated even if I didn’t want to spend forever with her.”
“But what if he doesn’t figure it out?” Katie frowned. “He’s not as smart as me, Kuya Ben.”
“That’s because you are just so very smart, no one can be as smart as you.” He reached out and ruffled her messy hair. “But you see, sweetie, even if he’s not as smart as you, he’s still smart.”
Katie thought about this. It made sense. Maybe she could let Chris figure it out. But… “I just don’t want him to be lonely when I marry Ethan.”
“Ah, so that’s where this is coming from.” Kuya Ben looked amused. “You know, Katie, just because you’re married to someone else doesn’t mean you won’t be friends with Chris anymore. That’s a promise.”
Relief washed over Katie. She hadn’t thought that was possible. Her mom didn’t have guy friends. She only had girl friends. And whenever they went to parties, the mommies sat at one table and the daddies stayed at another while all the kids ran around and made a mess. So she thought that mommies didn’t have guy friends—they probably lost them when they got married.
“That drink of water is taking a pretty long time, you two.” Ate Regina was standing by the kitchen door, looking pointedly at Kuya Ben. “We’re here to work, Ben. Stop trying to escape by hiding in here with Katie.”
“We were just talking about Katie’s future, Reg.”
Katie jumped off the stool and ran to hug her cousin. “You’re marrying the most wonderful guy in the world!”
Ate Regina laughed, her arms automatically going around Katie. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I think Chris is pretty wonderful too.”
“Chris? It’s Ethan I’m marrying!” Katie was indignant. Ate Regina never understood these things the way Kuya Ben did. She really was lucky he was marrying her.
“Oops, I’m sorry! I was just thinking that if he were several years older, he’d be giving Benny here a run for his money.” She smirked.
Katie wrinkled her nose is distaste. “Ew, Ate Reg! You’re gross.”
She let out a loud musical laugh. “Now come on before your mom has a fit. It’s way past your bedtime.”
KATIE FELT LIKE a princess on Ate Regina and Kuya Ben’s wedding day. She was going to be a junior bridesmaid. She told Ate Regina she was too old to be a flower girl so they got Kuya Ben’s niece who was four to play that role instead. But Katie still wore a long poufy dress that skimmed the floor when she walked and ballooned when she twirled. She even had a little heel on her dainty gold sandals. The only thing missing was a tiara, but her mom wouldn’t let her wear one of her plastic toy ones. Katie agreed because she had just come from being grounded and she was still treading very lightly around her mother. But at the same time, her wavy, shoulder-length hair was blown out and for once, perfectly in place. A tiara would just mess it up.
“You truly look like a princess, honey.” Katie’s dad entered her room wearing a white inner shirt and black pants.
Katie turned away from her full-length purple mirror and frowned at him. “Papa, you aren’t dressed! We have to be there early because I’m part of the entourage!” And she pronounced it perfectly. She had practiced.
He grinned and pulled out a camera. “Let me take your picture before we go. I am dressed. My barong is hanging in the car. I’ll put it on when we arrive at the church. Don’t want to wrinkle it.”
Satisfied with his answer, Katie put her hands on her hips and gave her daddy a big smile, showing off the little dimple near her mouth. She had practiced that too.
When they were piling into the car, she was careful not to wrinkle her dress. It was the prettiest one she owned. She sat right in the middle, her skirt draped on the seat around her, when her mom told her to make room.
“But you’re sitting in front and Papa is driving, right?” Katie felt she had already positioned herself just right. Count on her mother to mess things up again.
“We’re picking up Chris. He’s invited to the wedding too.” Her dad answered, buckling his seatbelt.
“Oh yeah, I forgot.” Katie very carefully lifted herself up, gathered her skirts, and tried to rearrange them a few inches to the left.
“I think Chris needs more space than that, Katie,” her mother said.
“He’ll fit!” she insisted.
“Let it go, Bev, she’ll move once she realizes he’ll sit on her skirt.”
Katie knew what her dad was doing and she wasn’t falling for it. She used to when she was younger, but she was nine now for crying out loud. Besides, Chris wouldn’t dare wrinkle her skirt. He knew how special this day was to her.
AS THE WEDDING planner was rounding up the entourage, Katie whispered to Chris that he could sit beside her parents. He was in a barong just like her
dad, and his usually unruly hair was combed back with what was probably a great deal of effort by his mom. He looked just right for a wedding, for this wedding, and Katie approved. She just wished Ethan had been invited too. She could already imagine how handsome he would look, finally out of his sports attire and in a suit or a barong, the perfect Prince Charming. But when she was going to ask Ate Regina about it a few days ago, her mom silenced her with a look. That’s what she got for being so vocal about her choices for her future.
“Katie, didn’t you tell me that the bride and groom weren’t supposed to see each other before the wedding?” Chris looked a bit anxious, pulling at his collar.
“Yes, everyone knows that. It’s bad luck!” Katie said loftily.
“Well, I think I caught Kuya Ben sneaking out of the church and I have a feeling he’s going to Ate Reg’s car.”
“What?!” Katie was incensed. Men! You couldn’t trust them. Feeling the weight of her cousin’s future marriage on her shoulders, Katie took hold of Chris’s hand and together they ran out to prevent bad luck from ruining everything. Sure enough, there was Kuya Ben in his own embroidered barong quickly walking toward a sleek, silver car with a huge arrangement of white flowers perched on the hood. Chris was about to break into a sprint, but Katie held him back. “Wait,” she whispered. She didn’t know why, but she felt it was a moment they couldn’t intrude upon. Katie and Chris were near enough to see them and hear what was being said, but the bride and groom didn’t notice them standing there.
“Just wanted to wish you luck walking down the aisle in those crazy heels, Reg.” They heard Kuya Ben say after Ate Regina rolled down the window.
“I thought you were going to tell me that you were having second thoughts.” It was a joke, but there was a slight strain in her voice that only Katie could catch. After what Kuya Ben had confided in her about not wanting to get married at all, she wasn’t surprised.
“Never. That’s what I wanted to tell you. I love you, Regina. I wanted to make sure that you weren’t having second thoughts.” They could hear the grin and the sincerity in his words. Then he leaned through the open window and kissed her. A quick, gentle kiss that took Katie’s breath away. “The next time I do that, you’ll be my wife.”
Before Ate Regina could say anything, the wedding planner came running out of the church yelling for Katie to get back in line. When she spotted the groom standing by the bridal car, she gave a strangled screech and, flapping her arms like a mother goose herding her goslings away from a predator, sent him back inside and commanded Ate Regina to roll the window back up.
Katie couldn’t get over what she had just witnessed. The kiss Kuya Ben gave her cousin wasn’t like the ones she’d seen in movies or on TV. It was quick and it was through a car window, but it was the most powerful one she had ever seen. It was as if he wanted to gift all the emotions coursing through him to his future bride, and the only way he knew how was through a kiss.
While the principal sponsors were walking down the aisle, Katie grabbed Chris who was beginning to walk to her parents and whispered, “Kiss me.”
He blinked at her, a frightened look on his face. “What?!”
“Just do it!” she hissed.
“Katie, I don’t think…”
“Chris, it’s supposed to be good luck to kiss during weddings. Besides, we have to kill the bad luck that Kuya Ben just called upon himself by seeing Ate Reg in her wedding gown!”
“I’ve never heard of that,” he said, still looking afraid.
“Do you boys really talk about weddings? How would you know?” Katie raised an impatient eyebrow, fully aware that it was going to be her turn to walk down the aisle any second. She could already see the coordinator determinedly walking toward her, ready to shoo Chris away.
“Chris, just do it and I’ll tell you why I win at Speed all the time!” Katie threw out her trump card. The only one she had.
Chris’s eyes widened, then spotting the wedding coordinator a few paces away, he squeezed his eyes tight, puckered up his lips, leaned forward, and kissed Katie. It lasted less than a second. Katie was ready for it. She knew that if there was anyone in the world she would kiss the way Kuya Ben kissed Ate Regina, it would be Chris. He was her best friend. He knew all her secrets. He took care of her, stood up for her, and stood up to her when he absolutely had to—but only if it was really important. Sure, she knew she was going to marry Ethan, but she didn’t even really know him. He couldn’t give her that kiss yet—only Chris could.
After Chris ran away like a scared little bunny, Katie didn’t have time to think about what just happened. She had to smile, look pretty, and walk slowly down the aisle carrying a small bouquet of purple and blue flowers. When she arrived at her pew, she started to think that kissing Chris was nothing like what she had witnessed. Looking at Kuya Ben’s face as he waited for Ate Regina’s entrance, she noticed he looked excited but peaceful. As if he had been waiting for that moment all his life and was more than ready for it. That was what she wanted when she grew up. Without thinking, she turned around to look at Chris standing very straight next to her dad. He looked happy, relaxed, and maybe even relieved to be away from her. He caught her eye and stuck his tongue out at her. She grinned, stuck hers out right back at him, then turned to watch her ate make her way down the aisle. She was very surprised to see Ate Regina stick her tongue out at Kuya Ben as she took his arm. Katie broke into an even bigger grin. It looked like their kiss had worked after all. Or maybe there was no such thing as bad luck when it came to something as powerful as love.
So why was she even worried? She was going to find someone the way Ate Regina found Kuya Ben. It may not be Ethan. It may not be Chris. But no matter what, Kuya Ben promised her Chris would still remain her best friend—and that, in her nine-year-old heart, was what mattered. That and knowing that even if Chris didn’t carry her magical kiss, she was going to claim it someday from someone—but now was not the time to worry about who he was. Not yet. Maybe tomorrow.
NOBODY NEEDS TO KNOW
CHRIS LOOKED OUT his bedroom window and waited to see her cross the street to go to the park. She had volunteered to pack relief goods for the victims of last week’s typhoon and every day after school, he would see her make her way to the park to help out. He grabbed his scuffed-up sneakers and quickly pulled them on. He wasn’t going to miss her today. Yesterday, Katie needed help with her art project. And because she was his best friend, and he somehow had a knack for drawing, he found himself roped into sketching and outlining till his mom sent his older brother Ethan over to take him home because it was getting late and there was school the next day.
Chris didn’t mind helping Katie. In fact, he loved working with his hands. Sometimes, when he would take a paintbrush or a pencil and begin making marks on a blank sheet of white paper (or red in Katie’s case), he marveled at how much freedom and power he had to create something out of nothing. He could spend hours lost in that imaginary world where only he was king. Katie knew this and encouraged him as much as she could. She could be quite bossy, but Chris didn’t mind. They’d been friends their entire lives. That was just who she was.
It sucked a little that they had to stop going to the same school when they turned fourteen. High school: what a scary thought it had been. No more girl classmates. No more goofing around. No more Katie. No more toys. Well, maybe not no more toys—he still had them in his room, safely up on his shelves. But now he knew he had to focus on school a bit more. His older brother Ethan kept telling him he also had to try out for a sports team. Sports was everything to Ethan—he was good at everything. But he loved soccer the most. Chris wasn’t too bad at soccer either, in fact, he could definitely hold his own when Ethan needed to practice with someone. They usually went to the park to kick a ball around. That was when Chris saw her. The girl with the pixie-cut dark brown hair.
At first, he thought she was someone he had been classmates with in grade school who had just chopped off her hair, but when he
looked again, he realized he had no idea who she was. She was quite little, almost delicate, and had big round eyes that made her look like she belonged in one of the fantasy worlds he liked to copy from comic books. After that day, he caught himself sketching her, trying to burn her face in his memory just in case he never saw her again. But he did see her again.
Every time Chris and Ethan kicked a ball around in the park, she was there. She would be hanging out with little cousins (or maybe siblings—he didn’t know, he could only guess) and sometimes walking her black Labrador retriever. Those were the times he wanted to walk up to her and ask about her dog, but he was usually grimy and sweaty and Ethan would have ribbed him mercilessly about it. Or yelled at him for not focusing on their game.
But when he saw her walking to the park a few days ago, right after he had gotten home from school, he quickly followed her to see if he would finally get the chance to talk to her. When he saw her head for the volunteers in the middle of the basketball court, he hung back a little. Here was his chance. All he had to do was sign up and start packing next to her. But all of a sudden, he chickened out. He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t even sure if he had brushed his usually messy hair. He unconsciously ran a hand through it. He had already practiced his spiel about the dog. He was going to ask her its name, how old it was, then take it from there. But now, what was he going to open with?
“Hi!”
Chris spun around and saw Megan standing behind him. Tall, broad-shouldered, and with a pretty face that took no nonsense, Megan was Katie’s best friend. Ever since they moved to an all-girls’ school, they somehow found each other. Chris found it so weird because Katie used to hate her guts. But now, they were inseparable. It even came to a point where Chris would call Katie up, asking if she was free to hang out, and she’d say she had already made plans with Megan. Since it was a girl thing, he couldn’t come along so he ended up hanging out with his classmates. The boys were fun, but he missed Katie and how easy it always was being with her and how they always seemed to know what the other was thinking. But he didn’t let it get to him too much. Besides, lately, he was too busy thinking about the girl in the park.
Only A Kiss Page 2
