Cami had her headphones plugged into an old iPod, playing a Lana del Rey album, as she allowed Noly's dog, Cloud, to lick the back of her hand. Weary from a full day of work, she drank her fourth cup of coffee of the day while Noly watched a Korean drama in the same room. Cami often stayed in Nany's house after work, while the latter went to church, to spend time with Noly. It was not the case that Cami disliked her own home, but rather, that being locked in the same house for the past nineteen years had gotten frustrating, so she tried to get out and explore.
"Was the food good?" Cami asked, because she knew Noly was not the biggest fan of Rosa's, but in spite of that, she had eaten two full orders of their quesadillas- the wrappers were in the trash. Nothing got past her observant eye: something was up with Noly.
"Y-yeah," Noly answered, nervously. "I was just starving," she tried to defend herself.
"Relatable," Cami said, but Noly's answer had hardly been satisfactory. Cami figured something much deeper was going on, but she planned on leaving it be. Whatever Noly was doing when the house was empty, she figured, was none of her business.
"What do you think of Gio's new man?" Noly asked to diffuse the situation.
"Taehyung?" Cami said, "he's alright, at least he's better- looking than the tilapia she fancied last spring."
Noly chuckled at the memory, the violin player that Gio had once liked. He was shorter than Cami herself and his hair was greasy, but Gio had fallen head-first for him because he wrote pretty poems and sent her good morning texts. Noly was afraid that Taehyung might fall under the same category as the tilapia, the violinist, in that he could just be lonely, or worse, using Gio to get over a nasty ex.
"What do you think?" Cami asked.
"He's okay," Noly lied. Much like Cami, she had never been a strong proponent of butting into people's life issues. If Taehyung was not right for her cousin, only time could tell. Deep down, though, Noly did hope that things worked out between Taehyung and Gio, because that gave her hope with Jungkook.
She thought of him again: the precious memory of him sitting on the same couch Cami was sprawled over, playing with little Cloud and making stupid faces at the puppy. Definitely, no Manatí boy could be even one eighth as great as Jungkook.
*****
"Stunning," was all Taehyung could get out when he saw Gio, transformed after her shift, from sweaty cleaning girl to upper-class socialite. She had miraculously pulled together a look in fifteen minutes, with Cami's help.
"Thanks, I remembered you said green was your favorite color," Gio told him, pointing at her emerald-green romper- Gio hardly ever wore dresses, but to her, the comfort of a romper on a hot Manatí day was indispensable.
"Did I?" he thought out loud. Taehyung forgot about it soon enough, but the question deeply bothered Gio for the rest of the evening: how did she know his favorite color if he had never told her? Were they actually that connected?
Taehyung took Gio to a restaurant he'd seen on an advertisement website that had mostly positive reviews. The place was mostly empty, as it was only a Tuesday, and Gio could feel people's eyes on her table: the foreign man with a pretty girl by his side- what if anyone who knew her mom caught her like that? What if any of Eloy's friends saw her out with Taehyung? She tried to tell herself not to worry, because she did not want to ruin her date, but she couldn't help but feel self-conscious.
"Are you okay?" Taehyung asked after they ordered. She couldn't hear what he'd ordered because she was too absorbed in her own thoughts, and she went straight for her classic order: soup and a salad. Both were clean enough to make her lipstick last the night, but the real question was, would Taehyung ruin it afterwards?
She sure hoped he would.
"Nothing, I'm just tired," she replied, stretching her arms and yawning to make her act more convincing.
He smiled, "you work so hard. You deserve this, and more."
She felt like she could melt in her seat. "I kind of want to call in sick tomorrow," she said, but upon realizing the implications of her comment, she added, laughing, "not- not like that, I'm just really exhausted."
"I won't make you do anything you don't feel comfortable with," he replied. The situation had just gotten so much more awkward.
"Ahem- yeah, so what did you order?" she asked, just for the sake of changing the subject.
"A steak," he answered.
"Cool, cool."
"Listen, this is an awkward conversation but I feel like we need to talk about it: if you feel like we're taking things too fast, we can slow down, Gio," he told her, reaching for her hand over the table. His touch felt electric, the hairs on her arms stood up instantly: an embarrassing reaction in her opinion, but Taehyung did not seem to notice.
"I-I don't know. Want to hear something really awkward? I've never had anything like this happen to me," she confessed.
He blinked a few times, as if he could not believe what he had just heard. "Wait, what? What exactly do you mean?"
"I mean I've kissed one or two guys as part of games of truth and dare, and some others have tried to get close but I don't think I've ever actually erm-" she leaned in closer, to whisper "dated."
He laughed. She panicked for a second, holding her breath in- Taehyung probably never wanted to talk to her again, and he would tell all of his friends about the awkward college girl who had never had a boyfriend. They would make fun of her for ages, until they were all old and dying in the same hospice home- yes, all seven of them at the same exact time, she thought.
"That's so cute," Taehyung said. "Don't worry, I'll take the lead, but if you're not totally on board with something you have to let me know, okay?" he told her, moving his free hand to hold up her chin. She had been looking down at the table the entire time, ashamed, but he wanted her to look at him so she could know he was being serious.
"Okay, and- please don't hate me, Cami says I should always ask this, are we, like, exclusive?"
"Only if you want to," he answered.
"Yes- oh God" she exclaimed, freaked out by the idea of seeing multiple people at the same time. Gio knew she was a one-man kind of person.
"Cool, cool," he smiled.
God, what a beautiful smile, she thought.
The rest of the evening flowed smoothly, and unfortunately, Taehyung dropped Gio off at Rosa's parking lot, where her car was parked, without ruining her lipstick. She was not too bummed, because the evening had been productive: so, she tried to process, was she allowed to call herself his girlfriend?
She had to make phone calls, fast, so she dialed the first number that came to mind without thinking.
"Guess what? Tae and I are officially a thing! Pull out the ship names, we're planning a wedding," Gio blurted out, jokingly.
"Hey, nice," the twelve-year-old boy voice at the other end replied, a little more enthusiastic than usual. Hard to believe, but Cami was actually glad for her best friend.
"The bridesmaid's dresses are going to be green!" Gio exclaimed, but then she remembered something that had happened previously that evening. She started thinking about Taehyung's favorite color, and how she mysteriously knew what it was...
Then she recalled who helped her pick out her clothes for the date.
"Cami, how did you know Tae's favorite color?"
Silence on the other end.
