“Okay, that was one hundred percent Sasha’s fault. I’m innocent.” Kai shoots me a glare.
I put my hands up. “You have no proof.”
“Proof of what?” Mia looks between us, confused.
“It’s just a silly joke from theFridaywrap party,” I say. Mia smiles, but she looks a little dejected. I lean my head against her shoulder. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
“It’s okay. I mean, I wasn’t there when it happened, so I probably won’t get it.”
In the distance, Toni walks over to Malvin and rubs a soothing hand across his back, checking in on him. My lips curl into a smile. They’re so cute. I’m glad they found each other.
“Look at them. They’re adorable,” Mia says next to me. “I want what they have.”
Something in her voice gives me pause—an unease, or a sadness, I can’t tell for sure.
“Here.” I rub circles across her back.
“It’s different.” She sighs. “I want… I don’t know, to be loved like that.”
Before I can say anything, Toni and Malvin wave us over. I kind of want to catch up with them before we’re surrounded by relatives wanting the latest scoop on our love lives, especially since they all believe Kai and I are back together. I shoot a glance at Asher and Kai. I’ve never spent New Year’s with Kai, since he spends it with his family, but this year he and his grandpa have decided to join us. They should be good—they’re friends with a lot of the people here, both in my family and Mia’s. But Asher’s out of his element, and there’s a fair amount of Spanish and Portuguese being spoken. I sort of expected I’d be sticking close to him for thenight, but one of Mia’s tías has lured him onto the dance floor. Far from shying away, he discards his jacket and spins her around, swaying his hips to Calle 13’s “Atrévete-te-te” with a suave body roll.
Mia’s jaw slackens. “You didn’t tell me he could dance.”
“Can’t take your eyes off me?” Asher says, approaching us. His eyes briefly flicker to Kai, and he grabs his arm. “Outdance me. I dare you.”
“I dare you to shut up.” Kai tries to slip away, but Asher tugs at his arm until he’s pulled onto the dance floor. “Er, my ankle isn’t healed yet.”
Kai resists, but Vô Oliveira pushes him forward.
“Vai sair dançar com ele, Kai.” His grandpa snickers, watching as Asher drags his grandson into the living room.
Kai turns to me for support. “Sash? Help me.”
“I can’t hear you,” I singsong, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. I’m wearing earplugs to block some of the noise, so I just shrug as Mia pulls me away, leaving Kai to his luck.
Time loses its grip as we dance together, minutes blending into a progression of familiar songs. Even though we’re older now, Mia and I still remember the choreographies we used to come up with as children. It makes me a little emotional to think about how we’ve pretty much spent all of our lives with each other. I hope we stay like that for a long time.
“Do you mind if I borrow Sasha for a minute?” Vô Oliveira asks, tapping Mia’s shoulder.
“Of course,” she says, excusing herself with a big grin to get a drink. She smiles at Kai’s grandpa. “It’s nice to see you again. You look so handsome tonight! You owe me a dance.”
“Are you sure you can keep up with me?” he says. Mia chuckles.
It dawns on me that it’s been over two years since the three of us—me, Kai, and Mia—were in the same room with Vô Oliveira. I’ve seen him a few times since Kai and I signed the contract, but only in passing glimpses—it seems like we’re both busy these days, and we haven’t had a chance to properly catch up.
I stare at him for a solid second, as if taking in the ways he’s changed since I last saw him. His hair is more silver than I remembered, and a few more wrinkles adorn his eyes. It scares me a little to notice—the awareness of time passing faster than I realize.
“I’m so proud of everything you’ve achieved,” Vô Oliveira tells me with a grin, traces of his accent flitting through his voice like footprints of his life. He looks so smooth in his white jacket, highlighting the bronze undertones of his brown skin, and his smile remains the same as always. It lights up his face. His eyes sparkle with this sort of wonder, just like Kai’s. They look so much alike when they smile—like I’m staring at a future version of his grandson.
I hope I get to see Kai like this one day—hair peppered with gray, still staring at the world with so much excitement.
Vô Oliveira extends his hand out to me, and we dance together for a while. Well, dance is one way to put it. We give each other a look, as if reading each other’s minds, and we both start pulling the silliest moves we can think of. I pretend to be a worm while he twirls, flailing his arms around.
It used to embarrass Kai when we did this, so Vô Oliveirastarted doing it as a joke to piss him off in public. Once, when Kai and I were still dating, Kai tried to ride his grandpa’s motorcycle down the street without permission. Vô Oliveira took us to an outdoor mall that same evening, and he and I started pulling some crazy dance moves whenever a song came through the speakers. Everyone was staring at us. Kai was so mortified he never tried anything like that again.
“I’ve missed being around you,” I say. “Tô com saudades das nossas caminhadas.”
I miss our walks, I repeat in my mind, hoping I said it right.
