Keeping the Distance (I Heart Iloilo Book 1) Read online

  “What is your thing?” he asked and proceeded to gesture down his body. “Aside from me, of course.”

  She laughed. Knowing he could do that to her felt good. “I like playing the ukulele, and you can probably tell I like girly things like florals and pastels. But I’m not like Cam. I want to be a teacher, but I’m not sure if it’s a passion that’s going to drive me for the rest of my life. Maybe I haven’t figured it out yet.”

  “We’re graduating soon, so you should probably think about it.” Lance stopped and decided to backtrack. What he said sounded so condescending.

  Melissa wasn’t offended, though, only a little surprised. He began to wonder if he should be the one offended.

  She put her Slurpee down on the dashboard and widened her eyes at him. “This is so weird. You have a life plan, and I don’t. It’s like I found out that grapes are a vegetable, and I’ve loved them this whole time.”

  “I’ve always had a life plan,” Lance said. “Take over our construction company. Make it even bigger. That’s it.”

  The idea of taking over the family business as his father expected was supposed to chafe at him, he knew, like he’d been robbed of getting the chance to decide his future for himself. Surprisingly, he liked the idea so much he even spent the last couple of summers working with the construction crew. He enjoyed getting his hands dirty more than the numbers side of the business, but he wanted to be excellent at all of it. It was challenging and easy at the same time.

  Understanding dawned in Melissa’s eyes. “That’s why you knew how to paint the walls during weekend detention.”

  “You can’t run a construction company without knowing how to build a house,” he said, his tone wry.

  He could tell a thousand questions were on the tip of her tongue, but she continued to sit there, silently eyeing him like he’d sprouted an extra head. Things were getting weird, so he said, “You’re imagining me hammering nails all sweaty and shirtless, aren’t you? I can tell.”

  To his great surprise, she didn’t protest. She even raised a hand and motioned over his body. “Just surprised you didn’t get your pretty boy muscles at the gym.”

  He laughed out loud. He realized he liked knowing she could do that to him, too. Unable to stop himself anymore and not seeing a reason to continue doing so, Lance reached for Melissa. He placed a hand around the back of her neck to draw her closer. A sigh escaped her lips when he smoothed his thumb over the skin below her ear. She didn’t resist and even inched forward on her own.

  His phone began ringing as he leaned down to connect his lips to hers.

  Talk about timing.

  “What?” Lance barked into the phone after grabbing it from where he’d left it earlier on the dashboard.

  “That’s a nice way to greet your beloved older sister.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed, making sure Julianne heard it all the way in Australia. He loved his sister; he really did. Sometimes, though, he wished he could teleport himself all the way to her flat and duct tape her mouth shut. Or her hands. That way, she wouldn’t be able to interrupt the beginning of what was surely going to be an epic makeout session.

  “Juls, I’d be happy to talk to you but not now.” He rubbed his face with one hand as if that would make things better.

  “Oh, were you taking gym selfies again? What has you so busy that you can’t even—”

  His sister stopped speaking so abruptly that she had him worried. “Are you still there? What’s going on?”

  “You’re with her, aren’t you?” The pure enjoyment in Julianne’s voice scared him. He knew the extent of the mockery his sister was capable of. “Put her on the phone. I want to talk to her.”

  Lance didn’t even have to think about it. “You’re crazy. No.”

  “Give your girlfriend the phone, or I’m uploading the photo of you in your panda onesie from when we were little. I’m not even joking.”

  It wasn’t an empty threat. He found and ripped apart the original copy of the said photo a long time ago, but not before Julianne managed to make a digital copy. He made sure she heard him sigh one more time before he handed the phone over to Melissa. “My sister wants to talk to you.”

  She hesitated at first, but she grabbed the phone. “Hello? This is Melissa.”

  Lance sat back and watched. For some reason, knowing she was talking to his sister made a warm feeling bubble up and spread all over his chest. Two of the most important people in his life were talking to each other. It was strangely awesome.

  He didn’t even have to question if Julianne would like Melissa. His sister had liked the girl sitting in the passenger the second he said he was having trouble winning her over. The image of the three of them having dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant Julianne loved downtown filled his head all of a sudden. They’d eat pad thai, drink a pitcher of lemonade with cucumber slices floating inside it, and Melissa would enjoy watching his sister make him miserable.

  It sounded like the best thing he could ever imagine.

  But he was getting ahead of himself. Julianne wouldn’t be home in another six months, and Melissa was still so scared of her father that they couldn’t even sit down and eat at a restaurant like other… normal couples. He glanced over at her and wondered if he had the right to call her his girlfriend. They’d never talked about it, and he didn’t dare ask her in case her answer hurt too much.

  When he saw her giggling into the phone, he began to sweat.

  What was Julianne telling her?

  He hoped his sister wasn’t sharing embarrassing stories from their childhood, especially that one time he took off all his clothes, tied a washcloth around his waist, and jumped off the table when he was five, earning a concussion in the process. He’d wanted to be Tarzan. Who could blame him?

  “I definitely agree with you.” Melissa nodded, still smiling. “He does do that a lot.”

  “Okay, that’s enough.” He swiped the phone out of her hands and spoke into it. “Juls, if you told her the Tarzan story, I swear you’ll find yourself waking up without eyebrows when you get home.”

  Julianne only laughed. “Will I get to meet her then?”

  His grip tightened on the phone. He knew what she was asking. Was Melissa still going to be around by the time Julianne got home? He wanted her to be, but it was all up to her. She was the one who had the final say in all of this, because as far as he was concerned, he wasn’t going anywhere else.

  There was nowhere else to go. This was it for him.

  “I hope so,” was all he could say.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Are you and Cam going out tonight?”

  The spoonful of rice paused halfway to Melissa’s open mouth. She looked up at her father who sat at the head of the table. He wore the horn-rimmed glasses he’d gotten the day before.

  She knew he wasn’t young when he had her, but it had never occurred to her that he could be so old, either. The glasses were a glaring reminder, drawing her eyes to the graying hair on his temples. The thought made something nasty twist in her stomach.

  Guilt maybe.

  Hoping her father hadn’t noticed the shakiness of her hands, she dropped her spoon on her plate and fisted her hands under the dining table. It was a simple question. She should nod and say yes, but the lump in her throat prevented her from doing so.

  “Did you hear me, Mel?” he prodded when she failed to respond.

  “Yes, we’re going out again tonight,” Mel said, keeping her eyes glued to a spot over his shoulder. The ‘we’ in question was her and Lance, but it was a minor detail, right?

  “Where are you going?” It was her mother this time.

  They all sat eating rice, sautéed shrimps, and crabmeat for dinner. If her father knew when she last ate seafood, he’d have a heart attack and keel over the table.

  She cleared her throat. “One of our classmates invited us to a party. Since this is our last year, Cam and I thought we should make the most of it.”

  “Well,
I think it’s great that you’re living in the moment. You won’t be in high school forever after all, Mel,” her mother said with a smile.

  Melissa tried to smile back. When it became quite difficult, she forced the rest of her face to cooperate. Cam had said that lying would get easier over time, but she was wrong. It got harder with each one piling on top of the one before it. She would get tangled in her web and trip soon enough; she was sure of it.

  “Just don’t overdo it.” her father pushed his glasses up his nose, the look in his eyes making his meaning clear. You’re already enough of a disappointment. “Enjoying yourself is all well and good, but don’t let yourself be distracted from your priorities. College entrance exams are coming up soon, and you better start preparing for that. I’m sure you’ll get into any school you want—”

  She restrained herself from rolling her eyes, knowing what was coming next.

  “—if you only apply yourself.”

  “What’s wrong with having a little fun?” The words stampeded out of Melissa’s mouth.

  Her father’s glass of water paused on the way to his mouth. “What did you say?”

  She gulped down the rest of the things she wanted to say out loud. “Nothing, Pa.”

  Under the table, her nails dug into her palm. She knew he meant well, but sometimes, she wished he’d stop pushing so hard and let her be. Be the average student in the middle of the class ranking. Be the quiet girl who never got nominated for class president. Be with Lance.

  If her father thought going to one party was a distraction, she didn’t want to know what he’d think of whatever was going on between her and Lance. He was better off not knowing until… she had the guts to own up to him.

  As soon as dinner was over, she escaped to her room. When she and Lance agreed to spend the weekend together, she got to decide that they were going to Cinematheque on Friday, so it was his turn tonight. Apparently, according to his text message earlier, they were going to a party at Jace’s house. It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. She liked the idea of getting dolled up and going somewhere with Lance, but that somewhere involved other people from their school.

  He swore they’d keep things discreet.

  And she trusted him, didn’t she?

  After taking a shower, she tucked her sleeveless peach blouse into a pair of high-waist shorts and slipped on her trusty gold flats. Slipping a matching gold headband through her hair, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Casual-but-not-too-try-hard. The same could be said about her makeup—BB cream slathered all over her face, subtly defined brows, and pink lip gloss. She was still debating with herself whether to bring a cardigan or not when her mother yelled from downstairs that her ride had arrived.

  Without enough time to decide, she stuffed the cardigan inside her bag. Her mother stood waiting for her at the foot of the stairs.

  “I’ll be home before curfew.” Melissa stood on tiptoe to give her a kiss on the cheek.

  “I’ll hold you to that.” She reached up and straightened her now-askew headband. “And listen to your father, okay? You know he means well.”

  For one second that seemed to last forever, Melissa found it impossible to look her mother in the eye. It was easier to lie to her father, because to him, meaning well was synonymous with suffocating her.

  But Ma’s an entirely different story.

  She didn’t know what to say or where to even begin, so she merely wrapped her arms around her mother. “I’ll call you when I get there and before I leave.”

  “No more, no less.”

  Her mother walked her out to the front door. Cam’s father’s car, a gray Sportivo, idled by the curb. When they were close enough to hear, the window on the passenger side rolled down and Cam’s face peeked out.

  “I’ll have her home before curfew, Mrs. Ortiz!” Cam said with a grin.

  Melissa got inside the car, setting her bag beside her on the backseat. She greeted Cam’s father who was driving them to the party and let her best friend’s excited chatter fill the silence. She wanted to be a good friend and listen, but her mind was too busy to pay attention.

  While standing with her mother by the front door, Melissa let herself imagine for a brief second what it would be like if Lance’s car had shown up to pick her up. She let herself picture him stepping out of the car with the biggest bouquet of daisies anyone had ever seen. He’d manage to charm her mother with his pretty face and smoothness and whisk her away to a party where they could hold hands no matter who saw them. It was wonderful.

  And stupid. Wishful thinking never did her any good.

  ***

  Maybe Melissa changed her mind about coming to the party.

  Lance walked down the stairs, hands in the pockets of his jeans. He surveyed the throng of people crowding around the luxurious living room. Four girls sat on the couch, their heads bobbing to the rhythm of the bubblegum pop song blaring from the speakers behind them. Some people huddle together and talked and laughed among themselves. Some were familiar faces, some he had never laid eyes on before. The house was bursting with hormone-filled teenagers.

  He spotted Jace standing in the center of it all. His best friend was surrounded by their basketball teammates, and he nodded and smiled at the appropriate moments. His eyes, however, were glued to the antique vase precariously perched on a shelf a boy was currently leaning on. Lance couldn’t hold back his grin. Deep down, Jace was about to have a coronary.

  “Well, if it isn’t Mr. Life of the Party himself.” A familiar-looking boy ran up to him the second his feet hit the ground floor. The boy held up his hand.

  “Hey.” Lance high-fived him without thinking twice about it.

  Lance was good at mingling. It was something that came naturally to him, sliding across the crowd and always saying the right thing. He nodded at the girls on the couch and shook his head when they tittered into giggles. Smooth and charming, that was Lance. On the outside, at least. As he high-fived, fist-bumped, nodded, and greeted more and more people whose faces soon blurred into a faceless mass, his eyes continued to search the crowd for her.

  He found Melissa in the kitchen.

  His lungs did something funny the second he saw her leaning against the counter, whispering conspiratorially into Cam’s ear. They somehow forgot how to function properly, how to pump air in and out of his body.

  That Hunter guy, the one who was in the stupid rock band, could’ve written a shit ton of cheesy lyrics about the way Melissa looked tonight. And Lance? He couldn’t even think of a single thing to say, except that she was more than beautiful. Always. It wasn’t just her face which became prettier the more he looked at it, but it was her… everything else.

  Melissa glanced up and saw him standing in the doorway like some sort of moron. He swept his gaze away from hers and pretended to survey the kitchen. The gigantic fridge. The marble counters. The big-ass sink that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. His gaze soon made his ways back to hers. She was still staring at him from across the room. A little smile lit up her eyes while the rest of her face remained the same.

  It warmed him, the fact that he could sense that smile in her eyes. It proved that he knew her better than the other people in this bursting house.

  He wanted to walk up to her, toss an arm around her shoulder, and pull her close in front of all these people. But these people were now witnesses, most of them students in the school where her father was the principal.

  Lyka stood with her friends only a few meters away from Melissa. This was going to be awkward.

  His eyes flew to the kitchen doorway as Kyra Gustilo, the biggest gossip in Saint Agnes Catholic Academy, walked through it. If she ever noticed anything strange going on between him and some girl, the news would be all over the school by Monday morning.

  Lance didn’t know whether to shake his head or bury his face in his hands in frustration. For the first time since this whole thing between them started, an ache began to spread through his chest at
not being able to show these people Melissa was his.

  That he was hers.

  He ripped his eyes away from hers and walked over to the open coolers scattered all over one counter and grabbed a beer. Her eyes burned into the back of his head, and he absently scratched his neck to ward away the sensation. With each passing second, he found himself getting angrier. When he turned around, he found that Luis Hernandez, Jace’s cousin who graduated the year before, had joined Melissa and Cam. His hold tightened on the cold beer bottle in his hand. Luis was a douchebag, especially in the backwards ball cap he was rocking tonight like he thought he was Kobe Bryant.

  No, he wasn’t just a douchebag.

  He was a total douchebag.

  A tool of epic proportions.

  Lance brought the beer bottle to his mouth and chugged down half its contents, his eyes on Luis and the way he flirted with Melissa the whole time. Before he could even think and be rational, he began to walk toward them. Mr. Life of the Party from a few minutes before had decided to hibernate, and this person he barely recognized stood in his place.

  “You know, I used to see you as this snobby good girl,” he heard Luis say once he was in earshot. “Whoever thought you’d look this hot all grown up?”

  Lance got even angrier, if that was even possible. Melissa wasn’t hot. She was so much more than that. He placed his half-empty beer bottle on the counter and continued stalking over to them. A hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him back.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Jace’s voice rang in his ears, catapulting him back to reality.

  “Am I supposed to grin and bear it while your cousin hits on my girlfriend?” Lance growled.

  “Technically, she isn’t your girlfriend, but I’ll let that one slide.” Jace’s fingers dug into his shoulder. “Secondly, are you ready to let everyone know about you and Melissa? I mean, what else would people think when you punch Luis because he talked to her?”