Sweet on You

by Carla de Guzman

  “The shop across from mine at the Laneways is open. You should get started on that bakery.”

  So Gabriel owed Kira a lot. That they met through one of his exes was something they very rarely talked about anymore, and he really appreciated that.

  “I remember,” Gab chortled, shaking his head. “We were freshmen. We danced to a High School Musical song because we thought it would be ironic.”

  “‘Bop to the Top’! Oh God, so dorky,” Kira laughed, shaking her head as she made a face. Gabriel glanced at her and noticed that Kira had exchanged her usual chocolate-splattered apron for a pair of loose black pants and a bright pink tank top.

  “You look nice,” Gabriel commented, unused to seeing her outside of her daily uniform of denim shorts and tee shirts.

  “Thanks!” Kira said, giving him a little twirl with her loose pants. “I managed to clean up a little. I had a minor chocolate explosion in the lab this afternoon.”

  “Are you all right?” Gab didn’t even know that chocolate could explode, much less in a minor way.

  “Of course! I didn’t even have to go to the hospital this time,” Kira said proudly, after she’d dunked the piece of lechon in sauce and eaten it. “How goes your sad seduction of Sari Tomas? I can’t go anywhere in the Laneways without someone talking about that lyre band flashmob. And all of the baby’s breath and carnations. I had people asking me if they could have weddings in the Laneways, which is probably a good idea, don’t you think?”

  “Sari hired them,” he said defensively. “And the flowers are just flowers.”

  “I heard you dipped her, then kissed her.”

  “You make that sound dirty,” Gab scoffed. “It was barely a kiss. I’ve seen spicier kisses on Korean dramas, and those with the slow burn romances are always so tame.”

  “You haven’t had sex with Sari, have you?”

  “Wow,” he choked on his Royal Tru-Orange soda. “You are not subtle.”

  “Neither are you, if you heard the rest of the Laneways tell the story. And I’m a Gemini, being unsubtle is part of who we are.” Kira chomped on the cupcake. Gabriel’s entire face scrunched up when he imagined what those two things tasted like together.

  “Hungry?” he teased.

  “Starving. I had to make three hundred wedding favors today, a chocolate sculpture for a congressman’s daughter and then, the great explosion happened. I’ve been eating since the food came.”

  “Do chocolate explosions happen often?”

  “More often than you think. The pizza is amazing, you should get one.”

  “It should be. It’s from La Spezia.”

  “Ugh, that place in Hotel Villa that charges way too much for pesto because they serve it with twirly pasta?”

  “Yes. Santi’s place,” he said, wondering how often Kira ate in Hotel Villa to know.

  Kira scoffed, frowning in the direction of the pizza. “No thanks. But tell me more about Sari! You were telling me about your pathetic seduction of the most ice cold girl in all of the Laneways.”

  He opened his mouth to tell her off for that, but Kira held a hand up to stop him before he did.

  “Please don’t patronize me by denying it. I know her, I know you, and I know your signs pretty much line up. Capricorns are known for two things—accepting undue responsibility and being lone wolves. Sari has always been a lone wolf that’s particularly resistant to new things. So how are you and your neighbor ‘getting along’?”

  “Fine.”

  “Ah, so it’s going badly.”

  “Not bad per se,” he said, trying to find the words to describe his relationship with Sari Tomas. Clearly they had stepped past the hating each other stage and were...somewhere he couldn’t quite identify. If you were waiting for a sign, this is it. “But we’re not exactly where I want us to be yet.”

  “And where is that somewhere?” Kira asked, taking a bite of her cupcake.

  “Harmlessly flirting with each other?” he said hesitantly, and the image of Sari’s lips against a coffee cup, her eyes fixed on him with murderous intent, filled his mind.

  What was it about a girl taking a drink that was so attractive? She’d worn lipstick that day on the fire escape, he remembered. The day when he’d gone out and just knew she would be there. He remembered how her body felt in his hands when he’d dipped her in front of the store, how her breath escaped her lips in quick gasps.

  “There is no such thing as ‘harmless flirting’!” Kira protested, her cheeks burning, but Gabriel didn’t know why. “It’s like saying ‘carb free cookie’, ‘traffic free roads’ or ‘white chocolate with cacao’. It sounds perfectly logical, it should be true, but it’s not real. You know what is real, though?”

  “No. But I’m sure you’re about to tell me,” Gabriel grumbled.

  “What’s real is this cupcake! It’s ah-mah-zing, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.” Kira held up the cupcake, which was already halfway gone. “Why does it have, like, a milky, cereal-ly flavor?”

  “The cupcake was soaked in cereal milk.”

  “Shut up, that is amazing! Your family must love having cake in the house all the time. I can imagine your fridge, diabetics must cower in fear.”

  “Actually,” he said in a small voice. “My family doesn’t know I’m here.”

  “In Lipa?”

  “In the Philippines. They ah—still think I’m in Melbourne,” he said, because there was no way that he could lie to Kira, because if anyone knew anything about his life outside of the Laneways, it was her. She’d been to his house in Manila, had met some of his siblings. He was pretty sure she even helped Mindy get in to one of the many orgs she’d signed up for.

  “Ohhh classic Libra. Indecisive, avoids confrontation, preferring a harmony that one can only get from the lands of Batangas.” Kira raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve known you for ten years, and I’ve never known you to avoid the onslaught of Capras kids when they run toward you. You’re close to your family, right?”

  “Well. I’m the oldest,” Gabriel said, and that was all he was going to say on the matter. Really, Kira knew how to be scarily accurate sometimes, but he’d learned to remind himself that she was shooting in the wind and that horoscopes could mean absolutely nothing. Typical Libra, she would tell him.

  “Sari!” Kira exclaimed suddenly as Sari walked into the park, wearing a blue dress with white polka dots, fresh as a morning breeze. Gabriel’s heart flipped as he remembered the words she’d left on the chalkboard. This is it. She looked beautiful, and had a smile on her face that was so bright, it rivaled the brightest parol in the party. And she always seemed to smell like coffee. He liked coffee. “My favorite Capricorn! Have you had some of this amazing cereal banana cupcake? It’s deliciousness wrapped in a hug.”

  “The hug is called Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and Sari doesn’t want any of it,” Gabriel said, and yes, he was completely aware that he was being petty. “Right, Sari?”

  “If you’re trying to bait me, it’s not going to work,” she said wryly, looking at Gab.

  “Lies,” Gabriel and Kira both said at the same time, in completely different tones.

  “Oh, by the way, I signed you up for the karaoke contest.” Kira grinned at Gab, nudging him with her elbow.

  “What?” he asked her, aghast.

  “Yeah, it’s required for every new shop owner on the Laneways,” Sari chimed in. “It’s in the lease.”

  “It is not,” Gab argued, mostly because he wasn’t sure, making Sari and Kira laugh this time.

  “It’s still required, though! Duets are allowed, I’m just saying,” Kira said breezily. “Oh, is that Anton Santillan? Ugh, he’s got a frowny face on. I feel the need to keep him away from the merriment.”

  She turned from them, put the now empty lechon plate aside and picked up another cupcake, although it wasn’t clear
if she was getting it for Santi or for herself. Gabriel could see Santi in the distance, peering nervously at the party like he was unhappy with what was going on inside. Kira was already halfway across the venue when she stopped and turned her heel to face him and Sari.

  “Oh, Gabbers!” Kira yelled. “I heard your one-year lease was just finalized! Congrats!”

  A feeling bloomed in his chest when Kira said that, and Gabriel couldn’t process it. Was it pride? Happiness? Both? He wasn’t sure. But whatever it was, it felt right. Just like when he made that sansrival. But then, Santi’s words from earlier that day followed him, reminding him that the reason why they only got a year’s lease was because they were fully expecting to be in the malls, and not the Laneways, next year.

  “Congratulations,” Sari said, the soft smile on her face more beautiful than any fierce, angry look she could give him. “It’s nice, isn’t it? Like you found your place in the sun.”

  Then she directed that smile in his direction, and his heart bloomed. There was no anger or derision or “I can’t believe you actually exist, you annoying creature,” just...recognition. Maybe even mutual understanding.

  “How long will it last?” he asked her, even as he wondered how he could leave this place after only a few weeks here.

  “Not long,” she giggled before she picked up a marshmallow-less hot dog on a stick. “Now if you excuse me, my baristas are about to do their dance number. I’ve been banned from rehearsal, and I have to sit in the front row and take videos.”

  She moved away from him, about to squeeze through the crowd and disappear, when Gabriel yelled the first thing that popped into his head. He wanted to admit defeat. She had him. He wanted to ask if they were okay, if it was safe to call off the troops and the dirty baking puns. He thought it was time, especially if she was going to look at him like that, and say things that he couldn’t form with words.

  “Sari! Date?”

  She looked over her shoulder, her long locks swooshing around her face like she was in a shampoo commercial. Jesus Christ. She shouldn’t do that. If Gabriel hadn’t eaten quezo de bola and fiesta ham earlier he would have been light-headed. The dots on her dress seemed to dance, and he caught a flash of the gold sparkles she put on her eyes. Gorgeous.

  “Only if you score a hundred on the karaoke contest!”

  “Sing a duet with me, then,” he called back. “Your song choice!”

  That made her stop in her tracks, and Gab was so ready to argue with her, tell her all the reasons why she had to sing with him (he didn’t have a lot), but reason was lost on his tongue when he realized she was smiling. She walked back to him and took his hand, dragging him to the stage.

  “I know the perfect song,” she said, going up to the machine. The entire audience roared with cheers as the opening bars of the song came on. And Gab couldn’t blame them—this was an iconic karaoke staple, a great choice, really.

  He just wished he didn’t have to be the one singing “Sinta” by Aegis.

  Sari had a beautiful voice, by the way. It didn’t have the raspy, rocker quality the song needed, but she got the pitch and the tone. The extent of Gab’s musical experience came with living in a house prone to spontaneous bursts of singing, so he managed well enough. But the crowd was just eating them up, screaming, recording on their phones like they were the hottest thing to hit the stage since...well, since Aegis.

  They jumped into the chorus and naturally turned to each other. Their voices did not blend at all, but he didn’t care, he didn’t care when she was looking at him like that. Oh, and her hand was moving, where was her hand going?

  OH Sari was about to—

  “AYYYY!” The entire front row of their audience seemed to collapse in kilig and delight as Sari and Gab clasped hands, looking at each other as they sang.

  And no, his voice wasn’t shaking. But the Christmas lights were glowing in Sari’s eyes and she looked so happy that he couldn’t help but smile too.

  And just like that, the song was over, and the moment was over. Sari was bowing to their audience, and Gab was still looking at her. He couldn’t believe he’d just sang that song with her. You just couldn’t sing “Sinta” without really believing deep in your heart that you were crazy in love with the other person. Had this been a music video, there would have been images of them running through a sunflower field, holding hands and laughing.

  The karaoke machine began to play triumphant music, and lo and behold, they got a perfect score.

  “So,” Gab said, leaning a little closer so she could hear, and away from the mic so nobody else could. “About that date?”

  Sari pressed a hand to his chest, not pushing him away, more like to steady herself than anything.

  “I’m all yours,” she grinned. The entire population of the party burst into another round of screams and laughter.

  Chapter Fourteen

  December 19

  Sari was still absentmindedly humming “Sinta” when she drove up to the café after Simbang Gabi. This time, she was carrying a bandehado of biko that the seller proudly pronounced was the favorite of the high society set in Manila. Sari didn’t know how she was supposed to finish a whole bandehado by herself, so she brought it to the café to share with her baristas.

  It was a Thursday, which meant that today was a roasting day for Sari. The café had the most customers from Friday to Sunday, and so she always did a big batch roast on Thursday to make sure the coffee was fresh. She used the Tomas Coffee Co. robusta blend on a medium roast. Sure she could teach one of her baristas to do it, and she had, but Sari liked to be more hands on in the business than she had to, and this was just one of the things she loved about having the café.

  She’d just finished pre-heating the roaster when she heard a growl of frustration from the other side of the window. She looked up and saw that the kitchen lights at Sunday Bakery were on, and there was Gabriel, actually angry and frowning. She’d never seen him like that. Then again, she hadn’t known him for very long.

  She knocked tentatively on the window, and his head jerked up, his curls flying. Shock gave way to a little smile that didn’t quite meet his face.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked him, and it showed her how agitated he was when he frowned and mouthed something that looked to Sari like, “nothing.”

  “Something,” she said back, and Gabriel must not have been able to hear her either, because he headed in the direction of the fire escape, and she did the same. Their doors swung open at the same time, and they stepped out together. He was already wearing his apron and his bandana, and he was holding a pretty sizable jar with what looked like dough inside.

  “My starter didn’t...start,” he said, his nose wrinkling because it didn’t sound like the right word to use. “I’ve been baking for at least ten years, and I can’t get my damn sourdough starter to start. Of course I already have a starter, Belinda is five months old and living happily in Fairview, but I can’t get her.”

  “Why not?” Sari asked, and the look of surprise on Gabriel’s face told her that he hadn’t been planning on telling her why, except now he’d talked himself into a corner about it. “Gabriel, it’s all right. You can tell me. Or not, if you don’t want to.”

  “I think I should,” he said, sighing like he still really didn’t want to, and put the jar of non-starter against the corner of the fire escape nearest to the wall. “My family has no idea that I’m here in Lipa. They think I’m still in Melbourne. Some of them probably think I’m in Singapore or Bali.”

  “Okay, but why?” Sari asked, immediately confused. Although she didn’t always get along with her sisters, she couldn’t imagine them not knowing where Sari was, couldn’t imagine lying to them the way Gabriel was, which only reminded her that they really didn’t know each other all that well outside of the Laneways. “Do you guys not get along?”

  “I think we do.” Gabriel
was still frowning, and she didn’t like it. Sari understood only too well how hard it was to articulate how you felt sometimes, whether it was because you felt guilty for feeling it, or knew your feelings would hurt someone else. “I love them. But they just got used to the idea that I liked wandering from place to place. Hell, I thought I would always wander from place to place. Did you know I switched courses three times in the span of five years in college?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Yeah, it took me a while before I realized that I liked baking, and even then...” He trailed off, and Sari wished that he wouldn’t. She was just discovering the other sides to Gabriel, and she wanted to know more. “Anyway. It’s easier to let them think that I can’t stay in one place until I’m sure I can do it here.”

  “You think you can?” Sari asked. “Stay here, I mean.”

  “Maybe,” he said, and she didn’t love that his smile was a little wistful, still unsure. For someone like Sari, who had found Lipa and stayed here for as long as she had, seeing someone who still felt so rootless reminded her of the times she used to feel just as lost. “I like it a lot so far. The people could be nicer.”

  “The people are trying, really hard,” she said, and ala eh, she’d actually made him laugh! “Does your family want you to stay in Manila?”

  “My father certainly does,” he said, and his face grew dark at the mere mention of his father. “He thinks that as a man, and as the oldest of my family, I have a duty to take a regular, steady income job and support my family. Because that’s what a man does.”

  “I think getting a job and supporting the people we love isn’t exclusive to guys,” Sari added, and Gabriel nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah, and what does that even mean, anyway, being a man? I have one sister who manages a hedge fund, and she kicks ass and takes names in the name of money, or whatever it is she does. The other is so good at what she does her company wanted to send her to Switzerland for a year. I have another sister who saved for five years then took herself on a trip to Paris, because she thought she deserved to fulfil that dream. Then the younger ones are just figuring out what they want to do, and it’s great.”