He laughed a little.
“You want to watch me play?”
“Of course I do.”
“It isn’t boring for you?”
“Never for me.”
In that moment, Seth was wholly convinced that he could the big-M word her.
“Besides, it’ll be fun watching you die over and over in game.”
“Okay sadist,” Seth laughed.
For the rest of the night, Seth, Jae and Nina all jumped into a Discord call. She sat idly in the background, commenting on the game and laughing along whenever Seth would lose to Jae in their 1v1s. At one point, Anya joined, and the two girls jokingly taunted the two boys.
Eventually, as the night stretched, Jae and Anya fell away, declaring exhaustion, and it was just Seth and Nina. He knew that she was tired, though, from the way her voice had dipped a little lower and softer.
“So, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I will be. Of course. I’m an expert at this, kinda.”
“I’ll always be here for you, Nina.”
She laughed, softly, “Seth Roman Moore. My boy of the past, one of my favourite people now. It’s still so surreal.”
His heart thumped steadily.My boy.
“Your favourite person, even if I once broke your heart?”
“Funny, huh?”
When they finally said their goodnights, and the call ended, the silence in his room felt all too heavy. But it was familiar, and for a moment, he let it settle around him, like a comforting hug.
Even if there was a chance that she would never feel that way about him again, he felt privileged in being the one that was there for her. To comfort her, and dry her tears when she was down.
And for now, that was enough.
26
Now
Seth spent much of Saturday with his Dad’s side of the family. It was his Uncle Christopher’s birthday, and they were hosting a small barbeque at his place.
He was actually looking forward to seeing his little cousins, who were old enough now to be playing console games and have wrestle play fights.
Regardless of the strangeness that Seth would feel about his parents’ marriage, he always loved hanging with his family.
When they arrived, most of his relatives were there. It was just his Uncle Chris’s family - Auntie Katherine and his little twin cousins Georgio and Joshua - as well as his grandparents and his Auntie Tabitha with her boyfriend of 5 years, Ben. The barbeque aroma consumed the space, and as Seth grabbed a serving of a skewer, he thought suddenly of Nina.
A couple of weeks ago, she was out with her family, checking out a new Filipino restaurant that’d opened up in a nearby suburb.
One of the dishes served there were these barbeque skewers that were supposedly very popular within the Filipino cuisine. Since then, he’s been craving it.
And truthfully, everything else that was on the food table from the pictures that Nina posted on her social media.
“Seth, did you hear me?”
