Page 62 of Charming Like Us

“After doing PA stuff.” He pauses. “I’ll have some breaksdi ba?”Di bameansright?

I’ll have some breaks, right?

I smile and stay quiet, letting him sweat it out.

“There are labor laws, Kuya,” Jesse says, sounding more worried.

“You’ll get breaks,” I smile more, pressing the phone firmer to my ear. “But you didn’t come out here for a vacation. I need your help, remember. And you need this on your resume.”

Since Ali and Ambrose saidnoto my pitch yesterday, I decided rather than hire a stranger, I’d hire someone I trust with secrets.

My brother.

Jesse flew in on a red-eye last night, and now he’s finishing summer school online.

Over the phone, he mutters under his breath, and the elevator doors glide open. I land in the empty private foyer facing the penthouse’s front door.

“Ano?”I askwhat?to Jesse.

“I get why Mama’s worried about you now. She doesn’t want you to turn out like them, working super long hours. That’s actually why she let me come out here, you know. MaybeI’llbe a good influence on you, she said.”

I smile. “Mama did not say that.”

“She implied it.”

She’s more understanding of me working hard than Jesse slacking, which is probably why she let him come out to Philly. For the opportunity.

Can’t pass it up.

I pull the phone down to check the time: 7:54 a.m.—I’m supposed to meet Oscar at 8. “I have to go,” I tell Jesse. Even though I’m early, I feel late. “Make yourself at home. Pantry is stocked—oh and my neighbors were hijacking my WiFi and slowing the internet, so I had to change the password since the last time you were here. The new one isLeChatRouge0502.”

“How do you spell it?”

I spell outle chat rougeand describe the capitalization.

“Why 0502? Don’t you usually go for 1118 in passwords?” 11/18 is my birthday. November 18th.

May 2ndis Oscar’s birthday.

And I didn’t think anything of the password when I created it, other than having Paris and Oscar on the brain. Didn’t seem like a big deal.

But hearing Jesse ask, I feel tilted sideways. Switching my phone to my left ear like I’m trying to balance, I tell him, “It’s the birthday of Charlie’s bodyguard. You’ll meet him during filming.”

“Sweet.” He sounds distracted like he’s typing in the password. “You know I’m amped to be here. I get to flex my camera skills, hang with my big brother, travel wherever Charlie Cobalt flies off to. It’s gonna be a gnarly summer.”

I smile, one that vanishes fast.

This summer has been a cyclone of feelings and missed opportunities for me. It’s already been gnarly, but not completely in the positive way Jesse used the word.

Still in the empty foyer with the elevator behind me, I thank Jesse again for flying out so fast, and we say our goodbyes.

“Talk later, Kuya.”

We hang up, and I rap a fist on the penthouse door.

Two seconds and it swings open to a six-foot brunette. Sulli towers, her biceps cut and abs visible in a bikini, towel bunched in her hand. It doesn’t feel that long ago that we sat down together at Superheroes & Scones and had her first production meeting. It was reallyourfirst introduction to each other too.

A Secret about Sullivan Meadows:at 13, a swim coach told her that she needed to shave around her bikini line better. It was one of the only things she feared telling her protective dad, who she tells everything to.