At last! After how many months (or even years) of physical stagnation I have come
upon the chance to flex my whole body and experience the wild ride of twisting, jumping and smashing!
I was with Merryness and Kim, my original high school best friends, right after I set my foot in the hot asphalt of Concepcion. There they were, outside that almost newly-opened (only) coffee shop in Malabon City, whose name I do not even care remembering. As I wiped the sweat off my bloody forehead, Ness saw me and I heard her comforting tonal intonation: "Awww….Vaaaan…you’re heeeeeere na!" while Kim was kidding at the "comforting" welcome of Ness for me.
I hugged the both of them and alas! Almost empty glass of cheap frappuccino! Ness gave me her glass and I instantly parted my lips and lowered my head to suck in the red straw (my expertise perhaps? lmao!) and moments after, finished the glass.
"Ah!" I said.
"Tara, Let’s go upstairs na!" Ness said.
Kim nodded and together, we went upstairs. We sat there, talking and blabbering senseless stuff (as we usually do). We had our bench facing the terrace of the once-prosperous-mall of Malabon. Until I was not able to bear it any longer, for we were facing the sun at her highest peak, blinding my eyes with its solar rays of desolate. I still have this tampo with RL, you know? Yeah I know. I woke up early this morning just to assure that we can have a little conversation before he goes to sleep and before I head off to my beloved university. But he went the other way instead! I dunno eh….He told me it was a surprise na his tito and tita were outside his office and asked him to have breakfast with them. And when I asked the landline number of their house in Novaliches (which he used to phone me last Christmas), he did not even give care to reply….as though he did not receive any. I hate being paranoid. This is the feeling that destroys everything I have built. But the question is, is this paranoia? Or is this my instincts working? Hay. Trust him moran, trust him. If he is gonna lie to you, that is his loss. He’s a good Christian and it is shit if he lies. It’s way beyond hypocracy you know? Hay Van…get rid of it! Get rid of it! *Warped back to reality, with Ness and Kim* "Van? Are you okay?" asked Ness. I simply nodded.
"Gutom na ko, kain tayo!" I told them.
We went to Mc Donald’s right beside Rosas. There we ate and continued our blabbering. I really missed Ness and Kim. This reminds me of my beloved High School safe when everything was so secured. I had no financial, academic and emotional problems. If I had, it would not even dare to give it a big deal. Everything was so safe back then. I easily controlled things back then. But things are far different now. As we age, life transcends into a higher, more complicated perspective. Sometimes, the sight of high school students give me a feeling of envy, knowing that their lives are so…simple. Things go out of hand when we age, everything that happens is like grasping and keeping free flowing water with your bare hands - you cannot keep it for long.
Back to reality.
After several tripping of Ness’ "comfortable" tonal intonation, she told us "Guys, badminton tayo!"
Without any hesitation, Kim and I both agreed.
We got home right after having my late brunch and waited for 6:00 to come, as we have all agreed to see each other again. I remember Ness saying "Hoy Van! 6:00 ha? Hindi 7:00!"
I answered her joke with a good laugh.
It was 5:00 PM while Yuan and I were using the laptop when all of the appliances around us turned off right in a snap. Brown out. Bullcrap.
Since I only had P4.00 of load, I waited for Kim’s text. It was 6:00 and I did not receive any message from her. I got a message from love, asking what I was doing and he was preparing, around 6:30 PM. I wondered how far Novaliches is from Cubao that he woke up that late, considering the heavy traffic going in EDSA and how turtle-ish he is when he takes a bath and does his preparation and stuff.
At last! I received Kim’s text and told me that she was on her way. I sent her a text saying that we had no electricity, and the possibility that the court was closed.
I waited.
Several minutes after, she sent a message saying she was with Ness and there was electricity in the court already. I quickly changed my clothes and headed to Smash Exchange.
I was about to go down when I saw that, as usual, there IS flood. I
waited for the jeepney to go straight ahead for several feet and
finally, I got down.
After my annoying ride in the jeepney which had its driver deaf (for his Eminem songs are THUMPING like crazy!) and blind (for he was, AS A MATTER OF FACTLY, not fascinated with blinking disco lights).
Moments later, Ness, Kim and I were playing.
I was surprised, really. My right arm buddy still knows how to give a good smash. It still has some power left to force that shuttlecock towards the other end of the court. Very well.
However, after half an hour of running, jumping and smashing, I got really tired. No, Im keeping my fingers crossed that my I am not physically deteriorating! Noooooo!
As I was drying my sweaty hair and sweaty shirt in front of the fan, I felt some vibration along the bench. Restless, I finally came to myself. MY CELLPHONE.
I saw love’s name calling me, I answered it instantly.
Tired, thirsty and uncomfortable, I talked to him. I really had no idea what to tell him because:
1) If I talk about what happened in UP that afternoon, he will give me, again, that annoying forced laugh. He’s not that really entertained to these kind of stories.
2) If I talk about what we were doing at the moment, he will just listen a little.
3) If I talk about home stuff, that will bring my mood down.
4) If I talk about how annoyed and slightly angered I was for what happened that morning, Duh! It will trigger him to say things and want me covering my ears and never hear them. Hehe.
Immediately, I arrived at a conclusion. Just let him talk. Im a good listener. Then after a while, he stopped and told me how boring I was and even told me "What did I do to you?" and I was like "Huh?" Did you do something? What? Again? I do not know what to say. So he was like "Okay sige ba-bye!"
Wow.
I let the morning thing passed and he was like starting this thing again. Irritated, I got up and started smashing shuttlecocks like there is no tomorrow.
After that, we got dressed up and ate, after 12 years, in Burger Machine (seriously). I last ate there when I was 6. When the itsy-bitsy burger costs around 5 bucks. Pretty cheap ey? With a little more savings in my pocket, I gave Ness and Kim a treat of…Burgers! Again, for the love of forgetting the ugly feeling, we talked and talked and talked until we got no more stories left and Ness asked Kim and I to bring her home. Granted.
Kim and I rode the jeepney home and told her the possibility of me going with her Badminton game tomorrow night. Still undecided, I believe I need to flex more and sweat more.
Bye for now, got tons of Chemistry stuff to do.
Ciao!
