Chapter 18: Hem and haw.

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“Come on, just one date. Any place you want, baby,” said Owen, who’s leaning on to the adjacent locker, sounding all high and mighty. As if.


I grunted. “Owen, how many times do I have to tell you? I don’t date,” I told to him while putting my stuff back to my locker except for my Calculus book.


I could feel that he was starting to get impatient. “What do you want me to do just so you’d finally say yes?”


“Uhm… Gee… That’s a hard question, Owen,” I mucked around.


“How about you stop pestering my girl to go out? Does that work for you, man?”


I turned around and found Gerard standing a few feet away from us. I smiled at him and decided to play along.“Owen, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Gerard. So, do you still want me to spell out my reason for not dating?”


Gerard walked up to us and placed his arms around me. He then threw Own an acknowledging nod. Owen’s face suddenly fell on the floor with disappointment. “B-boyfriend?” he stammered. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.”


“What more proof could you possibly need? I’m standing right in front of you,” Gerard grinned sheepishly and I couldn’t help but snicker. “Let’s go, babe?”


“Sure,” I agreed and he closed my locker for me. “I guess I’ll just see you around, Owen,” I shrugged. Gerard and I left him looking completely down in the mouth because we’d just successfully deflated his puffed up ego. We only started doubling over when we were finally in his car.


“Did you see his reaction when you introduced me as your boyfriend? Goodness, that was hilarious!”The two of us cackled louder.


“That’s what he gets for being such a smug. And what was that all about? ‘Let’s go, babe?’ Babe? Are you serious?” I snickered.


“What’s wrong with babe? I think it’s a nice term of endearment.”


I snorted, “Yeah, right. Anyway, we should get going. Carrie and the girls are already waiting for us.”


“Whatever you say, babe,” he teased and we teed off.


Gerard and I have been practically hanging out everyday since I met him two weeks ago. Sometimes, he would go to our house even though it’s not debut-related and we’ll just kill time playing Wii games with my brothers.


We’re heading to Makati Sports Club right now to meet my friends for a tennis game. I remembered when the girls saw him for the first time. Knowing them, their initial reactions were pretty much predictable.


Ciara: “I totally envy you right now. You’re so lucky he doesn’t have a girlfriend. I mean, how many men in Metro Manila could be hotter than him and also happens to be single? As far as I know, zero.”


Sydney: “He’s totally gorgeous. Just look at those sexy biceps. Yum-my!”


Liz (I sent her a picture through e-mail): “You met him coincidentally?! Are you messing with me, Wendy?! A hot guy like him can’t just fall off from heaven like he’s a freakin’ snowflake!”


Carrie: “I wonder if he’s still a virgin. Hmm… What do you think, Wends?”




“Hey, sexy,” the girls hailed to Gerard as we joined them.


Sydney threw him a wink. “Glad you could join us.”


He politely smiled, “Ladies, how are we today?”


“Better, now that you’re here,” Ciara jokingly answered and the three of them set foot in the nearest unoccupied tennis court. Conversations with the girls always end up sounding flirtatious especially when Gerard’s in sight, basically because he’s the only guy around that they could torment.


“I hope you’re still not regretting your decision to be my escort,” I said apologetically.


He chuckled. “Are you kidding? Trust me, not in a million years.”


His lips curled up into a smile. I smiled back, “I guess I’d better start counting.”


“Hey, you two,” Carrie called out from the tennis court. “Do you still want to play or are the two of us just going to stand there and beam at each other?”




“We beat you again,” I taunted the girls.


Sydney pouted. “It wasn’t a fair team up.”


“There were three of you versus the two of us. Don’t you think that’s an unjust, too?” I joked around.


“But Gerard plays like a pro. He has an excellent back hand serve.”


“Better luck next time, girls,” Gerard teased.


“Okay, enough about that. Let’s not cry a river over a petty game of tennis,” Ciara threw in.


“By the way, Gerard, Wendy mentioned that you’ve already met her mom.”


“So, what can you say about her? Any first impressions?”
 

“You mean Tita Wilma?”


“Tita Wilma?” Carrie mouthed at my side looking completely bewildered.


“She’s very genial and affable when I met her for the first time.”


Carrie furrowed her eyebrows. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Mrs. Mañalac here?”




Gerard and Wendy had to leave first because they still had to fetch Gerard’s sister from school, while three of us decided to head to my condo unit.


“Genial and affable?” I quoted Gerard’s exact words. “I would’ve believe him if he was pertaining to Tito Rodolfo instead,” I said while moving the gear shift to primera.


“I guess he was able to astound Wendy’s mom on a first meeting,” Sydney joshed.


“And did you hear him? He called her Tita Wilma. As far as I know, among Wendy’s friends, we’re the only ones who are allowed to call her Tita Wilma.”


“And that took a long time, too. We initially had to address her as Mrs. Mañalac.”


“You know what? If Chi is not attracted to this guy, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with her anymore.”


“I agree. If there’s one person Chi should be dating right now, it should definitely be him.”


The three of us exchanged meaningful looks and sniggered. “I believe we’re all thinking the same thing right now.”




Maxine was in the back seat, sleeping. Or pretending to be, so she could listen to our conversation.


“Maxine must be really tired from school,” Wendy noted.


“Yeah, she’s the one organizing their upcoming school fair. That must be draining her out.” I threw her a glance through my rearview mirror. Her mouth was hanging open and I even noticed something drooling out of it. Gross. In that case, I guess she’s really asleep.


“Can I ask you something?”


“Sure. What is it?”


“What you said a while ago… to Owen…,” I hesitated.


“Which one?”


“That you don’t date.”


“What about it?”


“Is it true?”


“Sort of. Why are you asking?”


“Just curious. Do you mind if I ask why?”


She chuckled to herself. “I know this may sound cliché, but I need to shy myself away from those stuff for the meantime. It’s just too complicated for me.”


“Like what? Dating? Having a relationship?”


“Yeah, those kinds of things.”


“I see. I’m sorry I asked, Wendy.”


“Nah, that’s okay,” she smiled feebly and simply stared out of the window.


I suddenly remembered the last conversation I had with Pamela a month ago, where she asked me to be her honor attendant in her wedding. I told her that I would think about it. Then I realized, I still haven’t given her any answer.




“I’m home,” I announced when I entered the den. Surprisingly, I saw my Dad and my brothers having a brawl over something. “What’s going on?” I inquired. The three of them immediately broke off when they saw me standing right behind them.


Dad cleared his throat. “H-hey, honey. How was your day?”


I walked up to him and kissed his cheek. “Fine,” I answered while eying them suspiciously. “What were you three doing a while ago?”


“N-nothing,” they nervously uttered in unison.


“But I saw you fighting over something. Are you keeping something from me?”


“Of course not,” Wade answered defensively.


“Yeah, why would we keep something from you, silly.”


Dad sighed. “It’s no use, boys. Come on, Wesley, just give it to Chi.”


“Dad, no,” Kuya and Wade protested.


“It’s addressed to her. She has every right to know,” Dad said with a tone of finality. My brothers couldn’t do anything but shook their heads in defeat.


I stared at my Dad. “Know what, Daddy?”


“This came for you, sweetheart,” Dad said as Kuya handed me a beige envelope. On it’s upper right side was an embossed golden image of a rose, but there was something else that caught my attention…















































For Ms. Wendy Isabelle E. Mañalac

A Wedding Invitation.


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