MileApo : Catching Feelings

thirteen

"Just admit that you don't know where we are," Mile kneaded his temple, letting out a forced laugh of exasperation. He had been sitting patiently in the passenger side of Apo's car, without much clue as to where they were headed for the past four hours, while Apo refused to let him even hold the phone in fear that Mile will see the destination. "The GPS has been telling you to take a u-turn every 100 meters now!"

"Google doesn't know shit." Apo retorted, refusing to peel his eyes off the road. He'd been on the right path the first three hours, but sometime during the prior hour, he'd gotten too distracted by his conversations and at some point, lost his way. The sun had bid its goodbye more than an hour ago, so Mile's suggestions to ask for directions were in vain. "Trust me na? I know this place like the back of my hand."

"I can definitely see that." Mile commented sarcastically joining the GPS lady's umpteenth instruction for a u-turn.

"Be nice!" Apo spared his hand for a slap on Mile's thigh, before clutching his phone rather forcefully from the holder. He decided that one person nagging him about being lost was enough and turned off his phone, tossing it into the backseat.

Mile stared at Apo, his mouth half open feigning offense at Apo's remark. He then pressed his lips together in a tight smile, one hand to his heart to exaggerate whatever he was about to say.

"Oh wow! I'm so happy, sitting in this car, surrounded by wilderness, with no clue as to where I am, while being driven by a guy who got lost in his own neighborhood once and had to call me to pick him up."

"Ai'Mile! You're exaggerating things! I was not lost! You were the one bad at following the directions to the place. And I called you because I was too lazy to walk back, not because I didn't know my way."

"Whatever tickles your pickle," Mile said the phrase in English, trying to steer the conversation away from his constant habit of getting lost.

"What?" Apo burst out laughing at Mile's random use of such an English phrase.

"I heard it in a series I was watching last night," Mile defended but failed to save himself from Apo's teasing. If it's not about one thing, it will definitely be about another. They never ran out of things to tease eachother with. Apo spend the next few minutes teasing Mile, making use of the opportunity while Mile shyed away in near silence to get a grip on where he was.

"We're here.' Apo announced, pulling up in front of a locked wooden gate. The headlights of the car shone on a small cottage-like house inside the compound. The place was deserted, with no sign of a living soul as far as the eyes could reach.

Mile looked around, a bit confused. Mile did not know what exactly to expect when Apo asked him to go camping with him the day before, but a cottage in the middle of the wilderness did not sit right with his idea of camping.

"Where are we? I thought we were going camping." Mile voiced his bewilderment.

"We are. Just open the gate for me, will you?" Apo handed him a set of keys, holding out the right one. Mile stared at him for a few seconds, contemplating Apo's seemingly never-ending evasiveness, until Apo decided to act upon himself and placed the keys in Mile's hands. Mile decide to give in to his fancy and did as he was asked. Not that he had a choice, Mile seems to delete the word no from his vocabulary whenever he's with Apo.

"Are you ready?" Apo asked once Mile got back in the car, excitement very evident in his face.

"Never more than this krap," Mile tried to match Apo's energy, feeling perked up with the end of suspense.

"Okay," Apo turned off the car, the headlights shutting off their illumination, abandoning them in complete darkness. Mile turned on the screen of his phone but Apo immediately covered it with his hand.