Atonement

iv

Lianne has been fiddling with her phone, trying to compose a simple message only to think better of it and delete it entirely. The cycle repeats, giving her more excuse to overthink on what to say. 

After much pondering with herself, she sets her phone down on the table and leans back in her seat. She heaves an exasperated sigh and stares at the mobile device. Really though, how difficult is it to simply send a text message with a brief greeting and a few other words? 

She drums her fingers on the table, brows knitted in concentration. What to say? What to say? What to say? She says the words like a mantra in her mind. Growing impatient with her own behaviour, she takes her phone again and sits up. She bites her lip and begins typing again, - Hey, it's Lianne. I had fun--- Scratch that.  -Hey, how are you Jamie? I'm so glad-  Nope, not that one either. Hi Jamie! This is Lianne. It's so nice to see you again. Looking forward to--- She groans in annoyance and finally gives up. Eloquence has somewhat eluded her today as she just can't seem to find the right words, and it frustrates to boot. 

With one more deep breath, she decides to let it go for now. There's going to be plenty of time later. She's not really in a hurry at all. Nope. Absolutely not. 

Her gaze travels to the picturesque view outside the Beachclub  where she and Vivian decided to eat for breakfast. The place is a serene open-air dining venue with a sight of an unending stretch of blue water speckled with islands. There's a slight drizzle early in the morning and the restaurant only has a few people inside.

"Good morning, teh." A familiar voice says beside her. Lianne jerks in surprise. She turns to the person and frowns.  "Jesus Christ, Viv. Ano ba?" 

Her icy glare fails to perturb Vivian however. The woman is just standing there and looking back at her, as if she didn't almost give her a heart attack seconds ago. "Kanina pa kita pinapanuod diyan. Ano ba yang hinihintay mo dyan? Aga aga problemado mo."

Lianne chooses to ignore her this time and instead stares into the distance broodingly. 

"Ay deadma. Di ba maganda tulog mo, teh?"

Lianne sighs and shakes her head.  "Nothing. I was just thinking on how I'm going to approach Jihan."

Vivian nods and sits down next to her obviously invested. After a while, the waiter returns with their orders of All Grains and Filipino breakfast bowls with 2 caffe macchiatos. 

They are languidly sipping from their cups when Lianne speaks, "I bumped into Benjamin last night—" Vivian suddenly chokes on her coffee, caught off guard by her little admission. It is then followed by curses muttered under her breath. Lianne is quick to hand her some table napkins as she watches her friend struggle. "Viv naman. What are you doing?"  

When Vivian recovers, she faces Lianne ready to bombard her with questions. "Talaga ba? Oh tapos? Tapos anong nangyari?! Anong reaksyon niya nung nakita ka?"

She looks at her friend preposterously, debating whether to tell her what had transpired or just keep her in the dark. 

"Huy, ano na?" Vivian nudges.  

She shouldn't have mentioned it to her. Knowing how persistent her friend is, she won't let this go.

"Lianne huy. Ano nga?"

She rolls her eyes and sighs. "Well..." She pauses. " It went well, I guess." She then shifts her eyes elsewhere. 

This subtle gesture doesn't get passed her friend's sharp eyes. "Tapos? What happened? Eto naman ang tipid magkwento."

They meet each other's gaze. Lianne doesn't hide her irritation. 

"What?" Vivian matches her scowl with a raised eyebrow. "You started it. It was you who opened the topic. Tapos ngayon ma-iinis ka dyan. Bahala ka, hindi kita titigilan."