Niki and Andy

Chapter 8: I've Been on so Many Blind Dates, I Should Get a Free Dog

Mag-iisang taon na ang pandemic pero hindi pa rin bumabalik sa normal ang lahat. Niki was already about to lose her mind trying to find a job that she would want to do and that would pay well. Not doing anything routinary had diminished the skills she had that were required for work. She has not opened an excel file in months. Even her interview skills became rusty. Her confidence suffered too.

Normally, she would mend her misery with online shopping. Andy kindly reminded her that she was burning limited money and it would burn faster if she would not curb her shopping addiction.

Niki didn't know how her trail of thought led her to installing the dating app Andy suggested before. But she was so bored out of her wits, she decided to finally create an account just to see what the hype was about.

The problem was she didn't know what to write on her profile. She wanted to be funny or witty, but every time she tried, something always felt off. She needed Andy's expertise. So she kicked his bedroom door open. "Andy! I need you!"

Nakadapa ito sa kama nito, tulog. Diagonal ang higa at nakasubsob ang kalahati ng mukha sa unan. Ponkan was napping on his back. Parehong napapitlag ang dalawa nang tumaklab ang pinto.

Umungot si Andy at itinaas ang ulo. He was squinting at her. "Wharrafuck Niki," he muttered. Hinila nito ang unan na hinihigaan at saka itinaklob sa ulo nito.

"Sorry. Akala ko gising ka." Niki rubbed her arms. His room was cold. Nakatodo ang aircon. She told him that he can only use the air conditioning unit at night, but Andy insisted that she allow him to use it whenever he wanted. He offered to shoulder the electricity bill in return. "Hindi ka nilalamig? Pang karne yung aircon dito. Grabe."

No wonder Ponkan used Andy for body heat.

"What do you want?" tanong ni Andy. Ponkan got off of him and stretched when he moved again. The kitten yelped when he pulled it back to him. Hindi na yata allergic si Andy sa pusa. Or he had already built up his immunity, seeing that Ponkan's presence doesn't bother him as it used to before.

Niki sat on the bed and showed him the online dating app. "I need your help."

–

"How about this one?" Niki showed Andy a selfie. Mukhang wala itong makeup. She had her head against the window of the unit, probably inside her bedroom. The sunlight was illuminating her face. He recognized the shirt she was wearing in the photo. So it was just taken recently. She swiped to show the other uploaded pictures. Naka-draft pa lang iyon. Hindi pa nito ina-upload.

"Keep this," he said, pointing to the selfie in the sunlight. "Remove this. And this. And this."

"But why?" Niki pouted. "Pangit ba 'ko dun?"

"Puro selfie yung picture mo. You were wearing the same shirt in three of them. Guys would think that you don't have a life. Wala kang picture na hindi selfie? Na kinuha sa labas? Something adventurous? What about that trip we had in Bangkok? Marami kang magandang picture dun. I would know because I took those pictures. As opposed to those you've taken–"

"Yeah. I get it. You take good pictures and I don't," she retorted. "But that was years ago. Maiksi pa yung buhok ko dun."

She had a bob cut back then. Brown with highlights. Mahaba na ang buhok nito, halos aabot na sa bewang. Itim na ang kulay sa tuktok. She would have her hair in a bun all day. Inilulugay nito iyon bago matulog. Kapag nagkikita sila sa sala bago ito matulog, makikita niyang medyo kulot ang buhok nito.

Niki recently tried doing CGM or curly girl method. She brought too many hair products. Most of them were just sitting in one of the cupboards, collecting dust. Niki stopped doing too much to her hair, but her natural wavy hair was slowly showing.