Taming the Vampire

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

M I L L E R

"Huy! Ang lalim naman ata ng iniisip mo?" bulaga sa akin ni Dan.

Matatapos na ang shift niya at trenta minuto na ang lumipas nang matapos ang akin. Hindi nga lang ako umuwi kaagad dahil kumain na muna ako. May mga pagkain pa rin kasing natira sa kusina namin kaya kumain na ako habang hinihintay na matapos si Dan. And now that his shift is over and he just got out from the dressing room, nadatnan niya akong nakatulala sa gilid ng front desk ng club.

"Inaantok lang ako. You misunderstood it," I lied.

"Kung ganun, bakit hindi ka na lang nauna?" aniya.

Bakit nga ba hindi? Maybe because I wanted to stay away from Axel for as long as possible?

"Oh. I forgot about that," pagsisinungaling ko ulit.

"Tsk." Pinitik lang ni Dana ng kanyang dila at nagsimula nang maglakad palabas ng host club. "Out na kami," anunsyo niya sa pumalit sa puwesto niya sa lamesa.

Kumaway lang din ako para magpaalam at tahimik siyang sinundan sa labas.

Buong akala ko ay tapos na siya sa pang-uusisa sa akin when he spoke once more, "Baka maidlip ka sa daan."

Lumingon ako sa kanya na para bang kababalik ko lang sa realidad. I glanced at his smirking face as he looked forward.

Was I really spacing out?

Hindi naman sa nagpapalusot ako pero, wala naman talaga akong iniisip... or it is safer to say that I only have one thing to keep thinking about that my mind is going blank as I keep on thinking about it.

Simula nung isang linggo ay paulit-ulit ko lang itong pinag-iisipan. It's annoying but... I keep thinking of what happened with my supposed to be hot night with a regular customer. And how it was indirectly interrupted by, yet again, Axel Wesley.

"Dan," I uttered, undecided if I should talk about this. Isn't this too embarrassing? But then I thought that there was no one I could ask about it. Again, I am not the friendly type. So, I only have a few people to talk about this. EJ from my convenience store part time job, Dan in the host club, and Kristoff the young vampire. With Kristoff out of the line dahil malapit siya kay Axel at... saksi rin siya sa gabing 'yun. I only have Dan and EJ, but EJ is too... normal for a conversation like this. I mean, it is normal. But no one knows that I work part time in a host club and that I am quite the liberated type. I maybe cold but I am not too dumb not to know how others see me as a hardworking kid who studies well and works well for his dream and freedom.

"Dan."

With the remaining option, I called Dan again.

"Ano nga? Kanina pa ako tango nang tango rito, oh," irritable niyang tugon.

Compared to everyone in the club, Dan is the most innocent but he is not dumb and naïve to not understand and respond properly to what I am about to ask him.

"I am just wondering... have you ever tried doing it with someone and not being able to make yours hard?"

Tumigil si Dan sa paglalakad saka lumingon sa akin.

"May girlfriend ka na ba?"

Oops. Hindi nga pala nila alam na may sideline ako sa mga regular ko.

Umiling-iling ako bilang sagot.

"Hm? So, kanino mo gi-ginawa 'yun?"

I slowly rolled my eyes to avoid his stares then said, "I did it with some random girl in the university."