Vanished

Chapter 13

Justine proceeds to buy a belt, a wallet, and a cap for himself. Only cost 1,282 pesos in total. Gabi sulks slightly knowing that Justine's stuff did not even cost half of the amount he received.

"Wag na pout, Gab. Kundi pisilin ko cheeks mo." Justine threatens in a teasing manner.

Gabi chuckles at how playful Justine is. There's this younger brother charm in his aura that he can feel.

"Eat na tayo, I'm gutom na." Gabi suggests while looking at a certain restaurant.

"Hmm, you want there? Eh marami namang restaurants here in Alorica." Justine asks trying to read the mind of the younger.

"Eh gusto ko sa greenwich. I want their pizza combo meal B!" Gabi voices out his want.

Honestly, the reason why he picked Greenwich was because most of the restaurants here in Alorica are not affordable. He can't let Justine pay the exorbitant amount of food prices as well as he can't pay for it so he opted for fast food chains.

The second reason he picked Greenwich was because Jollibee and McDonald reminded him of Ven. He does not want to be reminded by his best friend who's probably having fun without him in his life.

Although he never dined in the Greenwich he knew about the combo meals which he heard from Kite and Vince's mouths. They were the ones who talked about it all the time and forced him to eat besides chicken and spaghetti combo between Jollibee and McDonald's.

"Sure ka na ba? I can take you somewhere fancier than there." Justine asks trying to confirm if the older guy really likes it.

"Yup, I'm sure so let's go kasi gutom na ako." Gabi pulls him forward so that they can start to order.

Upon entering the premises, they are greeted by some families or friends dining in but not totally congested unlike the two mentioned famous fast food chains.

"Good morning, what can I get for you?" The staff says warmly, his smile shows that he loves his job.

"Hmmm, two pizza combo meal B with upgraded cokes, a side of potato waves dine-in, and, two cheesy spinach wraps for takeout," Justine replies to the staff.

He is about to pay when Gabi hands out his bills to the staff. "I'll pay for it."

Justine grins and chuckles. "I can never win when it comes to you, Gab."

The staff giggles at the scene in front of him. A cute guy and a cool guy flirting in front of him.

"Okay, your orders will be served shortly. Just take the trays when the disc beeps." The staff informs them and proceeds to entertain the next customer.

They sat in the far left corner where there were only a few people. It is not solemn like everybody expects but it's still quite chatty due to the kids and the families talking.

Nevertheless, Gabi likes the ambiance and decision to eat here.

"Are you happy today?" Justine asks opening the cloud of his thoughts.

"Diba halata Justine? Or do you want me to laugh like a manic here?" Gabi chuckles at the younger guy's question.

"I'm not saying that, I just want you to feel at ease. You know, this being our first date." Justine replies while chuckling.

"You mean, our first friendly date. Hahaha. Besides the point, I really enjoyed every moment today. Ang mga jokes mo and ang ka kulitan mo. It's inviting." Gabi tells the truth, he really enjoyed today's date.

"Yup, friendly date." Justine giggles at the thought.

He wasn't disappointed, he wasn't sad.

In fact, it opened his eyes to see the bigger picture.

This was a friendly date between him and Gabi. Nothing more or less. Because if he tried to play this off as a real date then he does not deserve Gabi.

Dating Gabi should be direct and upfront. He should be bold enough to make his feelings known if he was to actually date him.

When the food arrives, they start to eat and munch on it as if they haven't eaten in their entire life. It's not like Justine finds Gabi eating enormously a turn-off.

In fact, it's the other way around. He falls deeper knowing Gabi can hold on to his own eating food. Not like those pretentious people who eat like a fairy but when inside of their own comfort they gobble food like a goblin.

"Ngayon ko lang natikman chicken ng Greenwich and this do not disappoint!" Gabi exclaims in high spirits.

He clearly is enjoying the process of de-boning his chicken. Knowing that Gabi enjoyed the food, Justine could not help but gaze at him trying to eat his food.

His eyes are locked on Gabi's beautiful eyes and luscious lips.

"Kumain ka Justine, bat ka tingin ng tingin sa akin? May dumi ba ako sa mukha." Gabi asks as he tries to gobble the whole slice of Hawaiian-flavored pizza.

"You are just so fascinating, Gab. I mean, I wonder how can other people not look at you." Justine honestly confesses.

"Bolero ka talaga Justine, baka tadyakan kita if you don't finish your food." Gabi threatens as he finishes the remaining lasagna on his plate.

When they finished eating, Justine got the older guy a corneto. "Bakit hindi ka nag buy ng corneto for you?"

"I'm going to use my hands to maneuver the bike, do you want to scream again if we ever fall?" Justine asks while chuckling. He can't help but be reminded when Gabi screams in the middle of the road because they almost fell.

"Hmmph, okay hahaha. I'll eat this corneto alone." Gabi proudly says and peels off the cover.

"Eat ka lang dyan, and use your one hand to wrap it around my waist. I don't want you to fall being careless." Justine commands with genuine concern.

Gabi just nodded in return and started to eat the Cornetto ice cream. He badly wanted magnum but when he knew Justine was paying for it he immediately changed the ice cream he held.

Either way, he still likes the Corneto.

"Nag enjoy ka ba, Gab?" Justine asks trying to ask him for the fifth time.

"Weirdo mo talaga Justine, sabing nag enjoy ako." Gabi replies while looking at the scenery as he wraps his hand on Justine's waist.

"I just want to be assured eh, you know baka di nato maulit because, in reality, you didn't like any things we did today." Justine nervously says.

It's not like he was trying to get sympathy points or guilt trip Gabi into comforting his feelings. But it's great that he knows Gabi enjoyed it as much as he did.

"Promise talaga Justine, I really enjoyed it. Nakakahawa yung energy mo and ang funny mo nung sumayaw ka sa WOF. HAHAHA, I was very impressed by how good can you dance." Gabi voices out the things that impressed him.

"I have so much more to tell and show. Hindi pa dyan nagtatapos ang isang Kill Justine!" Justine proudly says.

"Hmppp, di mo nga matalo yung lalaki kanina sa basketball." Gabi teases him.

"HAHAHA ah ganon, so type mo mga basketball player?" Justine asks trying to pry his interests.

"Medyo lang, HAHAHA. Hoy secret lang natin ha. Pero mas type ko yung mga funny guys." Gabi replies while chuckling.

It's true that he fell with Ven because of his humorous nature. He can make Gabi in just a matter of seconds a laughing mess. Ven knows where to tickle Gabi and to make him happy.

"Din funny ba ako sa paningin mo?" Justine asks, wanting to learn his answer because he could improve his comedic skills.

"Yeah, you are Justine. Ang funny mo kaya with just your expressions alone can make me chuckle." Gabi replies.

"Hmmm, sana maulit to Gab. I really enjoyed today. Our friendly date." Justine confesses honestly.

They both did not know they already arrived at the bus station. Because of the undeniable presence and the conversation it made them absent-minded.

"Yup, Mauulit to for sure. I really enjoyed today's date." Gabi replies.

"You sure you don't want me to take you home? Kaya pa naman ng paa ko, HAHAHA." Justine teases him.

"Wag na Justine, let's see each other on Monday." Gabi flutters his lashes.

Gabi then proceeds to kiss Justine's cheek without a warning and leaves immediately. "A friendly date is not one without a friendly kiss on the cheek!" Gabi shouts while chuckling.

Justine grins like he just won a lotto. "GABI SANCHEZ, what are you doing to my heart." He shouted in the bus station knowing Gabi left already.

The people looked at him like he was crazy. A college student who's grinning like crazy by himself.

Gabi happily walks on the way home carrying the left-over Greenwich orders they could not finish. But as soon as he gets closer to his home, he sees the familiar Black car.

"It's Ven's plate number!" Gabi exclaims happily and he rushes on the way home.

"Mom! Mom!" He happily calls out.

"Anak, dahan dahan lang." She reminds him of that.

"Nakita ko sasakyan ni Ven, is he here?" Gabi puffs out his breath because of running.

"Yeah, he's here in your room waiting for you. Pero bakit ganda-ganda mo ngayon? and where's Justine?" She asks her son, she feels good knowing her one and only son started to buy things for himself.

"Let's talk later mom, you can have this food and paki organize nalang ng things ko later. I'll see Ven first." Gabi excitedly says that he can't contain his excitement.

When it comes to Ven it feels like he forgets about everything. He cannot think straight and just hazed all over.

He rushes inside his room and finds Ven lying on his bed with a phone in his hand, calling someone.

"Of course we'll go, I want you to go with me. Sino ba pang kasama ko if not you." Ven says on his end while looking at the window

Gabi heard everything, he just wished he had not rushed here so that he did not hear it and not hurt his heart.

"Ven." Gabi weakly calls him out.

A supposedly excited Gabi is now sullen. It's crazy how human emotions change in just a span of seconds.

In just a matter of words.

Ven looks at him with a wide and calculative eye. He clearly did not expect that Gabi would turn out to be so enchanting right now with all the makeup he wore.

He's gonna be lying if he did not find Gabi extra attractive right now. Out of all the girls and guys he has been with, they just pale in comparison with Gabi.

But something about this irks him.