T.S. STORIES #4: Say Don't Go (Completed)

Chapter 16

Day three. It's already half past seven in the morning, and I'm fixing myself in front of the mirror. Greg is fixing himself, too, who's busy drying his hair. Ever since we met, I've learned things from him that I wished I'd known back then. His skincare routine. His sense of fashion. Basically, how he takes care of himself is one of the things I like about him. Not to mention how he does everything under fifteen minutes. The fact that I'm the one who took a bath first, yet now, he's about to finish.

"Tapos na ako. Ikaw?" he said, as he put back the hair brush on the desk.

Wait, where did the dryer go? He was just holding it—

"Patapos na," I simply replied, while fixing my clothes.

I noticed how his brows furrowed at me. "Hindi ka pa nag-sunscreen."

He grabbed a bottle from his bag and squeezed a dollop of cream onto his palm. He then drew himself nearer and dipped his finger into his palm, before he poked every corner of my face. After that, he rubbed his palm against my face. There, I felt the cream spreading on my skin. Not really strange anymore, but it would have been if I haven't met him ever since.

"Sa susunod, 'wag mong kalimutan mag-sunscreen. Ang init-init sa labas, oh!" he scolded, before he took me out of my room.

Together we ate the breakfast Mama prepared for us, but I didn't enjoy that much when I noticed the strange exchange of stares between my siblings. Just before I could even speak, they took their dishes and left the table. They're all acting weird, since Greg came here yesterday. And, it bothers me.

I shrugged everything off my mind and decided to leave with Greg. He hadn't gone to the beach where I was volunteering, so he was feeling excited. He also wanted to try our jeepneys here, so we decided to commute from our uphill village and past the city, before finally reaching the seaside community where the volunteer station resides.

Last night, I texted Venice and apologized for not resuming my work after leaving early yesterday. I told her I will be recruiting someone to help me just so I won't cause any delay to the project. She was feeling great about this and so, I promised to introduce Greg to the team.

At the entrance, I felt the breeze blowing salty wind again, against the summer sun. There, Venice greeted me with a warm smile. "Good morning, sir Ike!" she said, before turning to Greg and offering a hand. "Hello, I'm Venice. You must be Mister Gregory Mendoza."

Greg shook a hand with her. "Call me Greg."

"Ooh, so pogi! Nice to meet you!" she gushed. "Welcome to Marville Beach! Let's go na para ma-meet mo 'yong buong team!"

We followed her to our cottage and there, she introduced Greg to the gang. They were surprised upon hearing he came all the way from Cebu to here. But, he told everyone that he's willing to help our local community and that's what matters the most.

I quickly noticed someone hadn't come yet. "Venice, asan boss mo?" I asked.

She frowned. "Naku, umalis po kasi mas aasikasuhin raw saglit. Pero, sabi naman po niya, babalik siya as soon as possible," she said.

Shrugging off, I showed Greg the layouts anyway and already figured out how everything should be done. Well, kind of expected after being the most consistent top performing student in our program for the last six semesters. He's quite known in our school, so it's surprising to imagine I was able to befriend a one-of-a-kind student like him.

Unlike the first two days, grabbing the brushes felt more exciting, now that Greg's here. We had matching jumpers, ready to be splattered by paint. As we brush strokes on the wall, I had a good time chit-chatting and exchanging light laughs with him. But, the progress? It was much faster than working on this mural alone.