Game Plan (COMPLETE)

16

Ven promised me a date. And I was... honestly, I was excited.

Like, really excited.

"Wow, glowing siya oh," Ace was the first to tease me.

Hindi naman na sikreto sa kanila 'yung sa amin ni Ven, kaya alam nila kung sino ang dahilan ng ngiti ko ngayon.

Parang akong tanga na pinipigilan ang ngiti habang nagsusuot ng football cleats. Even after the training session itself, which was thankfully not too intense for me, I was pursing my lips like a fool.

"Baka isipin nila weird ka na." Ace whispered.

"Tangina naka-ngiti pa rin siya, parang gago. Na-sprain na nga paa mo, baks!" Kiana added, giving me a side-eye.

"Hayaan mo na, ganiyan talaga kapag in love." Diane said.

I objected quickly. "Parang ang grabe naman ng in love. Hindi pa naman."

"Emphasis on the word 'pa'," Ace smirked. "Hindi pa. Baka daw bukas, in love na siya."

"May label na ba?" Izh teased, half-joking but curious. I just shrugged.

Wala.

Or wala pa.

Maybe someday, maybe soon, maybe... never. And that would be a hard pill to swallow, so I dismissed the thought altogether.

I pulled out my phone to call Ven and tell him I was done with training—but I saw Marcus' messages first.

yomarcus
Arrie
Hehehe
Boss baka puwedeng pahiram naman muna kay Ven 🙏 Gala lang kami mamaya hehe

I stared at it for a few seconds. It was sent hours ago—during training. All the excitement that had built up the whole day went down the drain.

Uh, we have something planned kasi. 

I backspaced.

Sorry, we're supposed to go out later.

I erased it again.

We have dinner planned later, Marcus, sorry.

I deleted the sentence. Of course I can't say no, they're his closest friends.

arviste
Okay 

yomarcus
'Di ka galit, Arrie?

arviste
No, I'm not mad.
Have fun.

Right after sending that, my phone rang. It was Ven. I answered it and waited for him to talk.

"Hey, Arrie, Marcus told me. Just know that I can still go to you—"

"No, Ven, it's okay." I lied. "You should... spend time with them also. Hindi naman kailangan na palaging ako... We can have dinner at Dalcielo some other time."

Each of my words were slower than usual, as if I was also comforting myself. It had pauses in between some of the words, like it was difficult for me to push it out of my mouth.

"Really?" He sounded relieved.

I pursed my lips together for a second. "Yes, Ven. You can go ahead and have fun. Just message me when you get home safely, okay?"

"Yes, Arrie, I will. Message me also when you get home."

I didn't tell him what I really wanted to say.

I didn't tell him what I really wanted...

I wanted him to choose me anyway.

Ace slept over at my house that night. We didn't talk about it, but she knew.