Chasing Mr. Prefect

Eleven

Author's Note: Skipped straight to an excerpt of chapter eleven because this is one of my favorites 😂

On the media part are my pinoy pegs for Cholo (Richard Juan) and Vinnie (Sofia Andres). Oks ba? ;)

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The trip from Quezon City to Alabang took us three and a half hours, despite the fact that he took the freeway. We had fun talking about a lot of things that we missed (which was crazy because the silent treatment only lasted for two days) but we were still dead beat by the time we made it past the toll gate.

"Could you turn there for a bit?" I asked, pointing to a nearby restaurant, unable to help myself.

"It's closed," he replied, shaking his head as he stared at the place longingly. "Hungry?"

"Starving," I replied. "I could eat a whole pizza right now."

"Pizza, then," he said. He took the main road towards our village but stopped short four blocks away at a familiar pizza place.

The smell of cheese, garlic, and tomato sauce made our mouths water when we entered the place. I folded my arms over my tummy to stop it from making embarrassingly loud sounds as I surveyed the menu.

"What flavor?" he asked.

"Weh, really? Libre mo?" I replied, and he gave me a withering side-glare. Not wanting to get back on his bad side too soon, I decided to humor him. "I like the shrimp and garlic one. My gosh, I want those baked potatoes too."

I put my hands on my cheeks, excited at the prospect of finally getting to eat, and found Cholo staring at me. He chuckled and sighed, then folded his arms as well.

"Okay. Now go pick a table."

I skipped away towards a vacant table and took a seat. I got a text from Liana, asking where I was and telling me to please take care, and I looked at it for one second longer than necessary before finally deleting it. Cholo came back with a receipt and two Cokes minutes later.

"Nice shirt," I said, checking him out as he took the seat beside me. We usually had to turn up in corporate apparel when we had case presentations. "Which class?"

"Nah. I had an interview," he replied, tucking the receipt neatly inside his wallet. I kept staring, and noticed how the bills were sorted by denomination. The attention to detail made my head ache. "That's why I wasn't in class all day."

"How did you know I got a higher score if you weren't in Dresden?"

"I asked Perky to get my paper from Professor Villafranca and ask what your grade was," he answered.

"Wow. So where was this interview? Wait, I didn't know you had a car."

"It's Kuya Chan's. He just lets me use it."

"You have a Kuya? How come you're alone at home, then?" I pressed on. "And what's the interview for?"

"Ang dami mong tanong," he complained. "You know, if you want to ask questions, you've got to answer some too."

"Eh 'di magtanong ka din," I answered. He pouted, seemingly wondering why I agreed so easily. I unfolded my arms and returned his curious stare, resisting the urge to laugh.

"Okay," he said, dramatically pausing as he feigned deep thought. "Why do you hate Liana so much?"

"Um... Pass."

"Bastos," he groaned, and actually punched me on the shoulder.

"What the heck!" I snarled. "All I said was you can ask questions, but I didn't promise anything about answering them. And wait, why are you punching me? Close ba tayo?" I snapped, just to cover the fact that I was blushing.