A Summer to Forever

11

Friday morning went by too fast at the shop and I found myself lurking around the food stalls, worried that I might come across Baste again. I really didn't mean to like that profile picture of his from way back. I just got really tense and found myself pressing the 'like' button.

"Meng," a voice from far behind called my name.

I didn't recognize it at first so I didn't look back and continued walking forward. I hope it's not Baste!  As I reach the last food stall, I didn't have any other choice but to stop walking and look around. As I have just finished placing my order, I felt a gentle tap behind my back. I looked back and saw that it was RJ.

My eyes widened, "Ikaw lang pala! Ano ginagawa mo dito?"

"Bibili ng pagkain."

"Ha... Uh, bakit dito ka bumibili ng pagkain? Ang layo nito sa bahay, ah."

"Sinama ako ni Sam sa shop ng tito niyo. Wala kaming magawa, eh."

"Nasan si Sam?"

"Andun, o," He pointed to the other direction and I saw my cousin wearing a neon orange polo with a tank top inside. What an attention seeker, really.

I got my order and went to Sam's direction without turning back to RJ. I felt that he was also following me.

"O, bakit ka nandito? Akala ko ayaw mong sumama sa shop?" I asked Sam who seem that he was ordering for both him and RJ.

He looked back at my direction and handed out RJ his food. "Eh masaya ka pag-uwi mo kahapon, eh. So hindi boring."

"Wala, boring ngayon." I looked around and found no sign of Baste anywhere. Wait, why am I even looking for him when I don't want to see him!

"Kung ako sa inyo, pupunta na lang ako sa iba kasi walang magagawa dito," I added.

"Eh 'di samahan ka na lang namin sa shop," RJ suggested.

Sam didn't seem to like the idea and just went to the eating area. I sat with them and enjoyed my order of Cantonese Sharksfin with rice.

"Ano bro, may gusto ka bang puntahan?" Sam asked RJ.

"Wala naman," he answered back while eating his food intently without looking at Sam.

"Ang boring dito, eh. Wala pa tayo sa shop nararamdaman ko nang wala din tayong magagawa." Sam said as he stuffed his mouth with 2 spoonful of rice.

"Pwede kayo mag-bike," I suggested. "'Di ba doon tayo laging nagba-bike dati ni Ate Jules?"

Sam and RJ both looked at me. Sam had his forehead curled while RJ seemed happy with my suggestion.

"Pwede! Nakaka-miss na rin mag-bike, eh." RJ said happily.

"Huh?" He looked at RJ. "O sige, pwede siguro."

After a few minutes, we went back to the shop and asked Tito Allan if we could bike around in the afternoon. At first he was hesitant because we went there to help him but since there were not a lot of customers, he allowed as and told us to finish an hour of working shift before we could go biking.

That 1-hour shift was really, really boring. There were only 2 customers who went inside and looked inside the shop. One was an old man who looked like he was really looking for some kind of lever but couldn't find it in our shop. He was really hopeful but left with a sad face. The other was a woman, not too old, inquiring if we had fake pebbles for her flowers. She kept on haggling down the price, but Tito Allan told us that our prices were already fixed since we were not in a tiangge. She finally left after a few tries.