If This Ends (Published Under Bliss Books)

Chapter Three

The very next day, I finally had the guts to use the phone number written on the sticky note and sent him a text.

I wrote him a simple 'Hey, Axl' with a smiley on the end and sent it before I could even think about changing my mind. I should have done it last night. I should have replied to his message after I came home from the party, but something stopped me.

Fear. I was scared that he would end up losing interest once I finally gave him the attention that he wanted, though I'm pretty sure I was more scared of how I'd feel about that.

Axl Francis Velarde is a rising rock star. He's popular among the female population and I bet that he's used to girls falling at his feet. I know the only reason that I intrigued him was that I didn't give a shit.

My phone beeped minutes later, notifying me of a text message. My heart raced. The fear that gnawed my insides was immediately replaced with excitement. 

Axl:
Who's this? How did you get my number?

Napakagat ako sa labi ko. Of course, that would be his reply. Hindi niya alam ang number ko at hindi ako nagpakilala sa kanya. That text made him reply faster than earlier. It made me grin. 

Me:
Got it from the sticky note that you gave me.

Hindi agad siya nakapagreply. I grew impatient. Nawala ang ngiti ko at napasimangot. I knew it. I knew he'd lose interest once I gave him mine. I shouldn't have─my message tone stopped me from my thoughts. It also doubled the speed of my frantic heartbeat. 

Axl:
Savion?

Me:
Yup. :D

Axl:
Shit. Your text made me drop my phone and cracked half of the screen.

Babasahin ko pa lang ay nasundan agad iyon ng isa pang text.

Axl:
Is it really you, Savion?

I laughed as soon as I read his texts. I feel sorry for his phone but what happened also made me feel giddy. Dahil doon ay naglaho na lang ng parang bula ang lahat ng iniisip ko.

I spent the rest of my Saturday texting him. Axl was fun to talk to. Hindi kami nauubusan ng topic. Kapag wala na akong maisagot ay gumagawa siya ng paraan para hindi mamatay ang usapan naming dalawa.

Huminto lang kami sa pagte-text sa isa't isa nung araw na iyon nang magpaalam siya sa akin na may rehearsal sila. Ginamit ko ang oras na hindi kami magkausap para gawin ang assignments ko.

Nang hindi pa rin siya tapos sa band practice nila ay naisipan ko na tingnan na ang aking social accounts. Ganoon pa rin naman ang Facebook ko. I get several friend requests and messages from different guys. I don't entertain things like that if I don't know them personally.

Sa Twitter ko naman ay hindi na katulad nung isang araw na sumabog ang notification ko. I still get more notifications from people that I don't know, new followers, and likes and retweets of my old tweets.

I know that I'd probably be fueling the fire if I follow Axl back but I still followed him anyway. I decided that it'd be best if I'll just be casual about it and ignore his fans.

As soon as the mentions started increasing again, I closed the application and switched to Facebook. I searched for their band's official fan page. It has almost a million likes. Napangiti ako nang makita ang profile picture nila.

It was a picture of the band standing in front of the camera with a white background behind them. The other guys were good-looking too, but my eyes focused on Axl. His bandmates were being silly while he was just standing there, smirking at the camera like he knew your deepest and darkest secret. That very look of his was the definition of trouble.