Invisible

Chapter 18

"Oh come on, Nicole," my TitaMadelle whined as she saw me in my usual clothes. "I'll buy you a dress, all on me. Just say yes!"

I rolled my eyes. I was going to have a date with Darren tonight at their backyard. Yes, just in their backyard. Better be thrifty and save than to spend a lot of money just for a dinner. And so, my Tita wouldn't let me wear my usual jeans and shirt and converse. She said I should get myself into a dress and ballerina flats.

"I don't like dresses!" I whined back. "Buy me foods instead of a dress, I'll be happier, trust me." I told her before slumping myself on the small couch I have in my room and stubbornly crossed my arms against my chest.

My mother suddenly pops into my room out of nowhere, shocking me. "I thought you're going in work?" I asked her. "Why're you here?"

She stood beside her sister, which I found a little creepy coz they're like twins and I don't like the idea of having two mothers in one house. It creeps the shit out of me. Why did they end up almost having the same facial features?

"Wow. So much for a daughter who welcomes her mom in her room," she rolled her eyes, reminding me of a stubborn teenager. Much like myself, so I sighed. "Anyway, how could I go if I could hear the two of you ready to spank each other's faces?"

TitaMadelle sighed. "Oh, come on, Ate," she says, "You're daughter's so stubborn I thought I was facing the 16 year old form of yourself." She laughed and I saw my mother roll her eyes again, this time to my Auntie's direction.

"What's the matter?"

"She won't wear a dress!" Tita answered rather quickly.

"A dress?" my mother quirked an eyebrow at the two of us while I remained slumped on the soft cushion of the couch. "Why would you want my daughter to wear a dress?" she asked with a chuckle. "Nicole is boyish. That's why I was so glad that she got a boyfriend. She doesn't like dresses. She didn't get that attitude of mine, which is unfortunate."

I narrowed my eyes at her, shocked. "Really?! You too?" I sighed and threw my arms in the air in exasperation. These guys totally think I'm not straight. Thank god for the fact that I have a boyfriend. In that way, I could say that I am not a lesbian coz I have a relationship with a male.

"What?" she asked. "I was just telling the truth!"

"She has a dinner date with Darren tonight, remember?" TitaMadelle asked to my mom, trying to remind the forgotten idea of me going out with Darren tonight. "And I thought getting her a dress is more preferable than to let her wear jeans, shirts and converse."

My mother sighed as she looked between me and my auntie. I crossed my fingers underneath, praying that she won't push me to wear a dress too. That would be torture. Please, please, don't make her think that I should wear a dress. Bless her soul, come on.

"Why won't you just wear that floral blouse you've got when you were in 9th grade?" she suggested. "That one's classy and it would definitely fit in with some denim shorts and flats." She finished with a smile and I ended up smiling too.

"See, Tita?" I narrowed my gaze to my auntie. "There's no need for a dress." I told her as I shrugged with my shoulders. "Besides, I'm not getting laid tonight. There's no need for a zipped dress."

-

After the debate with my guardians because of whatever I would wear for my date with Darren, I finally got settled with the floral blouse and the faded denim shorts I have partnered with some ballerina flats. TitaMadelle, being the so called Kikay in the family, arranged my hair and some make up on my face. All in all, my look looked more of a singer than someone who has a date with her boyfriend.

There was no need for Darren to fetch me from my house. I mean, our house is just 20 steps more or less apart from each other. So I preferred to walk on my own. Tita Marinel smiled at the sight of a fully dolled me and said that she would love it more if I would look like this all the time. Their house ended up being centralised by an AC because of Lyn's breathing condition due to the country's weather.

And there is my boyfriend, standing by the door that leads us to the backyard, looking as stunning as ever. I felt my heart leap in my chest just by the sight of him. I smiled at him, revealing my own dimples as he smiled back. "Hey," I greeted as I walked to him.

"Hey," he said as he eyed me from head to toe. "You look dazzling, Nic," he complimented and I ended up being a tomato. Small words from Darren and I would be as red as some sort of a Californian Tomato.

I smiled my thanks to him before TitaMarinel said something, "Darren, Lyn and I would go ahead, okay?" she said before waving good bye to me and to her son.

"Bye ate!" Lyn shouted to me before completely exiting their house.

I faced Darren, my eyebrow furrowed. "Why are they going?" I asked.

"I thought that since we're going to have a date in my house," he started, walking to me then placing his hand on the small of my back, "Maybe get the house to ourselves would be good, right?" he asked with a smile.

"Cool," I smiled at him as he led me to the backyard. Right there and then, I found my jaw having a comfortable rest on the floor in complete shock and amazement with what happened to his ordinary backyard. There was a mat for the two of us. I laughed when I noticed that he really meant cooking hot wings, fries and sodas. "You really meant having a picnic, huh?"

He smiled as he put his arm around my shoulders.

So we ate the hot wings and the fries together. It was fun enough to say that Darren dared to challenge me in hot wings by eating numerous amounts of the spicy food without water, and he ended up losing. Okay, call it a stupid but eating fiery hot food is one of my talents.

After eating a lot of foods and drinking both our sodas, we set aside the plates and other utensils and cuddled. For those couples with too much fancy in mind, they should add "Nicole and Darren's way of dating" in their list, coz this is like the most ideal way of dating ever.

"I never thought I waited twelve years to say everything to you." Darren said. As of now, we were talking about the two of us and trying to recall everything that we went through, from being friends until being in a relationship.

"Twelve years?" I asked, disbelief etched in my voice. "How come you liked me since the first year of us being best friends? We were both just overly young and innocent back then!"

He rolled his eyes to me before looking at me. "Can't a kid have a crush to the cute little girl next to his house?" he said, but it came out more like a question that I should answer. But I found it cute that I ended up speechless.

"I like this you know," Darren said suddenly. I narrowed my eyes to him as I failed to decipher what he meant. Definitely, being someone with slow picking up is sick. He carried on, "Being with you, being in a place that's just the two of us." he said with a smile as his hand rested on mine. "It's like all of the things around us doesn't matter anymore," his eyes were looking on my brown ones, "The only thing that matters is that you're with me and I'm with you and we're happy,"

If I was one of those dramatic girlfriends that you've seen in films and TV shows, I'd be crying. Instead, I found myself leaning in and kissing Darren on the lips. My brain was failing to make up words that would match his words, so I guess action speaks louder than words works for me for the mean time. It took Darren a little while before he reciprocates the action.

"Oh, and you kissing me, I love that too," Darren added with a laugh right after we kissed. The night was well spent with Darren and me laughing at each other's horrible jokes, cuddling and eating few more fries and hot wings.