was she my ex?? (lesbian story)

CHAPTER 6 part 1

FIVE YEARS AGO.

While Lou and other people from college disappeared from my radar after graduation, Aki did not. She lived in her parents' house, ten ninutes from mine, and we both found work in Makati just a few months out of school. She started taking a car to work, and i rode with her when i woke up early enough.

If i had changed after four years of college, so did she. Especially since she got a job at a big company that distributed food and soap and stuff. She was suddenly required to wear a nice shirt and tie every day, and she needed a car because she had to visit supermarkets in different areas of the city.

I, on the other hand, became the HR girl people submitted resumes to. which is actually not in the line of what i studied for. I didn't mind working from the ground up.  My day mostly consisted of sifting through e-mails and screening walk-in applicants, scheduling tests and interviews, and ushering people to and from waiting rooms.

At the Medical company, i had my own little group. We HR assistants (three girls and a guy) sort of banded together because we disliked our  boss so much. We had lunch together, and maybe even caught a movie after work. But i still had my morning and early evening car rides with Aki.

I looked forward to them. I was proud of Aki. She was looking more professional and grown-up everyday. She is becoming more and more gorgeous.

"I'm proud of you too," she said, quickly deflecting an extra attention. "And i think as soon as you get a good offer, you should leave your office."

"I've only been there a few months!"

"I mean, just learn as much as you can, and then find another place where your boss won't keep you down doing photocopying and stuff. You have a talent for ...for reading people, and you should become a more important part of the hiring process. Go for a work that you are entitled to do. Caring and curing people."

What Aki said was true, but that was the difference between her industry and mine. She was with a batch of ambitious people, all her age, all wanting better opportunities. I was pretty much of an assembly line. How long would it take for me to actually influence how a company hires people? That might take forever. But i liked what i was doing, so i didn't mind if I wasn't on a fast track.

I studied psychology subject in college, but that only gave an academic background to what i really liked, analyzing people. I thought that I'd have to be a guidance counselor in a high school or something to practice it as a career; but then i ended up in an interesting place, Human Resources. And I've been fascinated by what I've been so far. It's all about studying people and their behavior. Why do certain people work well together, and some don't? Why do some people who make horrible decisions in their personal lives make excellent executives? Why do some people think that being timid in an interview will get them hired?

I looked at these people who passed through my desk. From names on resumes, they became employees, and eventually I started seeing the effects of their personalities on the workplace. Some were good decisions, others not so. But Aki was right. I liked to read people. Whether or not that would lead to a high-powered career, i wasn't sure yet. Not in my first year on the job anyway. i should've took major in Psychology instead.

This nice little carpool routine of ours continued for a few months. Aki 's work schedule became a little more erratic, and then she got assigned to visit supermarkets in Laguna, and for a few weeks i didn't see her at all.

That was when i ran into an old friend in Glorietta, Aki's friend and my PE ballroom dancing partner.

"Hi!" I beamed, genuinely happy to see him.

"How are you? You work with Aki right?"

"Yeah, batch four," Jon said. he probably meant the fourth batch of their office's management trainee program, as if that meant anything to me. "Aki got Laguna duty this time, We don't see her anymore."

"Yeah, neither do I."

Jon remembered the girl he was standing next to and introduced me to her.

"Reign, this is Jazzy. I went to college with Reign. Jazzy is from Batch four too."

I shook her hand. Jazzy's handshake felt very... official. Add that to her smart corporate ensemble and she looked every inch the career girl that I should have been. My handshake felt flimsy in comparison, and I felt a little insecure about it.

"Oh!" Jon's eyes widened as he remembered an interesting detail about me. "Reign is Aki's ex."

I recoiled unconsciously. I hadn't been referred to as Aki's ex in months, and the stress of having to maintain the lie returned. "Jon, that was so long ago ..."

Jazzy definitely looked interested and wasn't going to let it go. "Wow. Is she?"

"Why don't you ask her? It's okay for you to talk about Aki, right Reign?" Jon asked me.

Did i have a choice? "Uh, sure."

Jazzy hesitated, but Jon prodded her to continue anyway. "It's just that... I kind of want to ask Aki to our Christmas Party."

Deja vu. Jazzy apparently liked Aki.

However, word had gone around that Aki was unfortunately still hung up on her ex, and had not dated anybody since breaking up with her years ago.

"What does this have to do with me?" I asked.

Jazzy returned to Jon for support, and then back to me. "Is it you? Are you the ex she isn't over yet?"

"No," I said emphatically. "You probably mean Lou. They broke up in 3rd year."

Jon shrugged. "I thought you two got back together in college?"

"No we did not," I groaned.

"Still, you're probably closer to her than any of us. If there's anyone Jazzy should ask about this, it's you, he said.

True to form, Aki never talked to many people — not even to Jon—about deeply personal stuff. So what Jon wanted me to do was to talk to Aki, and sort of bring up the idea of going to the Christmas party with Jazzy. Just to see what she thought.

"You want me to ask her out for you?" I couldn't believe this.

"I just want to see if she's open to it. If she isn't then i won't ask her, no harm done. i don't want to rush her if she's heartbroken or something," Jazzy explained. "

"Jon says you two are really close. It would be easier if you mentioned it first, right?"

I shook my head at Jon. "And you can't do this yourself?"

"I wouldn't know how, Reign."

"And i wouldn't trust him to do it right," Jazzy added