Easy

Chapter 9

“It’s San Jose, by the way”, Julie said as she sat on one end of the couch, her feet propped up on the coffee table and a textbook open on her lap.

Elmo looked sideways at her. He was sitting on the other end of the couch, his laptop open on the coffee table. He was in the middle of writing a paper for class but he was now looking at Julie with a confused expression. “What are you talking about?”, he asked.

She bit her lip and shrugged. “My name. You only know me as Julie. My last name’s San Jose. Julie Anne San Jose”, she said, extending her hand towards him with a smile.

He laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t think it would take only a week and a half for you to break down and tell me your deepest, darkest secret”, he teased, extending his hand to shake hers.

She took her hand back before he could touch it, a defiant look on her face. “Are you gonna mock me for actually entrusting you with my whole name?”, she said, an eyebrow raised, her hand clutched against her chest.

He grinned and looked at her apologetically, his hand still outstretched. “I’m kidding! Nice to meet you, Julie Anne. I’m Elmo. Elmo Moses Magalona”, he said.

She snorted and extended her hand, finally shaking his. “Moses? That’s your second name?”, she teased.

He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t tease you but you can tease me?”

“Of course. It’s my house”, she said with a shrug.

He rolled his eyes and let go of her hand, turning back to his work. “I knew you were gonna be a headache. But did I stay away? Of course not”, he muttered.

“You didn’t seem to mind me when you were making out with me”, she teased.

He turned to her, tilting his head to the side. “What? You think that’s the main reason I come here. Every night for the past week and a half, no less”, he said, leaning back on the couch, his hands behind his head as if he was actually pondering what she was going to say.

She smiled at him. “I don’t know. You tell me. Why have you been coming over?”, she asked, turning suddenly serious. Partly, she was actually just teasing him. But there was a nagging part of her that really wanted a sincere answer to her question.

He looked away from her, thinking of how best to answer the question. He didn’t know if she was serious or if this was one of her quirky questions. This was one of the things he liked, and at the same time one of the things that unnerved him about Julie: she was unpredictable. One minute she was mocking him, the next she was actually serious. He finally turned to her and shrugged. “To be honest? I don’t know. Something about you, about this…”, he hesitated before charging on, “friendship that we have just lures me in. This is the first time I’ve actually become comfortable around someone I’ve only met for a short while.”

Hearing his answer, it was pretty sincere. But a keyword had jumped at her: friendship. She knew she’d told herself not to assume or expect from this, for lack of a better word, arrangement that they had. But somehow, there it was. A flutter---however minimal it was---that told her she was beginning to expect, which was not good. She had to stop it before it was too late. She grinned at him and nodded. “Like I said, I’m hard to stay away from,” she said.

His phone rang and he saw his mother’s number flash on the screen. She was probably calling to ask when he’d be home. He looked at the time and didn’t even realize how late it was: 10:47 PM. “It’s my mom. I should probably go”, he said, ignoring his mother’s call. He shut down his laptop and closed the lid.

She nodded. “When am I gonna meet the parents?”, she teased, closing the book on her lap and grinning at him.

He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “Meet the parents for what?”, he asked. Somehow, the idea of Julie and his parents in the same room is a bit agitating. She was a lot to handle on the first meeting. Not just that. Her meeting them seemed too serious. Like relationship-type serious. He wasn’t sure if he could handle the anxiety.

“To get some scoop on your embarrassing childhood stories, of course. What else for?”, she said with a laugh. She placed her book on the coffee table and stood up, straightening her denim shorts in the process.

He was momentarily distracted by the view her short shorts had afforded him before he forced himself to turn to his laptop, placing it inside his backpack that was lying on the floor beside his foot. “If that’s the agenda you have, meet the parents will not be in the immediate future”, he said, zipping up his bag and standing up.

She laughed and walked him to the door before turning to him. “Oh come on, don’t be a killjoy”, she said, her hand on the knob.

He shook his head with a grin. “No way”, he said, crossing his arms.

She let go of the knob and moved closer to him, her body against his. She put her hands on his arms, tracing light circles with her finger on the exposed skin under his shirt. She looked up at him under her lashes. “Are you worried your parents won’t like a free-spirited girl like me? I’m pretty sure I’m a world away from the girls your parents have met”, she teased, slowly moving her hands up to cup the back of his neck.

He took in a sharp intake of breath at her sudden close proximity. He forced himself to ease up a little. Even in the week and a half that he’s been with her every day, he still couldn’t shake off the tingling she ignited in him whenever she got like this. He put his hands on her waist and shook his head. “If I can handle you, I’m pretty sure my parents can”, he said resolutely, although he knew his argument was meek.

She laughed, toying with his hair at the back of his neck. “Oh please, Mags. We both know you can’t really handle me. As it is, your heart’s racing at just having me this close”, she said, her voice slowly fading to a whisper. Without any warning, she gently pulled him down while pushing up as well, their lips meeting halfway.

He tightened his grip on her, pulling her closer and kissing her gently. He had half a mind to stop. After all, it’s been almost two weeks of kissing and being together and they haven’t even talked about what exactly the score was between the two of them. He didn’t want to ruin the moment, though. He especially didn’t want to ruin whatever it is he had with her by talking about it if she didn’t want to. And right now, he’d had no indications that she wanted to talk about it. She was probably just having fun, and even though he wasn’t used to that kind of setup, he’d just have to wallow in it for now. He enjoyed her company and he was pretty sure she was enjoying his.