Your Hands

"Jhooooooo!"

Bea's voice rang loudly in the dorm's hallway. Jho, sitting on her bed with her legs crossed, looked up from the screen of her laptop in panic and quickly flipped it down. The 5 feet 11 inches volleyball player entered Jho's dorm room with a variety of snacks in her arms, her trademark grin plastered on her face. She flopped down on her stomach next to her teammate, disarraying Jho's things even further. Jho rolled her eyes at the tall girl laying down beside her. "Thanks sa paggulo ng gamit ko ha. Ang gulo mo talaga kahit kailan."

Bea grinned widely up at her girlfriend, "Oo naman, ako pa." Grin turning into a gentle smile, she added, "don't worry, aayusin ko yan mamaya."

"Dapat lang, Bey."

Mischief returning back to Bea's eyes, she exclaimed, "Peroooo movie marathon muna!"

Bea reached out to grab Jho's laptop but the smaller girl snatched it immediately from Bea's grasp. Bea looked confusedly at Jho. "Anong meron?"

Jho hugged the laptop tight to her chest. "Wala. Wala naman."

"Talaga lang ha? Edi akin na laptop mo."

Bea sat up to reach for the laptop but Jho kept squirming away from her girlfriend. "Ayaw! Hoy hindi, akin lang to!"

"So hindi ka talaga bibigay ha?" Bea said with a devilish smirk. She placed her hands at Jho's sides and tickled her with reckless abandon until she got a hold of the laptop. The two played a tug-of-war with it until Bea's length and strength won. "Aha! Ano tinatago mo rito, Maraguinot?"

Jho, too embarrassed and ashamed, lied down defeatedly and covered her face with a pillow. Bea eagerly opened the laptop, curious to what her girlfriend had been hiding. She anticipated almost everything however, she did not expect to see a tab open on YouTube. What she did not expect more was to see a video compilation of Jho's volleyball services playing. Bea's eyes, which were filled with confusion, flickered to her girlfriend only to see the said girlfriend hiding deep behind blankets and pillows. Still not understanding why Jho was so embarrassed, Bea clicked on the second tab that was open. It was logged into Jho's Twitter account and apparently, before Bea arrived at her girlfriend's room, Jho was scrolling through some tweets. Not quite good tweets. Bad tweets. Hate tweets.

Sobrang bakla gumalaw naman nung Maraguinot ng Ateneo

Ang bakla ng kamay ni Maraguinot pag nagsserve HAHAHA

Ang lala nung pitik ng kamay nung Ateneo number 15

Realization finally dawned on Bea. She now understood why Jho was watching herself serve. She was checking if those tweets were true.

Bea saw red. She felt anger seep into her veins. Who the hell these people think they are, she furiously thought. No one was allowed to talk about her girlfriend that way. No one. Sila kaya maglaro ng volleyball! Spike-an ko sila ng bola e.

Sensing movement from her right, Bea was brought back to reality by the sight of Jho burying herself even more beneath blankets and pillows. Bea's anger died down and was immediately replaced with determination to prove to Jho that none of those were true. I gotchu. Always. Bea thought.

Bea placed down the laptop and then crawled to Jho's side. She gently tried to remove the pillow from Jho's face. "Jho."

Jho held the pillow tighter and groaned. "Ayaw ko."

"Jho," Bea whispered, poking Jho's pillow. "Sige na, tingnan mo ko. Please."

Jho sighed into her pillow. Even if she dreaded having to awkwardly explain herself, she couldn't resist Bea, especially when she used that voice. Magpasalamat ka at mahal kita, De Leon. Di kita matiis.