Closing Time

16

Cydthealee

"Kim, si Ricci, boyfriend ko."

I didn't know the right way to introduce my boyfriend to my bestfriend. Basta hinila ko nalang si Kimmy sa sidelines and I made sure na walang masyadong tao na naka paligid sa amin. Sobrang kabado ako sa magiging reaction ni Kimmy. I know for a fact that she knows about Ricci. But so far I never had the chance to really open up to her. And now, for the first time ever that I would introduce Ricci as to her eh i would introduce him na as my boyfriend. It feels so nerve wrecking. It's true na kakapanalo lang namin ng finals pero mas naramdaman ko pa yung nerves ko dito. Ricci was just standing there. Hindi rin niya alam kung anong sasabihin niya kay Kim. Si Kim naman eh parang natulala and I'm just there in the middle waiting for her reaction.

"B-b-boyfriend?" she mumbled clearly not being able to speak straight. Baka nagulat nga siya. "Boyfriend mo na siya Cyd?"

Boyfriend. It still sounds very foreign to me. Parang hindi pa masyadong natatanggap ng system ko yung term na boyfriend. Hindi naman siguro ito masama dahil ilang days palang naman kami.

"Yes." I answered her. "Just a couple of days ago."

Still Kim has not moved or even blinked. She still seems to be shocked of what I said. Si Ricci naman eh obviously wala rin siyang masabi. I guess I could say na this is awkward. I imagined I more accepting and a happier Kimmy to be in this conversation. But so far she only spoke 5 words.

"Kim?" I called out on her as I touched her arm. But she yanked away.

"Umm. I need to go." sabi niya na parang iniiwasan niya ako.

"Kimmy okay ka lang?" I asked but I know that she's not okay. Halata naman eh.

Before she could even reply to me hinila kami ni Carol dahil may photo op daw with the UAAP board of directors. Kaya naman iniwan ko muna si Ricci at sinabi kong i'll just text him later pag tapos na kami with our activities. But before he let go of me he asked if we could take a picture together para naman daw eh may maipost siya for his congratulatory message. So I said yes but I told him to make it simple. No giveaways about what's between us.

After what it seemed like a thousand photos taken and hundreds of hand shakes and congratulations we finally went in to the dug out. That very last dug out for the season, and for us seniors, the very last dug out of our UAAP career is an emotional one. Syempre naunang nag salita si coach and for the first in a very long time eh napaluha rin talaga siya especially sa part na he's saying thank and a bit of a farewell na to the seniors. Sumunod naman yung ibang coaching staff, then the managers of the team. Yung mga boss and head ng team and even ang chancelor namin gave some inspiring words for us. It was a really uplifting and mas nakadagdag pa sa saya na nararamdaman namin dahil sa mga tao kasama namin ngayon. Syempre naging highlight din kaming seniors dahil ito na nga yung final game namin and now we're the champions. As usual si Mok ang nag salita in behalf of us. Siya naman talaga ang speaker ng group.

It was a very victorious night for the whole team. After namin sa dug out eh we went straight to the restaurant where they chose to have our celebratory dinner. Syempre marami kami dahil lahat sa team ay kasama yung family. It was a night full of laughters and tears but most especially celebrations. Hindi na nga namalayan yung time eh it was almost midnight when we left the resto. Of course we still had to be back sa dorm because marami pa kaming kelangang gawin as a team after this victory. The team staff oriented us that tomorrow would be a very busy day for us and our wake up call is 5 am. Of course we didn't complain about this. Champions kami so we would be interviewed by a lot of media people kaya naman jam packed na ang schedule namin tomorrow.