Everglow

A Change in Circumstance

He placed himself near the edge of the right side of the bed, and sighed. He looked at her face, illuminated by the faint yellowish light of her lampshade. He raised his hand, slowly, somewhat unsure, and placed it on her forehead, smiling sadly at the thought of her.

This girl. How could he have realized things too late? He moved to grab her hand, and slightly rubbed his thumb over her fingers, mulling over what just happened.

******

"Am I being irrational? I mean be honest, please."

"You aren't being irrational. I'm surprised you even let him go out to dinner with his ex-girlfriend."

"I didn't want to look like the jealous girlfriend. Don't look at me like that! I'm not jealous! I'm just a little insecure at the moment, okay?! What if he finally realizes that I am too naive for him? What if after meeting his ex, he realizes how hard it is being with someone like me? I know it's not easy for a guy to date a twenty-eight year old woman who has never had a relationship before."

He was sitting beside his best friend of eight years, together with their other friends. She has always been one of the boys—she wasn't boyish, no not really. But boys had always been comfortable around her; they always felt like they had to protect her.

She has been single her entire twenty-eight years of existence, and eight years out of that twenty-eight, it has always been him and her. They had always been surrounded by couples, but they never felt completely alone, because they had each other. It has always been him and her—not until six months ago.

A change in circumstance.

He admits that Carlo is actually great guy—they were getting to know each other for about half a year before she agreed to be his girlfriend, he practically swept her off her feet. And that was saying something, considering that she had always been surrounded by a solid group of good guys. They could all really see how happy he makes her, and Richard has not seen her act like this before.

Sam spoke up, "Why did you let him then? No girl in her right mind would ever do that."

He could tell that she was getting tipsy—she had an incredibly high tolerance for alcohol, but anyone would be a little out of it after drinking a whole bottle of wine by herself. "I don't know? I just wanted him to know that I trust him, I guess? Because he tries so hard to trust me when I hang out with Richard."
He suddenly snaps his head to her direction, he didn't know that it was even an issue.

"Why am I such a late bloomer? I'm a grown woman for goodness sake!" She flails her hands a little, letting out an exasperated sigh.

His eyes widen a little, he asks, "Me? What's wrong about hanging out with me? Is he telling you not to hang out with me?" He felt offended, really offended.

He noticed the table got a little quieter, he nudged Sam beside him and he just shrugged, as if telling Richard, "Don't you try to pretend you don't understand why RJ."

"So sa akin lang? He isn't jealous when you talk to Je or Sam or some other guy?"

She turned to him suddenly and smiled, she grabbed his hand, to his utter surprise. Her hand felt cold against his. He could sense a little sadness in her eyes. "Richard naman kasi, admit it, if he never came into my life, we'll probably spend the rest of our lives the way we did for eight years. We'll be...hanging out for the rest of our lives. Sam and Je would try setting me up with guys, but I would end up not being interested, and complain about how annoying they were all to you. You would end up dating a zillion girls, ditching them and telling me all about your escapades. Or you'll probably be interested for a little while, but at the end of everything, you know that no one will understand you the way I do—because no matter how handsome you are, you're still such a dork", she laughs a little too hard at that.