Day 2, 12:30 PM – Burger King, Victoria Street
“I’ll have the original chicken sandwich meal with large coke, please” I told the lady at the counter, turned to Vince and asked, “What will you have?”
“I’ll have the double whopper with regular drink.” He replied and handed the lady a fifty dollar bill. “No more heavy appetite?” He whispered in my ear. I smiled and replied, “I’m watching my diet.” And winked at him.
“Oh.. Really now?” He said with raised eyebrows.
“What do you mean? Obviously I am trying to shed off a few pounds. I’m not getting any younger Vince.” I rolled my eyes, still waiting for the lady to finish assembling our orders.
“Well, you definitely look sexier.” He replied with a smirk on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was complimenting or mocking me. I studied his expression briefly and decided to play along.
“So you think I’m sexy?” I let the words slide naturally, flirting to some extent.
“Well, you’ve always been the sexy, naughty, bitchy you.” Vince smiled with a puppy face.
“Argh!” I rolled my eyes and lifted the tray from the counter as soon as our orders were ready. He obligingly took the tray from my hands and signaled me to lead the way. I walked towards the corner table next to the glass window and settled, while Vince had to maneuver his way through the narrow spaces between the tables. I started munching French fries as soon as he settled in his seat, then took a few sips of coke while watching people move in and out of the public bazaar. I was parched and he seemed to be enjoying that sight of me. I shook my head and let him be. Then his eyes darted at the table napkins, his lips twitched into a smile. I pulled the straw away from my mouth and asked, “What are you smiling about?”
He looked up and met my questioning gaze. “Nothing. These napkins just remind me of the love note I got in our senior year.” He blurted out, grinning at me. I nearly choked, coughing out soda and my own spit. WTF? I wanted to scream. But somehow I felt like the words got stuck in my throat with the French fries. My cheeks burned red with embarrassment and guilt as I stared at the supposed object of my affection who was blankly letting the memory take me away…
Love Notes, Love Thoughts
I was at the entrance of the Auditorium that day and the place was swamped with people from different year levels with faces too excited to take their oath of office. It was the classroom and year level induction rites.
Lovely was seated near the podium at the front row. I waved at her when I saw her and she signaled me in. Two boys ushered me to the seat next to her and I immediately searched for Vince’s face in a crowd of noisy teenage boys. I smiled to myself when I caught sight of his flat top haircut. Lovely caught me staring at him and poked my arm.
“You should go talk to him.” She said. I ignored her suggestion until Lea joined in and they both came up with the stupid idea of sending him a love note. I was a little hysterical for a minute considering I wasn’t sure what I would write. There is no way I was sending him a love note, I tried to argue. But there was no winning any argument with these two people so I eventually had to give in.
It wasn’t really anything I was against. I was even honestly thrilled with the idea reflecting on the number of letters I had written to him in my journal and a hundred more in my head. But I still can’t put the words together.
Something aggressive, but not downright cheap, I thought. I kept staring at the piece of table napkin on my hand. I didn’t know what to tell him honestly. I was afraid I could never get the words right and that I would blow the only chance I had at telling him how I really felt.
