The Coño Boy 1 & 2: Love What You Will

Chapter Forty-Two: Time

Remember when I was wondering what dinner we were supposed to have and where? We're not stepping out of the suite na pala. And if you're expecting Joaquin to pull-off something like a full room service thing with some fancy food, think again. And I did not expect it to be that way either. Well, we did have that room servjce table with the fancy linens and all the flatware. But...

Joaquin ordered a huge Manhattan Meatlover's pizza from Yellow Cab and a box each of Charlie Chan chicken pasta and their spaghetti & meatballs, a bucket of hot and crispy chicken from KFC with matching coleslaw and mashed potatoes, fries from McDonald's, and a cake from Conti's.

*When first I saw the food, naalala ko yung biro ng mga locals sa hometown ni Lola kapag there's so much that one person can't finish: "Bibitayin na ba ako bukas?"*

But what I like about all that food, is that they were all bits of memories from since I met him.

I should be able to describe to you how matakaw I got when we sat down to eat but sino naman ang gustong magbasa how I make nguya my food, right? So I'm skipping that part and because I accidentally spilled gravy on my shirt.

*At para rin akong tangang tumakbo sa bathroom to wash it off because I didn't wanna ruin the shirt. Hey! Don't judge me ha. It's a really expensive shirt and it's a gift from Joaquin.*

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On the other hand, all of these gifts kind of made me conscious. There's something in my bag na kanina ko pa iniingatan because that is my Valentines surprise for Joaquin. I bought it a week or so ago from an online seller that Gizmo recommended. Pinakiusapan ko na lang so

*That gift though, hiyang-hiya naman ako considering what Joaquin has pulled off today. I can't help but think I could have done better with the choice.*

We're sitting on the bed just watching what's playing on TV. More like I'm having a food coma from eating so much nang naalala ko yung gift ni Joaquin. Come on, you guys had better cut me some slack, I'm more than overwhelmed here. And as far as ideal dates go, I feel like the horrible and irresponsible one.

*The thing is, I really have no idea how guy x guy dates go. I read somewhere na offensive daw to ask sa guy x guy couples kung sino sa kanila yung babae sa relationships or whatever it is that they have together. Well, before we go on debating this, malinaw naman sa inyo that I am the submissive part of this equation. But in the context of being fair to Joaquin, it's nice that he spoils me to the point na masasabi ng ilan sa inyo na "haba ng hair mo". And I'm a college student with a fixed allowance and really very little savings —kung savings ba na maconsider yon.

So, for me, this is too much as far as being spoiled by Joaquin is concerned. He's not working pa naman, and I don't want him going overboard on my behalf. Pero —here I am again with my pero-pero —For him to go out of his way for me, doesn't that tell you a lot of things? Arrrggghh!!! Thoughts, get out of my head!*

I get off from the bed.

Joaquin: Hey, where are you going?

Me: Just a moment, may kunin lang ako.

I look for my bag. I know I dropped it at the luggage alcove kanina when I came in. Pero the stuff in the room have been moved around by Joaquin because sa closet pala tinago ni Artie yung food and Joaquin's set-up required him to throw stuff around. Yeah, I cannot stress enough what a good or rather great friend Artie is.

Ayaw kong tanungin si Joaquin where he moved my bag because it might ruin the momentum of my surprise. It took me a bit of guesswork to look inside the closet to find my it. It's just an oversized postman's bag from the Gap that has seen better days, but it's been with me for over three years. I take my bag and I look for the gift box wrapped in light brown craft paper tied with a jute string. I stuck a blue gift card onto it just before I left the house.

I turn to check on my companion. Joaquin's still distracted by the Transformers movie playing on TV. I set my bag down inside the closet door and close it. I make the nervous steps back and sit beside Joaquin on the bed. Holding the gift box with both hands, I raise my Valentines gift before him.

Me: Happy Valentines Day, Joaquin!

He jerks his head backwards, obviously surprised and taken away from his focus from the movie.

*By the way, HBO... Why on earth are you scheduling a Transformers movie on this night? Or umaga na ba? Ay ewan!*

He smiles.

Joaquin: Mhhhmmm, what's this, Dude?

Me: How will you know if you're just going to stare at it?

He takes the box from my hands. He's just staring at it for a few seconds now. He turns it over and looks at each side with restrained curiosity. Hindi parang bata na excited when you hand him a gift on Christmas morning pero more like hindi makapaniwala na you actually have a gift for him.

*Why doesn't he even start opening it? If ako yan, punit-punit na yang wrapper na yan.*

Me: Pagpasensiyahan mo na yan ha...

Joaquin: What do you mean pagpasensiyahan? Ikaw talaga, Dude! Come here nga!

Joaquin grabs me my the neck using his arms.

*Tama ba yung grab? Parang wrestling hold eh. Yung puwesto ko naka-lock ako between his arms while he's checking out the gift box. Pakawalan mo nga ako, Joaquin! I wanna see your face as you open it.*

I try my best to escape his hold of me but I'm no match for his strong arms and he obviously does not want to let me go.

*I want to have a memory of this moment.*

Me: Wait lang... Wait lang.

Joaquin: Why? Am I hurting you ba?

Me: No. I want to remember the look on your face when you open it.

He smiles once again.

I take out my phone and swipe the screen to get to the camera. I tap the front camera and start recording. He takes off the blue gift card from the box. It's a square gift card, no more than three inches on each side, and is of the deepest shade of blue.

*It's actually my most favorite color TARDIS Blue. Eheheheh! If you have no idea what TARDIS Blue is, that's the color of The Doctor's time machine, called the TARDIS sa British series na Doctor Who. You guys should watch it. Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor by the way.*

He reads what I wrote on the gift card aloud.

Joaquin:

To My Coño Boy on Valentines Day,

We all know that time is precious.
But for me, the person I spend my time with,
Is more precious than the minutes
or the hours that I could lose.
Because with him, time doesn't matter.

The Boy Who Fell (literally) For You.

He doesn't say anything. He lays the card down in front of us on the bed. Tapos he starts untying the jute string from the gift box. He slowly peels off the tape keeping the craft paper onto the box. You gotta imagine that he's doing this while his arm is wrapped around my neck as I am locked in his embrace with my head pressing on his neck. He finally releases the box from the craft paper that served as its gift wrapping.

He opens the box to reveal what's inside.

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