That Summer When She Cried

That Summer When She Slept

An MVP. A crush ng bayan. A heartthrob. A respectful son. A superb baller. A cutie.

Possibly the next face on the TV or movie screen.

That's him.

But what does it make him if the only girl he had his eyes and heart on was busy giving it to another person?

It makes him a heartbroken.

*

"Nasaan si Jeric?"

That was the very first question that came out of Almira's mouth as soon as she went down the house to have breakfast. It was a Sunday morning and classes have already ended.

"Umalis ng maaga. May lakad daw silang mga magkakaibigan. Summer outing," their mother answered and continued having their breakfast.

Almira took her seat while her mother's answer continued bugging her mind.

Wala namang summer outing ang mga kaibigan nito.

Jeric asked her the previous night if he could use her phone for a while to text his friend since his phone was dead. She handed him her Samsung phone and used it. When he was done, he immediately returned it to her and went to his room.

Someone sent a reply. Sa hindi sinasadyang pagkakataon, nabasa ni Almira ang sagot ng mga kaibigan.

Sayang, you won't come. But next time, we'll be complete. Enjoy your summer bro!

It might be that Jeric changed his mind all of a sudden and decided to join his friends, Almira thought.

It would be better to take off her mind about it for the meantime.

But where anyway is he?

*

He wore his white shirt and khaki shorts.

On top of his shirt was his powder blue Topman jacket. He was carrying his Herschel backpack while his cap was on its place.

He wasn't making a disguise exactly but it would be better to make sure that no one would recognize him. Naiinitan na sya sa jacket nya and he needs a comfortable seat and start wandering alone.

He was backpacking and he didn't know where he was going. Bumaba sya sa terminal ng bus sa Cubao and saw different buses bound to different places. He felt excited lalo pa na unang beses nyang sasakay nito na pinaganda pa ng mga madadaanan.

What was the name of the place that his friend Jay recommended?

He tried hard to remember the details of it but he couldn't exactly find it out. He knew the name of the resort but how would he get there?

Bahala na nga.

He scanned the names of the buses in front of him. Some were bound to Cabanatuan via SCTEX, some bound to Alaminos, some bound to Dau. Then he saw one that said Balanga.

He simply looked around at inayos ang suot na sumbrero. Just to make sure that no one saw him. Then he crossed the distance and went in.

It was already past 10 AM when he got off the terminal. Since he didn't know the place, he decided to get off the last station which was a terminal. He was hungry and he decided to look for a place to dine first. The tricycle driver recommended for him to try eating at Ling Ling restaurant which catered food na lutong bahay.

Sure enough, he was satisfied when he was done and left after paying his bill. Dumirecho na sya pabalik sa terminal para pumunta sa beach resort na alam ng kaibigan nya.