Sing!

The Boat Trip

It was almost 12 in the afternoon when they started driving again. Lacey was already complaining about feeling hungry, so Mark asked Lyka about where they could eat lunch.
'If you have some extra money we can go to Loboc's floating restaurant,' Lyka suggested.
'A floating restaurant?' Mark asked curiously.
'Yeah. We get to cruise the Loboc river in a big boat that serves buffet.' She replied.
'Ooh, sounds interesting.' Mark commented.
'So, to Loboc floating restaurant?'
'Yeah,'

After several minutes, they had finally arrived in their next destination Lyka stood in line at the cashier located by the dock to purchase tickets for the floating restaurant. She distributed it among them, then followed the staff to the boat.
'Well, this is really interesting,' Lacey said as she looked at the boat.
'Oh look, I think there'll be a performer.' Courtney pointed at the man who was standing at one corner of the boat, carrying a guitar and surrounded by some sound system.
'Welcome aboard!' The man greeted every passenger that got into the boat. Lyka and her friends were assisted by a waited toward a 6-seated table, where they'll be sitting for the entire boat trip.
Some moments later, the boat engine started to roar and the boat started moving.
'Wow, this is cool! The air just feels wonderful!' Courtney interjected. Lacey and the rest had also headed toward the buffet when they saw some people leaving their seats to get some food from the buffet at the middle of the boat. After serving themselves, they took their seats once again and started having lunch. Waiters started filling up their glasses with iced tea, and offered assistance on taking group photos in each table, so Lacey carefully handed her iPhone to one of them for a souvenir photo.
'Thank you so much, kuya!' Lacey said with all smiles as she took her phone from the waiter's hands. She checked on the photo and showed it to Courtney and Geneva who were seated on her right side. She pointed something on the photo, then giggled along with them.
'Yes, they do look good together!' Courtney whispered, referring to Mark and Lyka who were seated on Lacey's left side. Her voice was a little loud enough which Lyka was able to hear, which made the latter feel embarassed and blush.
'Oh, look at her, she's blushing!' Geneva whispered, giggling even more. Lyka sighed. How she wish she could 'snap' at them right at that moment, but it would be embarassing since they were talking about 'them', so she carried on being silent.

After lunch, the passengers had a little fun singing and dancing along to the one-man band's songs. He played Obladi Oblada and Sway which made some of the passengers dance along, like the boat was a little disco place. Lacey found the moment very entertaining, so she grabbed Geneva and Courtney to dance along with her.
'Where did you see threesome dancing, Lace?' Courtney asked casually. Her tone and face would always be almost expressionless, but her friends could feel the sincerity in her words when one of them feels down. She didn't have a happy tone as expressive as Lacey's but she knows how to deal with her friends at certain circumstances. Lyka considers that trait of hers unique, and since they're both have dominant introverted sides, they jive along together.
'Just now. You know. They need a little more time together! I could see sparks in his eyes when he looks at Lyka, so let's push it!' Lacey whispered as they kept dancing while taking little glances at Lyka and Mark, who seemed to be getting along really well.

Around fifteen minutes later they stopped beside a wooden stage by the riverbank. There were girls who were wearing one of the Philippine's national costume which is the Balintawak. The music started to blast on the sound system, and the girls started dancing a Filipino folk dance. After the first number, two men wearing Farmers' outfit, a national costume for Filipino men, laid two long bamboo sticks on the floor of the stage, parallel to each other. They started clapping them against the floor twice, then once against each other, in a slow repetitive rhythm at first, which speeded up while girls in costume hopped in between the bamboo sticks.
'What is that dance called?' Lacey asked.
'It's called the tinikling.' Lyka replied.
'I wanna try that out, looks cool!'
'It's not as easy as it looks, sweety.'
'I know. One day I'll attend a Filipino festival in States with my friends, so I could try that out as well.' Lacey shared.

The boat engine started revving again after the short special performance in the river bank. The passengers waved goodbye to the dancers. They all had a wonderful time watching the different Filipino folk dances.

The boat was heading back when the one-man band started to sing again. He kept singing lively songs such as Build Me Up Buttercup and Take On Me until they came to a full stop by the dock, where the rest of the boats and more passengers were waiting.

'Ah, I had fun! I liked the experience!' Lacey said happily as she stepped onto the plank.
'Yeah, me too.' Courtney said as she stepped next on it.
'Alright, so, where are we heading next?' Lacey asked, putting her hands on her waist when she got onto the dock.
'We'll pass by the Bilar man-made forest and have take some photos for a while, then we'll go to Chocolate Hills.' Lyka replied as she waited for her turn to step.
'Chocolate Hills? Are there lots of chocolates there?' Courtney asked with her tone rising a note, while she joined Lacey.
'No, the Chocolate hills are green hills which turn into color brown when the weather's warm, thus the name.' Lyka explained as she stood, watching Geneva walk the plank.
'Ooooh. Well then, let's look for kuya! I hope he'd eaten lunch already.' Lacey commented.

Lyka was supposed to be next when Mark stood next to her. He motioned Lyka to put her hand ito his, which she did. Mark walked first, with his hand taking Lyka's, giving her assistance so she would not fall or trip.
'Yeah, he could have had done that to us as well, but well, he made it more evident that he likes Lyka,' Lacey said, whispering to the other two girls while giggling. Mark seemed he knew why they were being all giddy like that, and it made him run his palm against the back of his neck, blushing a little. Lyka did not seem to notice at all, since she was already tapping away on her phone, taking a look on what recording of Mr. Soultoucher she will listen to next that will correspond to the kind happiness that Mark made her feel with his sweet gesture.