Stuck in Love

Chapter 15

The bittersweet aroma of coffee woke me up the next morning. I turned to my left.

 

Sandro was gone.

 

I got up and saw Carol pouring coffee on her cup.

 

“Where is he?” I asked.

Carol shrugged her shoulders. “He’s not there when I woke up.” She stirred her coffee and took a sip. “But he left a note on the table.”

I lifted the ashtray on the center table and saw a piece of receipt paper.

“So you really did rescue me. Thank you. You look so tired, I couldn’t wake you up. Besides, you’ve already seen enough mess of me.

 

- SJ

 

P.S. You changed my clothes? So brave of you! ;) Btw, you’re cute when you’re asleep.”

 

I flashed a wide grin and bit my lip. I was flushing like infinite. I faced Carol.

 

“Kinikilig ka na naman,” said Carol.

There’s never a day with Sandro that I didn’t feel butterflies in my stomach. “He makes me blush.”

“He’s unbelievable. You help him. And then he leaves just like that. Such an asshole. No wonder you’re getting head-over-heels on him.”

“Yeah, he’s an asshole. But I couldn’t get him off my mind.”

“So, nice girls really fall for bad guys, huh?”

I dialed Sandro’s number to check on him. He answered on the fifth ring.

 

“Hello?” I could hear him chewing.

 

“Hey! I just called to ask uhm---how are you doing? How’s your head?” I asked.

“Still hurts but I think it’s better now. Nga pala, salamat, ha.”

I grinned and jumped out of my seat—then hit the open kitchen cabinet above my head. I squeaked in pain and Carol, being a true friend, laughed.

“Ok ka lang?” Sandro asked from the other line.

“Yeah, I just hit my head,” I answered as I sat on the floor and pressed the right side of my head.

“Careful. You don’t want stitches, right?”

Aww that was so sweet of him. I giggled a little.

“Hey, I gotta finish my food. Text na lang. Bye.”

“Bye.”

“Been having some head-hitting scenarios lately,” Carol laughed as she put away the dishes.

***

 

I got a call from a casting director for theater that morning. There’s an upcoming play in CCP and he wanted me to audition.

 

Since I had mid-shift weekday duty, I told him to schedule me on night auditions. He said I should hurry because it was the last day. What the—I was not even ready with an audition piece. I did not even know what role I would be auditioning for. The casting director just told me to do an English monologue of a hopeless romantic character.