To Love and Be Loved

Chapter 4

Matapos kong nakausap si Pilyong-nagmamadaling-lumakad-papalayo-and-I-didn't-know-why, Napag-isipan ko na ring bumalik kay Darls. Tagal ko nang di nakita nun ah. It's been.. what.. 4 years? Yeah. Pilyo and I had been friends since elementary. Well, not actually 'friends' but frenemies.

Di kami nagkamabutihan noon kasi pilyo sya and I'm the innocent, good girl type and he's some badass guy. Dun namin nakuha yung nicknames namin. Kahit nerdy sya noong highschool, ang lakas parin ng kamandag nya.. He's a nerd on the outside pero on the inside.. pffft he's a playboy type. I call him nerd lang naman because he wore glasses and only to tease him. But he's not. Ako? Di rin naman ako nasasabihang nerd. After all,

I'm the Queen Bee.

Di ko rin alam kung bakit. Basta, yun na yun.

I was about to go back ng napansin ko from afar na may kausap si Darls. She was smiling dryly and I knew she wasn't comfortable. Di ko pa masyadong maaninag ang mukha ng lalake but his structure is so familiar.

And that's when my world stopped spinning...

It was that... jerk.

Buti nalang at hindi pa 'ko masyadong nakalapit. I then hurriedly got outside the mall at tinext ko naman si Darls kaagad.

To Darls :

I saw it. I'll take a cab. Don't worry 'bout me.

Sabi ko na nga ba. It wasn't a good idea to be here.

Patungo na sana ako sa may poste ng may nagsalita.

"Heading back? Kala ko kasama mo yung bestfriend mo."

I immediately turned to look. And to my surprise.

Thank God it was Pilyo. Nakasandal sa kanyang Benz at naka hands-in-pockets.

"Pilyo? why are you still here? Kala ko ba nagmamadali ka?"

"I don't know, I thought maybe I could wait for a bit. Can I offer you a ride? Miss Beautiful?" with that pilyo smile and eyes.

Wala na 'kong choice kaya sumama na rin ako. We were never in good terms before but we've known each other for so long. In fact, we grew up together kaya I trust him.

"So, how did you know I was gonna go out?" I started.

He looked at me for a sec.

"Well, a clumsy guy accidentally bumped me and to my surprise... It was your ex." emphasizing every word.

I just shrugged and turned my attention to the window.

Or not.

Di pa rin ako makapaniwala. Nakita nya kaya ako? What if he did? Nakilala nya kaya ako? Probably not if he did. But I'm a hundred percent sure he didn't see me. It's been a long time since I saw him. Since nung 'break-up' namin, ni anino nya ay hindi ko na nakita.

Pffft, like why the f do I care? The guy's out of my life.

"Hey.."

"Hmm?"

"We're here."

Oh. Nakarating na pala kami. Pero teka...

"How did you know I live here?" I said startled.