"Ano 'yun, Bei?" Jia asked, still sporting the damned beautiful smile.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.
"N-nothing," I said out loud and tried to give a reassuring smile.
The truth was I was panicking.
Jia looked at me amusedly before grabbing my hand. Like she got used to doing.
But oh, God, my skin was on fire and electricty shot up throughout my whole body so I pulled my hand away hastily.
Which made Jia frown and look at me in confusion.
"Race you to The Eye!" I yelled and ran away from her.
I mean, ran to The Eye to win the race, of course.
I kept looking back at Jia just to make sure she was following. She was but she was not running. Which was fine. It gave me more time to compose myself as I waited for her by the entrance.
"What was that?" Jia asked when she reached me.
"That was a race, loser," I tried to be as snarky as possible.
She only rolled her eyes with me.
Then, she tried to lean her head on my shoulder so I moved forward immediately. Jia was perceptive enough to notice.
"Bea, is there something wrong? You're acting weird."
"Whaaaaaat," I coughed because of how high-pitched I said that. "Walang problema. I'm just really excited to ride this with you, my BEST FRIEND."
That's right. Jia's my best friend. Just my best friend. We're best friends. We're cool. Yeah, cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. No doubt.
Jia placed her hand on my arm and I stopped myself from pulling away and focused on calming my heart the fuck down. I didn't want her to pick up on anything she shouldn't pick up on.
"Is it about Jho? Does this ride remind you of Jho somehow?"
I scrunched up my face. "What? No."
"You said 'best friend' too firmly, I thought naalala mo si Jho," Jia said with a shrug.
"No, Jia. Not at all. You're my best friend."
Definitely, my best friend. Heart, calm the fuck down and take note.
Thankfully, the carriage we're supposed to ride finally stopped and we patiently waited to get inside.
I sat across from Jia because I swear to God, something's wrong with me and I just didn't want to find out what.
"Bei, you okay?" Jia asked. "Kunot na naman noo mo."
I shook my head and tried to smile.
"I was just thinking this is the slowest ferris wheel ride."
Goddamnit. Ferris wheel rides aren't supposed to be slow and should not feel calming. It's supposed to be moderately fast and scary and makes your heart race. Like I'm feeling right now and I can't even blame it on the ride!
"First time mo?"
"Actually, no. Ngayon ko lang narealize," I answered.
I tried to keep my gaze on the horizon to avoid looking at Jia.
Jia was also looking at the horizon.
I turned to her when the carriage stopped at the top and she said, "It's beautiful."
She was referring to the sunset that was making manila bay seem like a sea of warmth. It was art that could not be captured.
"Truly," I whispered.
