Jia and I decided to meet and have dinner in BGC. I arrived at the restaurant and patiently waited for her. It was fine 'cause it gave me time to compose myself. I hate that I'm not comfortable calling our dinner a date anymore. Before I didn't mind because it was just a friendly date between best friends, but now that I like her, a date seems like a date. I would rather say that we're hanging out together.
I saw Jia enter the restaurant and goodness, my heart skipped a beat when our eyes met and she smiled.
"Kanina ka pa?" she asked as she sat down in front of me.
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
We both looked at the menu for a while.
"Order na tayo?"
I nodded.
She called the waiter and we gave our orders.
"So how's practice?" I asked after.
"Okay na-"
"Bea?"
Jia and I turned to the source of the voice who cut off Jia midspeech.
My eyes widened when I recognized who it was. Scarlet.
"H-hi," I stuttered, as I stood up to face the woman who walked to stand beside me.
I felt like I was perspirating. This was not an ideal situation for me.
"You did not come back last night," Scarlet said with a pout.
I tried to play it off with a chuckle but I had to gulp when, from the corner of my eyes, I saw Jia staring blankly at me and Scarlet. Somehow, I felt scared.
"Ah, y-yeah. I had something really important I needed to attend to." I turned to Jia with an apologetic smile. "This is my best friend nga pala, -"
"Jia Morado, right?" Scarlet butted in and held out her hand which Jia took. "I used to watch you play for Ateneo. You're really good."
"Thank you," Jia said with a small smile.
"Anyway, I don't want to disturb you, guys," Scarlet said again.
She took something out of her purse and held it out to me. I took it. It was her calling card.
I was surprised when she ran her fingers up my arms lightly and gave me a seductive smile.
"Give me a call. Let's continue where wel left off."
I forced a laugh out of my throat. "S-sure."
Scarlet kissed me on the cheek before she said goodbye to the both of us.
When I sat down and faced Jia, her face was a total poker face. It made me want to fidget.
"Who was that?" Jia asked in a serious tone.
"No one," I answered softly.
But she only stared at me and it gave me chills.
"No one important," I said again. "I just met her at the bar last night."
"I didn't realize na ganiyan ka pala."
"Ganiyan what?" I asked, suddenly baffled.
"Kakasabi mo lang na crush mo ako pero kung sinu-sino agad nilalandi mo. Iba ka rin talaga," Jia said with annoyance.
She was also finally frowning and staring daggers at me.
"Excuse me. Hindi kasi ako crush ng crush ko so I was trying to find ways to move on," I said with a joking tone, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
