I fell in love

Chapter 10

It's already 9:00AM when I woke up. Wala na ako sa sasakyan. Kakatapos ko lang magpalit ng damit at mag ayos.

Althea is not here, she's probably outside.

Since wala naman akong kakilala dito, I texted her saying that I'm already awake and I have nothing to do. She quickly replied telling me that she's on her way.

"Good morning," she kissed my forehead. "Nasa baba mga kaibigan ko pati yung iba ko pang mga pinsan. Ipapakilala kita." She smiled.

Ngumiti ako sa kaniya at tumango ng ilang ulit. She kept on saying that they were good people so I don't need to worry about meeting them.

Meeting Althea's friends and cousins didn’t scare me. It doesn't make me feel nervous at all.

I’ve met plenty of people before and I know how to keep my face steady, how to play it cool.

What I wasn’t ready for was the silence in my own chest when I had to figure out what I was to her.

How Aam I going to explain my relationship with Althea? How will I label our relationship?

I’m not her girlfriend. That much is clear. But I’m not just her friend either.

Not when I remember how she kiss me every night, like she forgot everything else.

Not when I catch myself leaning into her without thinking, holding her longer than I should.

And then there’s the truth that never sits right.

Her best friend is my boyfriend.

I keep telling myself that’s enough to draw the line. That it should keep things in place.

But how do I ignore the way I come alive when it’s Althea I’m next to?

How do I explain that when she hugs me, I feel like I belong to something I can’t name? That when she looks at me, it’s not friendship I see.

So no, I wasn’t nervous meeting them. I just didn’t know how to lie about something that feels this real.

"This one is Max, my cousin, he's also a photographer," she pointed out the guy in the red. "Camille, Mary, Mariel, and a friend, Rica." They all smiled at me. I did the same thing.

Sabay sabay slang bumati sa akin habang nakangiti at naglahad ng kanilang mga kamay.

We had a short time to chitchat and good thing, they never asked what my relationship with Althea was.

"Everyone, mag ayos na kayo, especially girls. Mas maaga gagawin yung misa," A lady who's maybe in the age of late 40's said. "Mukha kasing uulan." She added.

"Okay!" Everyone said. Sabay-sabay pang napabuntong hininga ang lahat.

"Let's go." Naramdaman ko ang paghawak niya sa kamay ko.

Naligo at inasikaso ko agad yung make up ko pagtapos. She's still inside the bathroom now. Doon na siguro mag aayos.

Pag labas niya, naka kulot na ang buhok at may make up na rin hindi ko lang alam kung bakit walang lipstick na gamit. Yung natural na mapulang labi niya kasi ang nakikita ko.

Naka robe at mukhang kailangan niya na lang mag bihis when she went near me.

"You didn't tell Luke?" She asked.

"That we're going out? Yeah," I said.

It’s not that I don’t care about what Luke would think if he saw me going out with Althea. It’s just that I don’t think it should matter this much.