Water and Fire (BL)

Chapter 27: Eating Together

Chapter 27: Eating Together

Eric told David about his plight at the cafeteria. But he didn't tell all of it. He merely said that he had a nightmare last night.

"But it's normal to have nightmares, you know?" David said, scratching his chin involuntarily.

Eric shook his head firmly. "It's not a normal nightmare. I've been having this nightmare for years now. It only stopped when I entered high school. It only recurred last night."

David smiled casually like it was nothing. "Don't think about it too much. Maybe you're just overthinking about the coming exams. Maybe you're studying too much late into the night."

David drew closer and hung his arms on Eric's shoulders. "You should take it easy, you know? Come with me and I'll make you sleep deeply..."

Eric glared at him and unhooked David's arm on his shoulders.

David snorted. "I might only be your remaining friend, you know?" He said pettily. "After Charlie and Olivia ditched you so they could be together, he-he-he..."

"They didn't ditch me, okay? We're all good friends."

"Good friends, ah? See them sitting in the distance?" David gestured at the two lovers sitting at the corner of the cafeteria.

They were whispering sweet nothings at each other's ears, laughing together, and eating spaghetti like the two dogs in Lady and the Tramp. Their meaningful gazes at each other say everything about them. They're a thing now.

"Have they noticed you today since morning, ah? They treated you like you're invisible now." This devil called David said. "Hell, if I were you I would never be friends with them again." David smirked and put his hand on the back of Eric's chair.

Eric glared at him yet again.

"Stop being a devil's advocate, will you? They're certainly catching up with their lost times. After all, they're both in love with each other and they only had the opportunity now to be together. I'm not here to ruin their could-have-been times together, so I'd just let them be."

David smirked even more. "You wait until both of them forget you entirely." He went directly to Eric's ears and whispered, "It sucks to be a third wheel, does it?"

Eric rolled his eyes at this annoying Chinese guy and stared at the lines of his palms.

Seeing Eric with dark circles around his eyes and being so serious and brooding like this, David felt his heart wrench.

He drew closer to Eric and hooked his left arm on Eric's shoulders.

"Don't sulk anymore. Didn't you forget I'll treat you to lunch?" David beamed at Eric and ruffled his hair.

Eric merely peered at him with cautious eyes and pouted.

"Come," David pulled Eric from his chair and into the cafeteria counter.

"What do you wanna eat?" David asked, his arm still on Eric's shoulders.

They both looked at the set of food behind the counter glass.

It was then that David realized that this is the first time he's eating with Eric. The boy always ate with Charlie since forever, and now that Charlie's got another eating partner, David finally got to be with Eric now.

It excited him to no end. He was so happy that he smiled like a fool.

I wanna know what he usually eats. I wanna know his favorite food. I wanna know everything about Eric.

David smiled to himself as he silently observe Eric glance at the food.

Eric felt David's eyes on him.

"What are you looking at?"

David's smile faltered and he averted his eyes from Eric and fixed his gaze at the food. "The food, of course, what else?"

Minutes later, they were walking back to their chairs, carrying their trays of food.

"Why did you take fish and vegetable, ah?" David asked. "You didn't have to be so modest, you know? It's all on me. You could've picked the steak or some other meat dish. I'd gladly pay for it."

"I just like fish and vegetables." Eric lied. The truth is, David was right. He's just being modest. He didn't want to pick an expensive meal because somehow, he's already a bit embarrassed about David paying for his meal, so he picked the less expensive meal.

"Okay," David replied. "But next time don't hold back."

He set down the plates of food on the table—his and Eric's.

Look at this guy setting my food. Trying to be nice, are we? Are you trying to be my mother?

David beamed at him.

He rubbed both of his hands enthusiastically. "Let's eat."

Unlike Eric who used spoon and fork, David used chopsticks. He was a Chinese person, after all.

With his chopsticks, David picked some pieces of meat from his plate and put it on Eric's plate. "Let's share, can't finish all of them."

It was a lie. In truth, he just wanted to let Eric eat nice food.

Eric stared at David, confused to no end as to why this Chinese guy's so nice to him. He speared the slab of pork with his fork and devoured it.

"I really love sinigang," David said right after slurping some broth from his bowl. "Foreigners can't take sinigang well, but personally I really like it. It's sour, it's refreshing, it's... I don't know how to describe it, but I just like it."

"You're really a Filipino at heart."

David almost choked on the pork fat that he swallowed.

He really didn't like sinigang, he just lied so Eric could be impressed with him. He smiled like a fool and continued eating heartily.

"You know what, let's eat out sometime, you and I. I'll treat you to some nice Chinese restaurant in downtown. I'll have you eat delicious Chinese food—zuiji, shizi tou, xiaolongbao, jiaozi, just good stuff." He smiled at Eric.

"Okay," Eric said, squinting intently at David, wondering why David's being so kind to him.

What is he planning?

In the end, Eric surrendered and thought that maybe David's just trying to be genuinely nice. He smiled back at David.

Seeing him smile, David thought that Eric's smile was like the sun emitting warm rays during a nice, summer day. It made him feel so fuzzy.

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Notes:

Sinigang - a sour, tamarind broth dish in the Philippines. It consists of vegetables like tomatoes, swamp cabbage, taro, etc., But the star of the dish is usually pork (with pork fat), though it could also have prawns at its main meat. It is extremely sour, so to foreigners, this dish is weird. It is an acquired taste, and when one got accustomed to this taste, it's one of the dishes that make people make it their favorite.