The Uncertain Something

VII

28 February 2019. "Where are you? They told us to meet them at 7 eleven and I said I don't care, I need to know if Josh is coming or not. They didn't answer me and just said that Mike will meet us in the bar with his girlfriend."

I knock on the gate and call out Ashley three times after dropping the call. As she opens the gate, I mutter, "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

She tells me to get in first because the others need to be at the meeting place first before us. I know it's such a dick move but I like the idea of it. It's like what Gloria said in the Modern Family that you have to be late to have an entrance or to be the one that everyone notices. Yes, we like the attention, sometimes.

We sit on the sofa and she grunts like a little girl saying, "They're still not sure if Josh is coming, they just keep saying 'he'll be there' so annoying."

I chuckle, "Yeah it would be a bummer if he won't be there later because we specifically arranged this night to drink with him. Anyway, have you told tito and tita that we're going out tonight?"

She looks at me trying to do the kitten eyes because even if she's not opening her mouth and telling me that her parents still don't know we're going out, I already know.

My face frowns as I mutter, "No you didn't. Are we going to sneak out and tell them when we're already at the bar?"

She chuckles, "Oh you know me too well, but I'll let papa know right before we take off and I'll text mom because she's still at work."

I turn my head sideways and laugh while she mentions that she texted JP that we're already in 7 eleven-even if we're obviously not-so that they would go there already.

We rapidly fix ourselves as they message us that they're already in front of 7 eleven and they can't find us anywhere. Ashley opens the door and shouts, "Pa! I'll be out and I'm with Florence. We'll be back at 1-ish? Love you!"

We rush outside and as we get closer to 7 eleven, Ashley's mom text her that she's on the way home and she saw us with our outfits telling us that we could be catcalled on what we're wearing.

I utter, "What's so wrong with my long sleeves and your polo shirt?" I look down at our legs and continues, "Oh because we're wearing shorts but let us remember that catcalling only exists because jerks exist."

Ashley laughs and says not to be worried about it. My eyes roam around for five seconds as we walk towards 7 eleven and I notice Jolo in an instant because he's wearing his gintama shirt. I'm familiar with it because he sent me a photo of that shirt when he saw my post that I'm watching gintama with my cousin.

I approach Jolo and say, "Hey, c'mon let's go. We're going to take a grab."

We patiently wait right outside the 7 eleven with the cold breeze of the night while we talk about my thesis defense earlier this day. Suddenly, Ashley utters, "It's here. A color red Toyota."

I exclaim, "I think that's it! Shotgun!"

We all go inside the car and it's funny how they're all so cramped up in the back while I'm sitting pretty here on the passenger seat.

JP gasps, "Kuya, can we turn off the air condition and just open the window because we're not getting any air in here."

The driver says it's okay so he turn it off and they all open the windows.

We finally arrive in Central and slowly walk inside as the staff assists us to our table. We go into this table that looks like a table from a picnic with a white paint on it. JP sits beside Ashley who's in front of me, and Jolo sits on my left side.