ALEXIS and the Bet

Chapter Fifteen (Continuation): The Fall of Alexis

“No! That was not what I meant,” Benjamin said. He was now looking uncomfortable as he tried to convince me to believe him

“Eh, ano’ng ibig mong sabihin?” I demanded.

“Okay, aaminin ko sa 'yo. Noon, eh, ganoon ang akala ko. And now I leanrned not to judge a person with the way they look or how other people sees them. I guess what I’m trying to say is, this date turned out pretty well.”

“Oh.” In a way, I, too, made some wrong assumptions. I judge him easily based on his social status at school. “Siguro mali rin ako dahil akala ko no’ng una, eh, hindi ka rin masayang kasama kasi nga magkaiba tayo.”

“Magkaiba? How?”

“Alam mo na, sikat ka sa school. Crush ng campus –”

“Crush ng campus?” he cut my sentence with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his face.

I rolled my eyes and slapped his shoulder playfully. “’Wag ka na ngang pa-inosente diyan. ‘Wag mo sabihin sa ‘kin hindi mo alam ‘yan. Maraming nagkakagusto sa ‘yo sa school. Kulang na nga lang magpatayo sila ng grotto at sambahin ka.”

“Hindi naman.”

“Oo kaya. Kung alam mo lang kung gaano ka tindi at possessive ng mga Pinksters pagdating sa inyo. Parati nga kami binubully ng mga ‘yun tuwing pinapansin mo kami. Buti na lang talaga matatag kaming mga nerds.”

He laughed at what I said, his laughter sounding so pleasant, like music to my ears. Weird. I never knew a laughter could sound like musical chimes. “Well, you don’t look like a nerd now,” he said. “I think you look pretty.

To say that my face turned red was an understatement –my face felt scorching hot! He just called me pretty! Did I hear that right? Or maybe I just had some earwax stuck in my ears.

“Ha?” I asked, looking like a complete idiot.

“I said, you look pretty.”

“Uhm, thank you,” I answered. He just said I was pretty!

“And I had fun today. I never tried this before.”

“Hindi ka nakikipag date dati?”

“I go on dates before,” he answered truthfully.

I knew he and Ashley were an item before. So I surmised they go on dates a lot. But it seemed as though he never had fun on his previous dates. “Hindi niyo pa nasubukan magdate sa amusement park?”

He shook his head. “No. Kadalasan kakain kami sa restaurant matapos kong samahan magshopping si Ash–” He did not finished what he was saying, and I knew that he didn’t want to bring that topic up. “Basta, nag-enjoy ako ngayon. Masaya pala yung ganito.” He gave me a warm smile before he added, “Masaya kasing panoorin yung determinasyon mo sa booth kanina na manalo.”

I covered my face with my hands with the renewed embarrassment I felt over that earlier display of determination. And the reminder of my failure to win Honey added a hint of depression on top of it all. “’Wag mo na ipaalala sa akin ‘yon. Nakakahiya!”

He laughed again and I thought he was going to tease me about it but he decided to drop the subject. The ride was over and we made our way towards the rest of the group. I wondered how my friend’s day went, considering they left me alone with Benjamin.

We decided to call it a day and headed back home –Dave said he would be going with Arthur, so it was just me, Benjamin and Madie on the car. We dropped Madie first before heading to my house. When we reached my house, Benjamin stepped out of the car first and I followed.

“So…” I started. We were just standing outside of his car, looking at each other, uncertain of what to do next. How did one end a date? What would you say? Would it be just “goodbye” or “see you next time”? Would you end your first date with a kiss? Could I even do that? I mean, sure they did it in the movies. But this was the real life, and this was the real thing, so I was not so sure any more. Was I even allowed to kiss a guy? I turned slightly and checked the windows for any signs of dad taking a peek with a riffle on his hand, checking if his daughter was doing anything that seemed illegal or something. Geez. My imaginations really ran wild nowadays.

“Wait, may ibibigay ako sa ‘yo,” I heard Benjamin said. He went to the side of the passenger’s seat and grabbed something from inside. He was wearing a very broad smile as he approached me, and I sucked in my breath when I saw what he was holding in his arms.

“Honey!” I exclaimed.

“Para sa ‘yo,” he said as he handed me Honey.

I took Honey from him and looked at it incredulously before I shifted my gaze at Benjamin’s smiling face. “Ah… ano… S-salamat,” I stammered. “Naglaro ka rin para mapanalo ito?”

He chuckled. “Actually, binili ko kay kuya doon sa booth. Buti pumayag na ibenta na lang. Thank you.”

“Ako dapat ang mag-thank you sa ‘yo, noh.”

“Hindi.  Thank you dahil nag-enjoy ako ngayong araw na ito. Alagaan mo si Honey, ha. Alagaan mo ang anak natin,” he joked with a wink.

“Anak agad? Ni hindi pa nga nagiging tayo, eh. At saka hindi mo naman sinabing nanliligaw ka, noh.”

“Sasagutin mo ba ako kapag sinabi kong nililigawan na nga kita?”

I briskly turned away from him to avoid looking at his face. Darn. Why was he making my heart running wild? “Uhm, ewan ko…”

He chuckled once more, sounding amused with how uneasy I was. “Tulad mo, determinado rin akong tao. I’m determined to make you my girl, coz I like you, Alex.”

His girl?

He liked me?

Oh my gosh! He wanted me to make his girl? But wasn’t that the whole point of our plan? To make him like me, fall for me and me dumping him? So we could have our revenge? But why did it all suddenly felt wrong? Why did I feel as if I didn’t want to continue our plan? Why was I suddenly wishing that what he said was real and not just the lies he and his buddies made up?

When we were together earlier, when I forgot that everything was just a sham, I enjoyed his company. He was a nice guy, sweet when he wanted to be. Intelligent. Had a liking for the classics. He was the perfect guy. But nothing in this world was perfect. We could not always get what we wanted, what we wished for. And suddenly, my heart was breaking into small sharp pieces that began to hurt me, because I found myself wishing everything was real, that what he was saying was real. Because what I was starting to feel for him was very real. Clear as crystal.

I turned once more to face him and gave him a small smile. “Tingnan natin. Kung totoo ang mga sinasabi mo. See you sa school on Monday,” I said before I went back into the house as I tried very hard not to let the tears pooling in my eyes fall.

***

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