I Love You, For Real

Chapter 1: Bus seats and Wallets

I took the bus today. Our driver’s sick so I didn’t have any choice. I could drive but I didn’t want to. I like sleeping on the way to school since I’m usually tired at night doing gigs and stuff. But today was an exception. I couldn’t sleep no matter how hard I try. Bus seats here in the Philippines are the narrowest ever! Friendly advice, don’t seat at the aisle side. If you did, one foot would be sticking out cause only half of your body would fit. I was lucky I sat by the window. One more thing I hate is even when the seats are already full, passengers keep coming so standing ovation means differently here. Then there’s this girl who sat next to me, she has this big back pack full of who knows what. Her things kept dropping on the floor cause she couldn’t find her wallet. The conductor kept picking up her things for her.

“Aha!” She exclaimed with the widest and brightest smile ever. “Eto po kuya.”

“Andami nyo namang dala mam, halos buong bahay nyo na po yata yan.” One good thing about public transpo, courtesy. Not all but most.

“hay nako kuya, kung kaya ko lang ginawa ko na” she said.

She was singing like no one could hear her. At least her voice was good. After a couple of minutes she got off the bus. Finally, some time to doze off… Or so I thought. I noticed something on my side. Looked like a wallet. It was so… pink. This is not the time to be a good guy, I said to myself. I don’t know why but I took the wallet, stood up and got off the bus.

“Why am I doing this?” I looked left to right, there she was already across the road. This girl can walk really fast.

“Miss! Hey miss!” Guess she couldn’t hear me. I hurriedly ran after her. I took a look at her wallet, to look for a name or something. Then in my shock I came to a stop. “SAOIRSE MAEVE BERKELY” What in the world is that?? What kind of name is that?? Damn, that sure is not a Filipino name.

“Seer… Sa…. Sa… Sour… Sour? Shit.” I struggled. She’s getting far again.

“Hey miss! European!” Nope.

“British!” Nope.

“Russian?!” Still no.

“French!” I am looking like a retard here.

“Irish girl!” Hey she stopped and turned around. So it was an Irish name?

“Your wallet.” I said handing her wallet. She reached for her ears. WTF she was wearing earphones?? No wonder.

“Oh my God! Thank you po!” She said while walking towards me.

I gave her the wallet then suddenly I heard a whistle. I turned to see where it came from. Some guy in blue was walking towards us. It was a traffic enforcer. It was then I realized we were in the middle of the road.

“Ate, kuya wag kayong mag PBB Teens sa gitna ng kalsada!” he shouted, still walking towards us and pulled out a thick piece of paper. Then somebody grabbed my arm.

“Tara na!!”  Irish girl said while running AND dragging me.

“Hoy! Hoy!” Shouted the pissed officer. Too late, we were already far away.

Irish girl’s POV

“Irish girl!” May tumawag ba sakin? I turned around. Unang una kong nakita ang poging lalaki na tila nakatingin din saken.

“Your wallet.” He said handing me a pink thingy. Tinanggal ko earphones ko. He looked so tired, hinihingal pa. I realized wala nga yung wallet ko. Must have dropped it… again.

“Oh my God! Thank you po!” I said at nilapitan ko sya. He was even more gorgeous.

Pagkakuha ko nung wallet, may narinig akong pito.. I turned to see where it came from. Oh no MMDA. Jaywalking kami.

“Ate, kuya wag kayong mag PBB Teens sa gitna ng kalsada!” sigaw nya at naglabas na ng ticket.

“Tara na!!”  Hinawakan ko yung braso nya at hinila ko sya.

“Hoy! Hoy!” Sigaw ki kuya MMDA. Buti nakalayo na kami.

Tumigil na kami, parehong hinihingal. (A/N: amberde ng line na to ah haha!).

“Why the hell did you drag me here?!” Sabi nya. May accent, foreigner ata. He took off his glasses. Hohemgeeee! Ampogipogipogipogipogipogipogi! Blue eyes pa! Foreigner nga ata! Mauubos ata ang English ko dito ngayon, konti lang nabaon ko.

“Sorry. He was gonna charge us tickets for jaywalking.” Wehehe, best in english din naman ako nung high school.

“Ugh. Look what you caused me. I’m already late for class.”  He said grumpily. Kung tutuusin nalibre na sya 200pesos na sisingilin dapat ni Kuya MMDA. At kung tutuusin wala dapat sya dito kundi ko sya kinaladkad… kundi nyako sinundan… kundi nya sinoli yung wallet ko… Aish ok fine it was all my fault.

“Sorry. Do you wanna have some coffee or something? It’s on me. It’s the least I could do to return the favor.” I said with a pouty face. He just rolled his eyes… did I mention they’re blue? And started walking away.

“Napakasuplado naman ng lalaking to! Ikaw na nga ang ililibre ayaw mo pa! Gwapo ka sana kundi ka lang suplado! Porke blue yang mata mo iirap irap ka saken? Ha? Ha? Ha?” Tapos bigla syang lumingon sakin. Hohemgeeee! Narinig nya kaya? Or worse, naintindihan nya?? He looked at his watch, looked at me, smirked then naglakad na ulit papalayo. Whew. That was close. Naglakad na rin ako opposite ng direction nya. Then I saw some familiar faces. Nak ng… Sa lahat ba naman ng makakasalubong ko sila pa?! Ganun nab a talaga kasmall ang world??

“Irish!” Sabi sakin nung lalaki. Shit nakita nila ako. What to do? What to do?? I turned away at nakita ko yung supladong lalaking pogi. Did I mention his eyes were blue? Haha. Then. Ding! Lightbulb! I thought of the craziest idea ever. Nilapitan ko si supladong pogi I grabbed his hand and said:

“Could you please pretend you’re my boyfriend just for five minutes? Please? Please? Please? Please? My ex is coming this way with her girlfriend which was my best friend.” There goes nothing. He was just looking down at me with a grumpy dead stare. Hindi ako bansot, matangkad lang talaga sya.

“Irish!” Tinawag na naman ako. Lumapit silang dalawa sa amin ni supladong pogi.

“Garett. Leah. Kayo pala, I didn’t see you there.” I said awkwardly.

“To naman, kanina ka pa namin tinatawag.” Sabi ng bruha este nung babae. She looked at my hand still intertwined with supladong pogi’s.

“Who’s your company?” tanong naman ni Garett.

“Oh this is supla… I mean.. errr… He’s uhh…” leshe diko pala alam name ni supladong pogi. Then bigla nyang binitiwan kamay ko. I guess this is it. I am soooo sooooo sooooo dead!  I knew it wouldn’t work. Goodbye pride… Goodbye dignity… Hello big embarrassment. Can I just die now? Lord, kunin mo na po ako!!! Yumuko na lang ako. Then I felt a weight on my shoulder. Lord ikaw na ba yan? Kinukuha mo na ba talaga ako? Lord pwedend joke lang yun?