HAIL MARY

THE LONG WALK
Here's the deal: it's 7am, and I need to get some medical forms from PhilHealth so that I wouldn't have to pay for humongous hospital bills by the time my sister gives birth to my niece, and you have to wait for two hours until Megamall opens for you to get those frames you ordered. So come with me to PhilHealth while I get those stuff and I'll accompany you for the remaining hours until Megamall opens. That way we escape hours of boredom and we have a nice excuse why we just wanted to spend time with each other, even if we just met two days ago.

Going to the health office was not a problem; the cab driver was all to glad to take us to a place where there's no traffic going there, and was even more glad that we overpaid him by 20 pesos. And in an hour's time I was done with my paperwork. So where do we spend the next hour while we wait until Megamall opens?

Going to the health office was one thing: going to Megamall from the health office was another thing. Some gigantic delivery truck made a wrong turn and is now stuck, blocking more than half of the avenue. Cab drivers aren't going to take us anywhere and all jeepneys are taking a u-turn or are too cramped anyway. I forgot who suggested that we walk all the way to Megamall, but that was how we killed the next hour, by walking a few kilometers to Megamall. Not bad for a first date.


THE BUS
So we boarded the green G-Liner from Ortigas on the way to UST. Luckily the bus wasn’t crowded so we found ourselves two comfortable seats without leaving each other’s company. We just got off our night shift call center work and we were up all night so no one can blame us if we didn’t look as fresh as everybody on board that morning. After paying for the tickets I asked if you were alright. In your angelic voice you said you were, even if your eyes screamed sleep underneath your mascara. I never liked girls with mascara, but yours seemed alright. I told you to lean back and rest for a while, since the traffic isn’t gonna bring us to school soon. With your eyes closed you said yes to whatever I was saying, and four seconds later your breathing became heavy. Just maybe two notches below the snoring level. I put my arm around you to help you lay back on the seat. You responded by snuggling up and putting your head on my shoulder. Your head fit perfectly on it so I didn’t mind. I tried to look for a curtain to shield your eyes from the sunlight from the window found none. It was then I noticed how wonderful the effect was when the light touches your face. When streaks of yellow pass by your cheeks and your hair gets a shade of gold. I cannot remember whether there was music in the bus or if the cars in the traffic were honking or whether the teenagers behind us were laughing or crying. In that moment, everything was replaced by silence.


AT THE PARK
When you said that you wanted to go somewhere to drink after work, I didn’t expect you’d take me all the way to Antipolo. Moreover, after getting off the FX in Antipolo and asking directions for a drinking place from a tricycle driver, I didn’t imagine he’d take us to Hinulugang Taktak. Legend tells us about a pretty lass finding her beloved with another girl here, by the waterfalls, and all hell broke loose. The fact that before I started seeing you the girl I was with lived nearby made us both a little paranoid. It was there by the bridge when you said that you now understood why she (the girl I used to be with) didn’t want me to see other girls even if she was committed to somebody else already. It was then when you told me that you realized why she didn’t eat her lunch and just wrecked the styro of her chickenjoy after seeing us eat lunch together. And it was there where you said that you’re just thankful that you’ve found someone like me. We both realized that we were on the verge of getting over past experiences, and starting fresh together was something we’ve thanked God for. So we celebrated our togetherness that morning. By the bridge under the morning sun I first held you in my arms, and it was the waterfalls where we danced and I swept you off your feet – literally. We just danced by the waterfalls and laughed at what we were doing. We feasted upon alcohol and we hugged and cried and danced and laughed together all over the place. And just as we were about to leave, I saw a wrecked chickenjoy styro by the dumpster.


THE POOL
Okay, so I barely know how to swim. I never made one straight lap in my whole life. And you just had to show everyone that you took formal swimming lessons in Brunei or in Mindanao or in another one of those Muslim places you’ve been to, as you’ve been to a lot of them. Later as we leaned on the side of the pool you told me that you’ve been through a lot and that you just wanted all your troubles to go away. And you tried to do it, there and then. For twelve seconds at least you tried to make them go away. Then you surfaced, panting, gasping for air. That was the closest thing that I’ve seen you try to take your life away. And your troubles with you. I was caught up between two things that I wanted to do with you: either laugh at what you did until the sun sets or hit the back of your head with a water bottle first then laugh at what you did until the sun sets. But instead I just hugged you. I just hugged you and told you that shit happens, but everything will be alright. I just told you that you’re gonna get through it, and I’m not leaving you no matter what. I just told you that whether we end up together or not, I’m gonna stick by your side. And I just hugged you until the sun set.


OUTSIDE THE HOUSE
Telling me after you got off the phone with your mom that your ex waited for you several hours earlier at home on our first overnight at your friend’s place wasn’t encouraging at all. So during the time that we were waiting for the pizza delivery guy to come I decided to read a newspaper and leave you to entertain either the wall or the pretty vase from Middle East. When Aiza asked what else I ordered besides bacon cheeseburger, I said Hawaiian. When you asked me if I was angry, I looked at Ricky Lo’s picture. Then you pulled me away from the article about Bea Alonzo and took me to the porch outside. So this is how Cavite is on a weekend night, I said to myself. No tambays by the sari sari store, no one driving around with loudspeakers playing hiphop music, no kids cursing the hell out of each other over who’s taya. You opened the gate outside to see if anybody was walking around and it was then I told you that it was ok; that I was just playing. And you responded by giving me a kiss – a smack first, then you just let your lips stick to mine, then slowly sucked my tongue and let it play with yours. Just when I was getting the hang of it you suddenly pulled yourself away from me and said, “Now this is definitely going somewhere…”