Loving Luch

Part 20

JUSTINE

I was 20 mins early for my shift today, not that it's unusual for me to be early, but I had this surreal kind of feeling. I was like floating, but alam ko naman ang ginagawa ko, I just can't put all my thoughts to what I'm doing, because most of it lingered on Luch. Just thinking about her sends me tingling kinds of sensation, more like big butterflies in my stomach.

I burst out from our quarters to our assigned station feeling all giddy. I saw Annie immediately and beamed at her.

J:

"Good Morning Girl"

A:

"Morning J"

Annie gave me that quizzical look. Something tells me, she's about to throw me series of questions. 

Annie is half Filipina and half Australian, born to an Aussie mom and Filipino dad. She was basically the only one I was close with, siguro kasi Pinoy din siya. Ganun kasi tayo pag sa ibang bansa. We tend to find someone na meron tayong common denominator or just someone that can relate to us.

At siyempre bago pa ako dito, wala pa akong gaanong nakakabond or nakakasama. Annie was always paired with me in our work shifts and in the past months we've been working together, we've gotten pretty close.

A:

"Hmm. This is the first time"

She stared at me for a good minute before she went scribbling into her chart again.

I raised an eyebrow at her while filling in gauze rolls.

J:

"Anong first time?"

A:

"Well"

She put down her pen and crossed her arms leaning at the counter.

A:

"That look on your face. Ngayon ko lang yan nakita."

Is it that obvious? Am I giving too much away with the look on my face?

I acted oblivious on what she's talking about.

J:

"What look, Annie?"

She moved closer to me and eyed me.

A:

"J, you're not good at lying you know that right?"

I did not answer but instead gave her a smile.

A:

"See?"

I giggled and batted my eyelashes at her filing in the last divider of gauze rolls. She gave me a sly smirk then.

A:

"Well anyway, hindi ko nakita yan noong dumating si Leo dito. So I assume he's not the reason behind that glow"

I sighed heavily as the thought of Leo sank into my mind. It was like the ray of sunshine I had earlier was over shadowed by a dark and terrifying grim. Suddenly the images of him, fury painted on his face flashed into my thoughts. I can almost feel the tightening grip he had on my wrist. His eyes were dark and hooded. He was screaming at me and I was so scared. I thought about the things he had told me and the one thing that struck into mind was when he said about eliminating other options.

And then suddenly I thought about Luch. I felt my stomach curl and instantly, I grew anxious. I felt the air escaped in my lungs and for a moment it was hard to breathe.