Once Upon A Player

Chapter 2: Date with the Balikbayan

If Val had her way, she would just dress down to a plain tee and shorts for the blind date. But since she’d be going to the birthday bash at the bar after, she had no choice but to dress her best.

While riding a cab to the date, she realized that she didn’t know anything about Dessa’s cousin apart from the fact that he was a balikbayan. She didn’t even bother to ask how he looked like because—what was the point, anyway? 

When it came to dating, Val had an iron-cast rule: No blind dates. She wanted to at least see the guy before giving him a piece of her valuable time, thank you very much.  Seeing the guy meant scrutinizing him in the flesh, not in some Facebook photo that showcases his best angle in the most flattering lighting, made to pass him off as some celebrity look-alike.

But obviously, the rule was about to be broken. It was just last week when she finally gave in to Dessa’s pestering while hanging out in between classes in their favorite bench along the hallway right across the cafeteria.

Dessa was going all out with her powers of persuasion, her voice getting more high-pitched with each sentence. “He saw our picture on my phone and I swear it was love”— she paused when she saw Val roll her eyes—“okay, like at first sight. He’s been an avid volleyball fan since, and he never misses a single game we’re in.”

“Forget it, Dess.” Kat didn’t even look up as she tapped and swiped on her iPad. “Blind dates are beneath Val.”

Dessa shook her head vehemently. “You shouldn’t think that, Val. Some of the greatest love stories on the planet were built on blind dates.”

“Such as?” Val studied her manicure, which were getting a bit chipped at the edges. Time for another salon trip, she noted mentally.

There was a lengthy silence as Dessa pondered. Finally, she let out a sigh. “Okay, I can’t think of one right now, but Val, he’s a decent guy, I promise.”

From her manicure, Val had moved on to studying her toenails.

“No dice, Dess.” Kat grinned.

Dessa got up and started pacing up and down in front of them. After a minute, she finally sat down on the bench. “Well, if you’re going to be this difficult, I’m using the BFF card.”

Val’s head jerked up, her eyes narrowing. “You wouldn’t.”

“What’s a BFF thingee?” Kat looked puzzled. Unlike Dessa and Val, she was still in her junior year, and had transferred to the University of Saint Francis only that year, which meant she wasn’t yet privy to the mechanics of Val and Dessa’s long friendship.

It was Dessa’s turn to grin. “I just did.”

Val moaned, and started stomping her feet in mock-tantrum. She was wearing wedges, which made a terrific racket on the concrete. People started looking their way. Some smiled while staring, as if wanting to be let in on the joke. Others whispered among themselves. Val couldn’t care less what people thought of her. The BFF card was irrevocable, and she had no way out.

The deal had started when she and Dessa were on their third month of being best buds—an alliance that started during their Freshman Orientation Seminar, where the entire batch was herded like sheep by the upperclassmen as they toured the university facilities.

It had taken Val extreme willpower not to gape at the school’s sprawling grounds, which was about a hundred times bigger than her high school. It had taken even greater effort not to stare at her batchmates, who looked like they had stepped out of fashion magazines.

Val looked down at her own outfit, which suddenly looked pretentious though she had planned it for weeks. Her blue, stretchy shirt had the words Calvin Klein studded in silver beads right across the chest—a hand-me-down from a cousin abroad. She had paired it with a pair of dark skinny jeans—the one that she wore sparingly so as not to wear it out. The jeans were okay, but the shirt—oh, the shirt—was the dead giveaway that she was not one of them.