Blog # 8:
“Milktea Buddy”
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I met him one rainy Friday night.
I was already sophomore in college, and unlike the previous semester, I was hanging out alone starting my sophomore year.
Nag-shift ako ng course—from Financial Management to Mass Communication, major in Journalism. Ang layo, ano? To think na sa pagkakaalam ko eh wala akong talent sa pagsusulat. And to think na ako lang ang nag-iisang Cheng to date na kumuha ng MassComm, major in Journalism. And because I shifted from another course to another, medyo hindi na kami nagkakasama ng mga kaibigan kong lalake. Sobrang magkakaiba na ang mga schedules namin, and even our activities were keeping us busy enough kaya madalang na talaga kaming magkita-kita. Though we hang-out from time to time naman.
Like I said, it was a rainy Friday. I just came from an org’s meeting. May klase pa ako later in the afternoon, and the best way to kill time was to hang-out inside my favorite milktea shop sa tabi ng university. Puno na ang shop, but I managed to find a spot near the window. Maliit lang ang table and it had two chairs.
Habang naghihintay ng oras, I tried punching on the keys of my laptop. Not a story or anything. I didn’t even have a topic. Wala lang. Kung anu-ano lang ang tina-type ko. Musings, thoughts, poetry… kahit ano. Ewan ko ba. Hindi ko talaga alam kung bakit ako nag-shift sa Journalism gayong sa pagkakaalam ko eh wala naman akong talent sa pagsusulat. I was lucky enough that some of my subjects from my previous course got credited to my new course kaya kaunti na lang ang kinailangan kong habulin noong summer. And finally, nitong sophomore year ko eh regular na kaagad ang subjects ko at pang-sophomore na talaga.
I kept punching on the keyboard until I lost track of time. I had cussed then under my breath kasi nakalimutan kong may klase pa nga pala ako that afternoon! If it weren’t for my cousin’s text message na na-postpone ang classes, baka nag-panic na ako sagad.
Sobrang lakas ng ulan, at dahil nga hindi ko namalayan ang oras, saka ko lang napansing pagabi na. Wait, hindi lang pala pagabi. Gabi na pala. And just like me, wala yatang balak umalis ang mga regular tambays ng milktea shop kaya crowded pa rin sa loob.
Dahil ayoko pang umuwi that time o sumugod sa ulan, I decided to stay in that milktea shop until the rain calmed down. I got my second order of large wintermelon milktea, and this time, I ordered a red velvet cake and bought a bag of chips.
I stared at the screen of my laptop, determined to produce at least one short story. It wasn’t that wala akong naiisip na isulat or anything. In fact, sa sobrang dami kong naiisip na isulat, I would usually end up not able to write anything at all. In the end, wala akong napo-produce na single manuscript o natatapos na kahit isang article. It seemed like all of my pieces had prologues only. Suwerte ko nga kung umabot pa iyon ng gitna, pero panigurado, walang mga epilogue iyon. Ewan ko. Maybe I just sucked at endings. Maybe I just didn’t know how to end things.
As I stared at the screen of my laptop, I noticed a guy approaching me. Or maybe assumera lang talaga ako at akala ko eh ako ang nilalapitan. Pero ang table ko ang nasa dulo ng shop eh, so unless makikitingin lang siya sa window, ako nga ang lalapitan niya.
When he got closer, he spoke. “May I share a table with you?”
“Sure,” I said, shrugging. It was a typical gesture inside that milktea shop, anyway—strangers sharing tables.
I was about to return staring at the screen of my laptop when I got curious kung anong hitsura ng lalakeng naki-share sa table ko. Not that I cared, pero na-curious lang talaga ako. Aba, ikaw ba eh hindi maku-curious kung tao o alien ang naki-share sa table mo? What if alien pala at bigla kang i-abduct, right? So naturally, I was curious.
