She narrows her gaze. "Sobrang specific solution naman nyan.. But it might work. What, are you volunteering?"
"Well.. mukhang wala ka namang ibang ka-close.. Aray!" Leni rubbed her knee that Risa kicked under the table, "That was a joke, kailangan bang manipa?"
Risa waves Leni off, biting her lip as she contemplates how well this idea could work. "Okay," she nods slowly. "He would definitely back off if it were you nga. Tapos we even still have a lot of people who still ship us after the campaign.." Risa dramatically pauses, "Hashtag LenRisa!"
Leni annoyingly rolled her eyes at Risa's adorable attempt to copy her voice when she read that particular placard during their last campaign.
"So let's say nga na we do this. What are we going to tell everyone on the team?" Risa asked.
"I think si Dean Chel 'yung pinaka mahirap i-convince," Leni decides and Risa nods in agreement. Pulling one over on their closest friend would require some skill.
"We could just let him and everyone else in on it? Sounds good?"
"Kung malalaman niya that everyone knows, he'll be even more upset. Bata eh, maramdamin pa." Leni points out. "Plus for sure, madudulas pa agad si Teddy kapag sinabi natin sakanila 'yung plano. Alam mo naman 'yun, isang beer lang ang katapat, madaldal na."
"True. Okay, so pwede nating sabihin na we've been dating casually for a while. Like it started in the middle of the campaign last year. Tapos we just didn't want to jinx it by sharing it too soon plus the fact na we were busy campaigning nga. And then, we," she begins crafting the story, urging Leni to chime in. "We..." Risa raises her eyebrows as she talks.
"...and we were tired of hiding it so we thought we'd tell everyone at the same time?"
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2: the practice date
"Ohmygod, Ma! Sineryoso nyo 'yung LenRisa thing?" Ianna says after Risa gets home and anxiously shares the plan. "It could blow up in your face and get other people hurt. Especially Atty. and you."
"How could Leni get hurt? How could I get hurt? Hindi ko gets." Risa asks, baffled. When her daughter doesn't answer, she continues, "Besides, this was Leni's idea naman."
"Let's start with the fact that Atty. Leni came up with it and you're not even questioning why is only one of the many issues here. I love you, Ma, but you can really be dense minsan." Her daughter remains unconvinced but lets it go.
"Okay, so say you can get through this without anyone finding out or getting hurt. Pero how are you two going to suddenly pretend you've been dating for months?"
"We have a practice date this weekend before the team's get together trip. Plus, Leni and I are close naman since then. It's a normal thing for us to go out together."
"A practice date? Kaninong idea this time?"
"Mine. Why?"
Ianna shakes her head slowly. "Mother.. Gets ko na you don't realize this now, but you're really doomed."
Risa would be lying if she claimed she had never wondered what dating Leni would be like. She figured it was normal to, at least once, hypothetically think about dating a good friend. Being both women wasn't even an issue for them because well, both of them are allies of the LGBT and do their best to protect LGBT rights.
Risa had met Leni at one of the Liberal Party's gathering way back in 2013, and the then congresswoman has been hard to get to know initially and had seemed a little too stoic. But after a linked project that they had been forced to work on, they bonded over it and became fast friends.
can this be a real thing? can it?
Start from the beginning
