21
Humming a Bob Dylan song, Alyssa stepped inside the room to change into her night clothes.
Dennise was already in the bed with a book in her hands. Her eyebrows were meeting each other in the middle, making Alyssa smile at her.
"Can't sleep without me?" Alyssa teased as she brushed her hair in front of the mirror. Dennise leafed through the book and made no reply. "I don't think the lamp is helping your eyes, hon."
Once done, Alyssa joined Dennise in the bed. She turned the television on and kept it at low volume. She glanced at her girlfriend then at the page she was reading before she tucked her loose hair behind her ear.
Without paying back any sort of attention, Dennise turned to the next page. This raised Alyssa's suspicion as usually, Dennise would bring the book down to cuddle and ask Alyssa about her day. Specially that Dennise just got back from her two-day absence as she attended her cousin's wedding in Singapore.
Shrugging her shoulders, Alyssa casually had her arm wrapped around her waist. If Dennise would not cuddle with her then she thought, she would have to do it. Alyssa pressed her lips against her neck while her hand ran up and down inside Den's shirt.
"Ly, ano ba?" Dennise wriggled out of her hold. She was about to turn her back against her when Alyssa refrained her from doing so. "Matulog ka na nga."
"Hon?"
"Baka you meant babe?!"
"What?" Alyssa, in her confusion, squinted her eyes.
"Where were you the other night?"
"BGC. I told you about it, didn't I?"
"Check your call logs, Valdez and tell me what happened back in BGC."
"What? What could have happened? I went home early!" Alyssa explained. She reached for her phone from the nightstand and tried to figure out why, after almost six months of being together, did Dennise access her phone without her asking for permission. Not that she was keeping something from her. It was only that she knew they trust each other so much to value privacy. "I didn't know we now could rummage through our phones."
"I wouldn't have done that if someone wasn't so eager to call you! Nakita mo na ba?"
"Ang ano-"
"Yang babe nang babe jan!"
And right then, an unregistered number popped.
[Babe, I think your girlfriend answered the call kanina?]
"What? Sino 'to?"
"Yes, Alyssa. Sino 'yan?!" Now, she was mad. Dennise crossed her arms against her chest and gave Alyssa a cold stare. Her red face looked like it would breathe out fire right into Alyssa.
"Hindi ko alam!" Alyssa denied. She scanned the digits and made no recollection of the number combination and she was sure she never gave anyone her number nor did she have someone calling her babe. "Baka wrong sent?"
"Wrong sent?! She called you by your name when I answered the call!!!"
"Then you shouldn't have answered the call!"
"It could be an emergency! I didn't know it was just your girl!" Dennise shouted and threw the comforter over her head. "Nawala lang ako ng dalawang araw!"
"Hon, come on. Hindi ko siya kilala. It could be a coincidence!"
"Paano ako maniniwala sa'yo? You've done it once! In Cebu!"
