My Best Friend's Girlfriend

4

"May pupuntahan ka bang iba today?" tanong sa kanya ni Thirdy pagkaabot nung drink sa kanya.

Bea contemplates about saying that she has other plans and that she should go already but she just shakes her head no. "Wala naman. Why?"

"Gusto ko lang kasi makipag usap."

Kinabahan naman agad si Bea. Shit. Mukhang sinabi nga talaga ni Jhoana kay Thirdy yung nangyari before.

Eh ano naman kung sinabi sa kanya? Siya naman kasi talaga yung unang nakakita kay Jhoana. She doesn't owe Thirdy any explanation kung nahalikan na ni Bea yung girlfriend niya.

"What do you want to talk about?" inosente niyang tanong.

Thirdy sighs deeply and looks at her directly in the eye. "May problema ba tayo? You've been avoiding me ever since the party. You don't even answer my calls or my texts. Have I done something to upset you?"

Nagulat si Bea sa tanong na yun at medyo relieved din ng konti dahil iba yung inaasahan niyang sasabihin sa kanya ng best friend niya.

"You didn't do anything, bro." she answers, "Busy lang talaga ako these past few days. I'm sorry if I didn't get to call you back or reply to your messages."

"So walang kinalaman si Jho sa pag-iwas mo sakin?"

The question is asked so innocently yet it causes shockwaves of worry to spread through Bea's body.

"Bakit naman nasali yung girlfriend mo?"

Aware si Bea na medyo may pagka bitter yung pagkakasabi niya ng 'girlfriend mo'. Sana lang hindi napansin yun ni Thirdy.

"I don't know, bro. Maybe because you haven't spoken to me since you two met? Hindi mo ba siya nagustuhan? Alam ko masungit siya sa unang tingin but I assure you, she's one of the nicest and sweetest people I know."

Bea wants to snort at that. She wants to laugh at the irony of Thirdy's assumptions.

"I don't even know her. Why would I have a problem with her?"

Hindi naman yun pagsisinungaling. Hindi naman kasi niya talaga ganun kakilala si Jhoana. Maybe she just omitted the part where she met her at a club one night and they kissed.

And the part where she's the girl she had been looking for months and gave up then eventually found out that she's now the girlfriend of her best friend.

"Eh kung ganun wala siguro tayo magiging problema kung sasama ka samin kumain sa labas?" Thirdy suggests, looking hopeful. "Para naman magkakilala na kayong dalawa ng mabuti."

"I don't know, Thirds. I'll be busy kasi in the next few days."

The last thing that she wants right now is to go on a date with Thirdy and Jhoana together.

She sees Thirdy rolling his eyes at her excuse. "Yung totoo, bro? Parang nung nakaraan lang ikaw pa yung gustong gusto makilala na si Jho ah? Kikilatisin mo pa siya, remember? Anong nangyari?"

This is the problem with her and Thirdy being best friends since high school. Kabisado na kasi niya kung kailan nagsasabi ng totoo si Bea at kung kailan hindi. Nahihirapan siya tuloy minsan magtago ng sikreto kay Thirdy.