Even before he played the last notes of his musical piece, everyone were already on their toes applausing for his breathtaking rendition of one of Beethoven's musical piece. As he ended and bowed everyone gave a loud cheer.
"Go Blake!" sigaw ng isang niyang kaklase.
We were in a school charity concert event, and Blake was one of the performers. As the clapping died down Blake grabed a mic stand and fixed it for his use for his next song.
"Hi guys, so this next piece is not actually an instrumental piece. It's a song I wrote, a song dedicated to the girl I like." he said and looked into our direction.
But if I were someone who didn't know what he was trying to do I would be flattered cause he was looking at my direction. But I knew it wasn't for me. It was for the girl beside me, the girl he admired, the girl who makes him happy, the girl he is trying to woo, and the girl who is my best friend.
"Cath, ayie kakantahan ka daw niya oh." I told her though she knew that it was for her.
"Psh, eh bat mo ba naman kasi sinabi na gusto kong maharana kahit hindi naman." she said and rolled her eyes. I was his bridge to her, I would help him come up with ideas to on how to woo her.
"Eh totoo naman diba"
"Totoo nga pero hindi galing sakanya gusto ko galing kay Josh"
"Aynako, bahala ka nga, ang gulo din kasi ni Josh eh kala mo may gusto sayo tapos biglang magiging cold. Dyan ka nalang kay Blake, matino naman siya eh." I said not waiting for a response and just closed my eyes trying to bring to heart the song.
As he started singing the words to his song my heart started to flutter. It felt as if those words weren't for her instead it was for me. It felt like he was singing it to me instead of her. It was like he was just singing it for me.
But the thought was pathetic as I was. I was pathetic for liking him the first time I saw him. I was pathetic for helping him woo my best friend. I was pathetic to be he's using to get to my best friend. I was pathetic in believing that if I stick by him maybe one day, just one day he would fall for me. I was pathetic hoping that when he called me a sister from another mother I was special to him. I was pathetic cause no one knew or even notices about how I felt for him. I was basically pathetic in all aspects when it comes to him, but what can I do?
As Blake ended his performance hindi ko manlang napansin na tumutulo na pala ang mga luha ko.
"Huy, Kia! umiiyak ka ba?" tanong sakin ni Cath nung napatingin siya sa gawi ko
"Ah, hindi wala lang to, napuwing lang." I replied wiping the tears from the side of my face.
"Ah, Okay kala ko kasi kung ano na nangyari sayo't napaiyak ka dyan" she said and just continued on watching the performances.
--
Maaga natapos ang event at wala na ding school works na kailangan tapusin. Kaya ngayon magkasama kami ni Blake kasi wala daw siyang magawa at gusto niya ulit mag-isip ng susunod nagagawin para kay Cath.
"Ano nga Kia? Do you think she liked it?" tanong saakin Blake while slowly swinging the swing he was on.
We're neighbors, our parents are friends, our brothers are best friend and here we are in the village park talking about Cath. Though with our circumstances we were never close but now that he wanted help with Cath we became close. I don't know if I should thank Cath or not cause when we became close I had spent more time with him or not thank her cause everytime he would ask for help he would thank me for being a good sister from a different mother.
"Ha? Sorry? Ano 'yon?"I said when he started to throw tiny rocks at my feet.
"Kia, anobayan kanina ka pa lutang. Ang sabi ko sa tingin mo ba nagustohan ni Cath ung kinanta ko para sakanya kanina..." sabi niya sabay ng konti niyang pagbatok sakin.
"Aray ko ha.." sabi ko sakanya sabay batok din
"Ano nga sabi niya?Maganda daw ba?"he said so excited with the answer I'll give him
"Eh, hindi ko naman na siya tinanong eh, malay ko ba. I answered which made the expression in his face change "But para sa akin it was nice. I'm pretty sure she liked it even just one bit." I said which made him smile a bit
"Okay, good enough. Tara punta tayo dun sa Ministop kain tayo!" He said as he stood up and it made my heart flutter a bit and I had no idea why. Maybe because for the two months I've been helping him it's the first time we were actually gonna go somewhere besides the park.
--
"Blake, bakit sakin ka humingi ng tulong para suyuin si Cath? Eh madami ka namang kaibigan na babae na mas magaling mag-isip ng surprises." I asked when I found the silence akward during our walk to Ministop.
"Hmm, bakit nga ba?" he asked himself "Maybe because you were her best friend, but not only that. Yeah, my other friends could've helped me it's just that I wanted to be close to you cause our brothers have been best friends from the time you moved here, which has been for 5 years but we only talked when we needed to." He made my heart flutter again could it be that there was a small chance if Blake liking me but, of course not, he was dead serious about his feelings for Cath so it was impossible.
"Yeah, true enough. But why weren't we talking before?" I said trying to remember the reason why we never got close before.
"It's cause you were too quiet that everytime I would talk to you, you'd just give a short answer" I just nodded in agreement and he chuckled remembering the way I was before we were even close. During those times he talked to me before, I already had a crush on him and I thought that if I talked to him I might just give it away that I liked him. Until now though I was still scared that it might show but hey why not give it a chance and here we are now.
--
"Bat mo nga ba ako nililibre?kakaiba ka ngayon ha, anong nakain mo?" I said and took a bite on the sandwich he bought for me.
"Eh kasi you've been helping me. Parang pa-thank you ko na ganon." I nodded satisfied with what he said and we just continued eating.
We were silent for a few minutes just enjoying the food we were eating.
"So Kia, do you think malapit na?" he asked as he finished the last bite of his sandwich
"Malapit na what?" I asked puzzled
"Malapit nang magkagusto si Cath sakin" I shrugged cause I didn't know, all I know is that Cath only has eyes on Josh. My response made his mood change he now looked like he was really problematic.
"Why don't you just stop?" I mumbled just enough for him to hear
"Why should I?" He said in a baffled tone
"Kasi Cath dumped you for countless of times and I know that she won't stop until you stop, at masasaktan ka lang din." I said carefully cause I didn't wanna make him mad, after what I said he just stayed silent
"Blake, we both know how much Cath likes Josh and with her stories about him I can already tell that she's fallen deep and he's starting to fall for her too." I told him giving him reasons to back down. But he was still silent.
"Sa una palang naman alam kong masasaktan ako kapag ginawa ko 'to eh. Alam ko naman na malabo na yung pag asa ko kay Cath pero kahit anong pangsusuyo ang ginawa ko bakit parang hindi talaga nagiiba." he said looking down not trying to show the sadness in his eyes.
I placed my on his shoulder to comfort him and with that he looked at me and asked "Do you think it's time for me to move on and love someone else instead?"
His question left me dumbfounded and I only managed to give him an encouraging smile and a short reply "Maybe it is." But in my mind I wanted to tell him "Give me a chance and love me instead."
