Distance Is Just A Number [Taglish]

Chapter 3

"What did you get me?"

"Nope. Not going to say it and I'm not going to ruin the surprise."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

"Are you in school right now? I hope I didn't call at a bad time. So far, this is the only free time I'm going to get and I wanted to talk to you."

"Yes I'm at school but we're watching a game right now. Mike's playing."

I heard him sigh. When he spoke again, nawala na yung cheerfulness and the flat tone was back in its place. "Wish him luck for me."

Mike didn't like Reeve. We've established that. But I forgot to say that the feeling was mutual. Reeve also didn't like Mike. Hindi naman niya sinabi directly but I can really feel it. At nagseselos din naman si Mike sa kanya so parang quits lang sila.

"Okay," I replied. Then, there was that awkward silence.

Three weeks kaming hindi nag-usap. Dapat madami akong kwento, right? Pero hindi eh. Kahit na sobrang tagal na naming ginagawa to, andun pa din minsan yung awkward feeling. Malayo kasi si Reeve and I haven't seen him for a really long time.

Then we had these rules:

1. No Skype and no adding each other on Facebook or other social media sites so we won't see pics. Naniniwala kasi kami na we'll see each other again soon and we wanted that moment to be special.

2. As much as possible, no secrets.

Tuwing kausap ko si Reeve, in my mind's eye, I see the boy he once was. Madami kaming pictures before and all of it was posted by the wall near my bed. Yun ang huling time na nakita ko siya and hanggang ngayon yun pa din ang naiisip ko. Weird.

Pero several times, I found myself thinking na kung ano na kaya ang itsura niya ngayon? Sigurado ako na ang gwapo niya. Mestizo eh. Half british, ¼ Spanish tapos ¼ Filipino? Eh sigurado talagang gwapo yun.

One time pa nga, hindi ko napigilan sarili ko and I searched for him on Facebook. It was against the rules but I didn't care. Sobrang nacurious ako when he told me that a lot of girls were chasing him. Matagal na yun and I was just curious.

So I opened Facebook and hit search.

Reeve Taylor—no search results found.

Ugh, kakainis. It's either he used another name or he was one of those guys na walang Facebook. Dito lang naman ata sa Philippines super addicted ang mga tao sa Social Media sites.

The silence stretched on...

My friend Ellie took that as a cue to speak. She leaned forward near the phone. "Stop crying because of Mike, Drei!" she shouted. Her eyes flashed with triumph.

I pressed mute sa phone. "Ellie!"

She just smiled and shrugged. MC and Aubrey both raised their hands and gave Ellie two-thumbs up.

I removed my hand and heard Reeve's sharp intake of breath. "What did he do now?" tanong niya. "Nothing."

Hindi naman problema ni Reeve si Mike eh. Problema ko yun kasi boyfriend ko siya. And lalo lang hindi magugustuhan ni Reeve si Mike if all I tell him are our problems kasi kailangan ko ng makikinig at listening ear kung san ako pwedeng magvent.

But Reeve was the kind of guy who wanted to solve everything. Hindi siya kuntento na making lang. For sure, tatawagan nun si Mike tapos gulo nanaman.

Hay. Ang sakit lang sa ulo.

"Drei. Spit it out."

Well, here goes. Huminga muna ako ng malalim. When Reeve has his mind set on something, he doesn't stop until he gets what he wants.