001 (Ivan's POV)
"Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs."
~Romeo and Juliet; Shakespeare
June 12, 2011
"My stomach's hungry." Dan says as we both sat on the side walk waiting for another gullible soul to be victimized by our mischief.
"Two more minutes." I glanced irritably at him. "If John's still not here then he's gonna buy us some snacks."
Dan's aggravated scowl then turns into a bright smile. I look up to see John running our way. We both stood up as he got to us.
"Got her number." John says as he shows us his victim's number on his phone.
Dan and I looked across the street to see John's latest victim wave goodbye at him and signals for him to call her later.
"Oooh. Touché." Dan elbows him.
"I know right." John says with a triumphant smile. Then they both turned to me.
Crap.
"Your turn baby boy!" Dan says, a devilish smile crosses his smug face.
"You don't have to remind me." I shove pass him. "And don't call me baby boy."
Dan Green and John Brown. Two of my naughtiest assailants, I mean two of my notorious best friends who resides under my command. Nevertheless they are most notable for their surnames. The two might have been switched at birth for having misplaced names on two famous writers in the world. If you're not dumb enough to know, just switch their surnames and you'll find out which authors.
Oh well, right now we are in the league of our game. It's actually one of our just for fun games aka if-you-don't-get-a-number-then-buy-us-some-snacks game. It's a traditional game that started eons ago where you will have to snatch a girl's number in the spun of five minutes. Failure to meet the expected time limit without the girl's number will result to automatic game over. And as punishment, the loser's credit card will be use to buy the unlimited snacks of the day. The rule of the game is not to expose the content to the girl. Since it was a smashing huge success, the three bastards (our trio's name), decided to make it a ritual habit every Friday afternoons.
Dan's done. John's done. Now it's my turn.
"Whoa look at that chick!" John says as he lets out a sweet call across the street to a girl in a mini skirt. She turns and gives us a flirtatious look.
Dan pokes at him. "Ivan can't have all the good looking chicks! That would be unfair! Last time I had Shrek's fraternal twin sister!"
I laughed at his face. "Snooze you lose! If you give me the uglier ones it'll be easier to snatch their number." I made a handsome remark with my hand at him. "Look at this face. It's a face carved in heaven."
Dan made a disgusted face. "Darn you sound so gay, man!"
"Then how 'bout that one." John nods at a girl across the street wearing a pair of leather boots, a scarf and a bonnet. She enters a 24/7 store.
Dan breaks out laughing. "Who wears winter clothes on a hot summer day?" he elbows me. "Behold your devouring prey, lion king."
I scoffed in disbelief. I cannot believe that they wanted me to get that girl's number. She looks pretty insane to me. Pretty but insane.
"Dan, that's not a girl! That's a nun!" I said menacingly.
"A nun!" Dan shouts like he's praising. "Which means she's perfect, Ivan!"
I shook my head at him. "She's too easy."
Dan made a face. "Wow! Mr. Confident! Why don't you stop being puss and get her number huh?"
"I'll get her number in less than three minutes. No more, no less." I prompted as I challenged him.
Both of them laughed at me.
I wrapped my arms around them both. "Just look straight at the door and start counting now."
Dan shoves my arm away. "And if you lose, you'll buy me an extra king size burger!"
I started walking across the street towards the store. "No, you're buying me one with an extra bucket of fries!"
«
I see the girl on the chips section. Just one look at this one and I'm gonna snatch her number without sweat. Five seconds. I count as I approached her.
5
4
3
2
1
She turns and I smile. She smiles back and...
passed by me.
(T.T) What?
I looked back at her and she made her way to the beverage section, taking a coke zero out of the fridge. I started towards her like a lost puppy. She turns again and smiles at me. At my confusion, I smiled back. I was about to say hi to her when she just walked pass by me again.
(T.T)?... ( )
It happened in just 10 seconds time. And I've been turned down twice. What the eff is with this girl? Is she mental or something? Can't she see I'm trying to get her attention?
She goes to the counter and pays for her food then she sits at the spacious counter to eat. I followed her again. Good thing is, she doesn't seem to mind if I sit next to her. Bad thing is, the oversize glass window allows my inane friends to see what's happening. Dan raised his wrist and points at his watch. I scowled at his direction from across the street.
30 seconds have passed...
The girl gets a copy of her book and starts reading. I look up to see Dan and John laughing at me.
"Er... Miss," I said and the girl turns to me from her book. She raised her eyebrows in question to me.
I can't believe I'm doing this. "Are you an MVP?"
She blinks several times and she shook her head. "Why?"
"I thought so... cause... you shot three points to my heart the first time I saw you." I felt disgusted of myself for being so corny. (T.T)
She laughs. "Thanks."
I composed myself. I can imagine the idiots from across the street straightening their backs for the next scene.
I outstretched my hand towards her. "I'm Ivan."
"Tamara." She says as she accepts my hand shake.
2 more minutes and I'm done for. (T.T) I got to have her number now.
"What are you reading?" I nod at her book.
"Oh... it's Romeo and Juliet." She says shyly as if I just caught her being a nerd.
"Did my heart love 'til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty 'til this night." Good to know at least I've watched this movie with my ex girlfriend.
"Oh. Wow. You're a Romeo yourself." She smiles as she acknowledges me.
"O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?" I said with a flirtatious smile that I know she couldn't resist.
"What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?" she throws back at me.
I raised an eyebrow as I accepted her challenge. "The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine."
"I gave thee mine before thou didst request it!" she says with a laugh. "Wow how did you know all that? You're so good."
"No. I'm a natural Shakespearean." I said as I move her with my humbleness.
She then looks away. "You want my coke, don't you?"
My eyebrows crease in confusion. "What?"
"I noticed you wallowing by so I'm guessing you want my coke." I looked down at her beverage which was by far near me and I gave her a what-the-f*ck look. She stands and starts to walk away.
"Hey wait!" I turned to my friends who were ROFL across the road. Smash this girl. When she finally turned her eyebrows rose in question. "Where are you going?"
She blinked. "I'm buying you a coke so you won't want mine."
(O.o) what? I don't know how many whats I could afford to say with the absurdness of this female domineer.
"I don't want your coke." I admitted.
"Oh. Then what do you want?" she gave me that big questionable eyes like a puppy.
"Your number." I said almost out of irritation. I am losing more time than I've expected. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Oh you were trying?"
"No, I wasn't."
"Well," her face saddened. "I can't—"
"Why not? I'm completely harmless." I gave her the most angelic smile that I could plaster.
"It's not that. You're nice but I don't have a cell phone." What on earth—I muttered an unintelligible word out of the surface.
"Really? You don't live in a cave right?" she nodded. "Weh." I teased.
"I really don't have a cell phone." She then pulls out a wireless telephone from her coat's pocket and she showed it to me. "This is what I have."
"You got to be kidding me." I said as I frowned at her.
"So do you... still want my number?" she asks innocently.
I looked back at her irritably and nodded. "It's better than nothing."
"Wait, I'll just get a pen—" she says as she runs back to the counter.
I waited for her to come back but she didn't. I looked back at the counter and she was there sitting with her face on her book once again. Darn this girl's wasting my time! I took unimaginable angry strides towards her and offered her my pen.
"Here," I said and she looks up in confusion at me. "You don't have a pen to write your freakin' number so here."
She frowned at me like I pissed her off. "I beg your pardon?"
I sighed as I tried not to get pissed off. "Put your number on my hand if you don't have a paper too."
She then slaps me. That was the least that I expected. I gaped at her as I left my hand on my face.
"Why should I give you my number? Do I know you of some sort or anything?" she demanded.
At one moment she shows me her junk phone, the second she wants me to wait while she gets her pen, the third she ignores me and now she acts like she hasn't met me? Please don't let me punch this girl. I balled my fist on the side instead.
I scoffed. "I'm Ivan and I introduced myself to you earlier and I was waiting for you to give me your number. Ring a bell? Do I have to repeat it all over to you?"
Her hands went up to cover her mouth. "I did?"
I scowled at her this time. "Is this some kind of prank or something? 'Cause if it is, you are wasting my time. I've lost the game already, thanks to your cosmic weirdness!"
I strode towards the exit when I felt her hand on my arm. When I didn't turn, she moved in front of me.
"I'm so sorry." She says as she bit her lower lip. "You see... I suffer from a short-term memory loss. I forget things almost instantly. I don't know why but I just can't help It." she smiles at me like she's expecting me to understand her.
I gave her a weirdo look. "Something's wrong with you. Honestly," I shook my head. "I can't believe I wasted my time on you."
I started at the door once again and I was shock when she pulls my arm and turns me around to face her. She took the pen from my hand and started scribbling numbers on my palm. She looks up and smiled, handing me back my pen.
"That's my number. I apologize for the inconvenience. I hope that fixes everything." she says as she went back to the counter.
I looked back at her like I was lost in my own confusion. My thoughts scattered inside the store that I scrambled back to reality. I went out of the store clinging to the pen on my hand for sanity. She is by far the weirdest girl I have ever met.
"Cheese Burger! Cheese burger! Cheese—" Dan gasps as I pulled him down from the plant box.
"You got her number?" John says animatedly.
I grasped the pen in my hand; clearly, I was still out of my head. "No." I forgot that I did.
John sighs and acted sorry for me. "Well, Ivan, rules are rules." he taps my back. "I'm afraid it'll be your credit card for today."
I looked at him irritated as he opens his hand for my credit card. I handed it to him reluctantly.
Dan hoots for joy and he started blabbering where to eat first. While I was trap in my own frustration called the girl-I-met-at-the-store. John might have noticed my aloofness and he wraps an arm around me thinking that it was just the defeat that might have caused it.
"Come on, man, we all have to face downfalls once in a while. You'll get over it." he says and he joins Dan on the road.
I look back across the street to see her still on the counter with her nose buried on her book. She's the weirdest girl I have ever met. Have I said it already? She is weird and yet I couldn't find anything more interesting than this girl who forgets almost everything instantly.
Before the twin of misfits could drag me away, I found myself walking towards her. With the glass window separating us, I stood there before her and I pulled out my pen. I wrote something on my palm where her number lay. Words that I didn't quite expect that I'd ever write in the palm of my hand.
Will you meet me here again tomorrow?
In five seconds, I knocked on the glass window and as her head turned to look at me, I was hoping for her not to forget about me yet. She read the words on my palm and wrote back through her own hand.
Okay
Another five seconds and she remembers me.
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