My mind was battling between removing my glasses and momentarily blinding myself but making me look presentable, or retaining my vision and witnessed Benjamin Lucero executing a perfect backswing while keeping his hotness, but making me look like a weirdo with a scotch tape hanging at the bridge of my nose. I chose the latter. I mean, since when did I care about how I looked in front of a boy? Even if that said boy was cute and worthy to be drool over.
So, I did the next best thing: hidding behind Alicia when Benjamin, who was looking so sophisticatedly hot in his tennis uniform, approached us. Since when did tennis uniforms could make someone look hot? Only Benjamin could do that. And oh yes, I literally hid behind Alicia.
"Alex, ano ka ba? Ba't ka ba riyan nagtatago sa likod ko?" Alicia asked as we waited for Benjamin on the side of the tennis court.
I had no other choice but to step out of my hiding place and stand one her side, head bowed down, my eyes focused on the ground, staring at it as if it had the most fascinating piece of dirt I had ever seen. I saw Benjamin's shoes stopping near Alicia, so I sneaked a glance and saw a dimple on his left cheek when he smiled. He should smile more often.
"Salamat Benj, ha. Kailangan kasi talaga namin ng isa pang member, or else bubuwagin na 'yong club namin," I heard Alicia saying. Wait. What? Our club was in trouble?
"Glad to be of help, Alicia," Benjamin answered.
"Pero if tinanong ka ni Bianca tungkol dito, ano sasabihin mo?" Alicia asked.
"Ako na ang bahala sa kanya. Don't worry about it."
Alicia thanked him again, and all that time he never took notice of me beside Alicia. So much for my fuss earlier. And while Benjamin was about to turn to leave, a small yellow green ball came flying through the air and decided to land on my head. Hard.
"Aray!" I said, wincing while massaging the side of my head. Not far from us, I saw three girls tittering in the middle of the court. One was throwing a tennis ball and catching it with one hand. I identified the girl as Ashley, one of the Pink Angels, giving me a look—a look that clearly said: stay away from my guy.
"Okay ka lang?" I heard Benjamin asked as I continued to nurse my bruised head and ego. It was really embarrassing to have the guy you admired witnessed a ball landing on your head. And he seemed to be only taking notice of me during embarrassing situations.
"Okay lang ako. Salamat," I said, not even meeting his eyes.
"I think it would be better, Alicia, kung dalhin mo na lang ang kaibigan mo sa clinic," Benjamin told my friend.
"Ay oo. Sige, mauna na kami ha. Salamat uli Benj, ha." Alicia, thankfully, led me out of the court. "Okay ka lang ba talaga? Tara, samahan kita sa clinic."
I shook my head, the effort of doing so gave me a slight headache. "Okay lang ako. 'Wag na tayo dumaan ng clinic. Itutulog ko na lang ito sa bahay."
Alicia gave me one, last concerned look before she nodded. As we walked away from the tennis court, I took a glance over my shoulder and saw Benjamin staring at us. The minute he saw me looking back at him, he averted his gaze and started serving the ball. I looked back in front again and smiled a little, feeling a jolt of electricity rushing down my spine. So, this was what it felt like when a boy who you possibly and probably had a crush on looked at you. It was my very first true kilig experience.
***
I have a weird feeling that mom was actually glad my glasses broke. And I also had an absurd feeling that mom hated my glasses.
"Gamitin mo muna 'yong extra mo na salamin. Tapos papagawa tayo ng bagong salamin," she told me. "Iyong tipong angkop naman sa edad mo anak. Nagmumukha ka kasing matanda sa salamin mo, eh."
It bothered me what mom had said, about me looking older for my age that is. I stood in front of my mirror and observed my reflection. I usually wore my black hair into a one long braid that hang at my back, with bangs at my forehead that was so evenly straight, it looked like a ruler was used when my bangs were being sheared. I was never one of those fair skinned girls. I was a bit of a morena, thanks to dad and his genes. But I did have good skin, courtesy of mom and her pimple free gene pool.
I had to admit that I did look rather mature than the rest of my classmates. Maybe it was the way I wore my hair? Or maybe because I never bothered to give a thought on how I looked before? That was until Benjamin started visiting my daydreams.
I gave my head a hard shake to clear thoughts about Benjamin. I removed the braids and ran my fingers through my now curly hair. Then I tried to arrange my hair the way Bianca wore hers. But instead of the hair lying in soft curls to frame my face, my treses ended up having tendrils shooting everywhere as if I just been electricuted. This would never work. So, I gathered my mass of hair and tied it in a ponytail instead.
The following day, during one of my Saturday afternoons kulitan with my little brother, Daniel (and believe me, nothing beats the fun of a big sister pestering his kid brother), I heard someone knocking at our door. I went to the gate to check on our unexpected visitor.
"Puwede ho ba kay Ms. Alexis Salvacion?" a friendly looking man, who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties said.
"Sino po sila?" I asked. No matter how friendly looking the man was I couldn't just tell him I was Alexis Salvacion.
"Family driver po ako ng mga Lucero. May ipinaabot lang po 'yong anak ng amo ko," he explained.
Lucero. Could it be Benjamin Lucero? I was not sure. The man handed me a small package and he immediately went to the car parked in front of our gate, even before I was able to ask him further questions. I went back inside the house and inspected the package. What if it was a bomb and I just placed everyone's peril at my hands? But my imaginations usually ran wild, so I could be wrong on that one. I carefully removed the outer covering of the package and it revealed a small box. When I opened the box, inside laid a pair of eyeglasses. It was brown in color with stripe of black imprints but it looked very pretty. I removed it from its box and my eyes went wide as saucers when I saw the logo of Chanel embossed at the side. I removed my old glasses and tried the new one. Perfect fit. Perfect vision.
I then noticed a small note enclosed inside the box. I opened it and it read:
"As promised."
That was it. Only two words. But deep down in me, I knew who had sent for these glasses. Only Benjamin Lucero made a promise to replace my broken glasses. And upon realizing that, I suddenly found myself smiling stupidly. As if Benjamin had sent me a box of chocolates and roses instead. It was, I don't know, like butterflies were in my stomach and I just couldn't help myself from picturing him in my mind.
How did he know about what grade the lenses should be? He did not even have a prescription for my lenses. Did he pick the design himself? Was he thinking of me when he picked the glasses? Those were just some of the questions swirling inside my head. How much did this cost him?
Since I just couldn't resist it, I Googled for the answer to my last question. And the sample price I found made my mouth formed a big round O. The figure flashing before me from my phone was beyond my imagination. That much for a pair of glasses? And the good girl in me knew I could never accept something expensive like this. Even though it was pretty. Even though it was Chanel. So, I made a very hard decision: I would have to return this to Benjamin on Monday. But I needed to show him I appreciated his thoughtful effort, though.
I grabbed my cell phone and texted Madie:
"Mads, si Alex ito. Need ko sana help mo. Puwede ba ako magpaturo paano mag-bake ng cupcakes or cookies? Gusto ko sanang iregalo 'yon sa isang tao para mag-thank you."
Message sent. A few minutes later, Madie replied:
"Hello Alex! Sure ba. Gusto mo puntahan kita diyan bukas?"
I texted her back:
"Okay lang ba? Kaso Mads wala akong gamit dito, eh. Okay lang ba diyan na lang sa inyo?"
She replied after a moment later:
"Sure Alex, walang problema. Kung gusto mo, magkita na lang tayo do'n sa may grocery store malapit sa amin para bumuli muna tayo ng ingredients. Mga after lunch?"
I sent her another message:
"Sige. Bukas na lang, ha. Salamat!"
There. I mean, it would be okay for a girl to give a boy something as a way of expressing thank you, right? I didn't have any other intention aside from thanking him. But I just couldn't help but imagine what Benjamin's expression would be like once I handed him my gift.
***
#TheNerdClubAlexis
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