Unofficially Yours (On-going)

Chapter 14 - Arcade

Hinatid kami nila mama sa mall.

"Go watch movies or something. Here's my card, bilhin mo kung may nagustuhan ka."

We both know we don't have to obey dahil pwede naman kaming maghiwalay pag-alis nila and they'll never know but somehow we didn't do it at wala ring nagbrought up ng idea na iyon.

So we walked around dahil kakakain lang namin at hindi pa kami gutom. Sinamahan niya akong mag window shop.

Nang madaanan namin ang arcade pareho kaming napatingin doon and without saying anything we walked inside.

Xavier bought the card and gave it to me. "Anong gusto mong laruin?"

Tumingin ako sa paligid. "Basketball?"

He grinned. "Beat me?"

"Yabang mo. Akala mo ba hindi ko kaya? Magaling kaya ako dito."

"You can try."

So we played. Binigyan pa niya ako ng bola para mas marami ang akin.

Natalo ako as expected. Nangawit na ang kamay ko after scoring 80+ at siya naman ay nasa 100 na pero tuloy tuloy pa rin siya.

Tinapos lang niya nang nakitang tapos na ako.

He gave me a thumbs up. "Not bad."

"Mukha mo."

He laughed.

Ang mga larong nilaro namin ay mga pang 2 players dahil pareho kaming ayaw magpalamang sa isa't isa.

I won the shooting game. He won the driving. I won again sa air hockey (na feel ko pinagbigyan lang niya ako). Then nung wala na kaming malaro napatingin ako sa area kung saan nagkumpulan ang mga tao.

Pinapanood nila ang nasa dance dance revolution.

The one playing right now a girl and a guy. Halos kasing edad lang siguro namin or mas bata ng konti.

We also used to play this game nung mga bata pa kami. Marcus hate this game so Xavier would be my partner.

"Let's go." He pushed me.

When they were done kami ang sumunod as if we were on a sort of tacit agreement.

Since pareho kaming competitive of course hindi kami papatalo sa kanila so we went up.

Patingin tingin ako kay Xavier. Hindi ako aware na magaling pa rin siya dito. He's still got it.

The people around us cheered after we finished the round. Nag high five rin kami after habang tumatawa like we've been doing every week.

It's my turn to give him a thumbs up.

"Palagi kang naglalaro?" I asked out of curiosity.

"No. Muscle memory I guess." He shyly answered.

Umalis na kami nang maubos namin ang laman ng card. The tickets we accumulated can only be exchanged for a ball keychain.

"Ikaw na ang pumili." Aniya.

May soccer ball, baseball at basketball. Walang alinlangan kong pinili ang ulay orange na bola.

"Nice choice."

"Oh." Binigay ko sa kanya.

Umiling siya. "Keep it. Sayo 'yan."

We went for milk tea after. This time ako ang nanlibre.

After the arcade, the air between became less awkward. Hindi pa rin kami masyado nag-uusap though.

Pero that's an improvement.

Umuwi kami before dinner time.

Ang tagal kong nag-isip kung itetext ko siya. It feels weird na itext siya pero pag hindi ko ginawa baka bumalik nanaman kami sa dati.

I kinda like our relationship now. 'Yung parang friends pero hindi. Just somewhere in between.

"You looked happy. Mukhang nag-enjoy ka kanina." Puna ni mama.

Nataranta ako at napindot ko ang send.

"Sakto lang."

"So that's your sakto lang face? I wonder what face you'll make pag happy ka." Mama teased.

"Stop teasing me, ma. I know what you're thinking pero wala talagang meron sa amin."

"Kasi? Kasi hindi mo siya gusto o hindi ka niya gusto?"

"Hindi ko talaga siya gusto. At bakit naman niya ako magugustuhan?"

She gestured at face. "Obviously dahil maganda ang anak ko. May mas maganda pa ba sayo sa school?"

At this time nag-ping ang phone ko pero hindi ko muna tinignan.

"Ma, punta na ako sa room. Good night!" I said before fast walking to my room.

Tinignan ko agad ang nasend kong message. Nanlaki ang mata ko.

Thanks for lang ang nasend ko.

? Was his reply.

I mean thanks for earlier.

You're welcome. Good night, Livvy.

Good night agad? Tinapos agad? Edi okay.

Pabaligtad kong nilagay ang phone ko sa bedside table at humiga. Edi bahala ka sa buhay mo!