Vagabond

Twenty One

"What took you both so long?" Blue innocently asked Shantanna. Her eyes are blinking more than the usual. The longer the both of them take their time to answer, the more curious she gets. All three of them awkwardly standing in front of each other as the anticipation gets thicker. 

Not far from them is a person feeling giddy as she watches the two uncomfortable people in front of them. For her the situation looks like a scene directly grabbed from a movie and being reenacted in front of her. Shantanna felt the stare lingering on her and she looked at where her instinct is telling her. Right there she saw Mayumi playfully looking at her, mocking her. Mayumi j wiggled her eyebrow at the sight of Shantanna's irritated gaze. Mayumi smirked as an idea came into her mind. She then started talking as she smiles sheepishly "Hey, what took you so long daw?" Inulit nito. 

Chad and Jarred laughs as they eat, they love to watch these ladies roast each other, or in other words get on each other nerves. 

"Nagbihis?" Shantanna answered unsurely and awkwardly. To rid of the awkwardness that she's feeling, she grabbed two pieces of  plates and started filling her's and Veronica's with food. Which of course was didn't go unnoticed by the predator watching her every move. They all eventually let go of the topic and went on talking about other things since Shantanna won't admit to something they all suspect of. 

"So sweet..." Mayumi playfully told everyone. Most of them are clueless like Blue, others were quick to catch up on her. Shantanna looks at her disgustingly, as she and Veronica sat on the empty chairs. "'yung cake... so sweet." Mayumi smirked at her while giving her a puppy eyes. Nahihiyang natatawa naman si Veronica sa tabi nito. 

"'di ba tayo iinom?" Singit na patanong ni Jarred. Violet immediately answered him, "I guess we're free to go through Shantanna's stash after we go through hell searching for her? Right?" Nasamid naman si Shantanna sa pagkain at agad uminom ng tubig. Again, Mayumi is happily watching everyone as if it was her favorite noontime show. "Okay." Shantanna simply agreed. 

"Really? We're talking about the expensive ones?" Violet told her, challenging her. 

"Sure, enjoy yourselves." She stared at Violet intently. She doesn't mind anymore, they can drink as many as they want. It was somehow a way for her to make up with abandoning them. She sighed and played with her food. Thinking deeply to herself.

"Labag---" hindi na pinatapos ni Shan si Chad sa sasabihin nito ng nagsalita siya. "I'm sorry. I was being selfish." She blurted out. This time she looks at them, one by one. Then she smiled apologetically. "I--" she heaved out a deep sigh. "I care too, I care for you guys too and I'm really sorry for running away and resisting all of you." she bit her lip. "Even before you smack my head Blue, I already know I was wrong, in a lot of ways. Still I think you don't really need to do that." She smirked at her. "But I appreciate it a lot. Thank you for voicing out everyone's feelings." Shantanna smiled at her warmly as they both nodded their heads in a mutual agreement. 

They all smiled and cringed which makes them all laugh. "Oh please, let's not do this shit anymore, it's nakakadiri." She said while disgust is plastered all over her face. 

Tawang-tawa naman ang dalawang lalaki sa gilid, "Then don't do something you'll be sorry anymore. But I would like to commend you for apologizing. You didn't really do something wrong bro, it's just..." Si Jarred ay lumakad at tumayo ito sa likod ni Shantanna. Hinawakan nito ang balikat ng kaibigan at pinisil ng marahan.

"I hope you know that we are here for you. The same way that you will come crashing at us whenever we don't feel okay at 2 in the morning. We can drop whatever's on our schedule to be with you, too. It's just..." He trailed. His voice sounding so sincere and he's looking at him intently too. First time in awhile they saw him being like that. I guess they all are changing as they grow.  "just come to us bro and don't push us away." He pleaded. "Kasama mo naman kami palagi, but we can't really do much if you keep on pushing us away." Iiling-iling na pagkakasabi ni Jarred. Namumula naman ang mukha ng kaibigan nila habang nakatitig sa  kawalan. Wala ng expression ang mukha nito, pero masasabi mo pa rin na nakikinig ito.