That Unexpected Feeling

Chapter 8

They lasted a week without talking about what happened. Finally on a Saturday, unsure of how she currently felt about the state of things between them, Alessa hurried to Jen's place for some advice. They lived in the same subdivision and the Ferrer residence was right along her path for an early morning jog.

"I was supposed to sleep in until noon," Jen grumbled as she came downstairs to meet Alessa in the living room. From the looks of it, she was still trying to thumb sleep out of her system. "It's a Sunday, girl."

"Can't I visit a friend?" she happily greeted, making herself comfortable on the couch. "And good morning to you too."

"You look bothered," Jen said to her, clearly noticing the worry in her eyes. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Alessa backpedaled trying to downplay her friend's snooping.

Jen made a face. "There is something you're not telling me." Her degree in Psychology fine-tuned her instinct at reading people so well it was impossible to keep any secrets from her. "Other than the fact that you've been avoiding my calls since the party and you spent the week cleverly dodging any meet-ups with the group."

"I actually offered to be his pretend-girlfriend," she blurted out. The courage came out of nowhere. She had to tell someone.

"Who? Oh no... Justin?" Jen regarded her friend with worry in her eyes. As much as she rooted for them secretly, she knew Alessa had this tendency to say some things without thinking them over. "So that's why he was unusually quiet when we asked him about your whereabouts," she whispered to herself.

Alessa nodded, clearly mortified. "It was humiliating. I don't know what possessed me to casually suggest it."

"And you're worried because?" Jen probed further.

"I made a fool of myself," she looked like she was about to cry. "Jen, after all this time he still thinks I'm not over Rafa!"

She looked at her friend testily. "Oh honey, if I didn't know any better I'd say you're starting to have feelings for the guy."

"What? No!" Alessa replied defensively.

"You're blushing –"

"You're insinuating –"

"Fine," Jen conceded. "But can't you see? You guys look good on paper. High school friends, next-door neighbors, both unattached. Come to think of it, why have you never considered dating each other?"

"We're not each other's type," Alessa reasoned out. She may have entertained a slight crush on him back in high school but it ended the moment he started dating Daniela.

Jen squinted at Alessa uncertainly. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that," she finally said after a few seconds, patting her friend's back.

Alessa laughed at her friend's theories. Jen was still the hopeless romantic who believed in soul mates. "Jen," she trails off. "Are you even hearing yourself? Justin doesn't see me that way."

"Ohhh... that," she paused. "Well you don't even know if it's true. What do you say I ask Erik to snoop around?" She smiles with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Jennifer!" Alessa protests, flailing her arms in panic. "Please do not make any attempts to shame me in front of our friends," she pleaded.

"You're funny when you have a crush on someone, did you know that?"

"I feel stupid –"

"Hey, it happens to all of us," Jen assured her.

"Just promise me you won't tell anyone about this," Alessa requested. "Not for now, at least."

"Fine," she pouted. "For your sake, my lips are sealed."

"Thank you, Jen."

Alessa sighed. She didn't know when or how it happened. But Jen was right. She was starting to feel something for Justin and it scared her. Not only because he was one of her oldest friends but also because she wasn't even sure of how he really felt about her romantically. They were too comfortable with each other that taking it to another level just might make things awkward between them. And she wasn't ready for that.

"Are you and Justin avoiding each other?" It was Lia Valmores who spoke of the elephant in the room when Alessa joined the family for breakfast. With two pairs of eyes looking at her knowingly, the person in the hot seat merely shrugged.

"He's been asking Manang Susan all week about you," Jim Valmores added. "Which is funny because both of you have phones to monitor each other's whereabouts."

"Dad! It's not like I'm his girlfriend or anything," Alessa defended herself. "He doesn't need to know where I am all the time."

"Relax, sweetheart. We were just worried. That's all." Lia smiled, clearly unconvinced and somehow worried over her stepdaughter's reasons. Justin was Alessa's first friend when she moved here over a decade ago and since then they have always looked after each other. A simple misunderstanding between those two never lasted a day without getting resolved.

"I hope it didn't have anything to do with what happened during Trina's birthday celebration last week," Jim added.

Alessa groaned, clearly uncomfortable that the incident was brought up again. This was part of the reason why she stayed inconspicuous for a week. She figured it was enough time for the issue to die a natural death. She didn't realize it would make her the talk of the town instead.

Lia Valmores had more to share. "I ran into Bettina at Marco Polo last night and she told me they were shipping Daniela off to London before the month ends. I had never seen her look so mortified over a family member's public behavior." Bettina Javier was Daniela's mother. Alessa met her a few times before, on one of those rare occasions she used to tag along with her dad and stepmother during parties. The woman had class written all over, a standard she would've also passed down to her children. Somehow she wondered why Daniela turned out to be such a brat.