To Stardom With Ara Del

One

Hold me close to you,
Never let me go down this road I've been walking on.
It's a lonely one.
And baby, I'm the only one.

- Dresses, Lonely One

"Would you like to order now, sir?"

"Just give me a few more minutes."

"All right, sir. Call me if you need anything." The waiter walked away slowly after saying that, as if waiting for me to stop him and finally order something. That would've annoyed me but it's been the fourth time that he has approached me tonight.

Ha, I'm being ditched now, aren't I?

I'm kind of ready to scream at her and scold her for bugging me all day long to take her out on a date just to ditch me when my phone rang.

"Kim, you there?"

"Yes. Where are you?!"

"Shit," she hissed before sighing, as if of resignation. "Give me ten more minutes."

"Sabihin mo na lang kasi kung nasa'n ka, Del."

"I can't. Surprise 'to eh. Basta I'm on my way, promise!"

"Bahala ka nga. But can I just order now? I'm famished. Kanina pa 'ko nag-aantay."

"Go on. Order mo na rin ako ng food. Nothing na super karne-ish, okay? Maybe-uhh no, I think salad na lang?"

"Make up your mind, dude."

"Greek salad! Pero for appetizer ko lang yan ha."

"Meh, I know. Magmadali ka na. Bye."

"Bye."

He sighed and called the waiter to order food. Ganito sila parati ng bestfriend niya--guguluhin siya nang guguluhin to eat outside para naman daw ma-expose ang beauty nito habang siya naman ang taga-intay at taga-bayad.

Del has always wanted to be a star. She didn't really care kung paano, pero gusto talaga nitong sumikat. She's joined several workshops and attended a number of auditions para lang dito. Minsan natatanggap, minsan hindi. It's not that she wasn't pretty, she was just not that talented. Kumbaga, hindi siya ang "it" ng bawat audition na mapapasukan niya.

3 years na rin na sinusubukan ni Del na pumasok sa mundo ng showbiz, but more often than not, hanggang minor roles lang siya sa mga regional shows. The last time that she got a major role was back when she was a sophomore in college, and after that, unfortunately, wala na. Some people have already tried to convince her to quit auditioning and to just go back to studying architecture abroad-sa London, with her mum. But she not even once, wavered.

Kabaliktaran naman siya ni Del. He was always awkward at being in front of a crowd. In fact, he never really understood how they clicked. Basta ang natatandaan niya lang, one Tuesday afternoon, habang nag-aaral siya for his exam on Data Structures (he studied BS Computer Science) sa garden ng university nila ay bigla na lamang may lumipad na t-square papunta sa kanya, the next thing he saw was a girl sobbing lavishly. He was worried for a second until she screamed at him (almost angrily) telling him that she didn't mean to throw the device on his direction. It's been years pero hanggang ngayon, iniisip niya pa rin kung apology ba yun o disclaimer lang talaga. Either way, though, nakabawi naman siya by calling her klutz, which-by the way-resulted into another flying t-square.

"KIM!!!" He heard someone scream from behind him, kaya bigla siyang nabulunan sa kinakain niyang onion rings. Agad naman siyang inalalayan ng kasama by giving him a glass of water (all the while laughing at his condition). "Del, if you're planning to kill me then at least pay me first!" He said, still struggling to gain his composure back.