Losing Control

Labing Dalawa

Ashton looked down at Stephanie and tucked her hair behind her ears.  He touched her earlobes between his thumbs and pointer fingers while her eyes kept darting nervously to whoever was over his shoulder.

"Sure kang hindi ka lang nananantsing?" nakangiti nyang tanong kay Stephanie.

"As if!" Stephanie rolled her eyes.  "You were in my way; nakaharang ka.  Kung hindi mo ko hinarangan makaalis dito, eh di sana hindi nya ko naabutan.  So basically, you owed me," she wiped the remnants of her red lipstick that transferred onto his lips with her thumb.

"Eh ano bang meron ang ex mo?" he asked irritably.  

"I just don't want him to see me."

"Bakit?  May feelings ka pa ba sa kanya?" 

"Ew, no," sabi ni Stephanie na parang diring diri.  "Ang mga katulad nya ay hindi na binabalikan."

"Halika na, uwi na tayo."

"Hay, nakakabad trip!  Uwi nanaman.  Nasira tuloy ang night out ko."

"Dapat nga siguro pasalamatan ko ang ex mong yun eh."

"Why?" Stephanie asked him, surprised and curious of what he's about to say.

"Because if he hadn't shown up, you'd still be flirting with Frenchy."

"Hay naku, seloso ka ba talagang tao?  Kaya siguro 'It's complicated' kayo ng girlfriend mo, noh?  Ewan ko sa yo..."

Stephanie started to walk away but then quickly remembered that she was hiding from Oliver.  Mahirap na...baka makita nya pa ako at magsumbong sa parents ko!  Kahit hate na hate ni mommy ang playboy na yan and never silang naguusap, I'm sure it'd only be a matter of time bago malaman nila mommy kung nasaan ako.  She bit her bottom lip and turned back to Ashton.  She sweetly wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.  He looked down at her in surprise, but didn't question her.  Instead he placed his arm around her shoulder and snuggled her closer to him, kissing her on the forehead before leading her to the stone walkway out of the bar.  They stayed together in that position until they were inside his gate.  Kumalas na si Stephanie sa pagkahawak kay Ashton.  Naweweirduhan na sya sa amo nya.  Yes, they kissed, pero para sa kanya, casual lang ang dating nung kiss na yun, parang nachachallenge lang si Ashton sa kanya dahil kahit katulong sya, tinatarayan nya ito.   And for the record, she wasn't the type to kiss boys she wasn't in a relationship with.  It's really surprising he hasn't fired me yet.  I'm the worst employee ever!  Kahit kumalas na si Stephanie ay hawak hawak pa rin sya ni Ashton.  He walked in the direction of the side of the house towards the swimming pool.

"Swimming tayo?"

"Kala ko ba bawal ako sa pool?" nakataas kilay nyang tanong kay Ashton.

"May bikini ka na ngayon di ba?  Pwedeng pwede na.  Sabi ko, not in your uniform."