The story steadily received more readers in the next couple of weeks. The next updates were mostly about my trip, recounting my unexpected "companionship" with Rhys, shown through the text messages between my friends. I gotta give it to ate Via. The convos were hilarious and great at capturing our personalities, and she really did a damn good job at moving the story forward without any narrative. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of epistolary but this one was really good. No biases involved.
I followed the story to be updated with my friends, but I couldn't focus on its rise to fame due to the growing number of manuscripts I had to work on. Swamped kung swamped. Halos mabaliw na 'ko sa patong patong na deadlines so when my friend from college finally asked me out to unwind and destress months later, I readily said yes kahit na malayo sa 'kin. I barely go to QC for booze, but Amia wanted to party as far from Makati as possible to avoid her overbearing cheating boyfriend—well, ex now, really—and being a doting friend that I was, I indulged her.
I invited Ance and Shane but they were both preoccupied that night kaya kami lang ni Amia ang nagpunta sa DNCE. Quite dangerous if you asked me, lalo na wala kaming kasamang guys, but Amia wouldn't be deterred. Dalawa lang kami but we got one of the VIP booths on the second floor and ordered a bottle of Tequila Rose.
The night was young, but just within an hour, Amia already managed to finish most of the bottle on her own. She was so hyper, jumping and dancing around near the railings at the beat of the music, that I could see the other groups occupying the other couches eyeing us with interest.
I wasn't that tipsy yet kaya hindi ko siya masabayan, but I stayed near her in case she'd suddenly pass out. Below us, the crowd was thickening by the second. By the looks of it, mixed ng students at Yuppies ang nandito ngayong gabi.
I ran my eyes on every face I could check, baka lang kasi nandito si Rhys. Did he even mention he was hanging out here? Alam kong sa Q.C siya madalas pero nagagawi ba siya rito? DNCE is in Timog. Since nasa Katipunan ang Intersci, baka doon siya tumatambay. He seemed the type. Or maybe he's in Highstreet.
I shook my head when I caught myself. Bakit ko ba siya iniisip? I should have fun. If we'd meet, we'd meet. No point thinking it through.
More cheers echoed in the bar when two girls walked up to the stage to perform their sultry dance. Bumalik kami sa couch ni Amia to drink water.
"Remember this place, Cals?" she said as we sat back down and she leaned her weight against my arm. "This is where you talked to Justin for the first time, 'di ba? I could remember pa your face, how much you were blushing. You were so kilig pa then!" she said with a tipsy laugh.
Oh, right. Rare moment na mapadpad dito ang team ng Centrex. Couldn't believe that was years ago. Frosh pa 'ko no'n.
I grinned before downing my drink. The sweet taste of the Tequila Rose exploded on my tongue. "I was so young and crazy then."
"Yeah, girl! You were so gaga for the guy! But manhid ka talaga, alam mo 'yon?" she responded. "You probably don't know this, but Justin had a crush on you, too. Kaso you were always so intimidating so he thought you didn't fancy him that much. Even funnier, nagka-crush siya sa 'yo right before you had a crush on him."
I froze, my mouth hanging open. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Shit, when was that?"
"Freshman year natin 'yon. Remember that party when you lost the game and you danced to that children song kasi super drunk mo na? He found you so cute and wanted to ask you out kaso when he tried talking to you, you snapped at him. Kaya ayon. He kept his distance from you. Months later, you'd meet here tapos crush mo na siya. Kaso he's put some distance between you na."
