Mr Martian

I knew it.

Tiff, Eugene and Fish laughed till their stomachs hurt when they heard about the post-it lettuce reminder incident.

"You should have taken a picture of yourself from your mobile camera!" Eugene is still laughing when he mocked me.

"Yeah and say 'cheese!'" Fish becomes un-blur upon hearing my embarrassing story.

"And hold a real post-it note near your tooth which reads 'Hi! I'm lettuce'" my BFF, Tiff, didn't want to feel left out from the teasing, join in the fun. Can I change BFF?

"Nutters" I pout.

aAaaAAHHHAAHAHAHHAHahAHAHHAHaHHAHHAHAHaaHAhAHA!! – they chorus together.

"Are you guys done laughing? I want to talk about Mr Martian" I drop my pout and put on a pitiful look (for the bullying that I just endured).

"Shhhhh.....quiet you two. Venus wants to talk" Fish is the first to calm the other two and the last to help herself with a final 'He he' over my embarrassing story.

Suddenly, three pairs of eyes with suppressed laughter are obediently on me now. I'm getting the attention that I desire and I can't wait to dig more of Mr Martian out from Tiff! There are just so much that I want to know about Mr Martian that I don't quite know where to begin – family, ex-girlfriends (really Vanilla or otherwise), likes, dislikes, hobbies, personality, moods, admirers (I hope none and if there is any, I want to tear their hair out! Sigh. Of course not, all I do is talk. Period), part-time lover (if any – Arrgh! My jealousy turned greener just by the thought of it), problem(s) and his job.

But he is not right under my nose – as the tarot card lady predicted. She said the One is someone already in my life and we know each other! We've just been introduced last night, which is to mean he isn't someone I've already met and known. Maybe her prediction on timing is out.

"Does it matter, Venus?" the other person who shares an emotional connection with me is Tiff. She seems to know exactly what has been playing in my mind and I wasn't caught by surprise when she directed that question.

"What?" both Eugene and Fish are the ones that were surprised as there wasn't a hint of anything that was said or done to prompt Tiff to say a word.

I give Tiff my doubtful look – doubting the prediction, the chemistry with Martian, destiny, life and myself. Having said that, I'm already riding on Cloud 9 since last night – the chemistry spurred it. So, Fish, you are not the only one, ok? He he.

"Venus is doubtful that Mars is the One" Tiff explains to Eugene and Fish the knowing mysterious silence that only we both know and share.

"Tiff is right, Venus. Does it matter?" Eugene seconds Tiff.

I drop my shoulders and look at Fish who in return gives me a 'So?' look.

"Of course – it DOESN'T matter!" Fish jumps off from the couch, shows her fist to the air and goes on a gung-hoism which startled all of us. In doing so, she knocks the side table in Eugene's living room and spills some chips in the bowl onto the floor. One unfortunate chip slipped under her right foot which got stepped into unfortunate tiny pieces. That got Eugene into a hysterical frenzy.

Fish is riding steadily on her Cloud 9 and therefore, the gung-hoism shown wasn't entirely for me and – I don't mind because I want her to be happy too. He he. Silly Fish! She finally dumped her useless boyfriend and happily found herself in the arms of the man whom the tarot card lady had predicted – he was really just around the corner for Fish to fish.

Snatching the bowl of chips from Eugene, I start munching. I know once I do that, I won't be able to stop until I empty the whole bowl. No, I'm not sharing with them because they laughed so hard at me. Serves them right! So what if this is Eugene's place, chips and bowl. GggrrRrr!

"Eugene, make me a glass of mojitos....please" I plead and didn't care if he was busy clearing the mess on the floor because I'm in need to be pampered now – it means I'm in my Princess mood and mode.

"Make that two please!" Fish conveniently orders one for herself and Eugene scowls at her.

"Eugene, can you make one for me too?" that makes Tiff, the 3rd Princess in his kingdom.

Eugene opens his mouth wanting to speak but decides against it and goes straight into the kitchen with the unfortunate cracked tiny pieces of chips which he picked up from the floor, to get busy with making mojitos for us ladies. Such a good boy.

"So, does it really matter, Venus?" Tiff repeats her query and looks at me for an expectantly obvious answer.

"No" I give her what she wants but my heart doesn't fully agree to it.

Tiff rolls her eyes at me for I know what it's for and Fish grabs a handful of chips from the bowl I'm holding. I wasn't fast enough to reject her. She playfully sticks out her tongue for being faster.

"Relax Venus. Just get to know Mars and have some fun. If things are meant to be, it will turn out fine. If not, there are other planets out there!" Tiff laughs at her own encouragement.

Fish looks at me and I give her a 'Yes, it's funny. Laugh' look – both of us instantly laugh together.

"Did I miss anything?" Eugene comes out with four glasses of mojitos to quench our thirst and we can't be more pleased.

"Yes. Venus finally comes around to going have some fun getting to know Mars" Fish has been paying attention. I'm impressed. Or she pretends to be blur as a route to escape whatever misforgivings she may make along the way in life. Hmmmm.

"Good girl Venus. I'm happy to hear that. Fish! Don't spill your mojitos, OK? I've mopped the floor before you girls came over" as Eugene hands around our drinks, he hisses and warns Fish before handing hers her glass. I thought I'm accident prone - I have company now.

Fish nods her head like a good girl (like someone who just got her favourite candy) while sipping her mojitos.

"Is it VIRGIN?" I look at my glass suspiciously and bring it close to my nose to sniff for any sign of added alcohol. They did it once when we were hanging out one night and my mojitos tasted like pee because they added beer!

Eugene rolls his eyes (today is roll-your-eyes day because everyone seems to be into it) and gestures to me that it is safe and absolutely VIRGIN for me to enjoy. Adorable Eugene.

"What are you going to do, Venus?" Eugene asks before sipping his mojitos.

"Wait" I continue munching my chips.

"For?" all three of them seem to be in sync today. Not bad.

"For Mars to make the first move" I'm rolling around on my Cloud 9 as I give them my heartiest answer.

"Tell me Venus! Is Mars good looking?" Fish diverts our conversation to looks and she can't wait to hear me say Mars is handsome because she is into good looks (and yes, her new boyfriend is good looking). I mean who doesn't like beautiful people and things. I do but chemistry won the priority seat before looks, so, I seek to connect first and I'm glad I've found it with Mars.

"Electric-flying" it seems chemistry plays such a big role in my search that it has overpowered my expression of beauty.

"Huh?" Fish is lost and she never quite understood what chemistry really means. It's obvious that chemistry is unimportant to her. Tell her things about emotional connection – she will ask you if it has to do with looks. That's when I gave up trying to explain.

"Why can't you make the first move if you are interested?" Eugene interrupts and diverts Fish's good looks topic back to a sensible one.

Sipping her mojitos, Tiff backs Eugene's up with a nod and pats his shoulder for agreeing.

"My subconscious says let the pants chase" remembering what I told my colour therapist on my last healing session with her and that got her slapping her forehead hard. Yet she still thinks that I'm smart for being able to identify and differentiate my conscious and subconscious. I think it's their job to inject positivity into their clients' mind besides helping them to overcome their weakness or problem.

Eugene, Tiff and Fish roll their eyes together. I roll mine too in response.

"Tiff, tell me more about Mars" my knowledge tank needs fuelling.

"What do you want to know?" Tiff is giving me her full attention and the other two are all ears.

"Is he seeing someone"? it is the most important question to ask when you are interested in someone and you want to make sure you stand a chance.

"I thought you've asked him last night?" Eugene looks puzzled.

"I know. I just want to make sure that I have the green light to dazzle him" Venus who has far more and better masculine hormones in her system wants to dazzle a guy? Come on, who am I kidding!

"Now, I like that spirit dear!" Tiff approves my sudden feminine courage (must be the lending of my masculine hormones to the feminine ones).

"So?" I can't wait any longer for the suspense to end.

"He is not – that was the first thing I asked him before I set-up the blind date for you two. You think I'd still go ahead if he is already taken?" Tiff sounds as if she just let out a big secret which has been kept away from everyone for security reasons.

Fish claps her hands with the information. Eugene smiles, nods and toasts with his mojitos. Tiff steals some chips from me and gives me a look which says 'I deserve it'.

"Wait. Tiff, did he call or anything to ask about Venus since last night?" Eugene seems all serious.

Now, he has just asked a very important question. What's the point if it's going to be one-sided? His question has got me all jittery and I absentmindedly cross my toes (it's on auto-pilot by the way) for good luck.

"No. Not yet" Tiff answers truthfully and gives me a sorry-but-don't-worry-and-I'm-sure-he-will-soon look.

I could not be more disappointed and annoyed. Damn. Why did Eugene ask? I thought they are just going to study last night's meeting and the conversation we had to guess how much Mars and I are into each other – and we are not done. Not bring it forward.

"Oh, Peter called right after our first date" Fish smiles to the memory of her first date with her new boyfriend.

I want to hate Fish.

Suddenly, my Cloud 9 becomes shaky and seems not as cushiony as before. Maybe I read the whole night with Mars wrongly. There was certainly chemistry but nothing of that sort which I've hoped. I haven't had enough experience to be sure. My far and better masculine hormones have outdone my feminine ones and that lends plenty of strength in creating a good impression but failed to bring out the soft and attractive side of it.

"We talked for almost an hour" Fish continues the sweet memory without noticing me going pale with grief disappointment. Eugene grabs a chip and shoves it into her mouth to shut her up. Tiff motions her to drink her mojitos.

I want to cry.

It definitely sounds a whole lot like a bad sign if the guy doesn't call or text right after a first date. I mean evidently that���s how the love game works. Shit. How am I going to get down now from riding Cloud 9?

"It's a short holiday for him back home. I would be happy if I were you that he would take some time out to meet you, dear" Tiff's positivity rubs off on me because I do feel better as soon as those words were out from her mouth.

"Eugene, please refill our mojitos" I still wear a disappointed look on my face though not as bad as before Tiff's assurance as I turned to Eugene requesting for a refill and passed him the empty bowl for more Cheddar Cheese.

Eugene obliged and he got Fish to help him. Both of them playfully race to the kitchen. Soon Tiff and I heard them making mojitos and fighting for the chips. Moments later, Eugene goes on a hysterical frenzy again when Fish first dropped some ice cubes on his kitchen floor and then, spilled some soda into the sink and also, the floor. We heard Fish mumbles a 'Sorry' and Eugene replies 'Fish, becareful, ok!?' Talk about clumsiness – Fish bags the top seat and me, second.

The No. 1 Rule at Eugene's place is DO NOT mess up or dirties his beautiful yet freakily polished and spotless place. When I told my mom about this, she said she doesn't mind a part-time maid and check with Eugene if he is interested.

"Are you alright?" Tiff asks out of concern. Well, not that she needs to because I'm quite immune to the many failures I have had in the past.

Plus I remember Martian likes me AND my sense of humour. As long as that is intact, the chemistry won't fizzle out easily. Charm him with my sense of humour and he won't leave. Haha! GROAN. He hasn't contacted me – how the hell am I going to charm him? The cute side of me says 'Telepathy him'.

"Hey, I was actually serious when I said there are other planets out there if Mars is not interested" Tiff didn't laugh this time and she indeed look serious.

"I like Mars and not Mercury, Neptune or Uranus. Gosh, Tiff, the others sound so incompatible!" I blink at the idea of falling for the other planets and laugh softly.

"Well, Mars may not be perfect either, Venus. Who knows, you may find love with the others, not until and unless you open up your heart" Tiff brings my hand close to my heart.

Sure. By the way, what is love? My colour therapist observed that I don't love all of my ex-boyfriends. I liked them. I was attracted to them. It was just infatuation. They were all the other stuff but – love.