5 Have you ever been... in love?

The next day, my mom told me that my dad will arrive in the afternoon. She asked me to pick him up at the airport after the dismissal. I was really happy and excited ‘coz I haven’t seen him for months. As a stockbroker, his work always takes his time and energy; but I understand. I just missed him and I wanted to hug him so bad.

“Good morning!” I greeted when I went inside our house. I was smiling so widely and they find it weird.

I sat beside Stacie who was eating the cinnamon roll with gusto. I grabbed the glass of milkshake and sipped some.

“Is it the end of the world?” I heard what Ranie said to Matthew.

“Maybe, she’s in love. You’re just overreacting, dude,” Matt replied.

“Ouch!”

They squealed in pain when Cai twisted their ears.

“What are you two saying?!” She narrowed her eyes at me. “But what really happened? You’re so happy; you’re scaring us.”

“Did you finally realize it that’s why you’re happy?” Stacie confused me more.

What did she mean by that?

“W-Who are you referring to?”

They all cringed. Did I say something wrong?

Stacie pursed her lips. “Nothing. Just forget it.”

“Seriously, though. Why are you so happy, Tania? Was it because of what had happened yesterday?”

I shook my head. Cailah got the wrong idea. They all did!

“Daddy’s going home, you guys. That’s it. Nothing more.”

What they were thinking? Yes, I was really grateful to Dwight; but they knew that I don’t have any romantic feelings for him. In my eyes, he’s just a rival. I would never look at him the same way Matthew looks at Cai. I would never treat him as a friend like how Ranie treats every one of us. Dwight’s just an acquaintance.

“Is that really it?”

As usual, he would always appear out of nowhere.

I noticed how our friends looked at one another as if Dwight said something amazing. I couldn’t read their minds; I felt like they are always talking behind my back. But that’s not really the case, doesn’t it?

Dwight took the glass of milkshake and a cinnamon roll before he sat on the couch. He took a big bite and raised his eyebrow at me.

“Tell me, Tania. Is there something else you want to say?”

“I’ve got nothing to say. And please, stop confusing me. You’re the one who’s acting weird.”

“It’s because—”

Ranie and Matt cut Stacie off. They created that weird buzzing sound and started singing a random song. Dwight even joined them and gave his best in singing as if he belonged to a boy group.

The poor girl pouted. “It’s not funny!”

I sighed. We can be really chaotic; but with those three doofuses, I don’t know what to say anymore. As long as we have Cai who always acts like the referee, we’re gonna be fine.

Dwight approached me after he finished his meal. “Tania, come with me.”

“Where are you taking me?” I was really hesitant ‘coz he might have something in his sleeves. He was really unpredictable.

He took my hand before I could utter another word. We were literally walking hand in hand.

“Where are we going, Dwight?” I tried to pull my hand, but he didn’t let me go.

I kept my mouth shut and just let him dragged me whenever he wishes to go. Even though we don’t speak with each other that much, I would know if something’s going on with him. Of course, I would know. I’ve known him for years. I know his strengths and weaknesses—the reason why I always win. And maybe, the incident yesterday helped me to get to know him better. Maybe, he wasn’t really a bad guy as I thought.

Floods of memories flashed before my eyes, but I was able to brush them off. I didn’t want to go there; I didn’t want to visit my painful past ‘coz I’d only hate him for that.

We ended up in the garden. He walked toward the wooden bench that was situated under the old oak tree. I sat on the same bench, but I was on the other side.

“I like it here. So peaceful…”

I tilted my head so I could look at Dwight. Watching him like this—lost and purely euphoric—was peaceful. Forget about the beautiful scenery when there was a guy whom I could watch all day. I immersed myself in getting a good grade and maintaining my rank that I completely ignored how handsome he was. He was undoubtedly the most popular boy not just in 4-A, but in the whole academy because he’s got the looks and wits. And guess what? I couldn’t agree more.

“Why did you bring me here when you’re more comfortable with the boys?” I aske him after minutes of silence.

He chuckled as he glanced at me. “Then there will be no peace.”

I pouted ‘coz we shared the same thought. If he asked the boys—especially Ranie—to tag along—he’ll be irritated and will probably leave him behind.

“Have you ever been in love?” He popped that question like a bubble gum. I was actually surprised as I didn’t expect that he’d ask me that.

I glanced at him ‘coz I wanted to look into his eyes. He felt my gaze so he angled his head to stare at me.

“I’ve never been in love. I’m too young for that.”

He nodded and let his teeth sunk in his lower lip. Then, he faced the endless waves of trees to contemplate. He was thinking so deep as if my statement was hard to understand. I only said the truth, though.

“How about you? Have you fallen in love with someone?”

He laughed a bit. He slid his hands inside his pockets and heaved a deep sigh.

“I’ve fallen in love for a person I can’t have. Too bad…” he replied without looking at me, but an expression of pain suddenly came over his face.

“Yeah, that’s too bad,” I looked down and kicked the dried leaves near my feet.

I heard him smile. “Why are you sulking? You’re not the one who got rejected. It was me.”

I caught the glimpse of his smile and it made me speechless. He rarely does that. But I will never let him know that it suits him.

“You’re so ugly…” I whispered to myself ‘coz I shouldn’t praise him.

He let out a soft chuckle. “Oh, that’s why I attract a lot of girls. Thanks for pointing it out!”

Ugh! That laugh!

I stood up before I could say anything that I’d surely regret. But I almost had a heart attack when the students suddenly came out from the bushes. I shut my eyes tightly while I was holding my chest. Dwight stood behind me to see if I was alright.

“What are you doing here?” he asked them coldly.

I calmed myself down before I locked my gaze on my schoolmates. One of them was holding a DSLR. Then, I realized that they are members of the Journalism Club. Don’t tell me…

“We apologize for startling you two. It’s just that, we needed to take your photograph for next week’s headline,” the girl with the eyeglasses replied.

Dwight nodded. He cupped his chin while he was thinking deeply.

“May I see the photo?”

I couldn’t believe him! He didn’t even ask if what the contents of the article is about.

“You’re not gonna spread some fake news about us, right?”

The girl smiled at me. “Don’t worry, Tania. We won’t do something like that. The article is about your rivalry that has been going on for years. We’ll send it on your e-mail before we proceed to publishing.”

That’s interesting… No one cared about that before. But now that we’re in our last year, a lot of our schoolmates became interested all of the sudden.

Dwight handed the camera to the girl. “I don’t care about the article. Just send the photo on my e-mail, please.”

“Sure! But before we go, can we take a picture with you? The president of the club wants us to show the proof that we really took your photo and we just didn’t get it from elsewhere.”

We left after the picture taking. I was walking slower than the turtle, so Dwight held my arm and pulled me. I groaned and tried to stay away from him.

“Stop pulling me! You can leave first if you think that I’m slowing you down!”

He didn’t expect that I would shout at him. He immediately let go of my hand as if it was hot enough to burn his skin. I felt the guilt when I saw the pain on his face. I was shocked at myself, too. We were okay a few minutes ago.

He swallowed hard and chose to ignore my gaze. “I’m sorry… I got excited.”

“Right, you got excited! But you really disgust me. Don’t ever come near me again.”

My pride took over and crushed every bit of guilt I was feeling inside. But I had to spill the poison straight from my mouth, so he would never think of me as someone whom he can lean on. He was starting to feel comfortable around me and forgot that he was the one who first drew the line between us. But I would build a wall—high and strong enough to remind him that it wouldn’t be easy for him to face off against me.

“Where have you been, Tania?”

I threw myself in the couch and pretended that I didn’t hear Dana.

“They told me that you went outside with Dwight. Where’s he?”

I didn’t want to feed Danielle’s curiosity either, so I kept my mouth shut.

“Tania, are you listening?!” Cailah shook my hand as if the answer was hidden underneath my sleeve.

Slightly light-headed, I shook my head and walked toward the staircase. I went inside my room and almost crawled my way to the bed.

“Open the door, Tania!”

Cai would break the door if she continued to knock like that. But I still ignored her as I wanted to be alone. I covered myself with a blanket and closed my eyes.

I sighed ‘coz they were able to unlock the door. They all dived in the bed and hugged me—obviously annoying the hell out of me.

“The boys are looking for Dwight. We’ve been calling him, but he shut his phone down. Did you two fight again?” Dana’s voice was full of suspicion.

Someone pulled the blanket, but I didn’t want to show my face so I ended up grabbing nothing in the air. They burst into laughter ‘coz their mission to make my life miserable was successful.

I groaned and sat on the tufted chair as they took all the space on the bed. But it was the way they stare at me, though. They knew that Dwight and I fought again. Honestly, they’re just a tad bit more concerned because the reason for our fights is getting pettier and shallow by day.

“I don’t know where he is. But he’ll come back later,” I said.

In the end, I wasn’t able to convince them. We even argued about it, but they let it pass since they knew that I’d just keep my mouth shut.

Stacie was the last one to leave the room; but before she stepped outside, she turned around and eyed me suspiciously.

“You’re really not good at lying, Tania. You can fool yourself—everyone else in this house— but you can never fool me.”

My lips parted. She doesn’t talk that much, but she could really knock some sense into me.

I put the earphones on and buried my face in the pillow. I played my go-to song by One Ok Rock whenever I’m feeling sad. Someday, they’ll understand why Dwight and I will never get along…

Cai kept bugging me on our way to the airport. She prepared some jokes to make me feel better, but I wasn’t in the mood to entertain her humor.

“Cheer up, please? You’re making me worry!”

“I’m fine, Cai. Worry about the chocolate that was stuck between your teeth.”

Her eyes widened and looked over the compact mirror quickly. She stomped her foot when she realized that I wasn’t joking. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from laughing. Well, that was funny to me…

“But seriously, Tania? Something had really happened between you and Dwight!” she said once she gained her confidence back.

I clacked my tongue. “Nothing happened. Why are you treating us like a kid anyway?”

“Because you two are acting like children! When Ranie and Matt came back, they told us that Dwight already went home. He said that there was some sort of emergency at their house and he needed to be there as soon as possible.”

Frustrated, I looked away and ran my fingers through my hair.

“I knew it!” she sounded so proud.

“Whatever, Cai,” I murmured to myself.

I felt better when we arrived in the airport. We still have 10 minutes left, so we decided to buy a drink before we went to the waiting area.

I was enjoying my strawberry frappe when I caught her smiling. I glanced down at her phone’s screen and found out that she was stalking Ian’s Facebook account.

“I just can’t believe that you’re losing your mind over a potato,” she just ignored what I said.

Fine! Do what you want, my dearest cousin!

I looked over the big screen in front of us and saw that my father’s plane has just landed.

“Cai! Cai! Daddy has finally arrived!” I announced excitedly.

She smirked at me. “Look at you! You’re not that excited a while ago!”

I held her wrist and stood up. “Let’s go over there! I can’t wait to see him!”

Amusement crossed on her face as she witnessed how excited I am. We leaned on the barricades while we are watching those people who are coming out from the arrival area like a hawk. I was also holding a bottle of water, so I could give it to dad later as the flight from California to Manila was really exhausting.

“Daddy!” I waved my hand and jumped with Cai.

He immediately noticed us. Smiling, he almost ran toward our direction. Cai and I ran to meet him halfway.

“Tania!” my father hugged me so tight and gave me a kiss on top of my head.

“I missed you, Dad! I really do!” I was like a koala that was clinging on his arm.

Cai laughed at me when it was her turn to hug my father. I just couldn’t let go of him, so we ended up doing a group hug.

“You’re so clingy! You really are a daddy’s girl!”

I pouted. “Oh, shut up! I am not clingy! I just missed my dad!”

She continued to tease me when we got inside the car. She even shared my most embarrassing moments that’s why dad kept laughing throughout our trip. Even my recent quarrel with Dwight didn’t escape her mouth.

“I hate you!” I told Cai through gritted teeth.

“Aww! Why do you hate me? But I still love you though,” she pinched my cheeks and I playfully slapped her hand for that.

Daddy might’ve dislocated his jaw as he was laughing the whole time. Cai was at her jokes again; but this time, I enjoyed her humor without thinking otherwise.

“Oh, my gosh! Love!” my mom shouted when we arrived in our house.

Here we go…

Cai and I turned our backs because we didn’t want to see her smooch with dad. There are times when they forget that we are watching them, so it’s better to just look away.

After their long, emotional reunion, we finally entered the house. I almost drooled when I smelled the dishes that my mom prepared. But my excitement has gone down the drain when I saw who are waiting in the dining room.