“Let’s go,” nags Maja for the umpteenth time.

                 “Wait, okay,” I beg, holding a finger up. “Chill, mah friend, chill.” I bend down to tie up my shoes and then look up to the mirror for a one last check, mussing my hair to give it volume.  “Okay, let’s go.”

                Maja lets out a large exhale, her voice dripping of irritation as she says, “Finally.” We head out of the dressing room and out into the ASAP stage. Today is last minute rehearsals for ASAP. Rayver, John, Gab and Mickey are currently occupying the stage, practicing their prod number with teacher Jurcel. The rest are watching from the sidelines. Maja and I take a seat beside some dancers.

                “Are you going to Deo’s birthday party tonight?” Maja nudges me.

                I stretch my legs out in front of me and look at her. “That’s tonight?”

                “Yuh, mah friend,” Maja replies as if I was dumb as a rock.

                “Oh,” I mumble. “I thought his birthday party’s not until next week.”

                “No, you idiot, it’s tonight. Are you going or not?”

                “It’s on my schedule so, yeah, I’m going.”

                “Want to hitch a ride with me?”

                “Sure, sure.”

                “Okie dokes, mah friend. I was planning on riding with Matteo and Jason if you’re not coming,” she says just as Rayver’s group finishes their last steps.

                “Shaina, Iya, Andi and Melissa on-stage, now,” the intercom blares out.  

                We watch the girls come out into the stage. Maja, then, starts elbowing me and nudging me. I turn to look at her.  “What?”

                She wiggles her eyebrows in reply.

                “What?” I huff.

                “Shooting with Gerald,” she announces frankly, at the same time, poking me. “Spill.”

                I stare at her blankly. Of course, she would ask about that.  Apparently, Maja seems to be on the flip side with Haidi and won’t move on from Gerald. “We did some scenes—talked and hung out for just a bit,” I answer coolly.

                “Hm,” that’s all Maja said.

                “Yup.”

                “What kind of scenes did you do?” she pries but her tone implies that she already knows very well what happened that day.

                “I have a feeling you already know.”

                Maja giggles loudly which attracts a lot of attention. “Oops,” mutters Maja, putting her hand over .

                I laugh at her and so does Shaina and the other dancers.

                She composes herself and continues, “I was texting Haidi that day. I swear, you and your Kimerald nonsense will be the end of me and my heart! Kissing scene!” Maja waves her hands all over the place. “I fell off my chair when Haidz told me that. I haven’t even seen the kissing scene itself but I’m already dying over the giddiness of the fact that you guys did kiss!”

                “You’re overreacting, it’s ridiculous,” I laugh. “And it’s kinda a low-blow to Sam how you guys keep getting giddy over me and Gerald when really, it’s suppose to be me and Sam together.” I hope Sam’s not feeling affronted by it. I just realize that I haven’t really talked to Sam about the whole Gerald thing.

                Maja scrunches up her face, “Well, you have to admit; you and Gerald have better chemistry together. And don’t worry, I’m just expressing my being a fan of Kimerald for ‘reel,’” assures Maja, making air quotes with her fingers. “As in, R-E-E-L.”

                “Yeah, sure.”

                 “But Haidi also told me that you stiffen up when Gerald’s around.” She raises an eyebrow.

                “I do not,” I interject, incredulous.

                “Liar!” she exclaims.

                And she’s right, I am a liar. I am guilty of stiffening up around Gerald’s presence but it isn’t because my heart is still wrapped around our history. No, it’s not that. “Fine. I admit, I’m still attracted to him,” I confess and before Maja misinterprets my words, I start, “I mean, like, who isn’t attracted to him? You have to admit that he’s really handsome. I mean, that’s why he’s famous. It’s just natural for anyone to be attracted to him, right?”

                “Yeah, yeah,” she says as if I was talking gibberish.

                “Maja, I’m not messing with you.”

                “Yes, okay. Speaking of which, here comes the apple of your eye.” She nods towards where Rayver’s group is—across the stage, sitting by the sidelines. Gerald emerges from the backstage and joins Rayver’s group. They greet each other and do their handshakes, just like always. I remember the siomai that he gave me yesterday. I still haven’t thanked him for it so I stand up and start my way across the stage.

                “Mah friend! Where you going, mah friend?!” Maja shouts.

                “I’ll be right back,” I shout back, keeping my eyes on Gerald. He’s lively chatting with Rayver and is casual in his shirt and basketball shorts. He still looked good, though.

                As I near them, Rayver is first to look up. “Uy, hey, Kim. How’s it going?”

                “Oh, it’s definitely going,” I tell him, putting on a happy tone. I look over to Gerald who seems just a tad bit surprised, “Hey, Ge.”

                He beams at me. “Hey.”

                “I just wanna thank you for bringing me some siomai the other day.” Pausing, I shrug. “I didn’t really get the chance to thank you.”

                “Tsk,” he huffs. “It’s  nothing. You should be accustomed to that by now since I used to always bring you siomai.”

                You used to, I thought, but I just said, “Well, I want to thank you anyway.”

                “Well, in that case, you’re welcome.”

                I nod, beaming. I open my mouth to say something but nothing comes out so I quickly close it back. Neither one of us say anything. And even if the speakers are blowing up music for the rehearsals and everyone is lively chatting with each other, the silence starts to creep up. The silence is so evident that it almost feels painfully awkward. I mentally panic as I search my brain for something sensible to say but my brain is blank, at the moment. So instead, I turn to watch the dancers then I catch Maja’s eyes across the stage.

                She furrows her eyebrows at me as if to say, what are you doing? I hold up my hand at her to tell her not to worry about it.

                “Who is it?” I hear Gerald say behind me.

                I jump at how close his voice sounded. I quickly turn around and almost bumped his head. He’s leaning towards me, so close. “Oh, um, it was Maja.”

                He pulls back—the space between us goes back to normal. “Oh,” he utters, following where my gaze was—across the stage. He waves at Maja and she waves back, grinning. “You and Maja still bestfriends after all these years, huh?”

                “Yup, I love that kid. She’s fun and always there for me.” I pause, all of a sudden, my brain lights up. “What about you?”

                “Oh, y’know, still with the Fabboys.”

                “Just like always.”

                “Yup, just like alw—“

                “—Maja, Kim, Anne and KC on-stage, now,” the intercom cuts Gerald off.

                Across the stage, Maja waves at me to join her. “I gotta go. Talk to you later?” I tell Gerald.

                “Sounds good,” he answers, tilting his head up. I give him one last smile before I joined Maja and the other dancers and started dancing.

***

                Just like as planned, I hitch a ride in blasted music and winds in our hair with Maja. We arrive and I couldn’t tell if we came in late but we probably did because the place is already crowded. The venue is an exclusive and private club. Inside is dim but still visible and the place is buzzing with mixed chatter and soothing but upbeat music. Everyone is all over the place—bustling, cozied up, dancing. The waiters slide gracefully in between hot bodies back and forth, back and forth.

                I stood there at the entrance for a moment, not knowing what to do. It feels as if I was just right outside the border of chaos, just watching not joining. But then Deo comes and brings me back to my senses. He kisses my cheeks and Maja’s. “Lovely ladies! Dang, you look good! Nice of you to come,” he lively greets.

                 “Deo, happy birthday! You don’t look bad yourself,” greets Maja.

                I hand him my gift. “I can’t believe you’re 40 years old! To me, you look 25 years old!” I laugh out.

                “Psh,” he laughs. “Oh, Kim. Don’t sweet talk me.”

                “Deo, Deo, Deo. Happy birthday, Deo!” I sing to him.

                “Uy, thanks,” stresses Deo. “Thanks for the gift, guys. You shouldn’t have.”

                “Get over it, Deo. It’s your birthday,” Maja interjects.

                “Oh, okay. Well, go look for a table and just have fun tonight, ‘mkay?”

                Deo leaves and I scan the whole place. I catch someone’s eye every now and then and they wave at me. I wave back. Suddenly, Maja is pulling me along with her. We stop at a huge but slightly concealed booth at a corner of the room. The booth is already occupied by Matteo, Jason, Kakai, Ruel, Julian, Jake, Mel, and Gerald.  Gerald is looking down, watching his own hand lazily whisk the stirrer around his drink. He’s muttering something under his breath. I can hear the mumbling but I couldn’t quite distinguish the words coming out of his mouth.

                “Hey, guys. Thanks for saving us seats,” Maja announces, taking a seat next to Matteo, who was across Jake and Gerald. Out of the corner my eyes, I see Jake elbow Gerald. Gerald stops his mumbling and looks up at me. When he sees me, surprise forms on his face just like it did this morning.

                “Hey, Ge.” I bend down to give him a peck on the cheek. “Jake, Mel,” I grin at them and also give them each a peck. Ruel, Julian, Kakai and Jason are in the far end of the booth. I couldn’t reach them so I just greeted them with ‘hello’s.’ Before taking the seat next to Maja, I reach out to Matteo and also give him a peck.

                “What’s up, guys?” Maja exclaims. She grabs Matteo’s drink and looks at it. She tips it upside down. It’s empty. “Where’s the freaking food? I’m so hungry.”

                “It’s by the door over there,” Matteo points out. “C’mon I’ll come with you.”

                “Wanna come with us, Kim?” Maja asks me.

                “Nah. I already ate with Haidi before you picked me up. Just grab me something to drink.”

                “M’kay.” Maja and Matteo stand up. I move my legs to make way for them. When they leave, Jake asks me about how life has been on me.

                “Well...” my voice lingers out thoughtfully. “It’s been tiring but still worth it.”

                “Yeah, there’s the teleserye with Sam, millions of endorsements and of course, movie with Gerald.”

                “Yeah, I know.” I smile.

                “How’s you and Sam? Oh, wait, where is Sam?” Jake asks.

                “He has a photo shoot right now but he should be here soon.”

                “Oh, I see. So how’s you and Sam?” Jake repeats.

                “Pretty great.”

                “That’s it? ‘Pretty great’? Being very detailed there, Kim,” he spits out in sarcasm. “But then again, you were never the one for elaboration.”

                “Exactly, my friend. So let’s just keep it at that: ‘Pretty great,’” I reply.

                Matteo comes back with Maja following close behind with a dish in one hand and another in the other. “Here’s your drink: Cherry Daiquiri.” I thank him as he sets the drink in front of me.

                “The food is amazing!” Maja informs me as she takes a seat. “You should really try them.”

                “I will, later.”

                “How ‘bout you, guys?” She turns to the others. “Did you guys already eat?”

                “Not yet,” Gerald speaks up, “I’m kinda on a diet.”

                “Sus, why?” Disbelief forms on Maja’s face. “You’re perfectly fit. I know for sure that every girl is attracted to you, whether they like it or not.”

                I look at Maja suspiciously and try to figure out what she meant by that last sentence she said. Then she winks at me which makes me all the more sure that she was talking about me in that last sentence. My eyes quickly dart over to Gerald to see if he caught on and saw Maja’s wink. Thankfully, in God’s name, he is looking down, whisking the stirrer around his drink again.

                He looks up and sees me looking at him but he doesn’t look away even when he starts talking to Maja, “Thanks but I’ve to maintain this figure, of course.”

                “Huy,” Maja elbows me. My eyes finally detach from his gaze. “Try this, it’s good.” She brings her spoon into my mouth and it does taste good.

                “Are you still going to that gym?” I ask him. He always hated gym so much but never missed a session. He was the reason I started to go to the gym.

                “Nope,” he exhales, “Not anymore. I switched going to gym into just joining basketball matches over at the SNT Center more often.”

                “Speaking of basketball matches, didn’t you have one yesterday against San Juan College?” I ask. I’m kind of surprised at how my brain is buzzing of stuff to tell him without even putting effort as compared to what happened this morning.

                “Oh, we killed during the match, didn’t we, Gerald?” Jason cuts. He’s always been in Gerald’s basketball team since forever.  “Those guys were no match to our raging skills.”

                “Shut up, show-off,” Matteo says to Jason.

                Jason scorns at him and Maja and I laugh at them.

                “Yeah, well, it’s true," Gerald affirms. "We won.”

                “That’s awesome. How’s your teleserye with Jewel?” Maja asks out of nowhere.

                “Good. It’s been getting high rating so it’s good.”

                “That’s good,” she nods. “I hear you’re courting her.”

                “They’re just bunches of rumors.”

                I stare at my drink and somehow find it funny how I’m whisking the stirrer around my drink.

                “Oh, so you’re not courting anyone? No apple of the eye?” Maja seems to be too curious.

                Jake intervenes, “This boy is brokenhearted.” He slaps Gerald’s shoulder.

                “Weh? Really, Gerald?”

                “Heck, no. Jake! Stop making up stuff!” He playfully punches Jake in the arm.

                “So no one special at the moment?” Maja repeats.

                Gerald shrugs, “Nope. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

                “Yes, we will, Gerald, but for now, everybody, let’s have a toast!”

                We all raise our glass, “Cheers!”