After all of them fell asleep consecutively beside each other on one couch, Giselle was the first one to wake up, idlip lang naman yung naganap sa kanilang apat pero parang lahat ata sila nabangag for the first 15 minutes na gising sila.

     Cat clearly remembers just staring at the faces of the other three at para bang napadpad siya sa ibang mundo nung nakatulog siya.

     They decided to cook dinner nalang para less gastos (basta daw hindi kasama si Ning sa magbabayad) kaya ang sumunod na nangyare eh ang pagpili ng ulam. Kaya ito sila ngayon, bumibili ng pechay, patatas at mais sa grocery at lumabas sila real quick dahil wala pa rin palang alak sa unit ni Gi except sa significant other niyang si tequila.

     Nilaga nalang daw ang ulam at matagal na ang huling kain ni Giselle dito, wala namang umangal at si Winter at Ning na daw ang magluluto, early gift na daw to ni Ning kay Gi, dinamay niya lang si Winter para may katulong.

     Kaya eto tuloy duty ni Cat, pagtutulak ng push cart at napaka-ingay pa rin naman nung sa kanila, puno kasi ito ng tanduay at san mig lychee saka dalawang soju bottles. Chill drinking nalang daw sila at hindi naman sila yung type to walwal inside a condo unit. Bibili nalang din daw sila ng sisig from a nearby resto then chips and other fried foods nalang ang pulutan nila.

     Hindi naman sila sugapa sa pulutan kaya okay na to.

     She and Winter even bought some mushroom chips to try at masarap daw yun sabi nung dalawa, she wondered how they knew and she didn’t but at least she has her Gal, they’ll try it together.

     Si Ning nalang ang bumaba para bumili ng sisig on a place they passed by kaya they’re currently listening to some tunes from Gi’s stereo.

     Katabi niya lang si Madrid kaya naman it suddenly sprung back to her what she needs to do tonight, what she wants to do before the night ends.

     It actually subsided ever since the four of them gathered this afternoon but now na magdidinner na, it’s coming back and she can’t help but to feel nervous about it. She has this script na she wants to go through when she does it pero she’s super sure na by the time she starts it, mawawala agad to sa isip niya kaya naman kahit na she’s trying her best to not think of the many ways that it could end.

     Cat could only look at her Gal, who’s playing some game on her phone right now. She envies how chill she is about everything happening as of the moment.

     She wishes she had the same energy going thru her body but knowing what she wants to do. How could that happen….

     ‘Wanna watch?’ she suddenly offered. It looks like Gi isn’t minding them kaya she scooted closer so their arms are touching each other.

     ‘Ano ba yan?’ I asked her.

     ‘Some gun game na sabi ni Rye maganda daw’

     That figures, kaya pala maraming flashing lights coming from her phone, must be gun shots or something.

     I leaned in closer to her so I could watch her better. ‘Maganda ba?’ I asked. Showing my interest as I’m willing to do anything to forget about ‘it’ again, just for the meantime.

     ‘Compared to you, no’ it took me a second to realize what she said. But as soon as I did, I feel my cheeks heat up. How can she be so….
     .
     .
     .......Like this.

     ‘Try mo?’

     Setting aside the nachos and sisig na binili ni Ning. She and Rid easily cooked our dinner because based on my knowledge just now, Madrid’s actually good at cooking some certain Filipino soup dishes.

     Parang inutos-utusan niya nga lang si Ning maghiwa, mag-gayat at ganto ganyan eh, Nilagang Manok naman tong niluto nila kaya after taking off the skin from the chicken, ginisa nalang niya yun tapos dagdag nalang ng iba’t iba pang ingredients.

     Meanwhile me and Gi stored every beverage we bought sa ref niya para i-aakyat nalang namin mamaya sa freezer after eating ‘cause who doesn’t like ice cold alcoholic drinks?

     Ang pait kaya kapag lukewarm na, nakakaturn-off.

     So we ate until like, there was no more soup dun sa Nilaga. Gal devoured the cut-up corn they added and Gi ate one whole potato based on what she was boasting about before I washed the dishes para naman mag maitulong din ako.

     Pagtutulak pa nga lang ata ng push cart yung nagagawa ko ngayong araw eh, hindi naman ako yung may birthday in two nights. They’re babying me too much, I’m not liking it.

     ‘Bes, ito pa baso’ singit ni Ning. Hindi ko pa naman nasasabunan lahat ng dirty plates kaya keri pa ihabol. ‘Lagay mo dyan’ I was scrubing the glass cups when she showed up again, this time holding a plate that I don’t know where it came from. ‘Hehe, last na’ and that wasn’t the end of it.

     ‘Last na talaga’ a pair of cutleries.

     ‘I love you Cat pero kay Winter galing to kaya wag ka sa’kin magagalit’ and another spoon, as I heard, was from Winter.

     On second thought, I like being treated as a baby. Wala akong ginagawa (=

     After Gal deliberately convinced Ning and Gi na wag daw namin panoorin yung ‘Incantation’ sa Netflix, we just settled on watching Hallow man since no one knows its story yet but sabi sa google and other review sites, it’s somehow scary daw but not terrifyingly scary.

     Gi quickly heat up the sisig on a pan para daw extra crispy, I assembled the nachos while Rid and Ning cleaned up around the sala para naman maglalatag nalang ng air mattress mamaya kapag matutulog na.

     I have a huge intuition na it’s either me and Gal who’s going to sleep sa mattress or if someone falls asleep first while drinking then dun sila.

     Sana naman hindi ako yung maunang bumagsak sa’ming apat, sana din hindi si Gal kasi kung oo, edi pano na yung plan ko?

     ‘Start ko na ba?’ Ning asked. She’s already sitting on the sofa while Rid’s sweeping the last few areas of the sala, ang sipag naman ng bebe.

     ‘Wait lang aba!’ sigaw ni Gi. Nako Ning wag mo na galitin to, mas scary sa Incantation to.

     ‘Nachosss’ ‘Thank you’ I greeted them with a warm smile and some Cat-professionally made nachos na pinagsama sama ko lang to look like how I imagine other nachos look like.

     Yung binili kasi ni Ning, pinakiusapan niya yung gumagawa na hiwa-hiwalay yung toppings para kami na nga lang daw mag-ayos saka para hindi soggy yung chips bago pa man mag-inom. Kaya ayun, I enjoyed building some nachos.

     ‘You drink naman diba?’ mahina kong tanong kay Gal. She nodded her head before reaching for a bite of the nachos I ‘made’

     ‘Kayo ba, do you do this often?’ she queried. ‘Kapag kaya, minsan lumalabas pa kami para mag-bar’ Ning explained. That was a huge lie.

     We’re not even party people if it’s a public place, we prefer parties where we are surrounded by people we know or if there’s more people that we know other than us 3. It’s also safer that way. ‘That was like, 3 times before the pandemic’ I said half laughing. Infairness, masarap yung gawa-gawa ko.

     We had this phase kasi back at senior high na we wanted to try every bar in Manila pero ito kami ngayon, barely in our twenties but we all like chill drinking nalang sa isang private place. Convenient kaya.

     ‘Bawal pa kasi si Ning kaya we had to sneak her in’ sabi ko. ‘Minor moments’ Gi side commented.

     ‘Tse, at least 20 na ko in a few days’

     ‘But right now, you’re still 19 kaya i-play mo na yan’ utos ni Gi. Agad namang sinunod ni Ning kaya we each grabbed our first beers before leaning back to our comfortable spots. Gi’s by the bottom of the couch nanaman while me and the other two each found our own spaces to spend the night in.

     Gal’s was leaning at me with her feet up by her waist so yeah, that’s cute.

     ‘Cheers!’ grabe, it’s not even 9pm yet pero eto na kami, let the night commence.

     So, I’m not sure how this happened pero lahat kami ngayon nasa sahig na. We moved Gi’s coffee table so kasya kaming lahat while sitting near each other and we’re currently about to take our second shot of tequila.

     We decided to do two for the two decades na Ning has been alive.

     We did one earlier as soon as we thought about it and I just learned na first time ni Gal with taking in tequila alone kaya she easily downed half of her beer after it just to hide the taste, that’s definitely not a good sign for her body kaya ngayon she’s asking the other two how to properly take it ba. We have this trick kasi and it somehow really helps with taking in tequila.

     ‘Pa’no ba kasi magshot ng tequila?’ lahat kami hawak na yung shot namin, we already drank one whole bottle of soju and it’s kinda kicking in already.

     As expected, Gi’s the one teaching the trick again kasi sakanya naman talaga namin natutunan, who she learned it from, that I don’t know anymore. ‘Take a deep breath then let it out, right after inumin mo na, sipsipin mo yung lime then hinga ka na ulit ng malalim’ mabilis niyang run thru added with small actions as a visual aide on what Gal needs to do.

     I wasn’t even surprised to know na may fresh limes si Gi na binili niya daw a couple of days back.

     Halata naman sa mukha ni Rid na hindi siya nakasunod kaya tinitigan niya lang si Gi blankly. ‘Sige nagets ko talaga’

     I was starting to laugh at them. Deep inside I just want to get this done already but what’s happening in front of me is more entertaining than the erted invisible guy we’re watching.

     Ang weird nga eh, maybe it’s the alcohol pero when a popped out sa screen kanina, I was mesmerized by it. I even felt hot like I just drank an invisible shot of tequila when the scene happened around it. Ang laswa pero yun nangyare eh.

     ‘Insan, breath in breath out, lagok, lime tapos breath in ulit, iilang steps lang ih’ pa