For a few seconds the world stopped for Herbie and Mandy. They both let go for that brief moment. The rules, the inhibitions, the fear, all gone. It was not Herbie, her sister’s ex kissing her. It’s just Herbie, the man that he trusted with all her heart. His kiss brought her the same electric energy she felt the first time their lips met. And she was holding his face, prolonging the kiss.
Everything that he wanted to do the first time they kissed Herbie was doing that moment. His hand behind her head pressing her lips harder onto his. His other arm supporting her back, caressing her there.
Then his phone vibrated, startling them both. He chased her lips again when the vibration stopped. But then it jiggled again. Foreheads together, they laughed looking at each other’s lips that already looked swollen. Their lips met one more time then parted for good when the phone received a message this time.
Herbie did not want to look at the message nor t
Herbie was fidgeting as he and Annie waited for their turn to board a bus. He was biting the nail on his thumb, too.Annie, on the other hand, was watching Herbie at the corner of her eyes. She was controlling her smile. She was seeing Herbert, her boyfriend in college, the way he would fidget and bite his nails when he was nervous. But he looked much more handsome than he was back then. All the success that he had at work was adding a lot to his character. But part of his charisma was that - his old fidgety and nervous self.“I see you haven’t changed a bit!” Annie spoke as she bumped her shoulder lightly at Herbie.“Wh-what?”“I meant that!” she replied using her eyes and lips to point at the finger that was still attached to his mouth.“Oh.” Herbie suddenly felt embarrassed and hesitantly stopped the biting.Herbie placed all their bags at the compar
“Oh my God! Did we just kiss?” Mandy said to herself touching her lips. She couldn’t recall a time when a kiss had been that good. Her first kiss was forgettable. It did not live up to the hype that everyone was saying about first kisses.Time did not stop. There was not much fireworks and gosh, she wanted so much for sparks to fly when their lips met. She closed her eyes real good. She felt his lips, every part of it on hers and that was it.Not that Mandy was an expert on kissing. That was not that at all. She only had a few boyfriends and the kiss had always been a barometer as to whether the relationship had some sort of potential.“Huh, when was the last time I have felt like this over a kiss? Wow, that was a long time ago… Oh my God!” Mandy suddenly felt embarrassed thinking about how she chased Herbie’s lips for more kisses. “But he was chasing my lips, too.” She laugh
A knock at the door.“Who is it?” “Herbie.”Mandy ran to the door to let him in.“Your sister here?”“You mean, Annie?”Herbie shrugged his shoulder shaking his head with a smirk. Mandy had been teasing him that since he broke up with her sister about 13 years ago, Yes, it was that long time ago!he couldn’t seem to say her name. They had been in the same room many many times after that and those times had always been awkward.Not that he still had feelings for Annie. There he said her name though only in his head. It’s just awkward period. He could choose not to be around Annie but that tiny little tickle in his heart far outweighed the awkwardness of the atmosphere. Nope, it’s not her that’s giving him that feeling, it’s actually her sister, Mandy!"What’s up?"
YEAR 2016 Herbie was at the time of his life when one could say he had everything - a nice fully-furnished apartment in one of the posh condominium buildings in Taguig, his own luxury car paid for by his company, off the charts pay rate and a lot of other perks that come with being President and CEO of Superb Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Nope, he didn’t dream of all the power and money. In fact, he didn’t have a plan at all. One could say he was just going with the flow. When he was first hired, he didn’t even like what he was doing - merely encoding numbers didn’t challenge his mind at all. That meeting one afternoon with the management team changed his life when he opened his mouth to explain to them what he thought the numbers meant. He impressed not just his boss and the board of directors but even himself! From then on, he was no longer an anonymous encoder in one of those cubicles. He got promoted year after year.
He blurted it out loud enough bringing Annie out of her room. “Herbert?” Herbie turned around to find that it was Annie who called. He looked down on the picture in his hand then looked up at Annie. Oh, yes, it is Annie! his head screaming. And what about Annie? She was equally surprised, baffled, shocked. Annie’s eyes grew big when she confirmed that it was really him. Mandy came out of her room opposite her sister’s, looked at Annie and Herbie back and forth and asked - “You know each other?” “He’s our neighbor?” Annie asked turning her attention to Mandy. “Yes, why?…. Is there a problem?” Mandy asking her sister. When she didn’t get an answer, she looked at Herbie, who suddenly stuttered as he said his goodbye that sounded like - “Mandy, Annie, nice to meet you two… I’ll see you around.” When the door shut after him… “What was that all about, Mandy?”
YEAR 2010 “One brief kiss. How can it still be in my head?” as he stirred for the nth time in his bed clutching his favorite pillow. He tried to dismiss the kiss as a result of Mandy’s drunkenness. Although she was not drunken at all. She got tipsy alright but it’s one that went away almost immediately after a cup of black coffee. He laughed at himself realizing that he was a 30 year-old grown man gushing and blushing at that one brief smack on the lips that probably meant nothing to the giver. He ran about a thousand scenarios in his head about the perfect reaction he should have given. He should’ve kissed her back, maybe hold her face to keep her mouth in place or maybe grab her by the waist to keep her body close then hold her by the back of her head so he could press his lips on hers. He stopped himself before he went any further. The fact was, he didn’t do any of those scenarios. He froze for what seemed like forever before he could pro
It had been weeks since Herbie last saw Mandy and he had been worried that she was intentionally avoiding him. It was like everything changed after that night of the kiss. He didn’t know whether to be thankful it happened because it gave him the push to confront what he had been feeling for her all along or to regret it happened because after that, he couldn’t get a hold of her. He would call her on the phone and it was always Annie who would answer. He would visit their apartment before he left for work, or after work and still it was Annie she got to see. In all those times, he had to think of reasons real quick and he was not good making up excuses. One time, he said he ran out of coffee. He knew it was the most ridiculous excuse because well, there were dozens of coffee shops, one right at the groundfloor of their building and the others were just a few blocks away. The ridiculousness of his excuse was written all over Annie’s face but she gave him an unopened pa
Herbie thought it wasn’t the best time to bring up the kiss, the kiss that still lingered in his mind, the kiss that he craved for, the kiss that made him forget all the other kisses he had received and given. At that moment, he just wanted to make up for lost time. He just wanted to cheer her up. He was able to convince Mandy for a trip out of the city. They could use the time to unwind and forget all about the worries that kept their minds preoccupied. So with little or no sleep for both of them, they packed their bags early morning with no clear destination. They both figured, it would be exciting to make decisions on the fly. Seated side by side in a bus, Herbie gave up his favorite window seat for Mandy. At that point, he would give up anything and everything for her. Now that he was sure he was falling in love with her ex-girlfriend’s sister, if he hasn’t already fallen, every touch just felt different, for this time he knew it wasn’t just physical, it wa