IX. The Remembrance

Tahimik si Trisha habang lulan sila ng kotse ni Marsden.  Hindi niya alam at wala siyang pakialam kung saan siya nito dadalhin.   Surprisingly, she felt calm and safe with him and at the moment she doesn’t want it to end.  Kinuha niya ang kanyang cellphone at muntik nanaman siyang maiyak nang makita ang 20 misscalls from different numbers, marami rin notifications for text messages, nakasilent ito at ngayon niya lang naalalang echeck.  Trisha closed her eyes, so her friends must have seen the photo even Chloe.  Nang tatawagan na sana niya si Chloe ay tumunog ang phone niya, tinatawagan siya ni Jay.

“Hello?” Buti na lang kalmado na si Trisha nang sagutin ang phone.

“Trish, Oh my God! Finally, sinagot mo rin…Nasa’n ka ba? We’re so worried, akala namin nasa Ladies’ Room ka lang nang puntahan ka ni Abby but you’re not there.  Where are you? Okay ka lang ba?  Kung tungkol do’n sa kumakalat sa social media, huwag kang mag-alala, kilala ka namin,” pag-aalala nito.

“I’m fine Jay, sorry to worry you all.  I’ll explain it tomorrow.  Thank you Jay.  I’m with–” sinulyapan ni Trisha si Marsden at nginitian ito “–a friend.”

Nang e-off ni Trisha ang call, si Chloe naman ang sunod niyang tinawagan.  Tiyak na subra itong nag-aalala sa kanya.  “Finally, you picked up! Where are you? Hindi mo ba nakita lahat ng missed calls ko best?  As in how many times kitang tinawagan.  Oh my God! Puputi ang mga buhok ko sa ibaba dahil sayo, kaloka ka girl!”

Natawa siya sa sinabi ng kaibigan, natatawa pa rin siya nang eassure ito na okay lang siya and they agreed that Chloe will have  sleepover tommorrow.  Matagal rin niya itong nakumbinsi na okay lang siya. Trisha sighed, closed her eyes and leaned her head against the backrest.

“You know what, you trust me too much.” Marsden was smirking while looking at her.   She still looked flushed, with red eyes and nose that made her looked like a lost child, one reason why he got the urge to pull her outside.  Marsden was debating against himself if furthering their acquaintance was the right thing to do.  However, every minute passed he was surprisingly getting comfortable with her.  She’s like a little sister before after all, no matter what happened after.  His more mature now for sure he could handle things against the past.

Napangiti si Trisha nang lingunin ito.   “Kailangan ko na bang magpanic? Are you going to murder me?” she lightly jest, feeling the peace within her after pouring her pain.

 “Nope!” still looking smug he added, “but I would love to do something else.”

Trisha blushed as he remembered what Marsden did at the storeroom and hated herself for reacting like a teenager flirting with the most handsome guy who gave her his attention, with his dimples and all, who wouldn’t? Buti na lang at nakatotok ang paningin nito sa harapan kaya naman nagawa niyang pagmasdan ang features nito.  While looking at him for a while biglang pumasok sa kanyang ala-ala ang isang siyam na taong gulang na naging kaibigan niya when she was still young.  His name was…

“Marsden,  like Marsden Fonacier?” Bulalas ni Trisha nang marealized ang pagkakahawig ng dalawa.

Ngitian siya nito.  “Congratulations! You remembered!”

“You remembered me all along?” naitakip ni Trisha ang mga kamay sa mukha. “Oh my God nakakahiya!”  just thinking about the kiss made Trisha wanted to puke.

Marsden was unexplanably enjoying this, he shouldn’t have.  If they will start to talk about the past, it will definitely trigger the nightmare he had successfully ceased for years.  But by just looking at her, whatever emotions showed in her beautiful face,  gave him a semblance of peace from within.  “Well, hindi kita nakilala at first, you looked different but the eyes…your eyes are the same.  It’s been a long time since I saw such eyes.  Then I dreamed a girl who gave me a chewing gum when I saved her from bullies and I realized it’s you.  What a small world right?”

“Yeah, what a small world,”  hindi makapaniwalang turan ni Trisha.  It really is a small world.  It so amazing that they’ve met again after all these years.  She remembered now that he had called her name in the hallway, she never once told him her name.

“So you hated me still?” Marsden asked her.

Napatawa si Trisha nang marinig ang tinuran nito.  She can’t blame him, she was really annoyed of him before.

“Well, I actually never hated you.  I was annoyed with you and kuya.  Palagi nalang kayong magkasama.  Puro nalang kayo boy games, playing in the road under the heat of the sun where mom always reminded me not to join you dahil masisira daw ang skin ko and all,” saad naman ni Trisha.

Marsden chuckled showing those dimples Trisha remembered so well.  “Well, when we’re playing indoors we always asked you to join us if I remembered correctly.”

“Yeah but kuya always says no Trish, not that one Trish, hindi ka naman marunong eh and you just kept on playing, hindi mo man lang mapagsabihan si kuya kaya ako naiinis.”  Trisha was enjoying this moment of reminiscing the past.  Made her feel even better.

“Aha! So that’s the reason why you hated me,” bulalas ni Marsden just realizing now why his friend suddenly hated him before.

“I said I never hated you that time.  Okay, I may have pretended to hate you but not for real.”  Trisha positioned herself so she could gazed at Marsden when she asked the thing that kept on bothering her before.  “You’re my friend, I really like to play with you but you like to play with kuya more so I was annoyed…but what made me hate you was the time you left without even saying goodbye…pooff! Gone! So tell me now, where have you been?” 

Napansin niyang naging uncomfortable ito at hindi agad makasagot.  Nawala rin ang ngiti nito. “Wait!” sabay palmed up. “You don’t have to answer me now, later, let’s find sometime to have a friendly chat and I wanna treat you for all your help.  It really mean a lot.”

Marsden’s smirk came back after he silently took a deep breath.  “Shoot!”  He almost snapped at her to stop talking so their moment won’t be destroyed by the bad memories but she’s an innocent.  He realized how unfairly he treated the good memories they’ve shared just because they have the same timeline.

Inayos ni Trisha ang pagkakaupo and relaxingly observe the buildings they passed when suddenly her stomach growl reminding her that she haven’t eaten lunch and even dinner yet.  Palihim siyang napatingin kay Marsden if he heard her hungry stomach.  She thanked God silently when it doesn’t seemed like he heard it.   Ayaw na niyang dagdagan pa ang kahihiyan. But when they passed a  fastfood chain, Marsden went to the Drive Thru and ordered Big Fries, burgers and drinks then looked at Trisha saying he’s hungry.  He looked innocent but Trisha saw in the glint of his eyes that he ordered those for her.  Blushing and touched Trisha teasingly  punched Marsden in the arm and they both laughed with each other.