Cut Short

I looked him in his eyes, and I saw sadness, or maybe even regret? Looking back, I never had the faintest idea that I would ever harbor feelings for this guy. I remember the first time we met, it was an ordinary but inevitable encounter; we were both trainees vying to be one of the new staff therapists of a hospital. I was a fresh graduate, and he was a year ahead of me, but we both graduated from the same university.

The moment I saw him, I knew he was the type of guy that every girl should watch out for. Then and there, I labeled him 'douchebag', and he confirmed it gladly when he opened his mouth to speak.

I was actually pissed off by his "confident" aura. And the joke that he cracked at me didn't help as well.

His next words pulled me out of memory lane. He said, "define cheating?"

And we were back to my question in which I asked him how many times has he cheated on his girlfriend of 4 years.

He continued without letting me answer, "like going out? on a movie? with a girl?"

I felt my face burn up, I was not sure if he was referring to the movie-out that we did a couple of weeks ago. So, I said in reply, "like, a date with malice."

Then he said, "only once; Ender's Game." This time, I was sure my whole face turned red. He was referring to the name of the movie that we watched.

A flashback of that night showed me in simple casual wear, walking along Araneta Center, with tears streaming down my face. It was my first 'movie-out', hell it was even my first date ever, but it didn't end quite well. So many things contributed to why it turned out as a flop. First of all, I arrived earlier at the meeting place and had to wait for around an hour for him. Secondly, he kind of used his phone and talked to someone else during the movie. And thirdly, he did that again just to let me hear the 'yes, I'm coming home now'-move after the movie ended. I mean, the movie was great and all, and there was no awkwardness between us --- until he did that douchebag move. But the number one reason why that movie-out was a total flop? It's the fact that it's not even a 'date' to begin with.

Then I just changed the topic. He asked about how my love life was doing. I told him about a suitor who was actually from the same school during HS. He asked me, "so, what's holding you back?"

I stopped fiddling with my glass of beer and said, "well, there's this guy..." And then I looked him in his eyes as I said, "but he's no longer available." And so he replied, "have you any feelings for this guy now?" I replied, "I'm not sure; I don't know. How would you know?" And we both just shrugged.