Friends?

It was a hot summer day and it was noon when I walked through the streets to go to the bus stop. The sun was scorching hot and my body felt like it would melt. I crossed a street then suddenly heard a loud honk. There weren’t any cars when I look right and left and there it was heading towards me. I froze in the middle of the road and I thought that this is the way my life would end but then I felt a strong grip on my arm and pulled me to the other side of the street and the truck made a hard right turn hitting into a post. The driver came out and was missing his balance.
“You stupid pig! Don’t drive when you’re drunk!” my rescuer ran towards the driver and directly punched him right in the cheek; he lost consciousness and fell to the ground flat.
I hoisted myself up and walked to my rescuer. I place a hand on his shoulder and he turned around. My eyes widen for I know the person who rescued me.
“Gilbert.” I said his name. His tanned face covered with sweat and his expression mixed with anger and anxiety.
“Watch when you cross the street Luna! You could’ve been killed!” he suddenly burst.
I puffed my cheeks in anger and clenched my fist.
“I am! What do you expect from a drunk driver? It wasn’t my fault!” I crossed my arms and looked away pouting.
I glanced at him and noticed that his cheeks were red, his knees and hands trembling and so was his breathing. I kind of regretted yelling at him, after all he did save my life and I haven’t thanked him yet. And I’m a little angry because of all people why did it have to be him; I still haven’t forgotten his violent rampage. It made me cry and frightened and he insulted my best friend which is unacceptable.
I sighed and drop my hands to my sides.
“I’m really sorry I yelled. I should be thanking you for saving my life so, thank you very much Gilbert.” I smiled and patted his dark brown messy and sweaty head.
He looks up and clenches my wrist. I could feel him shaking. He must’ve gotten nervous and ran so fast just to save me from my death sentence. I could feel him pull at me but then it stopped and he let go of my hand. I stiffed when he put his head on my shoulder and it made me heat up. I’m not used to people getting close to me especially around guys I don’t know much.
“Don’t scare me like that again, you almost gave me a heart attack.” His own words were shaking. He was definitely nervous but why? I know we used to hang out but I don’t think he really cares about me that much, after his rampage we never spoke but here he is closer to me than ever before telling me that he’s afraid to see me hurt. I don’t know if I’m right or wrong but, was he trying to hug me earlier when he pulled my wrist? Maybe it was just my imagination.
That night, I couldn’t sleep because of what happened that noon. I can’t get the image off my head how Gilbert was so close to me. I’m not actually falling for the guy am I? Remember Luna, he almost through a chair at you and punch you and he insulted your best friend and he lied to you. But people make mistakes sometimes and for the past few months of pretending that he doesn’t exist, I noticed that he’s becoming a good guy. Everyone changes after all. I turned to my side and hugged my pillow and wondered how it would feel if Gilbert hugged me. I felt my face burn up and I vigorously shook my head to shake away the image off my head. Why did I think that?! He only did one act of gratitude to you and you’re slowly falling in love with him? Oh Luna, when will you ever learn?
I sighed and pulled my blanket over my shoulder as a cool breeze blew from my window and I embraced the sleep that is taking over me.
The next day, I went shopping to the market to buy some ingredients for a vegetarian lunch. I can’t eat meat because of my illness and my stepmom is dieting and she wants my dad to start eating his veggies because he’s always into the meaty stuff which made his health poor and same goes for my siblings. Sometimes I hate eating veggies because it doesn’t really hit the spot. I put on a disgusted look when I bought some Ampalayas. My arch enemy, the very vegetable I despised the most. It’s the bitter of all bitterness and it leaves a disgusting flavor in your tongue and not even a liter of water can take away the bitter taste. You have to brush your teeth to make the bitterness go away. But my stepmom says it’s healthy because it’s got a lot of vitamins and minerals in them, no wonder it taste horrible.
“I see you’re not a big fan of Ampalaya.” That voice.
“I hope there aren’t any trucks to crush you because I might save you again and you’ll owe me twice now for saving your life, again.” He grinned. Sometimes his ego is getting in my nerves and I just want to squash him like a little pest he is.
“Very funny Gilbert, and there are no truck in a busy market and even if there was, I’ll make sure that you won’t save my life ever again.” I said as I walked away but when I took two steps, I suddenly tripped on something and lunge forward. I shut my eyes tight to wait for the impact of the floor to my face but it never came. The next I knew when I opened my eyes is that I was in the arms of Gilbert. I blushed and looked up but my flustered expression quickly turned into an irritating one because I couldn’t stand that smug smile of his. I stood up straight and flick his nose, receiving a groan from him then I turned around and picked up the vegetables I dropped, putting them on my basket.
“Is that how you thank people for saving their lives? Yelling at them and flicking them on their noses.” He said as he placed his hands on his nose. I think I might have went too far in flicking his nose because he sounded like he’s talking through a horn or something.
“Thank you and goodbye.” I said bluntly and went to my original plans.

I was currently doing laundry in the afternoon because no one else was going to do it so I might as well before it piles up and fall and no one would like the smell of dirty underwear and stinky socks and vomited shirt. Disgusting. Good thing I have a washing machine to do the dirty work for me so all I have to do is fill it up with water and hang it on the clothes line when it’s done. While waiting for the laundry to be finished, I sat on a sofa with a book in my right hand and my cell phone the other. My phone suddenly vibrated and an unknown number called me. Probably one of those prank calls again or my mom. I pressed yes and said hello.
“I saved you two times now and that means you owe me twice.” That voice. Not him again.
“What do you want Gilbert?”
“First of all, don’t hang.”
“How’d you know I was going to hang up?”
“Because you don’t like talking to people on the phone unless it’s something important.”
What do you know; he does know something about me.
“So, what’s so important that you called me and how did you get my number anyway? I thought you deleted it after your…tantrum.” I hesitated when I said the last part because I don’t want him to remember the anger he felt when I said I didn’t love him.
“I got your number from Genesis and, I just wanted someone to talk to.”
“You have tons of friends Gil, why talk to me of all people? Just go have a pep talk with your girl friend.” It was kind if bitter of me to say because usually when people want to talk o me, I listen and I give them advice but I feel like I don’t want to talk Gilbert. Still haven’t got over about what he did.
“Luna, are you still…mad at me about what happened, before?” he sounded eager and sad.
I leaned on the sofa and sighed, looking up the ceiling hoping that the answer was there.
“To be frank, yeah. But I don’t want you to feel bad because it was my fault for bringing out your bad side like that.”
“About that, you told me that you liked me then three weeks passed and you wanted to break up with me. What was that all about?”
“No. I don’t want to talk this over the phone. I want to talk to you personally.” I said. I hate talking about my emotions and feelings through phones. I want to see people’s reactions because that way, I can tell what they think.
The phone was silent and when I wanted to press end, he talked.
“Ok. Go to school earlier and tell me your answer. You can repay me that for saving your life.”
I hang up and through my phone to the other side of the sofa and groaned. Why do I have to be so nice?

As always when there’s a schedule I always come ten minutes earlier but to my surprise, Gilbert was already there waiting at the entrance. I didn’t really think of him as an early bird or a first comer.
“Why are you here?” I tried to sound heartless but I think it sounded like I was surprise.
“I figured that you’re going to be here early so I decided to come here before you did. And I’ve been waiting for you for about twenty minutes or so.”
He said as he looked at his watch.
I passed by him and he followed me. We went to his classroom because it was open and we talked inside.
“Start talking.”
“What is this? An interrogation.” I raised a brow at him but he just shrugs it off.
“Gilbert, when I told you that I liked you, I didn’t mean it.” I kind of hesitated a little when I said that.
“Then why’d you said you liked me? Luna, you really hurt my feelings.” He sat down beside me and looked me straight in the eyes. I looked away because I couldn’t stand the hurt and seriousness in those black orbs of his.
“I was in a stage where my feelings were, confused and mixed up.” I take his silence that he doesn’t get what I said so I explained further.
“I wasn’t sure of my feelings but I made a decision that I didn’t like and that was telling you that I liked you when in truth, I was just tired of my two best friends fighting over me and you were a loop hole but, it still didn’t work because I realized that I gave them a wound but it pained me the most because I’m the center of all of it and it was up to me to make it right so, I started on you. I wanted to break up with.”
Silence.
“I figured that it was okay with because from where I see it, you didn’t really showed much interest in me but when I told you that I wanted it to be over, you flipped a chair in front of me almost punching me and insulted my best friend which made me mad at you. I cried after you left. I wanted to explain things thoroughly with you so that you can understand but you were blinded by your rage and I didn’t want another chair to get involve.”
“So what is the reason that you broke up with me?” he finally said something. I stood up, my back facing him. I know that I’ll regret saying this because it’s personal but maybe I can finally take away the guilty feeling off my chest. I am the reason why he got hurt and what I did was very wrong and it hunted me every day.
“I wasn’t ready for a relationship. I broke up with you so that I can fix the mess I’ve made. I told Benny that I only looked up to him as a big brother but he didn’t take it well and our friendship broke. And as for Nail…”
“He’s the one you loved huh?”
I smiled and felt a tear run down my cheek.
“Yeah. I finally realized my true feelings after fixing my mess at least, I thought it was fixed. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret the things that I’ve done. Gilbert, I really want to apologize for hurting your feelings and for causing you so much pain and hurt. My life is a mess and sometimes I mess up other people’s lives too but I try to fix them as best as I can but, it’s not good enough. I am so selfish.” I quietly sobbed. It’s true that I’m facing some hardships my entire life and as days goes by, it gets worse and worse every day that I’m involving people around me. It’s really hard being me, I just want to be friends with everybody, I don’t want them to think of me as a bad person, I just want to be cared and comforted. I never felt that before because my mother left me, my dad is so busy at work and he doesn’t have time for us, my siblings doesn’t like hanging out with me because I’m boring, my grandparents despise me and my stepmom is busy taking care of my two little baby siblings.
“Luna? Are you crying?” Gilbert asks and I heard a chair screech on the floor. He must’ve stood up.
“I do that when I tell people about my true feelings.” I chuckled and wiped the tears from my eyes with my sleeve.
I suddenly felt warmth around my torso and when I looked over my shoulder, I was cheek to cheek with Gilbert. He was hugging me from behind and not just a playful or random hug he usually gives me when we were together, it felt kind and gentle and…comforting.
“G-Gil-”
“Thanks for telling me. I think I understand everything now.” He smiled as he turned me around to face him.
“You know Luna; it wouldn’t hurt you to ask for help. You don’t have to solve every problem on your own.”
I looked down and felt kind of embarrassed somehow.
“I just told you everything and you’re not angry at me, what is that?!” I glared at him, tears still in my eyes.
“Well…” he nervously scratches the back of his head.
“I still kind of like you and I can’t stay mad at a girl who’s been kind to me these past months even though your best friend told you not to talk to me anymore after I insulted her. By the way, why did you decided to talk to me?” he ask.
“Because you were starting to be nice to Nail and talking to him too and you even said that you were sorry that you bad mouth my bestie and you didn’t mean to hulked out on me.”
He laughed at my joke.
“So, we cool?”
I smiled and answered but he unexpectedly hugged me which caused me to lose my words.
“Friends?” I buried my face in his shoulders to hide my tomato looking face.
“Friends.” He tightened the hug. Always love being hugged but being hugged by a guy is too much for me.