The Bad Girl's Gentleman

= Code 2 =

The Bad Girl's Gentleman

= Code 2 =

THREE WEEKS AGO

"IS IT FAR?" tanong ni Baz habang sinusundan akong maglakad.

"You scared of the woods?" pang-aasar ko.

"No," he answers as if it should have been obvious.

"It's not that far," sabi ko at humakbang sa isang bato. Paakyat kasi ng bundok ang kukuhaan namin. Mayroon namang mga stone steps na inilagay ang mga nakatira dito para hindi na ganoong nakakatakot umakyat.

"Why are you the one assigned to this task?"

"I don't know," sagot ko at umangat sa isang malaki pang bato. "Maybe because I'm good at climbing?"

"How so?"

"Yeah, well, my professor had us signed sheets of what activities we've already tried. I've got hiking under my belt so... I think she told your mom that I'd be the best for the job."

"She's not my mom."

Napatigil ako at lumingon sa kaniya. He is two steps lower than I am so I can see his perfect face look up to me as he smiles. "What?"

"She's not my mom," he repeats and proceeds climbing. Now he's a step closer. "She's my tía."

"Tía as in aunt?"

"Yes," he huffs as is he steps in the same stone as I am. He's so close our chests almost bump and I have to crane my neck just so I can look at him. His eyes are melting me on the spot. Para akong chocolate na natutunaw. Pero pawis ko lang pala ang tumutulo sa likod ko. Eww. "Proceed."

"Stop staring at my a*s, will you?" paalala ko sa kaniya habang umaakyat. It is the last stone before we completely disappear from view of my comrades.

He laughs. "I'm not staring at your butt."

"I already heard that before."

"You did?"

Napairap ako. It already happened countless of times. "When I was in Sagada I went caving there and it was about nighttime when we emerged from one cave to another. One of our guides actually stayed behind me just so he could watch my ass."

"Are you sure about that?"

Napalingon ako sa pwetan ko bago ako tumingin sa kaniya. Naka leggings pa naman ako kaya I'm sure mas na-shape 'yung pwet ko. "Wouldn't he look?"

He flicks his eyes to my behind before continuing his walk. "Of course he would."

"You didn't even look!" paghabol ko sa kaniya.

"Oh, I did already."

"See? You were really watching!" I say, triumphantly.

"Alright," he says just to stop our conversation about my a*s. "Let us get those pots."

I continue walking and he stays behind me. Probably doing more watching. I get that he's a gentleman pero may lalaki bang makakatanggi sa seksing katawan na nasa harapan na niya? Still, I ask, "Why are you walking far behind?"

"I'm just a step behind you."

"Well, can't you walk beside me?" I sound like a whiny girl but I don't care.

"It's not polite to walk next to a girl."

"Why not?"

"I am looking out for you, of course. I let you climb up here first because you might trip or slip and no one would catch you."

"You'd catch me?" pagtawa ko.

"I would."

"What about the other girls who fall for you?"

He grins. "That's a different context."

I return his smile. There is a slim dimple on his right cheek. When I first saw it I thought that I wanted to bite it. He just looked so cute.

I was seating across Baz in one of the coffee shops in my school the day I met him. He got me a macchiato. Libre niya para daw mabawasan ang sakit ng ulo ko. Nanakbo kasi ako no'n, halos madapa na nga ako sa mga binti niyang nakaharang sa daanan ko.

Ayan na, lalabas na, bulong ng utak ko kaya naman nag-circus 'yung tiyan ko at ayun... umangat na silang lahat at napasuka ako. Buti na nga lang at umabot ako sa isang cubicle kundi nako talaga, baka ako pa paglinisin.

"Yuck," I said to the person who was holding my hair. I thought it was Via but then my nose cleared and I smelled something different. "Baz?"

"You okay?" his eyes were worried as he putted a handkerchief against my lips. I move my head and some of the shorter strands of my hair escaped his fist.

My head was swimming of course. Tutungo na sana ako kung hindi niya lang tinulak ang noo ko hanggang sa tumama ito sa pader ng banyo.

"It's better that way."

"Hmm," I protested against my stomach. Gusto pa kasi nitong maglabas eh ayoko na. I didn't want to through that pain anymore. I opened my eyes slightly. "Why are you helping me?"

"I know what it's like to have a hangover that bad. Come," Baz said and tugged on my blazer uniform.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you away."

At then, tinataktak na niya ang wallet niya sa lamesa. Tila isang baul na ang hinahagilap niya sa maliit niyang leather wallet. Halos nakapa na niya yata lahat ng bulsa no'n.

"Your condoms might fall out," I whispered to him.

He heartedly laughed. And that was when his dear dimple came to notice. Halos hindi mo na nga iyon mapapansin sa kaniyang pisngi. If he smiled enough, it would totally showed.

And maybe... that was the part that I could say that I started to have a crush on Baz. He looked so much younger than twenty-two that moment and I thought that somehow maybe he was just another kid trapped in the body of a grown man.

"Is it much farther?" tanong niya ngayon.

"No, it's actually right here already," sabi ko sa kaniya. I turn a left and he follows. There is a small hut over here. Gawa ito sa maninipis na kahoy at kung anong mga d**o na ginamit bilang bubong.

"Why is it here again?" he curiously asks as we look around for the pots.

I lift a dirty political tarpaulin to check underneath. "Some of the supplies were delivered here first about five days ago. They stored it all here. We just moved all the other supplies in the pavilion this morning."

"Where is it?"

"Here!" I say.

But just then, there is a loud noise. Akala ko may natumba lang si Baz o ano pero nakatayo lang naman siya sa may likudan ko. Sabay kaming napatingin sa may pinutan ng storage at nakitang kumulimlim na sa labas at umuulan na. Kidlat pala iyong kanina.

I don't even bother to cover my mouth. "Shit."

"Got any umbrellas here?" he asks.

He looks at me in the eyes and I know that he sees the answer in them.

We're going to be stuck here for a while.

===============

Nakaupo lang kaming dalawa sa may pintuan dahil ang dilim kung mags-stay kami sa loob. Kinakausap na ko ng mundo. I-push ko na daw si Baz. Chance ko na daw 'to.

"You know dapat ililigaw kita," I say to him.

"Bakit naman?" he answers to me.

I laugh at his accent. Englishero kasi hindi bagay mag-Tagalog. I don't mind it. It's cute. "Pagt-tripan sana kita."

"Why didn't you?"

"Ah yeah, well, I thought if it's meant-to-be that I'm going to be stuck with you then so be it. And now here we are..."

We let that sink in between us for a few seconds then he speaks. "I thought this is the first time I'm seeing you sober. But now you're talking drunker than ever."

Natawa ako. Hindi ko napigilan. He is grinning himself. "Oh, I don't know," I say to him. "I shouldn't even like you."

"You like me?"

"Like as in I have a crush on you."

"You do, huh?"

"Uh-huh."

It silences him for a moment. "Wow. You're so brave."

I press my head against the doorframe. "What's the point of not telling you, anyway?"

"Listen," here comes the rejection part.

So I cut him off. "I tell you so you'd know. I also want to let you know that there's nothing you can do." I look at him and wait for him to look at me. I almost back out. "You're going to be mine, Baz. I'm claiming it."

Then he bursts out laughing, his eyes crinkling at the corners. His little dimple goes deeper than ever. "You really do know how to throw a punchline, huh?"

I just smile at him. Ha! He thinks I'm joking? Ha-ha-ha.

Napatingin ako sa ulan. Sige, ulan pa. I can be stuck here for the night just as long as he's here with me. He has to know just how persuasive I can get.

He's going to be mine.