M&M

It was 1989. The year I had graduated from High School.  The year I turned into an out-of-school youth. The year we moved in to a small urban poor community. The year when teachers from all over metro manila had a full blown boycott and the year when my grandmother died, the year I had my first boyfriend.

At 18, I was a late bloomer. My mom was beginning to worry about me. When she was my age, she was counting suitors. So when manong came along, even if she was still not that keen on me getting a boyfriend yet (enter into a serious relationship that is), she relented on this one. Cute daw kasi si manong, bagay kami. Hehehe. “Kaya lang boyfriend sa salita lang ha.”She wanted me to collect and select.

How did manong and I meet?

Well it wasn’t exactly a clear meeting, one night in October of that year. Hindi Clear, na well lighted ang lugar, in fact Inday’s house had no electricity because they still had to apply for one with Meralco, so we had to settle with a gasera to hold that meeting and Meeting nga, because it was a caucus or discussion on the municipal ordinance that the local government wanted to implement regarding the distribution of lot titles or the deception of such an ordinance which we tackled.

Anyway, it was dark and despite the lack of clear light, we managed to still see each other with the gasera and when we went out of the house, under the moonlight. I remembered very well, it took a while before he let go of my hand after we shook hands.

Then, a series of happy coincindences followed. Well, for me it was serendipity, but I guess for him, he had wanted to see me often, visiting our place and passing by in front of my aunt’s home, where we lived, in the afternoon.

We would sit outside near Tiya Basyon’s store and talk non-stop from 4:00 PM until midnight. The economic crisis was very much evident, with news of factory strikes and the black-outs that became a usual sight in every community. Manong would come often on those black-outs and we would take advantage of the moonlight and sit out and talk about history, like why we should all be for the removal of the US bases and why I was out of school and why we were having black-outs. We would even debate on the most trivial of things.

It was a lively discussion of life, dreams and politics. It was all a mixture of excitement, compassion and discovery. He brought me new insights and understanding of things around me.

Did he court me?

The daily visits, the cake he gave me on my 19^th birthday, the marathon running kwentuhan from
4:00 PM til midnight; everyone was already teasing us – uyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! But there were no revelations then and I didn’t have the slightest idea that he was already courting me. All the while I thought the visits were friendly. When he taunted me and called me bato I still couldn’t get it, manhid ata ako oh inosente lang talaga. Hahahaha!

How did he and I become a ‘we’?

Well it was one funny, silly December afternoon that turned out to be a romantically glorious December night.

I was in a jealous fit and was near in tears when I saw him hounding my sister the whole afternoon. All the while I was bothered with the thought that it was my sister manong was interested in and not me. I kept harassing my gay friend while we spied on both manong and my sister from a distance. But only to find out later that he was trying to befriend her because he liked me.

How did I know? As was our usual habit, we would sit out of the house and talk after dinner. (He visited me almost daily) Our conversations went on pretty varied then it wandered into the topic of girls liking guys. I asked him what he thought of girls who opened up to guys and told them she liked him. He said that it was ok, because he viewed this as the right of every person – that is to express oneself even romantically. But personally, he would feel awkward, if he was told by a girl that she liked him. I then followed it up with “well I like you”, to which he replied rather unawkardly that he liked me too. KABOOM! At that moment, fireworks would’ve erupted in the sky as in the movies and the leading guy and girl lovebirds would end up kissing, but I was an innocent girl at 19 and he at 18 was still coping up with his age. We fell quiet for a moment, both awestruck and breathless with what we have just revealed to each other. From the back of the house, we moved to the front for a little more privacy, then manong popped up the question – “so what does that make us now?” I had to pause first before I spewed out “I don’t know?” (still dazed at what was said and heard and what was unfolding before me). He was the first to be shaken back into reality and clarified things with me “what do you mean you don’t know? We’re a we. (Tayo na!)”

I stiffled a giggle and looked away, agreeing with him, oo nga tayo na. But the night had to be cut short because I heard my mom, calling me into the house because it was already late. That was manong’s cue to say, good night. We briefly kissed and bid each other goodnight (away from my mom’s guarded sight of course).

That night, I was restless in bed, I couldn’t believe that I had a boyfriend and with a guy I really liked. It took a while before I fell asleep, comforted with that wonderful thought that finally, we were a we.

To be continued…

 

 

Comments

[Kahlil Pope]

cute