First Kiss: Strawberry Flavored Lip Balm (Part III)

"Mahal mo naman ako, mahal naman kita.
Nayayakap mu na naman ako eh, tayo na"

These were the words I texted when he asked me,

"Jeca, pwede bang manligaw?"

Yes, on that faithful day of November 4, 2002 it became official, we were a couple. I may seem to be too aggressive (well yeah, maybe) but I have my reason for that. Let me give you a little background about us;

We knew we like each other since first year of highschool. On our sophomore year he tried to court me but I refused since I felt we were too young at that time to be in a relationship. We remained on a mutual understanding status, even having it called "Loyalty Award". Junior year had been difficult, we had many misunderstandings and I ended up saying yes to my first exboyfriend. On that Summer vacation before entering our forth year in highschool, Lyndon gave us the news that he might be transferring to another school in Lipa, Batangas. I was already preparing myself, focusing my attention to other guys so that I can forget about him. But then he didn't transfer. Upon entering senior year, he learned that Kevin and I have been sweet with each other on our COCC Summer training program, so he decided to support Kevin. Luckily I have my angels, Aileen and Noemi who told him, "Kung mahal mo siya eh di ipaglaban mo! May the best man win."

I was figuratively walking on clouds through the corridors and pathways of our school when classes assumed after that evening. I love Mondays while hating Fridays and when there are Saturday classes, I could never thank Cupid enough! Lecture hours turned to be a total daydreaming activity. I only came back reality when Recess and Lunch break bells rang. Powder, hair brush and perfume had been the most essential things in my bag and a 3 minutes retouching had become a special skill. Then I'll go down to our barkada booth to wait for him, give him a smile that will trigger his heartbeat and make him fall for me allover again.

That December 2002 the Lord of the Rings sequel entitled: "The Two Towers" was being shown in cinemas. Our barkada, joined by me, Evan, Aileen, Noemi, Ryan, Sonny, Chris and Kevin, together with Aileen's boyfriend back then, Serjay, planned to watch it at the SM Manila Cinema. We were not able to sit all together since the cinema was already packed with so many people so we sat by couples.

I was watching with my head against Lyndon's shoulder but when he over me to ask me something our faces met at a very uncomfortable distance. We can practically hear each others breath and only one thing came to my mind, "kiss".