what happened.

I just got home from Ariben's birthday party. :)

Birthay party sounds childish but there were big men and beer cases. Course. haha.

We lodged in the celebrant's (man, i remember Ma'am Maclang! She prefers "celebrator." WAHA.) bedroom. I was sort of surprised to find out that AJ (how hard is it to refer you that way...) was the sole inhabitant of his asylum. I thought Lance and company were already in their place but turned out Jose, Marie and I were the first to come and greet Ariben in person.

Soon, his bedroom was crowded with ten people in the persons of Pao, Patchot, Jehn, Erin, Monique, Derrick, the three early birds and him. The girls got him a birthday cake. Ron gave him a present (download ata), I did not care to check out, delivered by Derrick. Actually, Marie and I thought of buying a cake for Ariben as we met but opted not to since he, anyway, would not thought of the same on our birthdays. How selfish. :)

Nevertheless, my thoughtfulness managed to arise earlier this morning. Aside from the previous blog post (that GIF), I handed to the celebrant my 2-months in use, A Data 2GB USB Flash Drive. I remembered him asking about flash drives yesterday. I jested, "O, sayo na lang 'tong flash drive ko. Mayaman kami." Yes, I was filthy rich. At sadyang bano ka kung kakilala mo ako at naniniwala ka.

Of course, he was like, "Sige, akin na!" But it was just a clear joke until today happened. Aba malay mo sa susunod, pag yumaman na ako. Nangangarap ka ng Porsche at inoffer ko yung akin. Biro lang lahat yun, pero nung birthday mo binigay ko na sa'yo. :) hehe. Malay nga eh, malay mo.

The arrival of Derrick marked uneasiness. At alam ko na sa sarili ko, na kapag umalis ako sa harap ng monitor ni Ariben at lumabas ako ng kwarto eh hindi ko na kayang bumalik pa. Pabalik-balik ang kung sinu-sino sa kwarto ni Ariben. They were all saying, "Kumain na kayo sa labas." With tummies roaring, the celebrant finally resolved (and so did we)that we should already hit the tables. Marie was already hungry then too. But I was smart. I reasoned out that we'll wait for the rest of the lot. But of course, I was simply generating reasons to somehow alleviate the uneasiness I am feeling. Eto namang si Marie, napa-Oo nga. hehe :)

Matagal-tagal din bago nadagdagan yung siyam na bisita ni Ariben. Later on, Sir Mendoza, Jeca, Andrei, Melmari and Zobar came. Wow. I was surprised to see Jeca. Sabi kasi ni Maruh kanina sa Y!m umuwi na raw siya. Like this is the first time I saw her since the pre-program of the Commencement Exercises.

Maya-maya, nagtext na rin si Maruh, nagpapasundo. Jeca and I volunteered to fetch Ruh. Well, if it's the least thing I could do for Ruh since she had a very tiring day at school (lay-out artist, PauliPrism..associate editor, Annual Staff). Ariben and Andrei also came with us.

Pagtapak ko pa lang sa labas ng kwarto ni Ariben, alam ko na, hindi na ako makakabalik dito. Swerte nila, makakagamit na sila ng PC. Hmph.

We walked our way to Petron. There was Maruh with Sir Randale and Ma'am Tubo. Eventually, Ariben invited them to his place.

Jeca and Maruh would only stay for a while so I told them that maybe we could eat already. As I reached the table, I was already quieter than usual. Lutang na. Well yes, I never came back to AJ's room. Since Ruh would pay a visit there to check out the others, I asked her to get my purse.

I traveled back to Sta. Maria alone. Sam was not around. Zobar still had something to finish in the school. Andrei stayed. Lance had just arrived.

The next thing I knew, I was vulnerable. I hate to admit it but I was. I felt I need someone to talk to because I was starting to feel something (and you don't know it! And I won't share it!). I texted Maruh like minutes ago because I wanna tell her something. Marie will be listening and I guess Sam would understand somehow. :)

***

Derrick, Lance, Jevin (he showed up from the vastness of the night when we were eating) and I do not know who else stayed for a sleepover. As usual. Boys' overnight? They always had something going on.