Diana went off the jeep and waved goodbye to her friends who were left behind. They waved back at her and the jeep started and went on. She sighed and smiled. It was nice seeing them all again. She started walking down the street when a motorbike stopped in front of her. She stopped walking. The guy removed his helmet and it was Albert, her long-time friend. He smiled at her.
“So, where have you been?” Albert asked her.
“Why do you care?” she rolled her eyes.
“I don’t care, actually. It’s just a lame trick to start a FRIENDLY conversation.” He smirked.
“Funny, Albert. Why do you keep bothering me, anyway? Don’t you have anything MEANINGFUL to do? Go plant some trees!”
“That’s a good one, but I don’t have a green thumb, so…” he shrugged his shoulders. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Will you let me through, now? It’s getting late and I still need to wash my uniform.” She leered at him. It’s still 2 in the afternoon but she just wanted to cut off the conversation.
“You haven’t done your laundry and yet here you are wandering about.” He mocked.
“You know what, you don’t care. Besides, I have a social life to revive, in case you haven’t notice.”
“Yeah… speaking of social life, are you free next weekend? Saturday at 1?” he asked.
“I guess... I haven’t planned anything yet and there are no planned school matters for that weekend. Why do you ask?” she asked, raising one of her brows. He scratched the back of his head lightly.
“I just wanted to ask you out. A friendly date, if you’re free.” He said shyly.
She was surprised. She didn’t know how to react so she just smiled a bit.
“I-I don’t know what to say actually… can I… can I think it through? I’ll let you know.” She said. She felt her cheeks burning in embarrassment.
“Hey guys! What did I miss?”
Diana and Albert both looked to where the voice came from. It was Nez! Thank God, it’s Nez! She was saved by the bell.
“Nothing much. We’re done talking anyway. She still needs to do her laundry. Anyway, it was nice seeing you, Nez. Let’s go out some time. Need to go, I’ll call you then.” He said and put on his helmet. He nodded to them and went ahead.
Diana was relieved. She clutched her arm on Nez’s arm and they started walking toward their street.
“What’s gotten into him? What did you two talked about?” Nez asked curiously.
“He was just passing through and he saw me so he stopped to say hi. I haven’t seen him in a while, actually.”
“What? You are literally living in the same town, living just a few streets away, and you haven’t seen each other in a while??? Isn’t that HIGHLY suspicious?”
“It’s not REALLY that suspicious. We’re both busy. Besides, we’re talking on the phone or texting each other so, that’s enough, I guess. We’re not anything, anyway, we’re just friends.”
“Okay, fine.” Nez rolled her eyes.
“Change topic. Enough Albert, let’s talk about someone else~~!” Diana squealed.
“Okay, you seemed very thrilled... who?”
“I saw him.” She hinted. Nez frowned.
“Who?”
“Gosh, Nez! You know who…” she rolled her eyes. Nez dropped her jaw and squealed in excitement.
“Oh my gosh! Where???” Nez excitedly asked
“At the junction a while ago...”
**FLASHBACK**
She put her phone inside her bag. She looked at her watch, she still have 15 minutes to wait for Shane. If she knew she’s going to wait for her, she should have eaten breakfast. She heard her stomach growled. ‘Ughh… I’m hungry…’ she said and turned around and saw a convenient store nearby. She went to buy some snacks.
She was on her way back to the waiting shed when unintentionally, her eyes caught a car which pulled over near the waiting shed. She was just staring at the car while walking back to the shed, when the door flew open and a guy went out of it. She and the guy had an unexpected eye contact when she realizes who it was! She cut the eye contact and reached for her phone on her bag. She needs someone to save her from embarrassment right now. She caught in her peripheral view that the guy was walking towards her! It IS him! It is Arjay Altamira in the flesh. It IS true! He’s out of the seminary!
‘What should I do? What should I do??? I’m not prepared for this encounter… gosh! Shane, it’s your fault!’ she said, walking fast, back to the shed. If she will see a jeep approaching, with or without Shane, she’s getting on that jeep.
** END OF FLASHBACK**
She felt a slap on her shoulder.
“Ouch! That hurts, you know.” Diana leered at Nez.
“Sorry, I just got too excited. So what happened? Did you speak to him? Oh my god, oh my god!” Nez was fanning her hand on herself. She was as thrilled as Diana.
“Well, he was just a few steps away from me and he will reach my spot when suddenly a jeep stopped in front of the shed. Shane looked out from inside the jeep and called out so I went to the jeep and he was left on the shed.”
Nez halted, which made Diana halt, too, because of their arm clutched together. Nez let go of her arm and went in front of her. Nez’s face was serious and she held her in the shoulders.
“What’s the matter with you? Are you possessed or something?” she asked laughing awkwardly.
“This is just a theory, but what if you are the reason why Arjay quitted the seminary?” Nez asked seriously. She laughed. She removed Nez’s hands on her shoulder.
“What are you talking about? Don’t be silly! We stopped chatting with each other the moment he said he’s going back for his Theology.” She said and started walking again. Nez followed her with heavy footsteps.
“Come on Diana! It’s just a theory! What if? What if I am right? What if he never stopped thinking about you? What if he realized he can’t be a priest because you are here super available?”
It’s her turn to stop and face her best friend.
“Nez, you know I love you, right? But sometimes, fantasy is just a fantasy, and reality is just reality. They cannot go together because they have different elements. And what if’s are just fantasies waiting a miracle to happen.” She said and turned around and continued walking.
“Yes, but at least you could hope for that fantasy.”
“And I don’t want that. I’ve been always hoping for things that doesn‘t really going to happen. It is quite exhausting, actually.” She said.
“Why are you being so pessimist now?”
“I am not. I just don’t want to hurt myself. Besides, I accepted that he will be a priest someday, so, whatever his reason was, it doesn’t matter.”
“Seriously, Diana. You were just thrilled sharing what just happened with your encounter a while ago and now you’re acting as if you don’t care. I don’t get you.” she can sense the irritation on Nez’s voice. She sighed and turned to face her best friend.
“I know you meant well, Nez, and I know you support me for whatever crazy idea I have, but I guess, thinking that I was the reason of his quitting is just too much, and if that would be true, I think I would be guilty.”
“And why would you be if ever that was true? Shouldn’t you be thankful?” Nez frowned.
“Thankful that he wasted his last year in Theology because some random girl made him realized that he doesn’t want to be a priest anymore? I don’t think that’s a thing you want to be thankful for.”
Nez sighed.
“There’s no point of us arguing about this matter. It’s not even real. It’s just a theory. I should get going. You still need to do your laundry, right? I’ll just call you later.” Nez said and kissed her on the cheek.
“I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings, Nez.” Diana said full of remorse.
“Nah, I’m fine. What you said was true anyway. Gotta go!” and Nez waved goodbye to her.
Diana sighed and entered their house. Now she really felt guilty. Nez was really peculiar in terms of her what if’s, and Diana can’t blame her for being too imaginative because that’s who Nez is. That makes them best of friends: she’s too realistic and Nez is too imaginative. A perfect combination. She immediately entered her room and found herself thinking about what Nez had said.
What if she was Arjay’s reason of quitting? Will she be able to face whatever the consequence is? It will not be her fault because it was Arjay’s decision but the thought that people will looked at her warily, thinking she seduced him, would be unimaginable. She shook the thought off her mind.