The biggest joke of the season is about to end, and with me is the greatest summer souvenir -- the prettiest hand-picked pink flower anyone could ever give me.
I came back home last May for my summer vacation. Rather than living the life of a pig at home like I did the past summers, I decided to be more useful this time and volunteered myself to be my mother's office assistant. I am not really the friendly type, so the first few weeks I was just following my mother around wherever she goes, even while inside the office. My mother is the head of her department so she has her own room, and that's where I stay most of the time. I don't even greet her staff whenever I enter their office.
Fortunately, some of the people in the office are extra friendly and began treating me warmly. They welcomed me as part of their clique and treated me as one of them, though I'm years younger. In fact, they're actually one of the coolest people I know.
One of the friendliest people is Kuya Panod. He is almost 10 years my senior, and he's very funny. He concocted the joke of the season, and that is he pretends to like me. He regales me with his tried and tested pick-up lines, probably from his years of experience with other girls. The whole office now knows about it, even their boss, my mom.
One of the earlier jokes is that he wants to ask a memo from my mother permitting him to take me to the movies. Then he even got me to be under his team of production assistants in charge of idiot boards when their office spear-headed a talk show for our city. That made me spend a lot of time with him and the rest of the cool, funny people. In between takes, or when my mom is busy talking to the other people in the set of the talk show, he'd jokingly ask me about our fictitious romantic date.
One time he even asked me about the history of Singapore, since I study there. When I couldn't give him a blow-by-blow account of Singapore's history, he asked me to research about it more and email the details to him, just so he could ask for my email address.
And there is this funny incident in their restaurant when his brother asked whether I wear contact lens. I shook my head no. Then he blurted out: " Contact lens? Maybe what you're really interested in is her contact number? ". I just bursted out laughing, along with Ate Yummy, her best friend and office mate.
One day he finally got our home phone number courtesy of my mother. The maid answered the phone and called me to say that some friend wishes to talk to me. I was surprised and excited because for the whole of my vacation that was the first time I got a call from a friend. When I picked up the phone, the person on the other end of the line asked "Hello, can I be your phone pal?". Duh. Some prank. I demanded the person's identity revealed. Then I recognized kuya's voice, and told him he's been found out. We were both laughing. Then he told me Fantastic 4 is already being played in the cinemas, and he asked me to go and watch it with him. But long before our little chat turned into a lot more of talking cock, I already knew the real reason he called. I was being asked by my mother to report in the office because they needed manpower (or girlpower in my case hehe).
There are a lot more of these funny little incidents, but I know that everything is just for fun and I'm laughing though I'm the butt of this joke. But there are times we do get serious, and really talk about real things such as our own failed relationships. I know about the girl he'd dated for 5 years, and whose memories still make him shed tears. And he knows about the guy I dated for 4 years, who still makes me cry though we're already living separate lives. Or is it BECAUSE we're living separate lives? Anyway..
Anyway, a while ago, mama had an important meeting with certain people so I was left alone with kuya, and semi-kuya-semi-ate. To keep us from being bored, we began reading travel magazines. Then he again began joking about the two of us being together. He pointed at the beautiful houses and cottages in the magazine and asked my opinion whether it's nice to settle there, or where to go for honeymoon and stuff. Then he pointed to a boat and told me he'd write my name there with his last name. Then he'd say that the beauty mark we both have on our left cheek means we're meant for each other.
Since he's too keen on his prank, I have learned how to properly respond that makes him caught off-guard and blush. Like when he asked about how many boyfriends I've already had, and whether I still want more, I retorted " Why? You want to apply for the position? ". Or when he'd say, " I missed you. ", I'd answer I missed him even more. Those kinds of replies would make him stop his nonsense for a while, and it's fun too flirting back. Another weapon I use against him is his height, or lack of it. He's only about as tall as I am. AHAHA.
Tonight, while we were outside the building where mama is having a meeting, he told me he'd give me something. " A stone? Grains of sand? ", I asked. When he opened his left palm, I saw a pink flower, sort of an orchid. I asked him " Tapon ko sa basurahan? ". He told me to keep it, for it signifies the times we've spent together...the idiot boards...etc. And I intend to. This is one of the best summers I've had so far, and the memories of this summer I will cherish forever.
