Expectations

I was thoroughly refreshed after my long weekend and I couldn’t help but wish that it’d be even longer. They’ve declared Monday to be a holiday in commemoration of the 23rd death anniversary of Filipino patriot Benigno ‘Ninoy’ Aquino. For the past three days, I’ve done nothing but go to the mall, eat, sleep, surf the net and watch tv.

Saturday, I was over at Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall and the adjacent mall, Robinson’s Place Metroeast to shop for necessities. My L’Oreal skin care line is about to run out in the next couple of weeks and I took advantage of the sale period to stock up on supplies. I was really happy because I got a 15% discount on the Pure Zone Toner and the UV Perfect Tinted Sunscreen and a 30% discount on the Pure Zone Deep Cleansing Gel.

Sunday afternoon, I accompanied my mom, my sisters and my soon-to-be brother-in-law Alex over at Megamall to do our grocery shopping. My mom fancied playing bowling since the day before and that they did as soon as we got inside the building. I wasn’t really in the mood to damage my scoliotic spine by lifting a 10-pound swirly, psychedelic ball repeatedly so I decided to go for a much needed aero exercise by walking over to Robinson’s Galleria.

I don’t really know if it’s just me being very picky or if it were the goods inside the different stores that was just not to my liking. I’ve explored every nook and cranny of the entire mall for items to buy but I wasn’t able to find much. I was able to buy just one piece of clothing – a Victorian inspired lace top from Ensembles in a hard-to-find pale orange hue.

I got back to Megamall just in time for me to catch my mom and my sister Angelee heading to the grocery in Building B. Alex and Louise, meanwhile, busied themselves by browsing through the dvd players for Alex’s car. My sister’s going to give it to him as a thank you gift for buying her her camera when they were recently in Singapore for a brief holiday.

I wasn’t expecting to go out of the house yesterday (which is Monday) as I was planning to clean my room and put away the laundry that my mom has asked me to do. I was mystified when I heard my phone ringing. Secretly I was wishing “please let it not be my boss!” I walked over to where it was and I saw Odie’s name flashing on the screen. Whew! He was asking where I was and to which I replied with “at home in my parents’ house in Marikina.”

He was asking if we could meet somewhere and that only means one thing – ‘tis a booty call. I volunteered to meet him in Makati but Odie, being considerate that he is asked if there’s a place where we could meet that is a closer to my location. The nearest place that I could suggest was Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall and I was relieved to find out that he knows where that is. He inquired on how long it would take me to get there and I gave him the answer of 30 minutes which is a half-truth. Yes, it would certainly take me that much time to get there but he would have to take into account the 10 minutes it would take me to get a bath. Odie ended the conversation by saying that he’d just call me when he gets there.

Off I dashed into the bathroom to cleanse myself, my bedroom to get dressed and out the door in record time. I didn’t bother with my usual ritual of toner, moisturizer and sunscreen since I really was pressed for time. I took a tricycle to get me to Masinag from Lilac St. and as soon as I sat on the jeepney that would take me through the second half of my commute, I chanced upon my cell which was ringing at that time. It was Odie – he says he got lost but that he’s near TGI Fridays. I tell him that I’m 10 minutes away and that he can wait for me there.

A minor traffic jam, a U-turn and a short sprint to the Brick Road area later, I keep looking left and right for Odie’s silver Vios. A couple more steps forward and I saw where he parked his car. I go inside the vehicle and we decide what to do after exchanging pleasantries. Since he’s not that familiar with the area, Odie asked me where we could go and I guided him through to this lodge nearby. Clue – a Filipino rock band wrote a song about this particular lodge and was released as a single.

I like Odie. He’s a great guy but not without fault. We’ve known each other for the past three years. In fact, he’s the guy who hired me for my first job. I also used to have a crush on him, especially during his leaner days. As a fuck buddy, I like him a lot because he knows the deal and we both know exactly where we stand. I don’t know if it’s a conspiracy or a mere coincidence because it was around this time of the year last year and the one before that when we hooked up for the first and second time.

They say third time’s the charm and indeed it is. We do the deed and Odie tells me that he feels cheated. I was able to satisfy him easily but he wasn’t able to do the same for me. He kids me by saying that I should be his yardstick for all the other people he has or will have a fling with. He does make it up to me with a really wonderful back massage.

We started our tryst with a lively conversation and we ended it in pretty much the same way. We’ve talked about how we’ve been since the last time we saw each other, status of our common friends and everything else in between. Odie says that one of the reasons why he looks forward to us getting together is that I’m his little case study. I’ve gone out with a lot more people than him and he tries to pick up lessons from my experiences.

I tell him about the recent flurry in my dating life and he was a bit envious. He says that “you girls are lucky. You get wined and dined and don’t have to worry a thing most of the time especially if it’s in the early stages of dating someone. Unless of course, if the girl insists that she pay her fair share of the expenses.” He then goes on to tell the story of how he and his best friend schemed on double or even triple booking a couple of girls in their hangout place. They almost got caught one time if it weren’t for the help of the staff of that particular establishment (they were regulars and knew everybody). Men!

When he was driving me home, I asked him that question that I have of Jon – how he can he loves me and then tell me that his girlfriend’s “the One.” He gave me a great answer – it’s all about expectations. Sounds way off but I know exactly what he means and he doesn’t have to explain it to me. Wow! We’ve really reached that stage of friendship and that was something I didn’t expect.