Eulalia

Chapter 12: Juicy Pepo

Chapter 12: Juicy Pepo

“We're asking Casey out to lunch.”
My ears must not be working. “What?”
“Or to dinner,” said Jordan with a sly smile. “Your choice.”
On a regular Friday morning, right before I left for class, Jordan Greene
sprang this fast one on me. It wasn't like I had any plans for today, but couldn't he
have given me some warning? And wait! Why would I want to spend more time
with Casey than necessary? Was this his strange way of getting me to cheer up
after being depressed for over two weeks now?
“I'm not going,” I said.
“You have to,” he said.
“Why?”
Jordan glanced away, embarrassed. “Because if I ask her out for lunch, she
might mistake it for a date. If both of us ask her, it's just a friendly occurance.”
He must have put a lot of thought into this, as suspected.
“Okay, let's say I agree to this,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “Why
are we spending time with Casey outside the dorms?”
From the expression on Jordan's face, I knew it wasn't for any ethical reason.
Since Jordan's first class was too far from mine on Fridays, we walked together
and discussed this. According to Jordan, one of the other girls living in our building
was throwing a birthday party next Saturday. Everyone was invited. The planning
had already started. There was only one thing in the way. No, more like one
person...
“Casey will never agree to it,” I said with a sigh.
“Right.”
I sighed again. “Is this some sort of master plan to soften her?”
“No,” Jordan said quickly in denial. “I want to have a discussion with her
about it.”
Lies. Such bull shit.
“Why don't you just ask her out?” I wondered out loud. “It'll work out
better.”
“Even if I wasn't already taken,” he said, flushed. “What if she already has a
boyfriend?”
I nearly cracked up. “We are talking about the same Casey, aren't we?”
“Point taken,” Jordan laughed. “But you might be surprised how different
people actually are from how you first perceive them.”
I knew that too well now, but of course, I wasn't here to humor him.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “You just don't want to be disloyal to your girlfriend.”
“Let's go with my plan, then?” he asked sweetly.
Since it was Jordan of all people, I sort of gave in reluntantly and said, “I will
do this, but I do not approve throwing a party in general, especially if there's
alchohol involved.”
“Thanks, Brice,” he smiled. “You're the best.”
“Get away from me.”
 There was another reason why I agreed to Jordan's plans, even though
usually, I would be totally against it. This past week had been hell for me. For one
thing, I had midterms to take care of. I had midterms one after another day by
day. By today, I was completely exhausted from frying my brain with terminology.
Furthermore, I had the situation with Eulalia to deal with, like always.
What was going on with Eulalia and I? Absolutely nothing. And that was the
problem. It was as if after she told me that she didn't care to listen to me at all,
we returned back to the very beginning. I went back to completely locking myself
in my room once more. She kept doing what she did best. Actually, it was quite a
feat to actually explode the entire first floor in some sort of seed toxic. I had no
idea how she accomplished that. All I got from that was that she should have been
in trouble, but instead, she managed to slip away with an excuse of her
experimenting for her class. What kind of class asked a student to damage
property by spreading this exotic seed toxic?
Aside from that, she managed to fill the laundry rooms with this sticky
material that to this day, I still had no idea what it actually was. According to
Eulalia, it was harmless, but of course, everyone was upset at her for causing
trouble again. She brushed it off as usual and went on about her business. As for
me, I didn't dare to stand anywhere where she could see me. I avoided her like
the plague ever since our last meeting in front of her room. Somehow, I lost the
courage to talk to her. I didn't even know how to deal with her in a group so I just
locked myself in. And yet, despite all my efforts, I could not stop thinking about
her no matter what.
“I prefer not to,” I repeated to myself countless times while I crouched over
a textbook.
What would it be like between Eulalia and I from now on? She had already
explicitly stated that she would prefer not to talk to me. She didn't say she didn't
want to talk to me. She said she "preferred not to", which meant that she didn't
mind either way. Moreover, throughout the entire week that I avoided her,
according to Jordan, she didn't really notice my disappearance. Somehow, even
knowing her usual character, the news made me feel terribly bitter. We were in
the same group. I locked myself in my room for a week and she didn't even care?
How Eulalia-like. How insensitive of her.
Anyways, moving on from Eulalia, I knew nothing about Casey as a human
being. What I mean was that I saw her so much as an authority figure around here
that sometimes, I forgot that she was a woman like Vivien and Sandara. And
Eulalia, I guess. Because of this, the thought of asking her out to lunch never
crossed my mind. Now, that I agreed to Jordan's wacky plan, I had to think of
topics to discuss in the first place. What a bother. Fail. I didn't even want this party
in the first place. Why was I thinking so hard for this? Moreover, what if the gang
made me attend this stupid party?
Thankfully, when the time came for Jordan and I to ask Casey out for lunch,
she was busy scolding Eulalia. Great. I avoided Eulalia for nothing. Also, I wonder,
did Casey realize by now that she was wasting her breath with this girl? Surely,
she had some idea that Eulalia believed her way of living was correct and refused
to listen to anyone else.
“What do you fucking want?” Casey asked angrily at us.
 It was a side effect of dealing with Eulalia. I empathized with you, Casey.
Anyways, Jordan went into charming, pretty boy mode with his bright smile.
“Would you like to go out for lunch with Brice and I today?”
I noticed he made sure that she heard it was both of us. Anyways, I nodded
and said in the nicest voice possible, “Miss Casey?”
With a suspicious look on her face, Casey elevated a brow and then, asked,
“Are you two paying for me?”
I glanced at Jordan. “Are we?”
Without looking back at me, Jordan said automatically, “Of course!”
“Very well,” said Casey, turning her back to us. “Back in ten minutes.”
I groaned on the inside. She actually said yes. I was half-hoping that she
would say no and I would be done with this plan. Then, I would retire to my room
and play a bit of online gaming with food by my side for the rest of the day. I
sourly needed this break. Obviously, Jordan could tell I was displeased because he
was laughing at me. I glared back at him.
“You may leave, you know?” I turned to my attention to Eulalia, who was
yawning loudly.
“I'm hungry,” she stated.
I tried not to show my annoyance on my face, “Go eat something.”
Eulalia shrugged and sat down lazily next to Casey's door. Today, she was
wearing striped red and pink socks. They were hideous and I wanted to say that to
her, but I kept my comment to myself. She probably didn't want to hear it from me
anyways. Jordan, on the other hand, greeted Eulalia and asked how she was.
Eulalia had a sleepy expression on her face as she stayed quiet at his greeting.
Knowing Eulalia, she really had nothing to say right now. Then, she proved me
wrong.
“Are you paying for tuition?” Eulalia asked Jordan curiously.
I gawked at her. What was with this relatively normal conversation?!
Jordan smiled. “I'm paying for my books and a couple of expenses here and
there. They're paying for my tuition, though.”
Eulalia had a thoughtful look on her face before she said, “I'm hungry.”
And her being normal lasted for two lines.
There must be some weird telepathy going on between the two though
because Jordan said, “I don't mind. You can come with us if you want, Lally.”
I coughed. “I do.”
Eulalia yawned again. “But I don't have any of the free meal tickets on
me...”
“If you stop talking,” I shot at her. “I'll take care of that.”
She pouted at me. “Stalker.”
 “Shut up!”
Before Eulalia or Jordan could say anything, I noticed a shadow over the tiny
Eulalia. Jordan and I turned arund to meet a disapproving face of this tall fellow. I
didn't recognize him as someone living in this building so he must be here to see
someone.
“What are you guys doing outside of Casey's room?” He asked in a bitter
voice.
That was my line. “We're waiting for her.”
“What for?”
I hated his tone of voice. He made it sound like we did something wrong by
being here. However, before I could think of what to say to him, Jordan beamed
and took over for me.
“I asked Casey out to lunch so she's getting ready.”
The guy frowned. “She actually said yes?”
“Yes, she did,” Jordan said fearlessly.
“So noisy,” said Eulalia to herself with drooping eyes.
“Are you Casey's boyfriend?” He demanded to Jordan.
That was quite a quick yet understandable conclusion. I wondered if Jordan
worded it that way on purpose. I wouldn't put it past the guy. He was smart under
that pretty boy look. As for me, I was slightly offended that he acted like I didn't
even exist next to Jordan. Then again, what was new? I was used to this, more so
because Eulalia was also here.
“You are, aren't you?” asked the newcomer, losing his cool.
Much to my surprise, he tripped right before he got too close to Jordan. I
lowered my eyes to see that Eulalia managed to stick her right leg out in time for
the dark-haired fellow to fall when he approached Jordan. She did it with such a
bored look on her face, too. What would you call this? Bad ass?
“Hey you!”
Right then and there, Casey appeared from her room with a deadly serious
expression on her face. She must have heard some of the commotion and she
didn't look too happy about it one bit. In any case, I believed the rest of us were
safe for now since she was glaring at the new guy, not us. Jordan might have
acted so brave earlier but he instantly hid behind me without making it too
obvious.
“What the fuck are you doing here on my territory?” Casey spat.
What was this? Risk? Who owned what territory?
The guy ignored her and pointed at Jordan. “Are you dating this hotshot?”
“Answer my fucking question first, loser.”
“No fucking way. My question is more important.”
 Casey had completely lost her patience. Not that she had any in the first
place, mind you.
“Get off my fucking territory!”
“I knew it,” he moved closer to her. “He is your boyfriend.”
Casey rolled her eyes and placed her right hand on her hip. “He's a fucking
child compared to me and under my supervision! I'm no fucking cougar. Now,”
Casey glared at him again. “Answer my damn question or get the fuck out of
here.”
Surprisingly, he allowed a sigh of relief and said, “You're still single.”
“Why wouldn't she be?” Both Jordan and I thought this, but we kept it to
ourselves due to us wanting to keep our lives.
Now, it was Casey's turn to ignore him as she threw a look at the now
sleeping Eulalia. Casey was irked that Eulalia dared to fall asleep right outside her
door so she kicked Eulalia against the side lightly. That seemed to do the trick
because Eulalia woke up and observed her surroundings as if she had no idea why
she was here in the first place. Casey grabbed a hold of Eulalia's arm and forced
her to stand up with the worst grip ever. Both Jordan and I went over to help her
up before Casey broke Eulalia's arm by accident. The new guy abruptly dragged
Casey away from us.
“What are you, a retard?” Casey asked, pissed off.
“Here,” he said, taking something out of his wallet.
“What now?”
The sight that happened before us was enough for even Eulalia to jolt
awake. The three of us stood there and watched as he threw something into
Casey's face. No one ever threw anything into Casey's face and lived to tell the
tale... or so we imagined in our heads because we never saw it happen before.
But somehow, he had this content look as two tickets fell on the floor in front of
Casey. Eulalia tilted her head and paid full attention to what was going on in front
of her. Jordan was shocked and shaking. As for me, I felt like I was some sort of
human shield for the other two. If Casey attacked, I would be the first casualty.
“Next Saturday,” he ordered casually. “Seven o'clock.”
The three of us waited for Casey's reaction to his words. I wasn't sure about
what the other two theorized might happen, but I was sure that Casey was going
to grab something and throw it at his face. He needed it too because I hadn't met
someone this arrogant since high school. From the way he dressed and the way
he acted earlier, he reminded me of a lot of the party boys back in high school
who I could never get along with. I knew they existed at USC. I just avoided them
like the plague.
Much to our surprise, Casey reached down and picked up the tickets. They
were probably tickets to some show he was planning to make her go with him.
That was one suicidal way to ask a girl out on a date, especially someone who
took no crap from anyone like Casey. But still, we held our breaths for the
eventual lashing out she would inflict on this man. He smirked. He knew she
wasn't going to hurt him. A part of me wished she did more than ever, but for
some reason, as she stood up straight, I could tell from her eyes that she wasn't
going to.
“Fuck,” she ripped the tickets in front of his face and dropped them. “You.”
“They're only four hundred dollars each,” he said in respond with that same
confident smirk plastered across his face.
“Greene Greene, Price, Lala,” she called. All of us turned to her. “Let's go.”
As if he already accomplished what he came here for, that new guy didn't
budge from his spot as the rest of us left him behind and went down the stairs.
Jordan and I tried to avoid eye contact with Casey because we were both scared of
what she might say to us. As for Eulalia, she was acting per usual, like nothing
happened at all. However, the most surprising thing was that the first person to
break our silence on our way to the food area was Eulalia herself.
“So...” Eulalia said slowly. “Who was he?”
“Why do you care?” I asked automatically, hoping that Casey wouldn't
answer Eulalia's question.
“He was hot,” Eulalia stated.
Jordan laughed at Eulalia. “I never knew you cared for looks, Lally.”
She shrugged. “People pick the juicier pepo in the supermarket to eat...”
None of us said anything to that comment. No, it was more like none of us
knew how to reply to that remark. Casey usually would, but she seemed set on
not talking for now. I never knew it was possible until this very moment. Jordan
was an expert on making small talk, but he was half-scared of saying anything to
Eulalia to make her dislike him. That was his reasoning to keeping it quiet at least.
I already knew she disliked me so I decided not to say anything to make her
dislike me more. It was only human nature right? I had to play it cool for a bit
before I dared to step on those coals again.
Spotting our usual table in the food area, Jordan offered to stay behind and
keep the table while the rest of us buy our food. Casey protested that Jordan was
doing this to get out of paying for her food. Stuck, Jordan sighed and told her that
he would buy her food, then, and she could keep the table for them. She managed
to come up with some argument that he couldn't get her exact order correctly.
Frustrated, I told them both that Eulalia and I would stay behind and they could
both go first. It was decided somehow that he would pay for Casey and I would
pay for Eulalia, but what was new? He suggested this stupid Casey idea in the first
place and I suggested Eulalia come with us. We were both idiots compared to
these girls, but still, nothing new was said there.
Since I didn't start the conversation with her for once, she didn't say
anything to me either. We were both just sitting there and staring into space. I
wanted more than anything to ask her questions about herself or questions about
us. But at the same time, I was afraid she would reject me. I didn't take rejection
well, even weeks later. Soon enough though, I realized that she was no longer
staring into space like me. She was paying attention to something and that
something turned out to be someone.
I wished on behalf of my life that I didn't follow her gaze because I did not
need to see that. My eyes found Etchi just in time when some guy kissed him on
the lips and said his goodbyes. They were sitting in the corner at the other side of
the room, but I was sure I met Etchi's eyes. Etchi may claim he wasn't bisexual or
homosexual, but something told me that the chance of him being in denial was
higher than ever. And whatever the reason, this didn't sit well with me. It made
me uncomfortable in a way I didn't know how to explain the feeling though.
“I'm not hungry anymore...”
At Eulalia's sudden declaration, I watched as she walked away without
glancing back at me. On one hand, I could say something to stop her. On the
other hand, I was afraid to talk to her alone. Then, Jordan had to wave and greet
Etchi from far away to make the decision for me. Soon enough, I found Etchi
sitting in Eulalia's seat with Casey and Jordan across from us. Etchi was smirking
amusingly at me.
“Did I interrupt your double date?”
I glared at him. “It's nice seeing you again, too, Etchi.”
“Aw, did you miss me, Brice?”
“Not one bit.”
In the past couple of weeks that I avoided Eulalia, I didn't meet up with Etchi
either. There was a part of me that was certain that he would drop by my room or
call me at least once a week as per his usual hobby of making my life miserable.
However, none of that happened. Furthermore, I didn't see much of him around
campus either. It wasn't because I was actively searching for him; he was simply
easy to spot anywhere. It was noticeable with him gone.
In any case, I had a peace of mind without him around. But what the hell?
Why did I have to see him in that situation with another man after weeks of not
seeing his face at all? It bugged the hell out of me. He said some crap about me.
He told me stuff about Eulalia. He vanished right when I hid from Eulalia. It was all
so coincidential. Was I being paranoid again? I had to know. I must know.
“But,” I said out loud. “Where have you been?”
Etchi lifted a brow. “You noticed, after all.”
“It's kind of hard not to when you keep dropping by my room randomly...”
"Midterm week got the best of me," Etchi said smoothly as the two of us
went to buy our food.
"Really."
"On top of that, I had ten more clients more than usual," he continued. "I
began composing and writing the lyrics to my song, too."
"Is there anything you can't do?" I asked in disbelief.
He dropped his head and yawned. "I can't fucking get my mother's
approval."
 "But... you can do everything."
"I also changed my fucking hair color without her permission."
I frowned at him. "What does that have anything to do with it?"
"Everything."
"I don't get it."
"No, of course not," he said. "Anyways, I'm not going home for Thanksgiving
weekend."
"Okay..."
He released a heavy sigh. "I can't possibly stay with you?"
"No," I said without thinking.
"I thought so," he said, amused. "I'll ask Eulalia instead."
"Eulalia?" I asked in disbelief. "She can't possibly live in a house."
"She doesn't."
"See?"
Etchi grinned. "But I don't mind."
Wait a second. Wasn't Etchi poor too? I waited until both of us ordered our
food, received it, and headed back in order to ask him. It was something that I
thought about before, but didn't dare to ask because I didn't know him that well
back then.
"Do you live in a house?" I asked.
"A small one in Oregon."
"Are you better off than her financially?"
"By a lot," he said without thinking.
"Why would you want to stay with her over Thanksgiving break, then?"
He gave me a pleasant look. "Because I'd rather stare at her all day instead
of my mother."
"Do you not like your mother?" I asked quickly.
"I don't like my mother," he paused and added, "I love my mother."
Our conversation ended there because Jordan had way too many questions
to distract Etchi with. Jordan didn't have to say anything for me to tell. I can just
tell by that excited look on his face. At least, Jordan was patient enough to wait for
us to sit down before he gave his full attention to Etchi. As for Casey, she seemed
to be on the lookout, probably for that one guy.
"Was that your boyfriend or client earlier?" asked Jordan after some
greetings.
Etchi smirked. "My client."
"Why?" I asked without clarifying.
"The pay is good," he stated smoothly. "My job is not all dates and
blowjobs."
Right, Etchi, because your job was that difficult to begin with. Sure, you had
to be an expert in both words and sex, but it wasn't like brain surgery or anything.
"That's quite professional of you, then," said Jordan, impressed. I sighed at
Mister Nice Guy Jordan. "To be able to not care about gender for your job."
"I'm not that professional," Etchi admitted. "There are some things I
wouldn't fucking do even if they paid me a million dollars..."
"Like what?" I asked curiously.
Etchi laughed at me. "You don't want to know." Before I could say anything,
he continued, "So, what's up Jordan? Are you with Casey now?"
 "No," Casey said humorlessly. She was definitely in a bad mood. "We're only
superior and subordinate."
"That's kinky," said Etchi, amused. Casey must have kicked him under the
table or something before he looked like he was suppressing his need to cry out
loud for a few seconds. "In any case, what's up with you? You're not usually like
this, bitch."
"Bitch," she retorted back. "He came to bother me again."
"Ah," said Etchi with an understanding nod. "He's quite the persistent
mother fucker."
"You know him?" asked Jordan to Etchi in surprise.
"Who doesn't he know?"I asked out loud.
Etchi grinned at Jordan, who said, "I can see that."
"He's Master Xara's cousin," Etchi stated, sipping his straw. For a second, I
thought of Eulalia and her juice. "Filthy rich and has a strong need for attention."
"Is that why he bothers you?" asked Jordan to Casey.
Casey bit her lip. "It's fucking stupid."
"They have history," said Etchi in a sing-song voice.
"Shut up, manwhore!"
"Should I tell them the story or you?" asked Etchi gleefully. "But you know
how much I love to exaggerate."
Casey threw Jordan one look before she continued, "He and I used to be in
the same Economics class. We had a huge project together and I was in charge."
"Like always," said Etchi with a grin.
"And he wouldn't fucking contribute to the group so..."
"So she stalked him for two weeks straight," said Etchi, finishing her
sentence for her. Casey tossed him a glare. "To get him to like her back."
"No," she cried. She must have kicked him again. "To get him to fucking
work like he was supposed to."
"I like my interpretation better," said Etchi, pouting.
"Well, your fucking interpretation is fucking wrong, douchebag."
"Not to him," said Etchi in protest.
Casey sighed and glanced away. "Yes... not to him..."
"Now, if only that happened with our dear friend, Brice, here..."
I glared at Etchi. "No. Just no."
"Too bad, Pricey," said Casey, giving me a faked sympathetic look. "Lala's
too dense for that."
"Hey," I said, annoyed. "This isn't about me. It's about this stalker of yours."
"There's nothing more to say," said Casey in protest.
"Well," said Etchi loudly. "You did forget to mention that he thinks you like
him now and tries his best to 'cope' with it."
"Oh, fuck off," said Casey, grumbling to herself.
"Why don't you reject him, then?" asked Jordan, frowning.
"Because he thinks I'm being hard to get on purpose," said Casey, wrapping
her arms in front of her chest. "He doesn't get that 'no' means 'no'. In his eyes, he
thinks I'm fucking struggling in order to get his much needed attention or some
shit like that." Casey threw me a glance before she continued, "I can't even be
violent with him because he thinks it's my own fucking way of liking him. What a
delusional asshole... wasting my precious time."
 "The more she hates, the more he likes," said Etchi with a shrug.
“If you're nice to him, he has more of an excuse,” said Jordan in agreement.
Casey pulled a bit of her hair and then, pushed her empty plate away. “Hell
with this. There must be a way to get rid of this bastard.”
“May we help?” asked Jordan, being the good boy that he was.
Jordan, I knew you were the type of person who would help Casey for no
reason... but... was there any reason why you had to use 'we' instead of 'I'? I
didn't want to get involved in this pointless drama. There was no way in hell this
wasn't going to turn into some messy situation for all of us.
Casey rolled her eyes at him and patted Jordan's cheek with her gloved
hand. “Greene-greene, I appreciate the thought but there's really no shitty thing
you and Price can do about him.”
“Let's try at least,” Jordan said, standing up to throw away their lunches.
“I'm going back to my room,” I said in declaration.
Etchi beamed. “I'll come, too.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Let's go,” I sighed and hurried away with Etchi right behind me.
Once we were inside my room, Etchi went straight to my bed, took off the
black jacket, and laid down. Since he threw his black jacket aside, he was only in a
hot pink undershirt, which meant he was completely at home in my room. I was
going to say something in response to this attitude, but instead, I watched him as
he took his glasses off and placed them carefully on the pillow right by his head.
He also pulled his cell phone and left it there as well. What was I supposed to say
now? He made his decision, whether or not I liked it.
“I'm taking a quick nap before class,” he stated with his back to me.
“I didn't know you have class on Fridays...”
“I have six classes. I go to them if I feel like they're important that week.”
I nodded. “And since it was midterm week, you went to all of them?”
“Pretty much.”
“With overtime.”
“Yup.”
“I'll be on the comptuer, then,” I said, sitting in front of my laptop.
“My class is right next to this building,” he said. “Night.”
“More like afternoon,” I muttered to myself.
If there was a single aspect of Etchi that I actually admired above all else, it
was his ability to focus on what was at hand. The first time I met him, he was able
to focus on his studies despite every pair of eyes in the room gazing straight at
him. He managed to eat and have a decent conversation with me, even though
people were probably looking and talking about him. Also, I noticed that he
listened and responded to everything I said over that phone call the other time,
despite having a customer to deal with.
This was one of those times again. His phone was constantly vibrating next
to him, but Etchi stayed asleep. I wondered if he heard it and ignored it or if he
was one of those deep sleepers. Honestly, he looked completely exhausted so I
wouldn't be surprised if it had nothing to do with him being able to ignore all
distractions. Sadly, I wasn't at his level. The vibrating annoyed the hell out of me.
How many girls had to bother him every minute of the day?
After another fifteen minutes of non-stop vibrating, I stomped over to the
phone and picked it up. I should turn off that vibrate feature so that it would be
completely silent. At least for now. If he asked why, I would tell him the truth. I
wasn't afraid of him. He shouldn't even be here in the first place. This was my
room and in my room, I disliked noises that distracted me from my online
adventures.
For a few seconds, I thought he might have locked his phone, but luckily
enough, he didn't. I just had to press one button and I had access to it. Indeed,
the person who was calling him was some girl named Jessica. Whatever. I pressed
on the button to ignore her call and a few seconds later, I dropped the phone.
Even though the phone hit the floor, Etchi didn't budge. I held my breathe and
picked it up again.
What the hell?
I went straight back to my chair in front of my laptop and sat there with the
phone held up high. My heart skipped a beat when I saw his wallpaper. I couldn't
stop staring at it now. Admittedly, I was shocked beyond words when I first laid my
eyes on it, but now, I could sort of sit here and appreciate it a bit. After all, how
often have I seen Eulalia smile since I met her? Etchi might be a creep for
somehow owning this picture in the first place, but I was thankful I got to see it at
all. It was so typical Eulalia, too. She had a toothless, shy smile that I always
imagined her possessing.
“You can't have it, you know.”
I nearly jumped when I heard that. How long had I been admiring this
wallpaper? He woke up already? I checked the time on his phone. It was exactly
an hour after he took a nap on my bed. With a playful smirk on his face, he held
his palm out at me. I was guilty so I had nothing to say and simply hand it back to
him obediently. Now that he had the phone safely in his hands, he went back and
retrieved his pair of glasses.
“Hey Brice,” said Etchi, wearing his glasses. “You still up for me helping you
with Eulalia?”
“Honestly, I don't know anymore.”
Etchi smirked. “Why have you been avoiding Eulalia?”
“How did you-”
“Answer.”
I glared at him. He was getting into my business again. Even if we were
anything close to best friends like he made me believe we might be from last
time, I wouldn't tell him about what Eulalia said to me. It was like a rejection, but
not, which made it worse than a real rejection. And out of all the people I could
talk to about this, Etchi would be the last person I would admit to something that
embarrassing. More so because I could remember clearly in my mind that picture
of Eulalia he had on his phone.
“Listen,” said Etchi, standing dangerously close to me with a hard
expression on his face. “If you're going to give up, give up.” Etchi's lips curled up
to a cruel smile. “Stop being such a pussy.”
“What is your fucking problem?” I asked, losing my cool.
“I wonder,” he mused, leaving the room.
 That was typical Etchi for you. He just had to have the last word before he
left me completely speechless and confused while he went on his way like it was
nothing. I sighed and relaxed in my chair. Despite that, he had a point. After what
happened between Eulalia and I, logically I should have tried harder than before,
but instead, I avoided her and kept myself locked up. What the hell was I doing?
Sure, midterms were important, but I completely used it as an excuse to not
confront her again.
On the other hand, how much could I endure chasing after her like this when
she didn't want to talk to me in the first place? She didn't even really care or
notice that I wasn't around for over a week. This one-sided battle had been going
on for months now and I was starting to believe that it would never change
otherwise. I simply couldn't connect with this girl. I tried my best and yet, she
dismissed me like I was a pesky fly. What more could I do?
A few minutes later, someone knocked on my door. It was never Jordan. I
realized that he was actually a responsible individual who never lose his keys so I
didn't have to mistake this person as Jordan anymore. When I opened the door, I
didn't even have time to say anything before that person grabbed my arm and
dragged me out of my own room.
“Brice!”
“Sandara!”
“How can you just sit there?” she demanded.
I gawked at her. “I can't relax in my own room, now?”
Sandara sighed. “Listen. Eulalia... she...”
“Eulalia?” I repeated. “Did she blow up half of the building now?”
“You shouldn't say those things about her,” said Sandara in a scolding voice.
I glanced away. “What's going on, then? Don't leave me in suspense.”
“You'll see.”
I did not like Sandara's expression or tone one bit. And knowing Sandara,
she was serious.