takes two to tango
Friday, October 29, 2004
living in the past: an 11 year story
Here's one for the books...
She was home.
She'd miss life in Australia, her friends, her 6th grade spring formal dance, the fishing trips, the four seasons, the funky clothes, the cute son of her dad's officemate; but that didn't matter as much as being with her sisters again. She's missed them so much. Anyhow, she brought her dog home from Australia, there's more Australia in him to last her a good time.
And a good time was just what she needed right now. Probably just to hang out at the garage and play with her dog, or dunk herself in the water drum to get rid of all the heat. Yeah... Maybe play around with some water. The adults didn't really seem to mind because they knew she was adjusting to the change in climate anyhow.
So that's what she found herself doing one lazy afternoon: spraying people with water, making water drawings on the concrete floor, giving the plants at the backyard a good dousing, watching a cute boy horse around on his skateboard at the secondary road at the back of her house---
Wait. There's a cute boy.
Soon, she would find out that he lived right beside her--well technically, even if there was a small road that separated their houses, and that they were the same age, and that he had pretty eyes with long lashes. Pretty soon, she spent most afternoons outside of her house, playing with the dog on the garage, hanging out at the swing in the front yard, just to get a glimpse of that guy next door.
And the only ones who really knew she had a crush on their neighbor were her sisters, since she told them basically everything. With everyone else, she seemed aloof about the whole idea. Another neighbor of hers, even told her that the guy next door also had a crush on her, but it just wouldn't do for a girl like her to go around and wear her heart on her sleeve. So she just came off as a friendly neighbor, who had more important things to do.
And one of those important things was to compose page upon page of "dear diary" stories about her next door neighbor that got her all giddy. There were times when she would hear a basketball being bounced around in the court next door, and she would run as fast as her spindly thin legs would take her to the garage where she knew her next door neighbor would see her as she pretended to waste her time away.
I mean, who would think of reading a book on the hot concrete ground when there was a climate controlled environment inside her house, or even a chair not far away? She wouldn't, of course, take those since they weren't in his line of view. The whole idea was for him to notice her without it seeming like she was trying to. Then there were those other afternoons where she would climb up on the roof and endured the heat, just because she knew he'd see her there--needless to say she got herself a good tan real often. She would also enjoy walking in the afternoons with her sister, and managed to inhale enough nicotine through second hand smoke from her sister just to get a glimpse of her next door neighbors, ok... and maybe his cute friends.
Sundays were no exception from the rule. The phrase, 'dressed in your Sunday's best' meant more to her than she ever knew, because that was when she would pass by him in the communion line and their eyes would meet for a fraction and on the way back, she search for him in the pews again and flash him a demure smile. Sigh, divine...
They never really talked to each other till this one morning where he invited her to go jogging.
Jogging?! Her?! She was active and all, but jogging just wasn't her thing, and at 5:30 am?! Oh the things she would do just to hang out with him. He brought along another neighbor of theirs--one of his good friends and someone she's known ever since she was 8 years old. They headed to a nearby park, and her heart felt like it was gonna jump out of her chest. Not because she was excited over being with him, though, but because she was so out of shape. As soon as the three of them got in the park, their friend left them and went ahead running around the park since he loved running. The two of them, to her great relief, slowed down to a stroll, and talked about silly stuff akwardly often finding themselves in silence since they couldn't really find anything to talk about. Finally, their friend came back from his rounds and the two readily agreed that they should head on back home.
Oh, those were the days... The two of them hardly speaking a word to the other, and their friend acting as a middle man. Years passed, and being in high school, she found herself meeting different guys and having crushes on them. Getting her next door neighbor to notice her had become second nature to her, and even if she had her guy friends visit her she still felt a twinge of jealousy every time she'd see her next door neighbor specially with their friend's younger sister. It irked her since at that time, there were two guys from her school courting her, showering her with roses and love letters, and the one guy who's been next door all these years had only given her three cards (one of them with her misspelt name before the card's printed hallmark quotes and his after, a type-written Christmas greeting, and an invitation to both her and her 2 year old nephew to his 13th birthday), and three mangoes from the mango tree in their backyard.
A few days before her 18th birthday, she was struck down with a mutated form of chicken pox that got her spending 3 weeks in the hospital in a semi-coma. After which she stayed mostly at home trying to recover with physical therapy and rehab. That was the time when they were having their new house built still in the same subdivision. Everybody on their street had to leave because the land they were on was sold to a huge developer who had huge ideas. After their garage sales, they packed up and left.
No goodbyes to that boy next door. It was well and good anyway, he seemed like he was busy with his own life, and they hardly saw each other. She enjoyed life in college, and he had his own college life to pursue. In fact, she never thought they'd see each other again. Till one afternoon, she was browsing through the bookstore and she saw him at the corner of her eye. There was no mistaking it. It was him. Her heart skipped a few and she chided herself. It was just him and it wasn't like she still had a crush on him. Well, not a huge crush for sure.
Nonetheless, she fell into her old habit of pretending not to notice him, but making sure she was in his line of view. Till finally, he walked by her aisle and acted all surprised that he was there. Lame, yes, but that got her a chance to exchange cellphone numbers. That wasn't the last time they saw each other, they often caught each other in the mall, often from a distance, just waving their hello's and walking off to do whatever they needed to do. Every time she saw him at the mall, she couldn't help but wonder if he was there too.Whenever she'd see even his older sister, she'd look around, hoping not to be too obvious, just checking if he was in the area as well. She'd see him at the cemetery as well whenever he'd be visiting his dad and she'd be visiting hers. But that was only once a year and rarely happened as well.
She saw less and less of him. He had caught up with her on a friend finding community on the internet one time, and she saw that he had a girlfriend. Duh! Of course he'd have a girlfriend. Wouldn't be surprising if he's had his fair share... Sigh... She's met her own share of guys over the years. Okay, so they not all of them met her standards--a girl's gotta have them--but hey, she was very forgiving. A little too forgiving sometimes over the years. After all, a gaggle of guys, looking for a job, and having a yoyo weight loss and weight gain, had been enough to keep her occupied.
On the eve of her 24th birthday, she had a dinner with her high school friends. All day, she'd been getting advanced greetings on her cellphone. So, it was no surprise to see a greeting on her phone with no name and only a number on it. Her phone was stolen not too long ago and she didn't have all the numbers that she used to have. Although the numbers sparked a memory. It was him. It turns out he was leaving for Wales soon, but he promised that he'd meet up with her before he left.
The days wore on, and she'd placed that promise to the back of her mind. Till one afternoon, she'd come back from her second interview at a job and thought that she could spend her time at the mall. She was surprised to see a message from him on her phone asking if she was free that afternoon. Happy enough from her interview, she readily agreed disputing in her mind whether to tell him that she was hitching a ride from her mom and most probably wouldn't be able to stay long.
She didn't have to. She ended up hanging out with him the whole after till dinner and since her mom knew him, she agreed to let him bring her home. They reminisced about all the old times, confessed to a lot of silly things, shared a lot of what's been going on with their lives. 11 years worth of catching up. He would purposely play basketball at around 3:00pm before because he knew that was the time she'd be out in the garage. He'd gotten into an accident on his scooter because he was looking her way as she read her book up on the roof. He'd go with his dad to church, because he knew she'd be there. His whole family knew he had a crush on her. His friends would prod him to go and court her but he was too shy. His sister would text him if she saw her at the mall and then he's rush from his house giving any sort of excuse just to be able to catch her. He'd savor all the times, that she'd send him a message greeting him on his birthday. One time, when she wasn't able to greet him, he'd almost gotten depressed that day. He got so jealous every time he saw a guy pass by her house. He never dated their friend's younger sister, he was asking her about what girls liked. He's never forgotten little things like her greeting him and everybody else on New Year's Eve. And over the years, he'd even replay that memory every new year's eve. She was, as he'd said, the Girl of His Dreams. He regretted being too shy before, being too slow, and when he finally got the courage to say all these things to her, they lose contact. They had a wonderful time together. So wonderful, that they agreed to meet up the next day as he got his tickets. His one way ticket.
They had a picture together. Their first. And when he brought her home, he asked her to be careful of guys that she met, because he wouldn't be there to protect her. He always dreamt of being married to her. Having kids with her. Who knows what'll happen in the future? Tears fell from her eyes. Here was a guy she's known and had the biggest crush on since she was 12 years old going on 13 and someone she was still getting to know and she was saying goodbye to him because he had to leave and wouldn't be back for two years or maybe longer.
He's leaving on the 1st of November on a 730pm flight on Emirates.
And just like before, she'd be home.
She was home.
She'd miss life in Australia, her friends, her 6th grade spring formal dance, the fishing trips, the four seasons, the funky clothes, the cute son of her dad's officemate; but that didn't matter as much as being with her sisters again. She's missed them so much. Anyhow, she brought her dog home from Australia, there's more Australia in him to last her a good time.
And a good time was just what she needed right now. Probably just to hang out at the garage and play with her dog, or dunk herself in the water drum to get rid of all the heat. Yeah... Maybe play around with some water. The adults didn't really seem to mind because they knew she was adjusting to the change in climate anyhow.
So that's what she found herself doing one lazy afternoon: spraying people with water, making water drawings on the concrete floor, giving the plants at the backyard a good dousing, watching a cute boy horse around on his skateboard at the secondary road at the back of her house---
Wait. There's a cute boy.
Soon, she would find out that he lived right beside her--well technically, even if there was a small road that separated their houses, and that they were the same age, and that he had pretty eyes with long lashes. Pretty soon, she spent most afternoons outside of her house, playing with the dog on the garage, hanging out at the swing in the front yard, just to get a glimpse of that guy next door.
And the only ones who really knew she had a crush on their neighbor were her sisters, since she told them basically everything. With everyone else, she seemed aloof about the whole idea. Another neighbor of hers, even told her that the guy next door also had a crush on her, but it just wouldn't do for a girl like her to go around and wear her heart on her sleeve. So she just came off as a friendly neighbor, who had more important things to do.
And one of those important things was to compose page upon page of "dear diary" stories about her next door neighbor that got her all giddy. There were times when she would hear a basketball being bounced around in the court next door, and she would run as fast as her spindly thin legs would take her to the garage where she knew her next door neighbor would see her as she pretended to waste her time away.
I mean, who would think of reading a book on the hot concrete ground when there was a climate controlled environment inside her house, or even a chair not far away? She wouldn't, of course, take those since they weren't in his line of view. The whole idea was for him to notice her without it seeming like she was trying to. Then there were those other afternoons where she would climb up on the roof and endured the heat, just because she knew he'd see her there--needless to say she got herself a good tan real often. She would also enjoy walking in the afternoons with her sister, and managed to inhale enough nicotine through second hand smoke from her sister just to get a glimpse of her next door neighbors, ok... and maybe his cute friends.
Sundays were no exception from the rule. The phrase, 'dressed in your Sunday's best' meant more to her than she ever knew, because that was when she would pass by him in the communion line and their eyes would meet for a fraction and on the way back, she search for him in the pews again and flash him a demure smile. Sigh, divine...
They never really talked to each other till this one morning where he invited her to go jogging.
Jogging?! Her?! She was active and all, but jogging just wasn't her thing, and at 5:30 am?! Oh the things she would do just to hang out with him. He brought along another neighbor of theirs--one of his good friends and someone she's known ever since she was 8 years old. They headed to a nearby park, and her heart felt like it was gonna jump out of her chest. Not because she was excited over being with him, though, but because she was so out of shape. As soon as the three of them got in the park, their friend left them and went ahead running around the park since he loved running. The two of them, to her great relief, slowed down to a stroll, and talked about silly stuff akwardly often finding themselves in silence since they couldn't really find anything to talk about. Finally, their friend came back from his rounds and the two readily agreed that they should head on back home.
Oh, those were the days... The two of them hardly speaking a word to the other, and their friend acting as a middle man. Years passed, and being in high school, she found herself meeting different guys and having crushes on them. Getting her next door neighbor to notice her had become second nature to her, and even if she had her guy friends visit her she still felt a twinge of jealousy every time she'd see her next door neighbor specially with their friend's younger sister. It irked her since at that time, there were two guys from her school courting her, showering her with roses and love letters, and the one guy who's been next door all these years had only given her three cards (one of them with her misspelt name before the card's printed hallmark quotes and his after, a type-written Christmas greeting, and an invitation to both her and her 2 year old nephew to his 13th birthday), and three mangoes from the mango tree in their backyard.
A few days before her 18th birthday, she was struck down with a mutated form of chicken pox that got her spending 3 weeks in the hospital in a semi-coma. After which she stayed mostly at home trying to recover with physical therapy and rehab. That was the time when they were having their new house built still in the same subdivision. Everybody on their street had to leave because the land they were on was sold to a huge developer who had huge ideas. After their garage sales, they packed up and left.
No goodbyes to that boy next door. It was well and good anyway, he seemed like he was busy with his own life, and they hardly saw each other. She enjoyed life in college, and he had his own college life to pursue. In fact, she never thought they'd see each other again. Till one afternoon, she was browsing through the bookstore and she saw him at the corner of her eye. There was no mistaking it. It was him. Her heart skipped a few and she chided herself. It was just him and it wasn't like she still had a crush on him. Well, not a huge crush for sure.
Nonetheless, she fell into her old habit of pretending not to notice him, but making sure she was in his line of view. Till finally, he walked by her aisle and acted all surprised that he was there. Lame, yes, but that got her a chance to exchange cellphone numbers. That wasn't the last time they saw each other, they often caught each other in the mall, often from a distance, just waving their hello's and walking off to do whatever they needed to do. Every time she saw him at the mall, she couldn't help but wonder if he was there too.Whenever she'd see even his older sister, she'd look around, hoping not to be too obvious, just checking if he was in the area as well. She'd see him at the cemetery as well whenever he'd be visiting his dad and she'd be visiting hers. But that was only once a year and rarely happened as well.
She saw less and less of him. He had caught up with her on a friend finding community on the internet one time, and she saw that he had a girlfriend. Duh! Of course he'd have a girlfriend. Wouldn't be surprising if he's had his fair share... Sigh... She's met her own share of guys over the years. Okay, so they not all of them met her standards--a girl's gotta have them--but hey, she was very forgiving. A little too forgiving sometimes over the years. After all, a gaggle of guys, looking for a job, and having a yoyo weight loss and weight gain, had been enough to keep her occupied.
On the eve of her 24th birthday, she had a dinner with her high school friends. All day, she'd been getting advanced greetings on her cellphone. So, it was no surprise to see a greeting on her phone with no name and only a number on it. Her phone was stolen not too long ago and she didn't have all the numbers that she used to have. Although the numbers sparked a memory. It was him. It turns out he was leaving for Wales soon, but he promised that he'd meet up with her before he left.
The days wore on, and she'd placed that promise to the back of her mind. Till one afternoon, she'd come back from her second interview at a job and thought that she could spend her time at the mall. She was surprised to see a message from him on her phone asking if she was free that afternoon. Happy enough from her interview, she readily agreed disputing in her mind whether to tell him that she was hitching a ride from her mom and most probably wouldn't be able to stay long.
She didn't have to. She ended up hanging out with him the whole after till dinner and since her mom knew him, she agreed to let him bring her home. They reminisced about all the old times, confessed to a lot of silly things, shared a lot of what's been going on with their lives. 11 years worth of catching up. He would purposely play basketball at around 3:00pm before because he knew that was the time she'd be out in the garage. He'd gotten into an accident on his scooter because he was looking her way as she read her book up on the roof. He'd go with his dad to church, because he knew she'd be there. His whole family knew he had a crush on her. His friends would prod him to go and court her but he was too shy. His sister would text him if she saw her at the mall and then he's rush from his house giving any sort of excuse just to be able to catch her. He'd savor all the times, that she'd send him a message greeting him on his birthday. One time, when she wasn't able to greet him, he'd almost gotten depressed that day. He got so jealous every time he saw a guy pass by her house. He never dated their friend's younger sister, he was asking her about what girls liked. He's never forgotten little things like her greeting him and everybody else on New Year's Eve. And over the years, he'd even replay that memory every new year's eve. She was, as he'd said, the Girl of His Dreams. He regretted being too shy before, being too slow, and when he finally got the courage to say all these things to her, they lose contact. They had a wonderful time together. So wonderful, that they agreed to meet up the next day as he got his tickets. His one way ticket.
They had a picture together. Their first. And when he brought her home, he asked her to be careful of guys that she met, because he wouldn't be there to protect her. He always dreamt of being married to her. Having kids with her. Who knows what'll happen in the future? Tears fell from her eyes. Here was a guy she's known and had the biggest crush on since she was 12 years old going on 13 and someone she was still getting to know and she was saying goodbye to him because he had to leave and wouldn't be back for two years or maybe longer.
He's leaving on the 1st of November on a 730pm flight on Emirates.
And just like before, she'd be home.
posted by glady at 10/29/2004 01:32:00 PM
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