09. Another Midnight Escapade

I LOOK AT MJ and realize that she’s staring at me. I flash a shy grin at her immediately prop myself into her bed.

“What?” I ask, fully aware of her undivided attention. I casually grab a pillow and put it on top of my lap. Geez, I am wearing her tee like a dress. And I’m not wearing panties, for god’s sake!

“What!” I demand when I realize that she’s still staring at me like a maniac. I should be angry right now, but I can’t afford myself to be angry. It’s my fault anyway.

“I’m sorry,” she replies, chuckling, “I’m not used to having anyone around here.”

“I’m sorry. I’d be gone in the morning before you knew it,” I say, feeling a little hurt.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it that way,” she replies, joining me on the bed, “it’s just that—I don’t really know how to assess my feelings right now. Seeing you, wearing my tee and casually propped on my bed.”

Silence.

“You’re sexy, damn it,” she mutters under her breath.

I clear my throat. “Does it make you feel uncomfortable?”

MJ nods, flashing an awkward smile at me.

“I thought you’d already brought your girls here,” I say, grinning.

She rolls her eyes. “I didn’t. They’re the ones who bring me at their place.”

I can’t help but smile. I feel overwhelmed by the fact that I’m the first woman that she’s brought in her sanctuary. I mean, anyone who’d experience that would be glad, wouldn’t they?

“I’m flattered,” I meekly say.

“You should be,” she says as she stands up, brushing her hand through the strands of her hair, “are you hungry?”

“I am,” I reply.

As if on cue, the doorbell rings. MJ rushes to the door and opens it, only big enough for her face to be able to talk to the man outside her door. “No, it’s okay. Just stay there, please. I’ll be back,” I hear her say before closing the door.

“What’s that all about?” I ask, “isn’t it rude of you to make the man wait outside?”

“Shut up, woman,” she says as she rummages through her wallet, “I’ve got to hide your sexy ass from the delivery guy.”

Oh. I suddenly feel my cheeks burning. Was she looking at my ass? MJ sticks her tongue out as I roll my eyes. She then goes back to the guy outside and pays him. Then she invites me to the table afterwards.

I see a bucket of fried chicken, large burgers, large fries, two sundaes, and two huge glasses of Coke. She gets a big plate from her cute dish rack and goes straight to her rice cooker. I realize she’d cooked rice when I was in the CR.

My phone rings as we’re just about to start our dinner. She flashes a quizzical look at me and shrugs, “Pick it up. Tell your boyfriend that you’re in good hands tonight.”

“Excuse me,” I say as I goes back to her bed.

“Yes,” I say, putting the phone on my ear. My voice is full of nonchalance.

“Where are you?” Gab’s voice is also as cold as ice. I know he didn’t like it when I drop the call of a sudden and sent his calls to voicemails.

“I told you I’m with a friend.”

“What’s wrong with you? I told you I’d pick you up if—”

“Shut up, Gab!”

I awkwardly flash a shy look at MJ when I realized that I am already raising my voice. I turn away from her and face the wall. “I’m fine. Just stop calling me again tonight. I’m stressed out and I don’t want to talk to anyone of you, so please, just let me be. I need time to think.”

Silence.

“Am I stressing you out? I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“Let’s just talk about this tomorrow. Good bye—” I drop the call.

He calls me again but I decide to turn off my phone. I go straight to MJ and see that she’s already munching a fried chicken. I smile when I see my plate with a drawing of a smiley face. I dip my finger. Ketchup.

“Thank you,” I say, licking my finger. I stand up again and wash my hand on the sink behind her.

“I really think that the two of you should talk,” she says, facing me. I wipe a stray morsel on her mouth and casually go back to my seat.

“Yeah, maybe tomorrow when I feel better.”

“Do you always fight?” she asks as she puts rice on my plate.

“Not always.”

I stuff my mouth with the crispy fried chicken.

“What are the things that you usually fight about?”

Ugh! Why wouldn’t she stop asking?

“Anything. Lots of things,” I reply, “but often, it’s all about his insensitivity.”

She flashes a confused look at me, wrinkling her eyes while she sucks the chicken bone in front of me. Cute.

“I don’t get you.”

I sigh.

“Just like what happened earlier! I would say something but it’s not really what I mean then I would make him figure out what I really wanted so I won’t tell anything about my feelings—but he doesn’t really know how to figure me out so I end up being so miserable about it.”

MJ is just nodding her head as she listens to me. “I guess, you are the problem.”

“Duh,” I retort, “I need him to be more—sensitive. I don’t want to nag always.”

“It’s not nagging. It’s called communicating,” she says as she reaches for her Coke. “Men are dumb. You have to specify what you want because they don’t know how to read a woman’s body language.”

I wrinkle my nose. “You know what,” I say, “for someone who’s not into guys you sure know a lot about them.”

She shrugs. “I’ve had relationships with men before.”

“Really?”

MJ nods her head and shoves rice on my plate again.

“Yes. And they were all dickhead.”

I laugh.

“Well, Gab is different. He loves me.”

“Of course,” she says as she flashes a knowing look at me.

***

The small clock on MJ’s study table says it’s already midnight. And yet, I can’t seem to fall asleep.

MJ is lying next to me, her back is turned against me while I lie flat on my stomach. I’ve been trying to close my eyes and have counted a hundred sheep on my mind but sleep seems to be too hard to tame tonight. I toss and turn on the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping human beside me. But in the end, I just lie on the bed, facing the ceiling.

“Can’t sleep?”

I jolt as I hear her husky voice. My stomach flutters as it starts to occur to me that I am sleeping beside MJ. I feel my cheeks redden.

“I’m not really used to this kind of set-up.”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

I suddenly has the urge to turn my back away when I realize that MJ has snuggled closer to me. I feel like she is holding me in her stares, even though I am not staring back at her.

“And why’s that?”

I don’t answer. Instead, I face her sideways, resting my head on my palm. My elbow is pressed on the bed.

“Does it make you feel uncomfortable?” she asks, grinning.

I lightly pinched her cheeks. “That’s my line.”

MJ laughs and sits on the bed. I move and rests my head on her lap. I giggle as she scowls.

“Let’s just stay like this for a while, okay?” I say.

“Fine.”

Silence engulfs us as we stay like that in the dark. Her hands have already find their way to my hair. She runs her fingers gently into them, giving me the urge to close my eyes.

“Alexis,” she says. Her raspy voice awakens me from my drowsy thoughts.

“What?”

I casually wait for her reply. But she remains silent; lost in her thoughts.

“What?” I ask again, poking her rib.

“I want to drink.”

“I’ll get you water.”

“No. Not water. Beer.”

“Are you serious?” I ask. I sit on the bed as well, facing her.

I search for her face in the dark, only to find it with that same lonely look she wore when she told me about her grandma.

“Do you do that when you’re sad?”

She shrugs. “I’m not sad.”

‘Yes, you are,’ I say on my mind.

“I do that when I can’t sleep,” she says.

She stands up and walks towards the small refrigerator kept at the right side of her room. She opens it and rummages through the contents. I look at her as the yellow light from the refrigerator illuminates her body. She bends her back as she reaches for the beer. Her shoulder-length hair ruffles through the side of her face. I blush when I realize that she’s just wearing a white sando that goes several inches above her knee. She’s wearing a panty short. No bra.

I look away and pretend to fix the bed.

“I’ve got these,” she says as she handles me two big bottles of beer. “And these.”

I laugh as she tosses me a pack of Dragon Seeds and a bowl of peanuts. Thank God I’m not allergic to peanuts.

We go to the kitchen and start preparing the drinks and the finger foods.

I heave a sigh. I guess, this is gonna be a long night again.