Arjay prepared himself for the upcoming Junior and Senior Promenade because he needs to tell Diana what he really feels. She’s still rejecting his calls and ignoring his texts and chats and what’s left of him, his last resort, is that upcoming event. Come what may, if she rejects him then fine, life must go on. But could he just do it? Continue his life without anything to look forward to?
He was on that state of mind when his phone rang. He picked up his phone and checked the caller ID: it was Jc! He frowned but he answered the call.
“Hi brother!” he greeted.
“Hey brother! I used my call for next week to call you, you might wonder.” Jc said on the other line.
“I literally frowned, actually. Do you have something for me?” he asked.
“I was about to ask you that exact same question! Do you have something for me?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well you know what it is! You’re not informing me anymore so I am wondering if there are any progress at all.”
He sighed.
“What’s with the sigh?” Jc asked him. He could sense that he was already frowning from the other line.
“I don’t know. I thought I am making progress, but I think I screwed it up… she’s ignoring me right now.” He said, almost a whisper.
“Don’t tell me you’re giving up now!”
“No, not yet.”
“What do you mean ‘Not yet’? And you should not! Why? Because you were called, the message was sending and one glimpse of her, the message sending had failed! Because what? Heart’s been attached to someone else. So don’t you dare give up!”
Arjay could sense that Jc was clearly pissed off. He sighed again.
“I won’t give up. I will pursue her. Is that okay with you now?” he asked calmly.
“Good! Because I don’t want you pursuing somebody else when you clearly have your heart on someone else. That would be unfair for the insignificant other.” Jc calmed down.
That’s what Arjay wanted: to calm his best friend down because he knew Jc won’t talk to him if he would argue back.
“By the way, what did you do to piss her off? I know her being fierce looking and all but she won’t just ignore you without reason.” Jc curiously asked.
“I went to an event with Hanney and unexpectedly, Diana went there, too, with his friend. We were their plus ones and – “
“Wait, stop right there. You went with Hanney? When did you two get in touch?” Jc asked.
“3 days after I left the seminary. I accidentally bumped into her and there, we got in touch.” He explained.
“Okay… so you went with her and unexpectedly, Diana went with another person, too?”
“Yes. But we didn’t know it. We were just startled to see each other there. She ignored me back then but we danced because Hanney needed to talk with her partner that night.”
“Why did she ignore you?”
“Well she said she was embarrassed.” He said.
He heard Jc chuckled on the other line.
“Why are you laughing? I was pissed that night, okay? Imagine we were seated in the same table and she ignores my presence as if I wasn’t there.”
“Alright. I’m sorry. Continue with your story. I still don’t get why she ignored you after that night.”
“Why are you so interested, anyway?” he asked Jc.
“I just want to know how your love story with red lipstick goes. She’s an acquaintance of mine, remember?”
“Fine. We exchanged partners during the dance because Hanney said she needed to talk to Diana’s friend. And so we danced. She was startled when I wrapped my arms around her waist because it made us get closer together. She was hesitant to go with the flow on my gesture and she whispered my name. And I asked if we could stay like that for a moment and she didn’t reply.”
Jc became quiet all of a sudden.
“Still there brother? I screwed up, don’t I?” he asked.
“Uhmm… yeah… I think you really screwed it up a bit.” Jc agreed and he can sense he’s nodding even though he couldn’t really see him.
Arjay held his forehead. That’s probably the reason why Diana was ignoring him! He groaned.
“That’s what I thought.” He said.
“So what’s your plan of action now? You should definitely talk to her in person.” Jc said.
“Yeah, I was planning to do that.” He said.
“Really? When?”
“I was invited in an event at the school where she teaches. And I was planning on talking to her there.”
“Okay. I guess that’s a good idea. I wish you luck. Inform me what will happen next. I should go now. My time on call is up. Bye brother!” Jc said and hang up.
Arjay put away his phone from his ear and stared at his phone. So Jc just really called to ask about his progress with Diana? He laughed and scratch his head. He remembered what Jc told him a while ago, ‘the message sending failed! Because what? Heart’s been attached to someone else.’ Jc believed that he was called but because of love, he just ignored the calling… then he was really called, he just didn’t respond to the calling.
‘I guess it wasn’t really for me.’ he said to himself. He grabbed his laptop and turned it on. He needs to prepare for his speech. When his laptop was completely turned on, he clicked the word and started typing.
“Distinguished guests, teachers and administrators, ladies and gentlemen, a pleasant evening to all of us. Junior and senior promenade is an event where we dress beautifully and elegantly. It is also the night where we could choose the people we want to enjoy the night with during the Carnet dances.” He began.
“What else should I add up here?” he asked himself.
He reminisced his JS Prom during high school. It was a wonderful time, he enjoyed it, too. It was the time the key of responsibility was given to them. He actually didn’t know what that key of responsibility for, honestly. They just passed it on to him without explanation. He remembered being surprised when they called him up onstage for that. That’s the only responsibility he didn’t know the purpose of.
He continued encoding his speech. He will just write an inspirational speech since he’s a guest of honor. He will just add up some humors in it so it won’t bore the students. He was busy encoding when he heard a knock on his door.
“Come in.” he called out.
He heard the door creaked open. He didn’t turn to look who entered the room.
“What are you writing, son? Is that a love letter?”
He turned around to look at his mother. He smiled.
“Sort of, ma. A love letter for the students on their JS prom.” He replied and returned his focus on the laptop.
“Oh, that’s your speech. Just go downstairs then, son. Dinner’s ready.” His mother said.
“Yes ma. I will just save this.” He said and hit control s.
He heard his mother’s retreating footsteps. He put his laptop on sleep and closed it. He went downstairs to join his parents for dinner.
“So, how’s your speech going son?” his father asked.
He took his seat in front of his father.
“I think it’s going great, pa. I hadn’t proofread it yet. I am still writing the body of it.” He replied.
“You should add some jokes in it, son. You know kids nowadays, they live their lives on memes this days. I hope they soon learn to be serious about life.” His father said
“They will soon, pa. But for now, we let them enjoy their lives.” He said.
“I agree.” His father said and they continued to eat silently.