one saturday night...

saturday night with high school friends.
after months of waiting, it happened.
cookie said to show up at mcdo katipunan at 6PM.

so at 4:30 PM I took a shower, rummaged through my closet
for a decent-looking top, put on red lipstick and velvet black mascara,
adorned my neck with elegant chunky jewelry, and blowdried my hair.
by 5:45 I was hailing a cab to katipunan.

6 PM at mcdo. no familiar face in sight.
one yosi later... wala pa rin. shet.
i put my ipod on repeat mode,
so madonna sang "hung up" like there was no tomorrow.

quarter to 7. cookie showed up.
sporty sporty cookie in sneakers and jeans.
we went to cantina.
she had a beer, i had green tea.
she tried to cheer me up.
i tried to look happy, but i couldn't.
my mind was flying everywhere.
love love love.
sigh.

8PM and it was still me and cookie.
she wanted interaction,
or at least a reaction from me.
so she told me about daddy ed.
she said she had already received a sign from above
that daddy ed was finally home in heaven.
good news, cookie. kiss!

830PM. terri came. kat too.
we were already four.
banter banter.
kat and terri had gifts for us.
kat gave me a picture of me, her and fifi
and a picture holder.
terri gave me a fabulous green bracelet
and a funky case from team manila.
banter banter.

then nikko arrived.
all the way from ateneo rockwell.
she looked tired from commuting.
then wyson, from gateway.
we played a game which i started.
2 pitchers of zombie.
1 glass for each girl.
out of 300 plus batchmates,
we must name one when our turn came.

it was a simple game.
but it relived our high school days!
an avalanche of anecdotes.
fast facts about each batchmate.
one mention of any random name
would crack us up endlessly.
not that we were making fun of them.
the nostalgia was just overwhelming.
cherilyn manalo.
hazel imperial.
robin perlas.
mary grace bucton.
deisree cagampan.
pinky villarba.
mery dela paz.
genevieve david.

hahaha.
drunken laughter.
hahaha.

then some high school boys approached us.
they were throwing a party for their friend.
they invited us to have free drinks at burgundy.
not exactly free. we had to pay P25.
we didn't go.

goodbyes, goodbyes.
at 1230 it was just wys, fifi and me.
we decided to go to eastwood
for super early breakfast.
upon arriving there we were
magnetized by the tiangge stalls.
five minutes into checking out their stuff,
wys realized she lost her phone.
a super expensive XDA phone.
we went back to cantina.
the management kept her phone after all.
wys offered them a reward or P1000.
the management refused to accept it.
wow. good people on katipunan avenue.
thank God.

chiara arrived.
we all went back to eastwood
to finally have breakfast.
eat all you can for P80.
that's when i became perky,
throwing punchlines like
they were a heap of palitaw
that couldn't be consumed by
four famished women.
my fault.
i was so giddy i must have piled on
a hundred in one plate and served them
to my girlfriends.
it turned out,
we didn't finish our palitaw.
we had to pay for an extra plate
for the untouched ones.

coffee at starbucks.
banter banter.
antok antok.
bye bye bye bye.
wys and i shared a cab.
fifi and chiara shared a cab.
4 am.

they made my day.
yeah, saturdays are for lovers.
lovers of fun.
and what better way to have fun
than be in the company of
your most precious friends.

terri, have a safe trip!
kat, say hi to the kids for me!
wys, yes i will have my lungs checked.
cookie, no bad vibes at all.
nikko, yes i owe you the full account of what happened.
chiara, good luck with your episodes.
charm, miss yah!
fifi, wake up!!!
love you guys!