Kabanata 17

Bad History of Birthdays

"Happy Birthday anak" since mom is away for now at nasa US pa sila ni Daddy at Ivar my brother, she just called and told me she's gonna give me a gift later, sayang at sweet 16 ko sana ngayon masaya sana kung andito ang family ko but they are managing some documents na kailangan para kay Ivar.

" Thanks ma, anyways may lakad kami nila Gale today gagayak na ako maaga din ako uuwi" I told her she agreed "Sige basta wag ka ng magpapa gabi, please naman Elle wala kami diyan ng Daddy mo and it's your birthday delikado" here we are with her pamahiins but I know she just wants me to be careful malayo sila at nag aalala. "Yes ma, I'll call you later" I ended the call.

"Dito tayo manuod samin ahh" I was talking to Gale habang gumagayak ako. Unfortunately it's just me, Riley, Matthew and Gale na magcecelebrate ng birthday ko some of our friends can't come, I really don't have a good luck in celebrating birthdays. The 14th Birthday is both a tragic and sweet my old friends really had the guts to drop me as a friend on my own birthday that time good thing when I come home mom surprised me which saved all my heartbreak that time.

Then came my 15th birthday My family was here at nagcelebrate lang kami and with my few friends nothing special, now my 16th family out of the country and busy friends atleast kasama ko si Riley.

Actually magkasama na kami kahapon nanuod kaming sine I was bored at inaya ko siya ayaw pa pumayag nung una may gagawin daw pero napilit ko naman alam niyang maiinis ako pag di siya umoo eh. We watched this sci-fi movie na medyo action din he was telling me how he has a crush on the leading lady I'm fine with it pansin ko na may pattern ang mga babaeng nagustuhan ni Riley at pasok ako dun, he like girls that are fierce, fearless and dominant.

"Oh sige na papunta na ako" I ended the call at nauna na sa mall kung saan kami magkikita ni Riley nauna na ata si Matthew sa bahay nila Gale. when I arrived at the mall naabutan ko siya malapit sa isang book store he smile at me then grabbed my hand papasok sa book store, "May bibilhin ka ba?" I asked him as he was browsing and reading some books, umiling ito "may hinahanap akong libro na kukumpleto sa series na binabasa ko kaso wala pa dito" tumango tango ako being the curious me I asked what series and title it is as he told me I mentally noted to give that to him as his birthday gift which is 2 months from now.

After that we wnet outside as he was calling Jane nagtataka ako kung bakit pero inaya niya ako papunta sa bahay nila Jane saka daw kami pupunta kila Gale. Umoo nalang ako kinukulit ko padin siya kung bakit nginisihan niya lang ako may pinaplano na namn to.

"Uy happy birthday ulit!" Jane hugged me the moment we saw her Riley is smiling at her wierdly at ngmamadali namang umalis si Jane papunta sa kwarto niya pagbalik nito ay may dala itong stuff toys I was shocked seeing those, favorite ko yung dalawa nayon as I remember mahal to ahh she handed the gift to Riley nakangiti namang inabot to ni Riley sakin.

"Here, Happy Birthday again" I punched him slightly saka nakangiting inabot ang regalo niya, I bet I'm all red by now he chuckled looking at my reaction, "You don't really have to pero thank you ha" Jane was staring at us, "Remember when all of us are at the resto tapos nalate kami ni Riley? binayaran kasi namin yan" I laughed while remembering nahuli ko pa si Riley na sinesearch tong stuff toys sa phone niya.

"Sige na gora na kayo may simba kami ngayon eh" we bid goodbyes to Jane saka dumiretso kila Gale. Habang nasa byahe ay nakangiti padin ako "You like it?" bulong ni Riley I nodded he softly smiled "Sorry nga pala nagpuyat ako kagabi, I just wanted to be the first one to ever greet you on your birthday" I smiled back "Ano ka ba okay lang deeply appreciated, natuwa ako" pagdating namin kila Gale ay nagulat ako kasi naghanda pa talaga si Tita pati si Gale kasi birthday ko, they even bought a cake for me, I smiled at the thought na kahit wala yung family ko dito Gale's family made it special for me, while blowing the cake I wished for all this happiness to stay we took pictures and I thanked all of them with me.

"Anong movie panunuorin natin?" nasa kwarto na kami ni Gale Riley was fixing his phone while Gale was taking pictures with me, "Horror nalang yung bago sa netflix ngayon" while setting up pumwesto kami sa kama ni Gale para kumportable kami manuod.

"Ang sabi nila based from real events yan nakakatakot daw talaga" sabi ko sakanila "but I feel like we'll just laugh it off" sabi ni Matthew tama naman siya habang nanunuod ay kung ano anong puna ang ginagawa namin sa mga characters it's not even a horror story at this point, I'm used to being so close at Riley I always lean to him when watching movies at kahit kailan ay hindi ito nagreklamo kakanuod lang namin kahapon diba but when I was leaning to him he had this irritated face at lumayo ito sakin, I was gonna laugh it off but he looked pissed kaya di ko nalang tinuloy, I hope to not overthink this small actions. wala lang naman iyon diba?

When we finished watching bumaba kami sa sala nila Gale at nagkuwentuhan nalang, then nung 5 pm na nagaya na ako umuwi nagpromise ako kay mama na maaga ako uuwi, hinatid parin ako ni Riley wala na yung inis sa mukha niya kaya binaliwala ko nalang yung nangyare kanina, "I hope you enjoyed today " he told me "Thank you talaga for this day" he smiled saka umalis pagdating ko sa bahay nakahanda na ang dinner at may cake nadin I took a photo and sent it to my parents telling them how thankful I am for the gifts, I also posted some pictures and thanked everyone for this day. It wasn't perfect but it was a good day.