LOVE SONGS AND BADUY MOMENTS

“Pao-pao san ka? Tagal natin di nagkita ah.”

I got a familiar text from a seemingly familiar number while I was listening to this “baduy” love song from Aegis. I was finishing a script when the beep from my phone caught me by surprise. I haven’t seen this familiar number appearing on my phone for almost 12 months now. Someone from the past has decided to haunt me again. But surprisingly I didn’t feel scared, as a matter of fact I was actually quite excited. I dialed the number and heard that familiar voice that I’ve tried to avoid for reasons I’d rather keep to myself. What felt awkward for the first 30 seconds became the most normal feeling in the world for the next five minutes or so. He politely asked what I was doing; I answered him in a manner that was a bit trivial. There was this nervous laughter all through out from both sides.

“Coffee later?” I asked.

“Sounds good to me. See you after work?” He answered.

What a difference a year makes. Physically, mentally, emotionally, I cannot actually remember what state I was in last year. I do know that I was a bit directionless, naïve, I was spending a lot on nonsense stuff, and I was spending a lot of time with people of no sense. “Poster Boy” was a breath of fresh air. He was one of the few people who actually understood what I was going through. He knew how to make me laugh. We’d converse for hours and hours. We usually wouldn’t agree with a given point but we’d respect our different views. We’d laugh at each other’s jokes no matter how corny they were.

We enjoyed each other’s company. That’s what I remembered the most.

“Later then.” I said bye and hang up my phone.

I couldn’t help but utter some lines from the Aegis song… “Nananaginip ng gising… nakatulala sa hangin…” Fuck. Last song syndrome.

I finished earlier than the usual. Wednesday early evening is usually a dead day but for some reason everyone decided to go out. Everyone was headed to the mall. Got a message from “Poster Boy”.

“I’m in Tower 1st floor”. He texted.
“Am here. 5 min.” I replied.

There were just so many people going to and coming out of the mall that my 5 min became 10, then 15. When I arrived the record bar I saw this familiar figure, listening to some tracks at the listening station, humming some words I can’t seem to understand.

I saw Nina’s poster covering half of “poster boy”. He was humming to the “it” love song at the moment… “Love moves in mysterious ways”. I tried humming it on my mind too.

“Hey there… sorry I’m late.” I said.

He gave me that familiar grin. “Hmmm… never change, huh?.” He smiled.

I didn’t know what to answer. I just smiled back at him.

“So where do we go for coffee?” He asked.
“Don’t ask me, I’m Mr. Passive…” I answered.
“Haha… what’s new?” He replied.
“Yeah.” I couldn’t help but smile back again.

We ended up in Gloria Jeans. We munched on those sinful cinnamons while trying to reconnect with each other. One year of not conversing was no joke. There were so many things to talk about. We didn’t know where to start. He told me that I lost weight. I told him that he looked better now. He told me about his new job. I told him about my new job too. He told me new stuff about him. We talked about the old stuff that we remembered from the past. We were laughing all the time while remembering the happy days that we’ve shared before.

“How in the world did we meet again?” I asked. I can’t remember how everything started. It felt so irrelevant to me because what I felt important was the feelings that we’ve shared and not the details. I felt the details were trivial.

He pointed at the direction of 6750 Ayala Ave

“There… you don’t remember?” He told me.
“What did we do?” I asked.
“You want me to enumerate it to you?” He asked.
“Ok… do you remember?” I dared him.

“We met at the entrance of 6750… then we had coffee at Starbucks… then we went to Fort at this bar beside Price Smart… Bora bar… then Malate…” He tried to refresh my memory.

“Did we go to BED Bar?” I asked.
“Nope… we just drank at Fidel.” He answered.
“That was it?” I asked.

“Nope… that was the first day. We went back to your place. Slept. Then watched movies in the morning. Then I accompanied you to your work cause it was my break. Your office was in front CCP right?” He had perfect memory of what happened all through out.

“We walked around the bay. Talked more and ….”

“And what?” I asked.
“We had inihaw na pusit for merienda. Walked and talked more and I hailed you a cab and you went home…” He concluded.

Everything was still fresh in his mind. It seemed like it just happened yesterday. He spoke in a very enthusiastic manner and he also got me excited by doing so. I don’t really remember all the details but I remembered the feeling that I was having when I was with him during that day. We were like kids, exploring new places, new grounds that both of us we’re not familiar with.

“Grabe daming nangyari after that… nag-away pa nga tayo diba?” He said.

“Don’t go into that. Happy thoughts lang ok.” I said.

There was this awkward beat afterwards. I smiled. He smiled back. We ended up laughing at each other. So many things have changed between the two of us but that familiarity and that feeling of being at ease with each other stayed the same.

We walked around the mall, slightly brushing each others arms occasionally.

“Hey, join me, have to buy something for HIM before I go home. ” He said.
“You never change. Sweet ka pa rin sa kanya.” I answered.
“Four years… some things never change dude.” He told me.

Then reality hit me. Some things never really change.

Feelings evolve, time passes but some constant will forever be constant.

After buying food. He brought me near my station.

“Hey, dude. I missed you. Thanks for taking some time off. You text me ok. I’m not doing much next week. Let’s hang out again ok.” He said.

“Will do.” I smiled and nodded my head signaling my goodbye.

I caught his last stare. I heard his seemingly nervous laughter. I slowly walked the other way and entered my station. The centralized radio was playing another “baduy” love song…”Some good things never last”. Coincidence? I don’t know. I didn’t really care.

I was softly humming the chorus. I didn’t mind. I'm such a hopeless romantic.

It’s fun to be baduy sometimes.