My Scratch Pad

:: complete and incomplete thoughts, daydreams and illusions ::

Spiderman/Transformers

"Spiderman," she said.

"Transformers," he said.

"Spiderman."

"Transformers."

"Spiderman!" she pouted her lips.

"Transformers!" he crossed his arms.

"Spi--formers!" they said at the same time. She covered her ears and started saying "Spiderman" over and over. He did the same, only saying, "Transformers".

Their moms could only roll their eyes. "They're at it again," one Mom said to the other.

"It seems those two will never get along," the other mom said as she walked towards her son. "They're both great cartoons, alright?" she said, looking from one child to another.

They both burst into tears.

*

"Spiderman," she said.

"Transformers," he said.

"Spiderman," she whined.

"Transformers," he raised his voice.

They looked from one poster to the other. "Sam Raimi is a waaay better director than Michael Bay," she told him.

"Are you kidding? Michael Bay is the best director in Hollywood!" he countered. "He's directed the biggest films of all time!"

She rolled her eyes. "Just because he used a lot of money it doesn't mean his movies are good."

He shook his head. "Yeah, well, directing the same actors in the same movie isn't exactly a big feat."

"You guys arguing again?" their friend had just walked over. "Why don't you just watch both movies? You're always together anyway," she pointed out.

They looked at each other, and then laughed. "Hey, remember that time--" she started. "I remember," he interrupted her. Again, they laughed, and at the same time.

He took her hand. "Spiderman it is," he said.

"No, let's watch Transformers," she told him.

He chuckled. "Spiderman."

"Transformers," she giggled.

"Spiderman."

"Transformers."

----

Okay, this just came out of nowhere. I don't even know if it's understandable. In case you didn't get it, it's one of those attempts to have childhood friends fall in love with each other when they get older. So they're arguing about which cartoon is better when they were kids, and when they got older, they're arguing on which movie to see--they're already a couple by this time.

Yeah, if I need to explain that, that means I didn't write the story very well. But this is just a scratch pad anyway.

by: distantorigin at 08:03 | link | comments

Rain

How nice of the sky
to cry for me
instead.

by: distantorigin at 05:26 | link | comments

House Visit

Edna had just turned the stove off when she heard her husband coming down the stairs in their home. Her husband, Manuel, went straight to the television set in the living room and turned it on to a local noon time game show. He sat on the chair across from it, his eyes glued to the screen. Edna opened the kitchen cabinet and took several plates from inside. She started setting them on the dining table that was just beside the television. Without turning to look at him, she asked her husband, "What do you think she looks like?"

Manuel shrugged, even though he knew his wife wasn't looking at him. "She must look just like all the others, I suppose. You know his type."

Edna rolled her eyes. "Don't we all?" she said. "Tall, slender, with silky long black hair..." her voice trailed off. "Girls never change."

"She's not just a girl you know," Manuel told her. "He specifically said that they were best friends."

This time, she turned to look. She raised an eyebrow at him. "And you believe him?"

He gave her an incredulous look as if to say the answer was obvious. "Of course not. Best friends," he spat out. "Who would believe that?"

Edna sighed. "So you really think they're a couple?"

"Maybe not," he said. "Not really. But I do think that whether he wants to or not, he's falling hard for her."

"Because he wouldn't introduce her to us otherwise?" she asked.

"Because he wouldn't be so excited to introduce her to us otherwise," he told her.

She went back to setting the table, and then heard several footsteps on the second floor. She looked up at the ceiling. "I wonder what his siblings will say."

He too, looked up at the ceiling briefly. He turned back to watch the television without a word.

*

"Let's just not go in,"  said as soon as she stepped out of the tricycle. She looked at the tricycle that was already a few meters away and wondered if she would look insane if she waved it back after just getting off from it. "I mean, we can still just go, right? I mean, I don't have to meet them. I can just go home."

Jason chuckled, and then looked at his best friend closely. "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure what?" she asked, irritated at the vagueness of his question.

"Just say Yes or No," he told her. "We're not inside yet, we can still back out."

She looked up at him hopefully.

"Although you know, I was really excited for you to meet them," he said, shrugging, and then sighing heavily.

She narrowed her eyes. Naturally, he would use that tactic, like she had done to him so many times before. She couldn't say no. "Let's go," she said.

He pushed the gate to his house open, and they walked inside.

*

Everybody looked up from their plates. They were in the middle of having lunch, and watching television, which was their usual routine. A girl they've never seen before, walking into their house, obviously wasn't part of that.

"Meet my best friend, Grace," Jason told his parents and siblings who have momentarily lost the ability to speak, or move.

His sister Beth, already smiling, highly intrigued, craned her neck to see her, the girl her brother had brought home. "Oh," she exclaimed, recognizing her from the picture that her brother had shown her a few months ago. Grace was even prettier in person.

Edna was surprised. She was not at all tall, slender and with long black hair like she expected. Instead, Grace was short, not just short, but quite small, really. She looked miniscule besider her tall, broad-shouldered son. And her hair was cut short, it fell just below her ears, the lobes of which were pierced and had on them very attractive blue stones. No doubt they were real, she thought to herself as she pretended not to notice the perfect craftsmanship of the small trinket. She also noticed a pretty gold watch on Grace's wrist, but didn't linger on it too much.

"Sit," Manuel said, breaking the silence. "Sorry we're out of room," he gestured to the 6-seater table that was already full. "But we'll eat fast so you can have your turn."

"We're sorry for the mess," Edna said. "Your friend isn't very rich, so our house is quite small," she gestured to her son, who was now on his way to the kitchen to wash his hands.

Grace feigned laughter, "It's fine," she said, and then made her way to the wooden chairs in the living room that was just beside the dining table.

*

"That's too much," Grace told Jason, when she saw how much rice he put on her plate.

Edna laughed when she saw the two of them. She took the other empty plate, and started putting rice on it. "Don't worry, you can use this plate instead."

"Thanks," she said, smiling graciously. And then noticed that the rice she had put was still too much. Jason's mom handed her the plate, and she took it. She whispered to Jason, "I can't eat all this."

Edna heard her. "Oh I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's just that you know, my kids are growing boys, so..." her own laughter drowned out the rest of her sentence.

"Oh, " Grace laughed again, and then transferred half of the rice on her plate to Jason's plate. "Your plates are very nice," she said.

"Thank you," Edna replied. "I used to have an entire cupboard full of ceramic plates. But guess what? With four boys in the house, they all got broken."

Manuel, who was sitting nearby, although not exactly part of the conversation, laughed at the memory of the broken plates he had to get rid of, so many years ago.

*

"How many siblings have you got?" Manuel asked her.

"Two," Grace refrained from using the word 'only'.

"It must be quiet in your house," Edna told her. "It's never quiet here. Try living with four boys and a bratty little girl."

Jason laughed at that. "She's a bratty little girl," he gestured to Grace. "Aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "It's just because you give me reason to be bratty."

He laughed. She did, too.

His parents pretended not to notice.

*

"What's your plan?" Manuel asked his son.

Jason shrugged and then looked at his best friend. "Your plan?"

She shrugged. "It's up to you."

He chuckled.

She smiled.

"Why don't you just go on a date?" Manuel suggested.

Both cringed and said something derogatory about the other, but their saying it at the same time made it less of an insult and more of an endearment to each other.

"Let's just go to the mall," Jason told her, standing up. She agreed, and the two of them walked out of the house, saying their goodbyes.

*

He closed the gate of the house behind him. She walked towards the street.

"Here," he said, handing her a blue bracelet. "It's from that time, when I was at the beach, and I remembered you."

She rolled her eyes. "You remembered me because I called you," she said, taking the bracelet, and immediately putting it around her wrist.

He laughed, and then started to walk away from the house.

She took his arm with both hands, and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. "Thank you," she said, briefly closing her eyes.

He looked at her face, still leaned on his arm, and shook his head. "Such a girl," he rolled his eyes, and then smiled just the same.

*

"'Til next time," he said, waving, and she waved back, even though she no longer turned to look.

The train had just arrived and any further delays would make her miss it. She walked briskly towards the platform, and then suddenly turned.

He was still behind the turnstyle, and with a questioning look on his face. 'What?' he seemed to ask. Why did she turn back?

Caught off-guard, he nearly staggered, when she tipped her toes and nearly jumped to reach his cheek. She kissed him softly, and quickly, not even long enough for him to react, and then she turned fast to catch the train whose doors were already closing.

She made it inside, just before one door met the other. And she sat down, her back turned to the station, again, no longer looking back. She herself didn't notice it, but she smiled, all the way 'til she got home.

END
17:57 17.04.07

by: distantorigin at 08:59 | link | comments

Long-Distance

"I'll walk you home," I remember him saying the last time we saw each other a couple of months back. But I didn't let him because I had other things to do and couldn't go home yet.

"Walk me home?" I said hopefully, this time, even though I knew it was impossible. We were out of time, and my house was a long way from where we were.

He laughed, and looked at me with ridiculing eyes. "I can't," he stated the obvious. "I can only go as far as the station, you know that."

I sighed. "I know," I said, still frustrated at how far from each other we lived. "Come with me to the ticket booth at least."

He laughed again. "The line might be long."

I rolled my eyes. "It won't take that long, I'm sure," I said, and held onto his arm so he'd get in the line with me. I fumbled around my bag to look for some change. "You know one time when I was in the jeepney, I sat next to this woman who didn't have any change for a hundred peso bill," I started. "So she asked me if I had change for it. And I gave her one 50-peso bill, two 20-peso bills, one 5-peso coin, four 1-peso coins, and four 25 cent-coins."

He laughed at that, as I paid for my ticket and we left the line and walked towards the turnstyle that led to the train platform.

"The woman didn't just thank me, she'd said 'Wow! Thanks!'," I continued. "My friend said I should win an 'Extra Miler Award' for my good deed," I flashed a self-satisfied smile.

"Yeah, well," he said, smiling, and then freeing his arm of my grip. He patted me on the head, as the people who are taller than me (and there are a lot of them) usually did. "You take care," he said, ruffling my hair a bit.

I smirked, and rolled my eyes. "You too," I said, and then looked up into his eyes. I wouldn't leave yet.

He chuckled. "Why don't you just wear heels?" he asked in jest, but then leaned down anyway.

Despite his having leaned, I still had to tiptoe to reach him. I gave him a suffering look, and then kissed his cheek quickly. He stood up straight, and I walked away from him, towards the turnstyle. I put my ticket in, went through it, and sprinted toward the platform. Just before I rounded the corner, I turned to look at him.

He waved his hand. And I smiled mildly, waving my hand once.

"'Til next time!" I think I heard him say, although I couldn't be sure because it was drowned out by the sound of the train that had just arrived. I got in, sat down, and listened to warning beep that signalled the doors closing.

by: distantorigin at 01:52 | link | comments