She wasn't particularly the type who would charm me. She don't look like she cares at all, she don't look like the one to go on with the crowd to please them, she's the one, I think, who only cares for only herself.
At least that's what I thought.
I first saw her when she entered my shared dorm with Charlie, my friend, a queer one with a boyfriend. She's a new found friend of my circle of friends, the one Mitzy adopted---my friend for three years who's currently pursuing Journalism.
At that time, she was dorm-hunting and happen to know the news that we have a vacant room. She only nodded, no one could tell if she was overjoyed or having contempt about it.
After a while, she booked a room in our dorm and it happened to be beside my room.
"Err, sorry to ask this but, what's your name again?" Charlie asked.
She handed him a tissue to wipe the slipping sauce on his hand. "Piper, just call me that."
Charlie smiled. "You're so cute."
I saw her blushed. "Thank you for letting me in,"
As we ate our dinner on the table, I can't help but observe her. She's too quiet, too conservative, and too reserved. She dressed like a nun, there's nothing in her skin that's exposed, only her hands, feet, and head.
"Say, what course are you pursuing in Nottingham?"
Piper lifted her head. "Neuroscience, I'm an undergraduate, how about the two of you?" She gazed at me.
"Physics, I'm majoring in it." I answered.
"I'm getting my masters on economics," Charlie shrugged. "So hard."
"Hmm, my cousin just had her masters diploma. You'll be fine."
Charlie let out a big smile. "You're so sweet."
Piper just nodded.
Over the course of weeks, we three always had our dinner together and shared stories. Charlie had her ways with her now, and I still don't quite get her curl. Charlie's way too over her and sees her as a long lost sister. I don't know if she's harboring any intent or contempt with it, but by the looks of her, she seems to have her ways with Charlie too.
"Is Piper already home?!" Charlie expressed as soon as he entered through the door.
I pointed her who's currently fixing the fallen books from the shelves. She turned her head the minute she heard her name.
"Piper! Look! I've found it!"
"Hmm? Found what..."
"The keychain!"
"You mean the one---"
"Yes! Look!"
Charlie showed her the frog keychain he's been obsessing over the weeks. Piper stared at it intently. She patted Charlie's head.
"You should go wash up. I can smell the mud from you. You're with that guy from Geology Department again, aren't you?"
I saw Charlie blushed. "Hey!"
Charlie rushed to his room as her eyes followed him. She continues putting the books on the shelf.
Seriously, so stiff and rigid.
"I think you should put off the book once more. The shelf is dusty, don't you think?" I interrupted. She look at me, bewildered. She looked back and forth to the shelf and me.
"Maybe tomorrow, I'll dust it up."
"Haven't had your finals yet?" I asked as I sat down the couch.
She shakes her head. "One of our professor's been out the campus, his wife just give birth."
"Hmm, then after it, You're planning to go back to the Philippines this summer?"
She stops for a while. "I don't know, maybe not. How about you, what's your plans?"
"Summer jobs on my dad's."
"Hmm. Good for you."
"Charlie's in with me. You wanna join us?"
"Sorry, I don't think so. I'm just...I've been waiting for my sister's update. She's going to visit here with my cousin. They want me to travel with them."
"Travel? You must be stack with gold." I laughed.
She let out a small laugh and I was taken a back for a moment. It's like my heart skipped a beat and the surroundings turned bright.
"My sister's stack with gold after establishing her own company at 23. We come from a poor family, really."
"But you're paying your own tuition, are you not?"
"Hmm. I don't really like depending."
"...Oh."
She gave a small smile and I sat at the couch dumbfounded before she opened the door of her room and went in.
Holy shit. She just smiled at me.
It felt like all the blood on my body rushed into my face. I tried so hard to hide it when Charlie went out from the bathroom, but then he asked me why am I so red. My pale skin's exposing me.
"Nothing." I said and shut the door of the bathroom.
"Have you had spicy food?! You tryna hide food from us, huh?"
"Shut up, Charlie!"
"Where is it?!"
I clamped the bathroom door annoyed and stayed there for a while washing my face.
Weeks have passed that Piper and I have gotten a little more forward, but I can still sense her stiffness and withdrawal sometimes. I noticed that she likes dissociating a lot of times while also having meaningful conversation with us from time to time.
In our vacation, we were surprised she didn't go with her sisters to travel. She stayed in the apartment whole summer to study, while Charlie and I had to work.
The day that Charlie and I came back just a week before the semester starts, she wasn't there to welcome us. She came back the next day, and Charlie hugged her as soon as he spotted her enter the door.
She said she didn't expect us to arrive this early and we should've tell her so that she could prepare and cook for us.
Piper got a little thinner than the last time we saw her. Thinner in a good way---i noticed she gained some abs when she lifted her sweatshirt to wipe her sweat. I had to look away blushing for seconds.
"You got abs?!" Charlie expressed, surprised.
"Uhh, yeah, Mitzy's got me into gym because she has no one to be with. She took me in."
"That's wonderful. No wonder you're glowing. I thought you might have a boyfriend!"
I saw her smiled. I react instinctively and look at her, expecting her to say that there was none.
"That's crazy. I never would've thought of it. I was really planning of not getting married at all."
My heart drops as I look down on the table. But at the same time, I was relieved.
----
It was midnight.
I was looking for something to eat because I just can't seem to sleep. I tried closing my eyes for hours---still, it wasn't effective.
I was about to pass by the kitchen when I spotted someone from the balcony. It was her, no doubt.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, approaching.
She got startled and look back at me. "Ah, it's you."
I smiled. "Sorry."
"No, it's alright."
I handed her the sandwich I got from the fridge. "May I?"
She nodded as I sat beside her. She took a bite on the sandwich and turned her head back to the city lights. She seems lost.
"Can't sleep?" I ask.
"Uhh, yes. It made me think of jumping here somehow." She laughed.
My eyebrows furrowed a little as I chuckled. "Stop that."
"Sorry, hahaha---by the way, how's it going with physics?"
"Still enemies." I answered. "But tolerable. You?"
"Still good at neuroscience. I'm just having some doubts."
"You aren't there for nothing."
She shrugged. "I know. It's just hard some times."
"You know...I've been thinking of going out."
Her eyes widened as she looked at me. "Going out when? Now?"
I raised both of my eyebrows. "Wanna go?"
Her eyes lighted. "Let's call Charlie---"
"Eh, don't bother him. He has a test tomorrow." Lie.
Piper took her jacket to her room as we run downstairs and escape the dormitory. She sat on the passenger seat and I turned the music on as we drove.
We kept telling stories and laughing. She told me how she misses her nephews and nieces so much and that her mom's urging her to stay in the Philippines and came back. I felt a pinched on my heart somehow. I told her that it's only a matter of few years before she go back and I was startled.
"You mean...you were planning of dropping out in the middle of semester?"
"What? Of course not, haha! I'm just thinking of possibilities, I wasn't planning. Don't give me ideas!"
I almost choked on myself when I felt my chest tightening.
When we dropped by a gas station to buy snacks, I asked what would be her plans after finishing her masters. She said she'd be taking her doctoral, and she was planning on taking it on Singapore.
"Why? You could've continue it here, you know?"
"My sister's urging me. She's planning to migrate our family there." She shrugged.
"Oh...so you're just casually dropping lores on me now. I wouldn't be surprised if the next time I've got a news from you, you might be living in Mexico." I joked, which made her laugh.
I don't know how many hours have passed, but we only realized the sun's peaking through the horizon as we got off from the car after I parked it on the dormitory lot.
She pointed the sunrise and I look.
"Thanks for taking me out with you, Hugo," She smiled, and once again, I was lost.
I smiled back at her, and that was the moment I decided.
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I'm going to take her with me forever.
ns216.73.216.250da2
