in praise of the vulnerable mak, pt. I

SIX THIRTY FIVE.

"G, your five minutes was so over five minutes ago."

A young man stood impatiently at the far end corner of a bookstore holding a crisp young adult novel in one hand, and his mobile on the other. He absent-mindedly checked his watch for the second time in two minutes and realized that he has been waiting for his friend far longer than five minutes.

"Make that fifteen minutes. Where are you?"

He slipped his phone back into his front pocket and resumed his reading. Mak Evangelista greatly dislikes waiting. Well, not really. But recent circumstances forced him to make minor adjustments on some of his attitude towards things. On top of the list would be a great reduction of his usual three-hour waiting time allowance for anyone to thirty minutes. He deems himself important, hence his time would be equally valuable. Anyone who dares waste it is not worthy of his company.

And his best friend Gracie seems to be pushing her luck.

A few pages into the third chapter of the novel, Mak saw his friend’s face through the empty portion of the book shelf that divides the front door passageway and the section of the bookstore where he’s at. He placed the book back on the stack and hurriedly walked towards her.

"Where have you been?" He asked, brows furrowed, as he gave her a hug.

"You wouldn't believe it. People are going gaga over Piolo and Angel. Women are practically throwing themselves at him." She answered.

"As if he’d care?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm, noting his friend's nonchalance on her being late.

"I know! Some are even riding the escalators like crazy, squealing like pre-adolescent teens. I bet there’d be flashing of body parts involved later on." She said as she put her hands on top of her supposed chest, a rather weak attempt to bring animation to her story.

"Err… right." He said. "Anyway, Piolo hardly counts as an excuse. You are still late. My cab driver had to take the longer route because he mistakenly forgot to turn right when he was supposed to but I still managed to arrive on time."

She flashed him a smile before saying, "Look who I bumped into."

"… And you practically live next door! Ugh!" He ended the non-argument with an exasperated tone before turning his head to his right.

"MARKY!" A woman clad in a form-hugging black top and a short denim skirt greeted him.

Now it was his turn to squeal, "OMG! I didn't see you!"

It was Nikki, a schoolmate whom he met and befriended through the college paper. He considered her one of the dearest friends he had back then. They have been sharing stories, secrets and soccer balls since 2001 but one day, her work schedule was changed. This made it hard for them to hang out during weekends and until this very minute, they haven't had any form of communication save for some online networking site testimonials.

Mak blamed this miss to his still being slightly dazed. In the back of his mind he was sure that he would've seen her even if she were to stand a couple of blocks away from him. After all, he can see the moon.

"Look at you! It's been what, four years?" He said in a delighted tone as he tried to wrap his arms around her.

"I know!" Nikki said as she turned around, her yellow-tipped fingernails twirling as well. After which she flipped her newly-trimmed, well-maintained re-bonded hair. At this point, the three of them were already laughing like high schoolers. "Look at yourself," she added.

"I know, right?!" Mak answered back with a huge grin on his face. "And this is one of my bad days. So forgive me if I won't twirl around."

And again they laughed. Just like the old times.

"Hey, you should join us for dinner," he said.

"Sure!" The perkier girl replied. "I'll tell Benz to follow. He's just putting the grocery bags in the car."

"Great! Let's go then!" He said as he marched out of the bookstore. The young man was about to turn right when Gracie stopped her.

"Not there. Lots of people. Piolo." She reminded him. "Let's go up, up, up!"

"Right." He said, eyes rolling.

TO BE CONTINUED.