Fiance

There were four of us in our barkada in high school - Michelle, Monica, Raquel and Me.

I met Monica in the 6th grade when we were both actors in our grade's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was Helena; she was the fairy queen Titania. Michelle was a classmate of mine that I begun to hang out with towards the end of the year. The following year we were still classmates and had lunch together till I left for the States.

When a summer vacation of mine became living here in the Philippines, I applied and was accepted as a sophomore at St. Scho. There was a section that could accommodate one more student, and so I became the last student of 2A.

Monica and Michelle were also in the same section so I immediately started hanging out with them. While in 1st year they were also classmates and Raquel was part of their barkada. So we became a quartet. And even though we weren't classmates in our junior and senior years we made it a point to hang out once in a while.

Seeing each other became even harder when we got to university. It was reduced to birthday dinners. Monica and Michelle were best friends and neighbors so they talked a lot. While Raquel and I were close so we'd see each other often. Same thing after college, but last year Monica moved to the US. We all gathered to wish her luck, swap stories and cry.

I haven't heard much from Monica, so I check her Friendster account every so often. I was so surprised to see her status - Married. So I call Michelle asking her what's happening and she explains about this guy that Monica's talking to and that No she isn't married. I was relieved!

Michelle and I catched up and then she told me that she had to tell me something:

M: I'm getting married!

B: What?! I'm old na!

She had been engaged to her boyfriend of 4 years last June. I wasn't really surprised that she had gotten engaged, I always thought of her as the marrying kind. I even predicted that she, then Raquel, then Monica, then I would be the order that we'd get married.

We promised that we'd get together soon and have dinner. Of course months passed and no such thing happened.

It had been a while since I had heard from Raquel so one night I called her and we made plans to meet the next day. That day Raquel told me that Michelle would be joining us later; I was happy coz we'd finally have a girl’s night out. We catched up, sharing stories about our Moms and problems (or sometimes lack of problems) with boys. She had also told me that her relationship with her boyfriend was better and that they were preparing for the future together.

I thought that Michelle would be alone but she had brought her fiancé with her. Hmm...I couldn't share with her the things I'd been going through coz I wasn't all that comfortable with her soon to be husband. Then Raquel's boyfriend shows up. Grrr! I'm not a person that can talk easily about myself with people I don't know well. I mean I know that Michelle and Raquel would talk to the guys about what happened and that's fine with me. But I can't tell them myself about my issues in life!

Anyway, we were having dinner when all four start talking about wedding plans and how to go about it.

Wait a minute. Raquel never told me that they were engaged! And the guy announces that the following day he'll be asking her Dad for her hand in marriage. What?!

There I am surrounded by 2 couples talking about their wedding plans. I wasn't feeling self pity at the fact that I don't have a boyfriend or a wedding in the near future. I just wished that the 2 guys weren't there so that I could have quality time with my friends whom I haven't seen in the longest time and ask them the things I wanted to know about. Plus the fact that Raquel didn't tell me that they were engaged, just that they were making plans. Those are two different things right?

HHHAAAAYYYY!

Oh well. I'm hoping I can see either of them soon. Alone. Good luck sa akin! ;-)