Prelude to Forever : Alden & Maine

One Shot # 9 - Birthday Bash

The show was over. Alden was surrounded by well-wishers, hugging him, shaking his hand, crowding around him. He felt the sticky icing of Maine's Mainebow cake on his face, the sweet butter cream taste lingering in his mouth. Maine outdid him this time with all the surprises she orchestrated for him. Sweet and thoughtful Maine.

He knew how difficult this must have been for her; singing live, baking him a cake and recording the whole process on video, and the most difficult of all, giving him a message in front of all the people in the studio. Being an introvert, he knew how scary this was for her.

But where was Maine, anyway? Just like that, she was gone from his side. Excusing himself from all the fans around him, he went backstage to wash his face and look for her. After searching through every room and not finding her, he knew where she might be.

"Hey," He said gently, finding her leaning against the railing in his favorite hiding place. Broadway had so many nooks and crannies to explore, and in one of her visits, he took her here. It was a hidden part of the rooftop where he usually went when he needed to think.

His hand smoothed her hair as he slowly turned her to face him. She was still wearing her favorite red dress, she looked so pretty, but her eyes were shining with unshed tears. She held her phone in her hands, he guessed that she was reading fan tweets but wondered why doing so, got her in tears.

"What's wrong. baby?"

Wordlessly she gave him her phone, showing him the tweets she received just now. A few tweets were from fans gushing about the just-finished episode, but more than half were criticizing her for not listening to Alden's acknowledgment of her efforts. Some accused her as cold and unfeeling, while some said she was joking around at the wrong time.

"Too much to take in sweetie, I know." He said and engulfed her in her favorite bear hug. His chin rested on her shoulder as his hand cupped her head.

"Stupid, no?" She laughed awkwardly and gently pushed him away.

"It's not, come on. Alam ko namang shy type ka eh." He teased her raising her chin with a finger.

"Kasi naman kung makatingin ka eh, kainis ha." She was smiling already.

"Na-co-conscious ka kanina no?"

"Assumero ha." He laughed when she pushed him away.

"Aminin na kasi. Pa-kiss nga, nabitin ako kanina eh." He kissed her cheek, the kind of kiss she liked. It was part-kiss and part-sniff, the way she liked to kiss Matti or Baste.

"Fine, na-conscious nga ako sayo. I memorized my speech pero nakalimutan ko mga sasabihin ko. Grabe, I sang live. Dubsmash lang kaya ko but I sang for you. Can't believe it until now. Tapos nabash pa rin ko." Her eyes still looked watery, her lower lip trembled, but she smiled quickly, almost as though he just imagined what he saw.

"Meng, tayong dalawa na lang dito. It's ok to drop your guard." He pulled her close to him, and slowly, he felt her shoulders relax.

"RJ, ang hirap. I don't know if I will ever get used to all this. Dream ko to eh. Pero ang hirap pala, lalo na when after you feel you've done so much, biglang boom. Puro bashing ng fans. How do you do it?"

"Lam mo until now I still get affected. Tao tayo eh, it's natural to feel hurt. But think of how many love you against how many bash you. Mas marami pa rin ang nagmamahal sayo. And you have me, I will help you. Ikaw at ako, tayong dalawa, remember?"

"Sorry babe." She said with a shaky voice.

"Sorry for what?"

"Birthday mo eh. Kanina, nung pinapasalamatan mo ko, naiiyak na ko. I tried to divert it, akala tuloy ng fans di ako nakikinig sayo."

"Kilala kita Meng. You think I didn't know? I understood what was happening. "

She hugged him this time. Maine, the girl who disliked PDA, who teased him when he was being cheesy.

"Ano ba talaga gift mo sakin?"

"Grabe naman, may song, cake, saka kaldero na, kulang pa yun?"

"Di naman ako choosy eh. Kiss lang ok na sakin." He smirked, his dimple deepening.

He lowered his head towards hers, their noses touching. On tiptoes, she closed the gap between them and kissed him. Her lips tasted like strawberries, sweetness he could not get enough of. What started as an innocent smack lasted longer. He pulled her closer, his lips nibbling at her lower lip.

"Ahemmm, Paps?" It was Sam.

"Andito lang pala kayo." He looked at Alden then Maine. " Andyan na si Nate paps."

Taking one last look at them both, Sam wagged his eyebrows and left. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Patay ako, laglagan na naman ito bukas." He said while hugging her again. Secretly though, he liked being teased about her.

"Happy birthday shokoy," She said with a smile. Kissing her one last time, they went down together, hand in hand.