Of (Heart)Beats and Bylines [Completed]

Chapter 14

He brought his handsome face close to mine, close enough that I could feel his minty breath on my face. He proceeded to press his luscious lips fully and firmly on mine and I kissed him back fervently.

.

.

.

Cheers and applause thundered through the hollow albeit magnificent hall of the church, as the couple shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

Hay, Maine. Tama na ang pag imagine na kayo ang nasa altar.  Focus on Emily and Joel. It's Em's happiest day today. Namiss mo na nga bridal shower nya e. I scolded myself while clapping along with crowd.

"Wipe off that silly look on your face," teased Chrissy.

I glanced at her with a smirk.

We are both bridesmaids at our friend Emily's wedding. The three of us went to the same high school and there are four of us girls in our clique.

Our other friend, Zoe, is on a business trip in Spain that she could not get out of, so Chrissy and I are practically each other's dates.

She is single too and I didn't want to ask John to be my plus one. I mostly certainly did not want to ask RJ.

Speaking of who, he has been sending texts occasionally, as he mentioned the night we walked around our village. He even treated me to lunch one Wednesday afternoon when he found out my research venue was near his location.

"Is John out of the picture?" Chrissy asked as the photo taking session began.

"I'm confused," I admitted as we both stood up when our turn came to have photos with the bride, groom, and the rest of the entourage.

When our turn ended, we made our way to the reception.

The hotel was nearby but the Saturday traffic was horrendous. While stuck in a jam, I took the opportunity to examine my feelings with my best friend.

Chrissy initiated the discussion. "Why are you confused?"

"I really like RJ." I am even not going to deny it. I might even be in love with him already.

I continued. "We have this connection I've never experienced with anyone else before. We relate to each other's ideas, each other's humor. We are very jovial together; we share a lot of LOL moments. John is easy to talk to as well, but our conversations are not on the same level with RJ's. Not even close. Parang may kulang kapag magkasama kami ni John."

"So what's stopping you from being with RJ?"

"For starters, he has not stated his intentions. Baka assuming lang ako, mahirap na."

"Do you think he likes you?"

"He has some... fondness for me. But I'm unsure of its extent."

"Then continue being friends with him and see where it goes," Chrissy concludes.

I kept quiet as I internalized her words.

I opened-up to her a bit more. "Assuming that he likes me romantically, I feel that if I let it get any further than friendship, it might be a conflict of interest. We both chase after the same stories. Like, we will try to 'one-up' one another probably not deliberately, but we will unconsciously do so for the advancement of our careers and for the ranking of our newspapers. Baka pagsimulan lang ng away lagi. Rivalry is never a good thing, you know."

"Ganun ka ka-advance mag-isip? So, parang Hollywood couple ang peg, ganun?"

Unclear with her analogy, I shot back at Chrissy, "Ang layo naman namin sa pagiging celebrities."