Aftertaste (AlyDen)

Friends

Dennise

"Den, I sprained my ankle. Not my wrist"

I stared at her when she stopped taking the food I'm offering her. Sinusubuan ko kasi ito. Pero ngayon, tinabig niya yung kutsara.

"You seem fine with it earlier, Ly. What's wrong?" I asked.

There's this certain edge in her voice that isn't usually there. Ly was always the patient one between us. Not the moody one. That's my role in this story.

"Nothing" She quietly said.

"Do you want to talk?"

"No"

"Can you tell me about the nightmare earlier?"

"No"

Three strikes, Den. You're out.

"May masakit ba?" She irritably looked at me and there's a pained expression there. A pain that's definitely not coming from a broken ankle but a different kind of broken. Like a broken heart. My conscience whispered.

"Can you just stop?" She said with the same sharp tone.

"Stop what?" I asked innocently as I have no idea at all to what she's pertaining to. I heard Ly groan in exasperation.

"This! Whatever it is you're doing to me"

This time, I furrowed my brows. Not wanting to meet with her explosive mood, I keep my voice down.

"And what am I doing to you?"

"You, acting like you really care about me." I was taken aback by what she said. Never has she been like this with me.

"But, I do care about you, Ly. I'm your best friend. Why else would I be here?" I maintain the tone, not wanting to show her I'm hurting too.

"See! That's the thing, Den. You blurt things out like you love me and things that got me hoping. You act so goddamn clingy around me. You're so sweet and you even get jealous for pete's sake pero when I ask you what we are, you say best friend. God, that fucking title sucks! Please lang. Kung Best friends lang tayo, stop acting like this. Dahil umaasa ako." She said warily.

I stayed quiet. Kanina lang, we were flirting and then LA shows up and now, she's confessing. I don't want to speak. I don't know what to say. I'm not ready. This is... unexpected.

"Is this about LA earlier?" I asked and she nodded weakly. She followed her statement with a much softer tone.

"That's another thing. You act like you love me and then malalaman ko na lumabas kayo ni LA or magkasama kayo ni Myco or nagkita kayo ni God knows whatever his name is na nakapila sa'yo. Tama na, Den. Please. Don't be so kind around me. Don't be so sweet. Don't make me feel special because I might think I am special even if you only see me as a friend"

But, you are special, Ly. My mind argued but it got stuck in my throat as I wait for her to continue.

"Let me tell you something, Dennise. Friends don't treat me like you do. There's a limit to everything, even friendship. At itong ginawa natin, mo specifically, this is more than just friendship for me. My feelings for you is chaotic, dangerous, so messy, it's anything but platonic. You should know that so please stop if you don't want anything more than just friends."

I shakily put down the bowl of food and grasped her hands on the bed. She was leaning on the headboard. I sat across her.

"I'm sorry" I started.