Chapter 36
Toni and Mark walked hand in hand into the building. “Umm… what are we doing at a grocery store?” Mark asked, looking weirdly at Toni. “Look up there.” Toni pointed out. All Mark could see were the glass barriers on the second floor but he couldn’t see what was beyond those. Toni led him to the corner of the grocery store where there were two flights of steps. When they reached the top there were people walking about, checking out the novelty shops. Still holding on to Toni’s hand, he followed her until they stopped in front of a game shop and there were a few tables filled with people. “Toni!” they all seem to have shouted when she they saw her come up. People came up to her and hugged her, talked to her in a language very unknown to Mark. He stepped back a few feet away to give them room to welcome their friend. He noticed that there were about 15 people there. Once they all calmed down, they seated themselves and Toni once again took a hold of Mark’s hand and motioned for him to sit beside her. He suddenly realized that all eyes were on him. Some had approving smiles on their faces while the others were left with their mouths hanging open. “Hey guys, I want you to meet Mark… Mark, these were my classmates in high school. Over there we have Loraine, you both know each other already… there’s Agatha, Dolores, Clarisse, Mirela, Winni, Elisa, Pamela, Kathleen, Cherizza, Alvin, Rex, JM, Miguel, Patrick, Butzy and…” she trailed off, shock filling her face as she looked at the last person. Mark looked at her as she struggled to regain her composure. “…that’s Martin.” She half-whispered. Mark suddenly realized that everyone was busy glancing back and forth at Toni and Martin. All of them had indescribable looks on their faces. “Nice to meet you all.” he said to everyone as they smiled at him and greeted him warmly. Some of the girls started talking to Toni in their Filipino language. He noticed Toni answered them in English so that Mark would understand somehow. The guys started talking to him as well. They asked Mark where he was from and other stuff, but none of them seemed to mention about Westlife. Once in a while Mark would stare at the Martin fellow, and wonder what it was that could’ve happened to him and Toni in the past. “Maybe he’s her ex-boyfriend.” he thought. He suddenly pushed the idea away from his mind, remembering that Toni told him that he was her first boyfriend. After a few minutes, Mark gave up on thinking about it. He suddenly caught Martin staring at Toni, and she was busy ignoring his stare, blushing ever so slightly. She sometimes looked over at Martin then she’d look away to the opposite direction. Mark couldn’t help but to feel jealous. He was slowly being driven into insanity about thinking of Toni’s history with this guy. Martin suddenly became aware that Mark was staring at him. Mark smiled politely, yet tightly, and looked away. He placed his arm around Toni, but he was surprised at his action. “Am I trying to make this guy jealous?” he thought. He could still feel Martin staring at them.
It was already 10 in the evening, but they were still hanging out and catching up on things. Some had already left around dinnertime. They had gone bowling at the mall earlier, and there, Mark noticed that Martin and Toni didn’t really talk to each other. They didn’t even exchange one word to each other for the whole day. They seemed to have been avoiding each other all day. Toni was really uncomfortable, being in Martin’s house. And so was Mark. He could sense that Martin somehow hated him. It definitely must’ve been something to do with Toni. Mark was sitting next to Toni who was chatting animatedly with her friends. They were sprawled in the den at Martin’s house. The other guys were sprawled on the floor, while most of the girls were sitting on the sofa. “Hey! Why don’t we play truth or dare? You know, just like the old times.” Loraine said, reaching for a can of soda. “That would be great! Besides, a lot of things have changed for the past few years.” Agatha remarked. “Yeah, and we have a new friend too! We could do a little icebreaker and get to know Mark a lot better.” Rex said before shoving a handful of crisps into his mouth. Mark smiled. It was somehow nice to hear that Rex and the other automatically treated him as their friend. He suddenly noticed that Martin somehow scowled at Rex’s comment. Dolores reached for an empty bottle as everyone gathered around on the floor and sat in a circle. Toni took Mark’s hand in hers and gave it a bit of a squeeze. Mark realized that he was so uptight and rigid. “Just relax, honey. They’re not gonna bite you, you know.” Toni whispered. Mark smiled at her and she rested her head on his shoulder. From out of the corner of his eye, he saw Martin had a pained expression on his face. Mark looked at Toni. She looked up at him and smiled before looking away. He definitely couldn’t wait to go home to talk to Toni and find out what it was between her and Martin that had happened in the past. Dolores spun the bottle and it stopped directly in front of Rex. Rex said he wanted to do a dare, so Loraine dared him to run down the street in his underwear. They were all so shocked when Rex started stripping and ran out of the house and into the street. Some people who were walking past stared at him as if he was insane. He ran back up to the house but the gate was locked, and the others were laughing at him from inside as he half-begged, half-demanded, and half-shouted that he be let in. After a few minutes he was let in, and some of the other lads took his clothes and made him find it all over the house. The game eventually continued, after much laughing at a very red faced Rex. He finally found all of his clothes and he sat on the floor, not even trying to look at anyone. After a few hours, Toni looked at her watch. “Oh no… hey guys, Mark and I have to go. I promised my mom I’d be home before 9 coz I think she wants me to help her with something.” Toni said as she reached for her bag. It was already half-past twelve. “Wait! Since you haven’t been dared yet, you have to do one before you leave… wait… do you remember what happened when we celebrated your 15th birthday?” Elisa said, smiling mischievously and looking at the others. Mark saw that the others were trying not to laugh, and Martin was going bright red. Toni was blushing slightly as well. “Erm… yeah, whatever.” Toni muttered. “Well, since Martin kissed you… it’s your turn to kiss him. Erm… no offense Mark. It’s just a game anyway.” Elisa said. Mark nodded reluctantly. He looked at Toni to see what she was going to do. She didn’t move an inch. “Okay, we know you left here and Martin and you never got the chance to patch things up. Now it’s time for you to do so. You’re both adults now! Just put the things in the past where they should be placed. Both of you have moved on already, so go and make up. You guys have no idea how hard it is for all of us to see that you’re angry with each other or trying to avoid each other. It isn’t right anymore. Now go and make up with each other.” Loraine said. There was a stony silence. “Why don’t we just go in my room and talk about it Toni? Loraine is right… I know it’s partly my fault… and I’m… I’m… let’s just talk about it okay?” Martin said. Toni nodded, following Martin. Mark looked so puzzled. A thousand things were going through his mind all at once. The others looked at him sympathetically. They somehow knew he had no idea on what was going on.
Toni and Martin walked out of the room about an hour later on. Both had smiles on their faces. Martin’s hand was placed on Toni’s shoulder. The others looked so relieved that they’ve finally made up. Mark wasn’t sure if he should be happy. He didn’t even know how to feel. He knew he shouldn’t be bothered about it, but why did he feel so irritated? “Let’s go Toni. Your mom is probably worried about you.” Mark said quietly. She nodded and looked at Martin. “I’ll see you soon then.” “Yeah… see you soon.” Martin replied. Toni and Mark started bidding farewell to everyone. “Hold on a second! Where’s the friendly kiss that we dared you guys to do?” Rex shouted, laughing. He emphasized the word friendly as he glanced at Mark. Mark looked at Toni as she went up to Martin and kissed him on the cheek. The others whooped and jeered as Toni went back to Mark and waved goodbye to them. Mark couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy in his heart as he saw Toni kiss Martin. He was going paranoid. He couldn’t stop thinking of what happened in the past with Martin and Toni, and what could happen now that they’re friends again. Mark opened the car door for Toni and shut it quite forcefully. He looked at Toni through the windshield. She didn’t even seem to notice that he was somehow angry. She was grinning from ear to ear. Mark suddenly stopped before opening his own door. Why was he angry? Was there a reason for him to be angry? Surely there was none, right? Right? Mark got in the car, starting the engine. He looked over at Toni, who was busy looking out of the window, a dreamy look on her face. “What could it be that she is thinking about? Could she be thinking of Martin?” Mark thought, a mild stab of pain shooting through his chest as he silently drove, lost in his thoughts.