#RPintheRP: A Travelogue

Day 8: Start of the Perfect Week

Egay left very early the next morning (he had a bus to catch back to Naga) and Precious and I went for breakfast at Jollibee around 10. He then left to run some errands in UP, with the promise of dinner later that night, while I decided to take a quick rest from a long and stressful week.

I had a quick lunch from Sisig Hooray and remembered that my friend Ekang wanted to meet up today. This is where it gets…interesting. When we made plans for the day, Ekang and I never actually set a meeting time only that it was in the afternoon.

Just then, Ekang messaged me that we were to meet in this small cafe at Morato — unfortunately, it coincided when I met One.

***

Any fan of How I Met Your Mother knows exactly what a Perfect Week. For the sake of keeping this post as PG as possible, I’m not going into much detail about it. Spoiler though: I did not actually make it technically. I mean, yes, I met seven guys, but, like, it wasn’t spread over a seven day period, with one each day. (Editor’s Note: Riley, you just went into detail about it.)

***

One worked closeby and snuck out during his break. I met him downstairs outside 7-11.

As much as I wish I could go into detail as to what happened, I really don’t remember much. The only thing that comes to mind is that he had to leave and go back to work in a while (though he said he could return).

The encounter itself, I suppose, was fine. Nothing extraordinary. It was an awkward and quick. He was very quiet and seemed very shy and very disappointing, which made me slightly apprehensive as to the rest of the Perfect Week.

***

“Ang landi mo!” Ekang said an hour later when I finally met up with her. Yes, I was an hour late and, yes, because I know Ekang very well I had to tell her the truth why I was late. I could have lied and said I had an emergency or something came up or something but I didn’t because I am a #TrueFriend. A slutty true friend yes, but a true friend nonetheless.

Ekang and I reminisced about our days as theatre students, her current projects and productions, and she even gave me some tips how to improve a play I’m working on. After a couple of hours, she had to go to UP Town Centre to pick up a book and, conveniently, I had to go there to to have dinner with Precious and our other friend Tanya.

After a short delay — it was Katipunan, and trust me I have a worse Katipunan traffic horror story (this is how you build suspense, folks) — we parted at UP Town Centre and I went upstairs to meet Baroy. As Tanya was still on her way, we decided to find a smoking area (goddamn smoking ban) and, then, we settled on this nice Filipino food restaurant.

Inside, we were charging our devices while sipping bottomless iced tea and listening to some Sports Science students beside us rant about their classes. Ah, to be young and to have deadlines once a semester instead of…well, every day.

***

We had a good dinner with Tanya (I had the chorizo), discussing politics and her review for the Bar. She is very accomplished (I will find out later that all my friends are) and I’m proud of everything she’s done.

After dinner, Precious and I made it to TomatoKick (another favorite hang-out spot from our glory days — though it is in a different location) to meet-up with Raffy. Precious didn’t stay too long as he had work because #capitalism but Raffy and I spent a good while talking and laughing about the good old days.

Raffy also taught me a bit about the so-called ABC’s of seduction. For the life of me, I can’t remember what they stand for now but I do remember them being rather noteworthy. Somewhat problematic in light of feminism but noteworthy nonetheless.

Before we end this entry, this is also the first time I had issues with an Uber driver. In this case, I’ve been waiting for almost twenty minutes; apparently Kuya Uber experienced a flat-tire and had to change tires in the rain. While I felt for him, it was raining, it was past midnight, and I just wanted to go home. And file a complaint.