ahhh. to be young, vulnerable, and a lot maarte.

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golighty -- flighty, vulnerable, country-girl-turned-Manhattan-socialite -- breaks down in one of the scenes in the 1961 film classic, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Daniel 

SO AS I WAS DOWNING my second cosmopolitan (Okaaay. So shoot me. This is, after all, a pink club. The other drink choice is a blue amphibian.), the good doctor mentions something about ditching the friends and "going someplace private to talk." Yeah. Right.

Still, you gotta hand it to him. He had the balls to come up to me (in front of my buds. Prior to the drinks and before we even got settled, and -) and ask me to dance. He intro'ed himself, of course, but nobody caught that. (And so he remained nameless for the rest of the evening.) And something about my face being familiar... Conference? (I shake my head). That thing over at Bayview with the *title of medical training*. (I nod. Yes. We were head secretariat there. Wow. I am offering a stranger information. Super.). Ahhhh, says he. So you are familiar. I thought I've seen you before.

My friends couldn't believe I nodded. Ahh. The idiot in me. Happily, they played along. Translation: nobody says anything off or smiles or even dare laugh.

Awkward pauses. Finally, can I buy everyone a drink, he offers.

I said no, (Of course. Everybody else made excuses, too. Plus, he looks a lot awkward standing there when we were all seated. I hope he gets this message. Ha!) and stood up, and then headed to the men's room. Wow. A fish tank in the men's room. And about three pairs were kissing, too. I tried to time my exit so as to find Mr. OkiDoki gone.

However, when I got back Doc was not only laughing with my friends, but was also sitting at my (You don't do that. Not with me.) chair, too. Henry's got this laughable smirk about him that I almost laughed. Wrongly, I smiled at the doctor, instead of at Henry. Arghhh..!

So I take the seat beside him and... we talked. Or at least, tried to, with all the noise. So we had to take to whispering into each other's ears and his beard got to brush my cheek and so I... so suddenly burned.

At some point between Alanis electronica (Yes. They now turned her sentimental songs into some sort of trance-trash. *sigh* and Celine Dion's "A New Day Has Come" in disco, he proposed (the lets-get-away-from-here monologue.). My friends were away by then, and so I made for Henry and told him to inform the others and to call me if I hadn't text by thirty minutes, at the very least.

We left. It was around three in the morning, by then.



HIS PLACE WAS not a mess, as I had imagined it would be (the car being the give away basis. A shirt. Lots of empty boxes. Hello..? Office folders..? Gawd.). He had this dark and brooding theme going on, with the sofa in leather, and the old silver candelabra by the dining table (Yes. A candelabra. A full one. Five candles. Nope. Unlit. Yikes. Who are you, Doc Dracula..? I laugh, internally.). And yes, a small stuffed lions head. In the living room. Whoa.

There also was this strange figurine of ballet dancers which I thought more than offset the pretensiousness of the room.



WE STRUGGLED for conversation. I tried going for hospital work bit but that did not succeed. He tried for the how's the family bit and that did not go well at all. In the end we sat in silence and in the dark and tried to pretend we were lovers and had the hots for each other.

Twenty five minutes of pretension and after I had texted the I'm okay bit to my friends, we make it to the bedroom (Which had this antiseptic quality to it. Everything is waaaaay too organized. And white.)

However, and as he had me all naked and awaiting further... well, further, he says something that totally awakened me from all the madness and silliness of the evening.

I take to my clothes as he apologized. No, I say. I'm sorry. Please stop talking. I'll let myself out. Thank you so very much for the evening.

I didn't even hear his other words as he tried to dress himself, to follow suit. What can I say, I'm a very proficient dresser.

Down the lobby, I hid in the stairwell for a while as he looked for me amidst the traffic. Minutes later and as I felt assured he had left, I hailed a cab two blocks away from his building.



REALIZING I HAVEN'T eaten anything, I make for the corner Mini Stop and bought myself a sandwich. When I got in the house I charged the silly phone, turned on the PC, the TV, and the radio.

And fell asleep amidst tears.

"I love you." he says. Yeah, right. Putangina mo. Putangina ninyong lahat.







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Listening to: Pahiram by Jan Nieto