I choose Blue

 “Pahingi!” A familiar voice said. Dave turned around. It’s Pia. He handed her his Winston soft pack. They were outside a familiar bar the group frequented after office. Dave was stuffed with cheeseburgers and had to smoke to push it down. Pia followed because she wants a little breeze. It was raining.

“There’s only one left.” Pia said.

“Yours.” Dave said in between puffs.

“I will buy you 1 pack to pay you back.” Pia promised for the nth time.

“Para kang politiko, puro pangako.” Dave retorted. Pia hates to be labelled for not keeping promises. Dave knows this and wants to play.

Finally, a time alone with Pia. Dave knows he has to play his cards right. Dave decided that round 1 would be a stare down. He has been practicing. He read that for a man to be alluring, he has to hold a woman’s gaze.  Pia handed him an unopened Winston pack from her pocket. Dave was stunned. Game over.

Dave’s sulking was interrupted by Pia’s comment. “Sleeping is great in this weather, no?”

“Sex is better.” Dave said. Pia let out a chuckle.

“Really,now?” She said. Dave was struck. What did he just say?

“Sex is better during this weather.” Dave repeated. Go with it Dave, he told himself.

“Yeah” Pia whispered. “When did you last have sex?” she cooly asked.

“With Tonie.” Dave said trying to sound as calm as possible. He feels his ears are getting hotter by the minute. 

“I asked when. Not with who.” Pia exclaimed.

“A year ago, nerd. You know that.“ hurt, Dave said. 

“How would I know that? I’m not your hidden camera.” She laughed. Dave remembered telling friends one drunken night that he has a hidden camera in his room just because he likes everything ‘documented’.  His friends were appalled. Pia was the only one in the group who was calm (defended him?) and said, “some are just turned on by what they see.”

Pia pulled her cardigan tighter and embraced herself. She contemplated on having 1 more bottle to heat her up. Dave found himself staring at the tiny smooth cleavage popping out. Dave is guessing underneath the cardigan is a thinly strapped cotton shirt. Once at home, she will remove her cardigan, leaving her top on. She will change to ultra short cotton shorts and will lounge around the house, barefoot with beer in her hands. 2 beers. The other one will be for him.

“I miss sex.” Pia said.

Dave pulled his eyes up to meet hers.  “What?”

“The kind that will keep you up all night.” Pia continued. “Don’t you?”

Dave remembered Tonie and the night before she left for the U.S. Dave didn’t know. She wore Dave’s favorite nurse costume, worked extra hard to gave him mind blowing sex and said goodbye. Tonie did keep Dave up all night - devastated. Overnight he became a poet, a storyteller, all the hurt came out like diarrhea. Thanks to social media, his circle of friends need not see him to know the real score. 

Dave doesn’t want that kind of all-niter anymore. No more of romance and love. He simply wants someone who can fuck his brains out. He wonders if Pia can do that. Well, if she can, Alex is a lucky guy. Dave knows Alex and Pia are seeing each other for weeks now. Wait, if Pia says she misses sex even if she is currently seeing someone, that means...

“Well, yeah.” Dave wanted to control his urge to ask Pia out. How exactly do you ask someone to have sex with you? Just sex, nothing else. His fingertips and toes start to burn.

“At least he have something in common now, right?” Pia puffed her last smoke and started to turn back inside.

“Do you want to do it? Friday night. Your place?” Dave blurted out.

Pia froze on her tracks. 

Was she too obvious? How did Dave know she wants him? Dave is not her type. She is more into tall, curly haired, brown skinned men. Dave was the total opposite. But he was smart, poetic and deep. He was not perfect. But grammatically? Yes. She wants to fuck his brains out.

“Are you crazy?” Pia whispered between gritted teeth.

“Yeah. But Alex should not find out of course.”

“He’s not my boyfriend dammit.” 

...

“Oh you’re single”

“I thought you were smart.” Pia rolled her eyes.

...

“Do I have to ask again? Or...”

“Fuck, yeah she definitely has a point”, Dave thought as she listened to Sopia rant breathlessly about employee motivation. 

Sopia drew a group every time she talked passionately. She can - from why gray is the best color to why happiness is the bar for human equality. She can but she rarely does. Pia watches her mouth as early childhood taught her that talkativeness turns men off. Her dad was turned off by her mom’s nagging that he looked for a quieter substitute. Pia keeps her speeches within 3 minutes. She doesn’t want people to get tired of her.

“That’s it.” Pia finished her quick speech with a gulp of room temperature water she specifically ordered. As calculated, Dave, Roger and Sally let out sighs in unison. The discussion was brought to a suckerpunch close.

“Dessert?” Pia asked the group. 

“Hell, yeah.” Sally said. “and coffee please”. She waived for the waiter to bus out their plates. 

“Four cups of coffee please.” The waiter took note.

“I’m having tea.” Dave said.

“No shit?” Sally said. “Since when? Tea never tasted good with Winston.”

“Since now.”

“Because Dave had too much to eat last night.” Roger revealed. “He wolfed down 3 orders of pares after not eating the whole day at the office. He thinks he will return to health nirvana with the tea. I told him to jog instead.” Roger is Dave’s old time no nonsense TV writer friend who always thought that Dave’s too emotional to be practicing law.

“Shush.” Dave hissed at Roger and pushed his unfinished lasagna to him. Taking the cue, Roger finished it in 4 spoonfuls.

“That would be 1 tea and 3 coffee, please.” Sally shrugged as the waiter walked away. “We really should be going out of town this weekend. It’s gonna cost me my life! My boss is toxic and I have to detoxify on a beach! And then...”

Dave saw Pia pursed her lips. Dave knows why. Pia always pushed Sally to start her own business instead. She believes her best friend is wasting her time working for a scrooge. But Sally is the kind who loves to please and curiously, her boss drops praises well enough to sustain Sally’s interest. 

Dave has always enjoyed reading Pia’s face. Furrowed eyebows and a sly smile is disbelief. Narrowing eyes mean impatience. Thanks to Lie to Me, Dave has decoded Pia. Somehow. 

Pia is an irony Dave wants to straighten out. How did she juggle honors in college with 2 boyfriends - one of which being his friend? Why do male office mates say she is hot with her eyeglasses on? How does she get away with the corniest joke? Why do girls envy her like an independent slut but asks her for cooking tips to be a domestic wife? 

How is she in bed? None of her exes talked in detail. The only clue he has is a selfie he found while browsing her iPhone’s gallery. She was lying on a white soft bed, with a teasing smile. It was in black and white. Did she send it to someone? Who? If it was him and the photo was juicy enough, he will rush to her condo unit, 5 blocks from him. He will knock on her door to find out it is open. Come on in! Pia will shout sweetly. Dave will see her on the sofa, fully clothed and eating pizza. She will laugh at him so hard he will fume in anger. She will inch so close to him, so close Dave can tell she had a shower minutes ago, her breath smelled of cheeseburger pizza . Pia will touch his face and whisper,”You are so cute.” Her lip will graze his earlobe. Dave feels a hard on coming.

As the waiter puts down Pia’s black coffee, she and Dave were eye to eye. Dave broke the gaze first.

“Dave? Sugar?” Pia motioned for the condiment beside Dave.