It started with Yeng. She's my childhood best friend. I grew up with two brothers and a distant relationship with my mother. Yeng's house was a few steps away from mine; hence, she and her sister somewhat became my own. We rarely argued and the few times we did, we reconciled in a few minutes. I must have learned the ability not to harbor anger from her. Our friendship was ideal.
In May 1995, our family had to sell the house for Pop's open-heart surgery. We transferred to a rented house in a neighboring village. Yeng and I were still children then, and we considered anywhere more than a hundred steps far. We bawled like we were going to be oceans apart. But, our friendship held up. No longer the same but not exactly different.
We bawled again in September 1996 because then, oceans WERE going to come between us. Yeng's family left for greener pastures in the States. Technology was quite primitive to us then and after a few months, we completely fell out of touch. Only was I introduced to the internet in 2000 that we regained communication but the depth of our friendship was never recovered.
I didn't find the same kind of friendship with anyone after that. I can recount a list of names that I considered my "best friend" but they were almost conventional. Except for one. Read on.
When I entered college, I had the privilege of sharing my dorm room with one of the most unadulterated individuals I've known - Angeli. A month after our first acquaintance, in between my pukes in Leandro's Cafe's ladies washroom and the Indigo Girls in the background, we declared each other as best friends. From that point on, I was no longer Floi to her nor she Angeli to me, we called each other "Bes" as affirmation.
The end of Freshman year signified the end of our residency contract with the dorm. Due to financial reasons, I rented an apartment outside the campus while her class schedule prompted her to rent one inside. We still saw to it that we spend time together everyday.
As college progressed, we became more engrossed in our organizations. Our time for each other became less and even less when we both committed ourselves to members of the opposite sex.
When I left college and transferred back to Manila, it was only inevitable that we barely saw each other. Thank goodness to Friendster and cellphones, we remained strongly in touch with each other which would've taken a lot of effort to do so physically.
August 2001 introduced me to Roselle. I found my soul friend in her. She has made quite an impact in my life that I wrote a whole blogpost about and for her. I don't even need to talk about how but soon enough, I would lose her.
The reason for this entry is my high school best friend Em. Our friendship has surpassed the tests of distance, time and immaturity [or so I thought]. We met in 2nd year high school where our passion for movies and our Catholic faith strengthened our bond. I even baptized her with the name Em, her real name being Marlin. I have always had a problem with her attitude, though. Most of our misunderstandings, as she herself admitted, resulted from her bratty tendencies and narrow-mindedness.
Em celebrated her 20th birthday last October 23 since her actual birthday fell on a Sunday which is on the 24th. We had a bit of tampuhan the previous night because we were at Kat's house and I kinda dozed off in exhaustion since I came from work. To avoid it from happening again, I decided to take a nap before going to her party. Wrong move! My nap ended 3am of Sunday night. I quickly texted my apologies but all I got for a reply was, "I hate you." Short and chilly, like raw hatred.
I constantly texted her in the days that followed but she just wouldn't reply. After I got back from Cebu, I texted her again to inform her of the trinkets I brought for her. A cold hard "Like I care" was what I got. I put up my white flag then. Somehow, I accepted the fact that two weeks of anger cannot be vanquished that easily and decided to just let it pass.
It's been over a month and I saw her again at Mimon's last Saturday. When I leaned over to make beso-beso, she turned her face away. Awrighty then, I've done my part. This must mean goodbye. Who needs a best friend who you need to baby-sit every other time, anyway.
To emphasize the losing streak I seem to be doomed to, allow me to mention all the boys that came and went into my life. No need to elaborate, they don't deserve to be talked about specifically.
*.* as if! @ 11:42:00 AM • • RBJ
®fLoi enjoy 2005©