The Bet part 1

Timezone! Emma loves going to Timezone. We each have our own cards but she's the one who has the premium gold card thing. I gave up reloading my card so she can get the gold card. I'm not much of an arcade gamer anyway. I'm the type of person who stands back to watch her do her thing. We took on the Coop shoot-em ups, including the latest in the House of the Dead series. If anyone heard the scream in G4 around 8pm last Saturday, that was her (with a little startling from me hehe). She is a good gamer. Except for the hoops and Ghost Squad, her scores and lives were ahead of mine.

We had a great time at TimeZone but we weren't really there to play. We we're there to watch a X-men 3 with Richard and Erika, and they were running late (or maybe I was too early when I picked up Emma from work?) We were supposed to wait for them at the food court for dinner, but Emma knows I hate waiting so she suggested that we buy the movie tickets already and try TimeZone to make the time pass. I'll just ask Richard to pay for the two tickets later.

Richard and Erika texted us that they were parked just as we were getting our asses kicked in Cobra, so we decided not to continue and proceeded down to the waiting place at the food court.

"Hehe Bitin ka no?" I teased Emma while heading down the escalator to the foodcourt.

"Oo nga eh," she replied with what I can only describe as a pouting smile. "Kaasar!"

I find it amusing that when it comes to games, particularly computer games/arcade, Emma can be very competetive. She is obsessed with points. It doesnt matter to her that we finished Time Crisis 2, she is still upset because I got higher points at the end of the area. Conversely, she can be very ecstatic if she gets the higher score even if we get a game over. I've learned my lesson not to play against her in fighting games, lest I want to put our friendship in and our PS2 controller in jeopardy.

Soon, Richard and Erika came, arguing as usual. We said our hellos and couple took the seats in front of us. Just as they got seated, Richard pulled one of his atics again.

"Being on double dates is much more fun," said Richard.

As soon as he said that, Erika's palm met the back of Richard's head. I couldn't help but laugh eventhough the blood was rushing to my head because of Richard's words. I was worried how Emma would react, so I took a "pa-simple" glance at her.

She is laughing so I sighed in relief. "Ok lang siguro sa kanya," I thought to myself.

"But then... if Emma is ok with Richard calling this a double date, then does that mean that she considers this as a date as well? Maybe she thinks that this is just a gimik, or a friendly date?" I asked myself and sighed. I'm thinking too much that I was getting confused.

Ekira was apologizing to Richard for hitting the back of his head. "Sorry na... napalakas eh," she said while nursing richard. "Ikaw naman kasi eh".

"Ano ba yan," sid Richard "Nagsosorry ka tapos maninisi ka".

Emma and I were laughing at the couple as they made up, but it was a short lived laughter. Our laugh was changed into a smile, into a downright stare when right then and there Erika started to kiss Richard on the lips.

Erika may be the mature type, but she has no qualms about PDAs when there are no relatives around. This isn't the first we've witnessed this kind of behaviour from Erika and Richard. It can vary from a hug, to kisses on the cheek, to subtle french kissing when they think no one is looking. This time the kisses were small smacks on the lips with the words "I'm sorry baby" snuck in between each kiss. Normally I don't have problems with PDA, but I was with Emma at that time so my first thought was... kissing her. I was playing with the thought in my mind for a bit when Emma held my right arm and gave me a small nod to signal that we should go get food. The forced smile on her lips told me that she was uneasy watching the couple.

"Okay, we'll go first," I said as I stood up. "Can you hold our seats for us?"

"Oh sure," said Erika with a silly smile. I think she was a bit embarassed at what she did.

"Sige Thanks," I replied. Emma just smiled and nodded at the couple when she stood up.

We walked around the food court to look for anything good. I kept glancing at Emma if she's found anything she likes, but it looked as if she was more interested in how the foods were being prepared. (I think I'll take her to Gourdo's some time). She picked out a place and I got our trays.

"Ang sweet nila no?" Emma refered to Richard and Erika as soon as we placed our orders.

"Ok lang"

"...Pero lagi silang nag kiss"

"Hehe Pansin mo rin?

"Medyo, ganun ka rin naman diba?, Emma asked me. I forgot that Emma was my confedant when I was still in college.

"Hey not THAT much. I know the right time and place," I told Emma while I pulled our trays as the line move. ("like right here and now with you," I thought to myself.)

"Yeah me too... I'm not really into PDA," said Emma. I then recalled a problem she had with her ex whom she broke up with because the guy wants to go "overboard".

"Pwera na lang siguro kung malambing yung guy," she added with a laugh. I tried to decipher the meaning behind her concept of "lambing" and why she had to laugh. I resigned that as a fact that a guy will never know by himself even if he thinks about it in his entire lifetime.

"Bagay naman sila eh," I added.

"Thats true," Emma said when she pushed the trays. "I wonder how many times they'll kiss tonight"

I laughed. "Just you wait. Mamaya sa sinehan."

Emma laughed like I was joking but I was being serious.

"Sige, bilangin mo," I suggested. "I bet they'll kiss at least ten times during the movie"

"Ano ka ba, thats too much"

"Nah, its dark, and its a full length movie. I say my chances are good"

"Sige, lets put a wager on it", she said with a grin.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I don't know... the winner decides what the loser will do. Pagusapan na lang natin later pagkatapos ng movie. Basta pag naka 10 and above sila, you win" (If you are a pervert, I can tell you right now that the consequences of the bet is no where near what you are thinking of. lol)

"Walang thrill pag ganun," I said as I paid for our meals and picked up our tray. "Maaga magkakaalaman"

"Bat pano ba dapat?" Emma asked.

"Later," I said. We walked towards our table and I didn't want Richard and Erika to hear about our bet.

"Out turn!," exclaimed Erika as she and Richard stood up to get their dinner. I looked over my shoulder to check if the coast is clear.

"Okay," I said, turning to Emma. "Lets change the bet".

"Ano?" Emma asked ans she leaned over to listen carefully.

"Odd and Even. If they do get an even number of kisses, I win. Pag odd, you win," I began explaining to Emma. "That way, until the credits roll, di natin alam kung sino winner".

Emma set the technicalities of the bet, defining what is considered a kiss and the duration of a kiss bofore its considered a "score". We were laughing and making predictions while waiting for Richard and Erika to return. Counting shall begin the moment richard and Erika return to the table.

Soon, the couple arrived and they noticed that I and Emma were giggling. "What's up?", asked Erika as she was sitting down.

"It's nothing," I said. "It's just a private joke, sorry".

"Yon!" excalimed Richard with a laugh. "Mukang nagkakaigihan kayo ah. May nalalaman pa kayong private jokes ah!"

"Hoy, bumanat ka na naman," scolded Erika, while pinching Richard's arm.

I glanced at Emma and I saw that she was laughing. Maybe she is getting used to Richard's comments. At this point I think she knows already, so I might as well ride with it. I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Oo nga", I told Richard. "Wag mo naman akong sobrang bistuhin". It was a half meant joke that both Richard and Erika didn't expect. Even I didn't expect it. All that mattered to me was how Emma would react so I glanced at her again. She didn't laugh, and she didn't say a word. She didn't even make a sound. All she did was face me, and smiled in a way that I can't even describe. If she was an emoticon, she would look like this: ~^_^~

"Aww... ang cute nyo," teased Erika. I think I may have opened a can of worms. I wanted to explain myself even if there was nothing to explain, but before I could say anything, Erika embraced Richard and gave him a kiss.

Soon after, we started eating. While in the middle of the meal, Emma poked me on the knee and handed me her cell phone from under the table. I took it and read the message that she had written:

thats 1! üüü