April 20th

III

CHAPTER 3: The Dream

Luke Rivas

Light shone through the glass pane straight to my eyes. I groaned and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I sit up and took in my room—scattered paints and brushes, unfinished canvas, and discarded papers were all over the floor next to the filled bin. I am an incoming sophomore in Mechanical Engineering at Silliman University. Anyone would have guessed I’d be an architect, but hobbies were meant to be for past-time only. Painting, drawing, and reading were my go-to activities. BEFORE I met that two-timing vixen. Nope! Not going there.

I stood up and brewed a cup of coffee, went back to the room to clean up. I picked up the nearest discarded crumpled paper on the floor and opened it. I instantly got a hard-on, my fingers were itching to touch.

“My God, so this is why she looks so familiar” I muttered.

I traced my finger on the outline of the body I drew. Slim waist, wide hips, a see-through veil covering her luscious breasts down to her V area. Her hair was wavier, and her eyes just the same as hers—deep dark brown.

I dreamed about this chick. My raging hard-on grew bigger as I recalled my dream...

Her supple flesh, her hair soft and wavy. How her grip on me felt, urging for more.

“f**k”

I slammed down my coffee on the table. No more, Luke. Enough is enough.

"LUKE?" Mace's voice rang out and his footsteps were loud as f**k till he reached my doorway.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. I just--" Think of something, damn.

"I absent-mindedly crumpled my drawing my portrait." I crumpled the drawing more and pocketed it in case he became curious.

Mace looked at me in disbelief.

"Really, Mace. I'm good. Look around, I had so many discarded ones. The pretty one I was hoping to finish got crumpled too" I said seriously.

He looked like he accepted my reason. "So, you got any plans later?" he went inside and picked up other paper scattered on the floor, and threw it towards the already-filled bin.

"Probably gonna drop by to downtown to pick up some stuff and head on to Alexa. Why?"

Are you and Alexa a thing, man? I bet she’s been waiting for you to make a move.”

“No, we aren’t. We’re just friends and she knows it.” I walked over to the crystal drawing board and turned the side lights off.

“We never really had those types of conversation. And we somehow both knew we were platonic.”

I removed the canvas board from its stand and placed it on the shelf. The painting was from last month and it depicted a water lily on a pond.

“Well, we should just hope she knows that. Clean up, I’ll drive you to downtown” Mace left the room.

I turned on my Spotify, switched my playlist to Bryan Adams, and connected via airplay to my stereos. I cleaned up my room and went out to the balcony bringing a pitcher of tap water. Just over the corner was a large cemented basin filled with water. Three lilies in different hues were inside and most of them have flower buds.

“Well, I bet you’ll bloom later this noon.”

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Arci Martin

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I woke up feeling giddy. The sun was up and it's 7:30 already. Today is Sunday, thus, a me-date. I still have to set my plans for today but I have to look pretty. I rushed out to my room hoping I’d catch my sister, Raya. She’s usually out early for the gym.

“Raya” I called out.

“I’m out here” she yelled back. I raced my way to her. She was wearing her running shoes.

“Do you have any plans this week and have you made coffee?” I asked

“Yes, I made coffee” She sounded smug. I grinned.

“And no, I don’t have plans this week. I’m planning to go back home this Wednesday, are you coming? Our parents might need more help this summer, especially now that there are a lot of fruit trees needing to be harvested.”

“Nah, I still have to go to school and process my transfer papers.” I skipped back to the kitchen. “But I will be home by next week. Have a good day! Bye!” I didn’t hear her response and I busied myself, mixing milk and sugar on my coffee.

I hope today will be fun.

My sister, Raya, and I are the only daughters. She’s been ahead of me for four years and she graduated last year on her course BS Accountancy. She’s currently having a job at LTD Accounting Firm in Manila and she just visited Dumaguete for a school reunion. On the other hand, I am an incoming freshman in Civil Engineering at Silliman University. I’m transferring from a local high school in Mindanao. Yes, I have to process my paper works but I’ll have to deal with it tomorrow.

I wonder what clothes I should wear today. I've been dreading for every Sunday. It makes me feel I am independent and capable I am of having to cherish a day with myself. The amount of self-talk and reflection had done me good in my emotional maturity. Also, I get to reflect on my decisions and my mistakes.

I scavenged all my dressers in search of the dress I’ve been saving. Aha! Here it is. I pulled out my Tote bag under the bed, placed my sketchpad, iPad, phone, earphones, and wallet inside. I took a long bath and plump myself. I just couldn't wait to have fun.