Honey, why?

6. Who's Your Baby?

I look to my right and spot the gazebos lining up between the streets. The campus seems quiet and the sun has not yet fully risen, but it wasn't dark anymore.

There were a few people walking around. Some students, professors and teachers, some shop workers, a guard here and there, and some joggers. But my eyes only settled at the figure hunched on the table by the third gazebo.

Like in a trance, I moved slowly towards his direction. Good thing there weren't any cars on the road because I am honestly too far gone, too hypnotized by his sleeping figure, to be aware of my surroundings.

His dark hair was ruffled and his head pressed down on his bag with his arms around it, his back going up and down softly from his breathing. Oh my...

Slowly, I approached him and sat on the bench to his left so I can watch him some more while still being close to him. I carefully laid my purse down beside me and took out my phone.

What am I doing? I can't just take his photo. It's rude. Specially now that he's sleeping. I put my phone back in my bag and sighed. Oh, crap! I gotta stop doing that.

Back to the male creature in front of me. Maybe I should wake him up now so we can start with the planning. I don't want him to think that we has to wait too long for me.

I gently shook his shoulder. "Charles," I whispered. He grumbled something, but he's still asleep. I tried again, only this time, a little louder, "Charles," and I gently squeezed his arm and oh my flipping penguin. His muscle is so hard. Chad was right. It's delish.

Without even realizing it, I began leaning closer, my nose almost touching his dark hair. He smells of cucumbers. That, mixed with his swooning perfume. He smelled so fresh. I want to run my fingers through his hair just to see if it's as soft as it looks.

Suddenly, he grumbled again and started to stir. I yanked my hand quickly and sat back. "Charles?" I called him.

"What!" He jolted up straight, surprised. He was looking at me with wide green eyes, his cheek have marks from his bag, and his forehead is red. I giggled at the sight. He looked so cute. There was even a little line of drool running from the corner of his lip.

"What're you laughing at, babe?" he drawled so sexily that I stopped giggling. He looked at me so intensely I thought I might have offended him. But then his mouth curved up into a smirk and I, again, forgot how to breathe.

Charles took out a handkerchief from his jacket to wipe his drool. Then he ran a hand on his hair, trying to tame it down. I can't help it. I started it again. "Sorry," I said in between my chuckles.

I shut my eyes as I continue laughing, not wanting to see his reaction. I just want to wallow in it for a moment. Just woken up Charles is freaking adorable. I feel so giddy and excited.

When I looked up, I saw his face inches from mine and this time, my fit really reached its end.

Instead of catching my breaths from constant laughter, I catch myself from falling too deeply in his eyes. It's too much, I have to hold back or else I'll never be able to get out once I gave in.

Charles moved his face even closer and I gasped. I saw his eyes moving from my own down to my nose, and then my lips. It stayed there as he whispers to me, "So..."

What is he doing?! It feels like it was just the two of us, with this silent surroundings and almost empty place. The sun hadn't even risen up and my body is already feeling hot, the warmth beginning from the inside spreading out.

"So," I managed to whisper back.

"You ready to talk now, babe?" he asked so softly the beating in my ears almost drown him out.

"Y-yes," I stuttered.

He gave me one of those sexy grins again before pulling back slowly. I released a breath I've been holding then I got my notebook and pen out of my bag.

Thanks to Charles, my palms are all sweaty now. My notebook became wet as I wrote "Halloween Plans" on top of the page. 

We talked for a moment about the booths that should be there, as well as the Haunted House and the trick or treating. I suggest we should have like a movie theatre instead, with scary gory films to be played.

"What's your favorite horror film?" He asked, tapping his pen on his pad. I noticed that he hadn't been talking notes about our conversation, his paper is blank. My heart sank a bit but I decided to play it cool.

"You know how much of a scaredy cat I am," I said.

"But?" He pressed, eyebrows lifting up expectantly.

Gosh darn it. How can he read me so quickly? Am I that transparent?

I wiped my palms on my handkerchief and answered, "But there's this one film..." I hesitated.

"Yeah?"

I blew out a breath. "I'm not much of a fan of horror films because you know... but I really liked Rosemary's Baby."

As soon as I said that, one movie popped up into my head and I realized that I also liked that film aside from the one I just said. Welp, too late to change teams now. Especially when Charles gifted me with one of his heartfelt smiles.

"I love that film, too," he says, then proceeding to write on his pad.

I craned my neck slightly to see what he's writing.

Favorite Horror Film: Rosemary's Baby

I blushed and decided to pretend not to notice his paper, underlining and circling some random words on my own pad.

As I scribble absentmindedly, the ink on the paper started to mix in with my sweat, smearing my writing and marking the side of my hand with ink.

"Non!" I cried out, too irked to notice that my French tongue slipped out.

I heard a stifled snicker. I looked at Charles and saw him covering his mouth with his fist as he stared at my notebook.

"You- y-you... you could water a whole garden with that," he pointed at my hands. Then he made a motion of turning his palm down, moving it horizontally. I rolled my eyes.

He was holding his stomach now, face wrinkled so lovingly and his perfect white teeth bared. So proud of his joke. And all that time his laughter is music to my ears.

"At least I don't slobber in my sleep," I countered, my pen pointed at his lips.

His eyes shut open as he looked at me, amused.

"Hey, it was only a string!" he said with fake anger, his eyes still laughing. The mark on his cheek was still barely visible, as well as the red spot on his forehead. And on top of his head, his hair was still a mess.

The thought of a robin's nest that my brother and I stole from a tree behind our house in Champagne popped into my head.

I remembered how Bash and I tried to incubate frozen eggs from our fridge into that nest, with him sitting on top of them and accidentally giving too much of his weight that he crashed the eggs on his bum.

Now all I can picture is my brother sitting on top of Charles's mop nest hair trying to incubate long dead eggs and I want to laugh again. So I did.

Charles started at me probably thinking I'd gone mad and I just pointed at his cheek, forehead, and hair before he can say anything. He touched his face and rolled his eyes up and it got me laughing even louder at how silly he looks. Silly and gorgeous. Nobody should be allowed to wake up that way. Not even him.

Before I knew it, Charles was laughing with me. He smoothed out his hair one last time before rubbing his face with his hands gently.

"Oh, babe," he said, shaking his head. "Okay. We need to focus." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I myself was starting to calm down, wiping at a tear at the corner of my eye.

A part of me is loving this moment between us. It was like when we were texting each other. It's the first time we've been alone together and I felt myself loosening up the same way he does. I've never seen him laugh like this.

He's always been reserved.

During the occasional trips to the mall of our class, it's rare to see him loosen up. Inside our classroom, his laughs were always polite and controlled.

I don't mean that they were fake, they're as real as his laughs right now. But somehow, as I watch him from a distance, his laughs then dulled compared to what I just witnessed.

Like, his teeth were on full display and he's guffawing so hard he has to close his eyes shut and clutch his stomach. His body was shaking from trying to suppress upcoming snorts but he couldn't keep them inside and had to let it out.

And then I thought of the guy hanging around with his friends, with our classmates. He lets a little bit of himself exposed to us. The charming guy who loves to say such corny jokes. The silly guy who's too self conscious about his pimples that he covers them with plasters, and is allergic to shrimps.

The boy I, and all those other girls, fell in love with.

I wrote on my notebook and listened to him as he discussed his plans with me but I felt like a ghost. One half of me was suggesting a film showing and a food stall called Shackle Shack to him and the other half of me was up in the sky, dancing butt naked in the clouds. Oopsies.

Charles glanced at his watch, which got me glancing at my own. 6:01am. We still have forty four minutes before the morning assembly.

"Hey, uhm, do you want to grab some coffee?" he asked. "Have you eaten breakfast already? We could go to Pancake House. My treat," he offered, eyebrows darting up and down, up and down.

"Sure," I agreed, and started putting my things back in my purse. "Let's talk more about Halloween there," I added and we stood up.

We started to walk side by side to the building that housed the restaurants, shops, and stalls when he grabbed my wrist abruptly that had me halting my steps.

"Yes?" I turn to face him. Instead of answering, he just entwined his fingers with mine, holding my wet palm. He doesn't look at me as he started to walk again. I pulled at my hand but he just held me tighter.

"My palm's sweaty..." I said in a small voice. I try to tug my hand away but his grip tightens.

"I don't mind," he shrugged. There is a faint smile on his face that makes me feel hot once more. I kept my head bowed down on our way to Pancake House, all the while feeling Charles's body vibrating as he chuckled from time to time.

He started to sway our arms leisurely, thumb casually gliding through my knuckles. "So. Rosemary's Baby..." His eyes swept sideways at me.

"I really like how she's so clueless about the obvious, like she doesn't have any idea what's going around her although I'm pretty sure she could already feel it it her stomach. Then the audience is witnessing everything but they can't do anything. It's amazingly horrifying."

"Two words I never thought I'd hear from you, knowing how easily scared you can get." Charles has a huge smile on his face and I felt embarrass at my sudden outburst. Come on, Ace. What, you're a film critic now? Ugh.

"I love how it doesn't depend on cheap jump scares. The terror is real because it's like you're in the shoes of Rosemary herself."

I looked at him and remembered how he said that he loved that film, too. I thought he was just saying that but it turns out to be true. "Yeah," I concur. My angst is slowly flushing out of my system and I'm starting to feel more comfortable. That's just good ol Charles for you, ladies and gentlemen.

The sun is now beginning to rise up, and the campus was beginning to fill up with more people by the time we entered the establishment. I do drink coffee but not all the time. I don't want to get dependent on it. Even when I have all-nighters, I resist from taking caffeine or energy drink.

Hmmmm. The smell of waffles and coffee is heaven. My favorite coffee, though, is dark roast. But I feel like going for a hot chocolate right now. So Charles orders that for me, and a brewed coffee and a bagel with pepper jack for himself.

"Do you want anything else? A croissant perhaps? Or a strudel?" He looked at me with a worried expression and it just melts my heart to see how he cares for me.

I chose the strudel and in my head was this song In Julie Andrews's voice.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels

I want to share with Charles my lunch, fried noodles

Dance below dark skies with moon up above

These are a few of the things that I love.

That I would love to do, is what I meant. Oh, Charles. What are you doing to me?

We went to sit upstairs and I don't know who led who. Maybe it was me and I just went up without thinking, because I've always preferred to sit somewhere quiet.

"I like it quiet," Charles voiced out my thoughts. We sat silently across each other as we wait for our drinks to arrive and I was about to move to bring my notebook back out again so we can get down to business, when Charles stops me by placing his hands on top of mine.

He turns my hands upright, eyes on my palms as he asked me, "How come your hands are like this?"

His voice was full of wonder, thick dark brows furrowing. How can my sweaty palms be this interesting?

"I don't know. It's always like this. I've got hyperhidrosis," I explain shyly.

"I heard a cure for this, you know," he whispers to me, leaning on the table, as if he's letting me in on a secret.

"Yeah?" I'm curious. My mom told me it was because of stress. It doesn't bother me much because it's not like this all the time, but I'm just curious as to what Charles knew. Maybe it's an antiperspirant. That has to be it. I have already tried almost everything but if Charles suggested it, heh. Heh heh heh.

"You wanna find out?" He leans in closer, his sexy butt lifting off of his chair. Now I'm really intrigued, he even sounded a little bit excited.

I move my face just a little bit closer to his. "Yeah, I do," I whisper back to him.

"I'll tell you. Close your eyes."

Uh. I don't think it's such a good idea...

"Come on, baby. Trust me."

Oh, alright.

I feel his breathing tickling my nose and it's all I can do to stop myself from laughing. I keep my eyes closed and my face relaxed. Charles begin drawing circles on the back of my palms as he continue to hold them. And then a thought came to me.

What was he doing? I want to think that it's just me, it's just me. This is probably nothing to him. But. I believe the things that I see. And with him acting like this right now... Even if I can't see him literally, I'm not that naive, you know, and I get nervous at this sudden realization.

Maybe he likes me, too. Maybe he likes me the way I like him. This is real, right? This is happening right now. Each of my senses was being filled by him. He's crowding my space. He's breaking in deeper in my heart.

I don't want to believe it. But I believe what I see. It's plain as day. Is the sky blue?

I know what was he about to do. I know it the moment he said the endearment. Everything has been leading down to this. I shouldn't be surprised because I may not have expected this but I hoped for it.

I know what was he about to do.

I know what was on his mind. I know it even before the server makes a coughing sound and lays out brewed coffee and hot chocolate down the table. I knew what was supposed to happen if only it weren't interrupted.

The cup shook slightly on the saucer as I lift it up to blow on my drink. I will my hands to stop from shaking as the hot beverage bit the tip of my tongue, leaving it rough and burnt. Hurt.

I know Charles was about to kiss me. He wanted to kiss me. What I wasn't sure of was what's going on inside his heart. And, oh, dear heavens. That's what I really, really want to know.