The petsa and The Almost Smile


Duncan was in Courtney’s living room, flipping through the channels of her flat screen. He wasn’t invited here rather he snuck in here. Picking a lock was easy as pie for Duncan.

“Jeez, there’s nothing on today,” he mumbled to himself. “All the channels are freaking ipinapakita little kid shows and crap.”

He sighed deeply and got up, heading to her small, simple-designed kitchen. He opened her refrigerator and began looking for some decent pagkain to eat. He grinned when he saw a huge plate of pasta in there. He was about to take it when he heard a loud gasp.

“What the hell, Duncan?!” he heard Courtney exclaim.

Duncan quickly turned around, shutting the refrigerator door with his foot. He smirked when he saw Courtney in a short towel, dripping wet. He could practically smell her delicious aroma.

“You’re giving me déjà vu, Princess,” Duncan chuckled. “Except your wetter and your towel got shorter—you’re trying to seduce me?”

Courtney’s nostrils flared out angrily. “Get out,” she hissed menacingly. “I’m giving you—”

Duncan quickly ran over to Courtney, pinning her against the wall. He smirked as he saw her eyes widen hugely. Before she was about to yell out a harsh retort, he captured her lips with his eager, hormonal-crazed ones. Courtney’s arms were holding her towel up tightly, and Duncan took this advantage to trap her within his muscular ones.

After about four minutos of making out, Duncan pulled away, gasping heavily. His eyes had this hungry look, and he saw Courtney’s eyes were a bit glazed over. He liked having this affect on his Princess.

My Princess? Duncan thought. Damn, that has a nice ring to it. All I have to do is…

Duncan bit Courtney on her lip, making her kick him where it hurts—his manly possession. He toppled over, falling on Courtney and they both slid down on the floor with an earsplitting thump!

Duncan was groaning quietly, biting his lip. Courtney whacked him on the head harshly. Now Duncan had to hold his possession and his head. He’s in pag-ibig with—

Whoa, whoa—too soon for that, dude, he thought. …I think.

“You’re too freaking heavy, Duncan! Get the hell off of me!” Courtney yelled, struggling to slip out of Duncan’s heavy body. Unfortunately, for Duncan, her towel didn’t slip off.

“Well, it’s your own damn fault! You’re the one who freaking kicked me in the precious place of every man! Then you thumped me on the head! What the hell is wrong with you, woman?!” he yelled back, face inches away from hers.

“What the hell is wrong with me?! What the hell is wrong with you?! You freaking bit my lip! That hurt, and I’m surprised it’s not bleeding sa pamamagitan ng now!” She touched her lips.

Duncan rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a baby, Princess—I was just marking my territory.”

“Well, you didn’t have to bite—” She stopped, narrowing her eyes. “‘Marking my territory’? Since when was I your territory? Duncan, will you explain that please?”

“Courtney, look at us. I’m on tuktok of you and you’re half-naked—”

“That’s because—!”

Duncan kissed her briefly. “Shut up and let me talk. Okay, what we’re doing is obviously what couples do, right? We’re even going on a petsa tonight! You even agreed that it was a date, babe! And what does that mean? Hmm, I think, oh, I don’t know that we’re dating?”

“But it’s not like…we like each other that way, Duncan,” Courtney protested quietly. “Sure, we make out and all, but…don’t we hate each other?”

“Princess, you’re the only one doing the hating in this relationship.”

Courtney gasped. She looked away from him, eyes downcast. He almost regretted saying that, but hey, it was the truth, wasn’t it? Duncan likes Courtney, and if he wants to be with her, he has to be honest with her. Courtney looked back up with sad eyes.

“I thought you hated me,” she said. “I didn’t know that…I was the only one doing the ‘hating in this relationship’ or whatever we have.” She sighed. “Are you…you saying that you like me?”

Duncan grinned at her widely. “Bingo, Princess.”

“I—I want to like you, but… Or maybe—maybe I do like you. I’m just confused, and this position isn’t making it any better.” She struggled again.

“I’m not getting off of you until you tell me how you feel about me, babe.” He gave her a mischievous smile. “I promise you that.”

Courtney looked at him pleadingly. “Can you give me some time? At least…when we have our date—please?” she implored. “I’m just too perplexed right now. You just attacked me, bit my lip, suffocated me right now, confessed, and asked me if I felt the same way all of a sudden. Give me time to breathe, stupid!”

Duncan laughed. “All right then, baby. I’ll give you time, and you better tell me, or else I’ll force it out of you.”

“Oh yeah? I’ll kick you in the same special place again if you don’t get off of me right now.”

He immediately got off of her, knowing she would do it.

--

Courtney glared at her closet as if it was irritating her—which it was. She didn’t know what to wear. Well, it’s just Duncan, the guy who confessed to her strangely, so she shouldn’t be unsure on what to wear, right?

“What if he doesn’t like what I’ll wear?” she murmured to herself, feeling insecure. She suddenly slapped herself hard. “Duncan doesn’t even criticize on what—wait…he did. He sinabi my wardrobe is too ‘conservative.’ He even had a grimace on… Crap.”

She heard a knock on the door.

“Hey, Princess,” Duncan sinabi from the other side exasperatedly. “The araw isn’t getting any younger and the same goes for you and me. I thought you weren’t like those girls who waste time being pretty and junk. Hurry the hell up, babe!”

Courtney scowled. “I’m already putting my pants on! You can’t rush me, Duncan, and I am not like those other girls! So, right now, shut up!” she yelled, denying the fact that Duncan was right.

She hastily put on her bottoms she randomly picked from the closet and headed out of the room. The door slammed into something hard, and she heard Duncan curse loudly.

Duncan clutched his forehead and nose while glaring at Courtney. “What the hell, Courtney?!” he screamed. “That freaking—” He broke off with a hiss.

Courtney rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “Well, it’s not my fault somebody was in front of the door. Didn’t you learn in kindergarten not to stand in front of doors?”

He grinned childishly. “No, I didn’t, Miss Courtney. I had to learn it the hard way today.”

“My gosh, when are you never so incredibly infantile? It’s not even normal, but you’re—” She shook her head. “Wow, déjà vu.”

“We’ve been having it a lot today, sweetheart. Must mean something, huh?” He appraised her, smirking. “I’d pag-ibig to see you walk around like this, but not in public. There are children outside, you know.”

Courtney looked at him confusedly before looking down. She turned red with embarrassment and quickly went inside her room.

“Who knew the ‘intelligent, good-at-everything, overachiever’ Courtney would forget to put a sando on?” she heard Duncan mutter out loud. “The world’s going crazy, and you’re responsible for taking away its sanity, Princess!”

“Duncan, seriously, I will give you the worse kick ever, that you will never walk and never have babies!” Courtney growled, coming out of the room, not topless.

“‘I wish these were brains.’ And they’re directly on your huge rack.” He leaned closer, lips near her ear. “Kinky—I never knew you’re the type to buy these kinds of shirts.”

Courtney tried to make her voice sound even. Duncan’s close proximity was making her uncomfortable—in a good way. “Gwen bought me this on my birthday as a joke. She and Bridgette made a joke about me having three brains. The brain in my cranium and…well, you know… I told them it wasn’t possible.”

“Why?” His hands started to go on her waist, thumbs lifting her sando slightly up.

“W-Well, think about Lindsay…”

He laughed. “You’re damn funny, babe.” Then he kissed her—fiercely. It was as if he can never get tired of doing this with her.

Courtney gasped when he let go. His lips were traveling her collarbone.

“Um…Duncan, remember that petsa we were going to have? Yeah…I think we should get to it right now. This can…w—oh!” He nipped a skin. “What the hell?!”

Duncan pulled away, kissed her once, twice, thrice, frice—wait, that’s not a word.

Damn it, Duncan. You’re making me stupid! Stop rubbing your stupidity all over me! Courtney shouted in her mind.

Then Duncan started leaving, heading outside. He smirked at her and winked.

“Ready to go, hot stuff?”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever, loser. But stop biting me!”

“Can’t promise you that.”

Courtney gave him a hard glare before running after Duncan, who didn’t even wait for her, secretly giddy about the petsa they were going to have.

--

Duncan was currently carrying Courtney on his back. He had this annoyed face on, and Courtney’s ranting wasn’t helping it; it just made him madami annoyed.

“…you couldn’t even catch me?! And you call yourself ‘Mr. Big and Strong.’ Whatever! Now, I sprained my ankle, and you practically threw me on your back casually like I was a bag of crap! I don’t need your—”

“Ugh, Princess, you’re getting on my freaking nerves,” Duncan interjected. “Look, I’m only doing this, because I don’t want to hear you complaining, ‘Why aren’t you helping me?!’ I’m being chivalrous for you, so suck it up and shut up. Gosh, I’m becoming deaf now…”

Courtney was silent for a while, and that surprised Duncan. “You’re too exaggerating,” she finally said. “And my vocal chords aren’t low.”

“Mh-hmm…”

What happened was Courtney was walking ahead of Duncan, scolding at him irritatingly about whatever. He wasn’t really listening. Courtney failed to see the huge rock—don’t ask him why there’s a huge rock in the middle of the street—and she fell. It was kind of unexpected, because Courtney was a graceful, martial-arts bad-ass.

And now he’s carrying her so she won’t nag about him not being a gentleman—which bit him in the asno or his ear.

Courtney put her cheek near Duncan’s. “Why are you so quiet? It’s so…not you,” she finished lamely. “I mean, you mostly say something idiotic out of the blue, and then we start arguing.”

Duncan tried to not ipakita the pain on his face. Was their relationship just full of arguments and jokes? Where they really into each other?

But wait—I don’t even know that Courtney likes me back even though I know it already. Damn it, Princess…

“You know, you should already know that I like you,” Duncan sinabi casually. “It’s pretty obvious, though I ipakita it in a different way. I’m not all sappy, so you shouldn’t expect me to say, ‘I like you, Courtney, and I want to be your boyfriend. I think you’re pretty, smart, uptight, yadda, yadda’ straight up. That’s not me, all right? Some people like to ipakita their affection in a different way sometimes.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Courtney exclaimed. “I thought you were joking! Because…well—”

“Like I said, Courtney, I ipakita my affection in a different way. You’re smart, aren’t you? It isn’t that hard to figure it out. Normally, when I want to get with another girl—I’m sure you know what I mean sa pamamagitan ng that—I flirt like how I do with you. Ever since I found out that I really like you”—not ‘love’—“I didn’t know how to react around you. I was afraid I might make a complete idiot out of myself.”

“Duncan,” she whispered sadly. “Let’s…go sit down on that dilapidated bench over there.” She pointed susunod to the huge, shady tree. “It’s difficult to talk like this.”

Duncan chuckled. “There you go again with your advanced speech. Are you a living dictionary or what?”

“What,” was all she said. From the corner of his eye, he saw her smiling goofily.

“You look high, babe.”

She tightened her arms around his neck, choking him until he sinabi “Uncle.”

Which he did when he almost turned fully blue.

After a couple of teasing and pecks, they arrived in front of the broken-down bench. It was a hot day, but the puno was helping them. Duncan dumped her on the bench, and then took a upuan susunod to her.

Courtney punched him on the forearm. “Ogre, the bench might have collapsed! You’re lucky it didn’t,” she chastised, punching him again.

Duncan snorted. “It’s not my fault you’re so damn heavy.” He put his arms behind his head, leaning back, the bench creaking a little.

Courtney pushed his back up roughly. “Don’t you hear the bench creaking?! That means that putting all your weight on the most sensitive part of the bench might make it disintegrate, and we’ll fall on our asses!”

Duncan took this time to contemplate while Courtney nagged again. Sure, it irritated him to death, but it was amusing at the same time. Irritation and anger make Courtney look hotter and just her. It wouldn’t be right if there wasn’t a araw Courtney would get mad or start her “You are so stupid, I’m better than you” agenda.

Well, Duncan just plain likes Courtney ever since. At first, he thought it was physical attraction—she was a hot creature with pointless clothing on. She was almost good at everything, and Duncan likes a girl who wasn’t all weak and too dependent. To narrow it down, Duncan’s type is: uptight, strong, hot, smart, hot-tempered, stubborn, and…hot—all of that fitted Courtney’s personality.

Love? Could be, Duncan decided mentally. He was tired of ignoring his heart. He finally figured out that his puso was a good consultant—though sometimes it irked him.

“Babe, the petsa isn’t over, but tell me—I wanna know,” Duncan sinabi firmly. “I’m not a patient person, and I can’t wait forever. I mean, it’s just one answer you have to give me: ‘Yes’ or ‘No’?” I already know what the answer’s going to be, though.

Courtney’s eyes widened. She looked away, and her fists clenched tightly. The tan skin on her knuckles started to turn white. What was so hard? Why couldn’t Courtney just admit that she likes him, so they can make out furiously and get it over with, happily together?

“I…” She bit her lip hard, tempting Duncan again.

Not yet, Duncan.

She looked at him with large, sad eyes. “I’m con—,” she started saying.

Duncan growled, “Don’t give me that ‘I’m confused’ bullshit, Courtney. I’m being serious now, and I’m not like those guys who wait forever just to—”

“I know that!” she snapped. “Stop saying that! I know you’re not like other guys, Duncan. I’m not an idiot.” She sighed. “I just don’t know what to say! I do feel attracted to you…but I…just don’t know.”

“Is that your way of saying ‘no’?” His voice was expressionless. “Is it?”

“Duncan, please give me—”

“Is that your way of saying ‘no’?” he repeated coldly. “Just say it already, Courtney.”

She gulped. “Y-Yes…”

Duncan stared at her long and hard before sighing and standing up quickly. He put his hands inside his pockets. He was about to leave her but then stopped.

“I was so sure that you liked me back,” he chuckled without emotion. “So sure that…I was so happy, and I was finally going to say these cheesy words, you know.”

“Which are?” she asked quietly, heartbroken.

Duncan stared up at the sky, almost smiling at how beautiful the araw was—but the feelings right now weren’t for him. He looked down on the ground, and then looked at Courtney.

“I’m in pag-ibig with you.”