And the list went on and on. Every once in a while, the pastor would pause and all the churchgoers would say “Amen!” I tried to catch up and not look out of place at church, but I failed pretty miserably. And just when I anticipated another “Amen,” everybody said, “Lord have mercy,” instead. God damn it.
Everybody took their seat, and I followed suit. I reached under my seat to grab the three hella giant blades of grass that we were given earlier when we arrived. Today was Palm Sunday, which meant—well, I didn’t know really. One notable difference between this visit and my first visit the Sunday prior was that today, the pastor read an even longer story, all while we were standing. My mind drifted away at the first mention of a two-syllable name.
To pass time, I checked out the cute Filipino choirboys (just the ones that looked like they were at least a high school junior) and scoped for other guys around, and I tried guessing the number of sins under the belts of each decent looking guy. Maybe I was fantasizing too much because I counted a lot of sins.
After a while, everyone stood up again holding up their giant blades of grass. The pastor walked up and down the aisles, watering us with his watering can. I thought that was kinda cool.
Sitting down and bored once again, I started bumping my knee with the one beside me, and I felt the knee bumped back. Our two knees playfully bumped for a little while, and it made me smile. I looked up at Ranier, who was facing toward the front but with his eyes darting back and forth toward me. I wanted to put my hand on his leg, but I refrained. He smiled slightly, and I tried sitting up again and paying attention to the pastor. Didn’t happen.
Snack time came. Everyone went up to get a cracker except for me, because apparently I hadn’t gone through some kind of confirmation process or whatever, Ranier told me. I watched him and his mother and little brother get up and find their place in line. The line was moving slowly, so I decided to mimic what some other people were doing earlier and tied my three giant blades of grass into a cross. It was pretty challenging, like a Rubik’s cube, but I got it after my third try. Soon after, it was time to head back to Ranier’s place.
What I got out of my second church experience was that I’d never go to church again unless it was for Ranier.
I sat on the couch in my apartment, doing anything but studying, when I got an instant message from Ranier. He told me that he could still get me Sockhop tickets for twenty five dollars. Even though I was still a little bitter, I agreed to it. Looked like I was going to Sockhop after all. I resumed stalking acquaintances on Facebook afterward, but then Ranier brought up something else.
Ranier:
How come ever since we broke up, when we talk on aim, our conversation always gets cut short because you never respond back, but when we did go out, we would finish our convos. Just a random thought, ain’t trippin’.
bbq dinner:
I didn’t think we had much to talk about. Just business, like figuring out Sockhop tickets, or whatever.
Ranier:
Haha ok maybe it’s just an OCD of mine, to always finish a convo by sayin’ bye.
bbq dinner:
I dunno. Do you have more you wanna talk about?
Ranier:
Well there was one more thing... I just wanted to see how you were, to see if everything was alright with you.
bbq dinner:
I’m doing fine. It’s Sunday night of finals week so I’m supposed to be busy. How are you doing?
Ranier:
I’m doing splendid haha jk. I’m doin’ good. It’s a nice relief. Everything is going well...ok buh you’re being honest right? Nothing wrong or anything bothering you that pertains to anything I can help with?
bbq dinner:
No I’m fine, but I guess I’ve been meaning to tell you something.
Ranier:
Oo ok, go ahead.
bbq dinner:
On the night we broke up, you told me something like, “A few years from now you’re going to realize what an ignorant asshole you were," or something like that, regarding me calling special ed kids stupid.
Ranier:
Lol omg I said that?
bbq dinner:
I might’ve added the "asshole" part. But the main point is, it didn’t take a few years to realize what an ignorant asshole I was.
Ranier:
Aww, what made you think this?
bbq dinner:
I was looking up vids of Jawn Ha on Youtube, and I found a vid of him teaching at a high school. I spotted this one kid who really sucked, more than I would’ve, and I laughed at him. Then I read through the comments and saw the other people also pointed out the kid, to which Jawn Ha responded, “That Kid is deaf.” And I was like, “Oh.” And I couldn’t bring my self to still think that the kid sucked. Do you see the parallels?
Ranier:
Sorta, so you’re sayin’ when you laughed at the kid you didn’t know he was deaf, and when you found out, it made you realize how fucked up it is to laugh at someone who tries no matter what disabilities they have in their lives.
bbq dinner:
Yeah that’s pretty much it.
Ranier:
Well I'm proud to see you type this, even though you still might be an ass or not (I wouldn’t know anymore). I’m glad that you realized that.
10 PM on a rainy Friday night. I waited outside the auditorium as Ray ran around making sure everything was getting put cleaned up and put away. He had just successfully directed a dance showcase at his high school for charity, and now he looked too adorable yelling into his walkie-talkie as he ran around frantically. When I thought he was done, he came up to me and told me that he forgot something in the dance studio.
He led me to the his school’s dance studio, and when I walked inside, there was some slow romancey music playing, and there was a bunch of candy and lit candles littered all over the floor. “Ranye’s B-Day Wish” was written across the whiteboard, and underneath it hung a banner that read, in big red painted block letters: “Valentine?” I scratched my head and looked at Ray. “Did you guys have some kind of party earlier today?” I knew it was Ranier’s birthday today, but it wasn’t that close to Valentine’s Day.
“It’s for you,” he said.
“Oooooooh.” It hit me. This was a surprise for me. “OH MY.” I hugged and squeezed him tight, and of course, I said “Yes” to his Valentine question.
Later that weekend, we made our relationship official: What’s my favorite type of music? R&B! 01.24.10. (It was originally, what’s my favorite html tag?—BR! But I decided to go with the less nerdy option.)
Ranier and the Funksters had a dance competition in San Jose at the downtown Convention Center on Saturday, June 12th. Seeing how I got back home just in time at the end of finals week and how it was in my hometown, I went to visit him. I didn’t actually see the competition because I had already spent twenty-five bucks on the Sockhop ticket, but I came to see him outside of the convention center after the competition ended. We met up and walked to my car so I could give him the black jersey that he had asked me to buy for him about a month ago.
“Notice anything different?” I asked Ranier.
“You got contact lenses,” he answered.
“Yep, I also got a haircut.” I lifted my hat to show him. “I’m wearing a hat though because it’s kinda ba—”
“What the hell did you do? It’s terrible.” He ran his hand through my poorly shaved mohawk to feel every little mistake. “Wow, who cut your hair?”
“I did.”
“Oh, well, you should’ve asked me! There’s not much you can do now buh shave it all off.”
I shrugged. We got back to my car and Ranier got his jersey. I drove him back to the convention center so he could wait with another Funkster for her dad to pick them up. Before going, I got one last hug from him and told him I’d see him at Sock Hop. I watched him walk a few feet after he left my car, and then I turned to the rear-view mirror to gaze at myself in my new contact lenses, no glasses, and my ugly hair. I bit my lips, slowly nodded, and put my car into drive and drove home.
No comments:
Post a Comment