On the Coattails of a Special Day

My day started with Rene, Sammy, and I still out driving on the road. They were feeling sleepy and I kind of pranked them by playing my "Antok FM". Since all of the Starbucks stores we went to in Tagaytay were filled with people who wanted to act cool, we just decided to get Starbucks at a stop along SLEX. We went through the drive-thru and ordered from there. I was actually surprised that Rene and I both got the same drink, a white chocolate mocha. I originally ordered mine to be cold, but since Rene's drink was hot and I had just come from a cold place, I changed mine and we both got the exact same drink. After ordering our coffee, we parked nearby and that's where the guys sat me down and talked to me.

They told me about their relationships and I vented to them about some things. They essentially told me to find a girl who'll put in as much effort as I do, and that the ones that I've had—where the girl just takes advantage of me—wasn't really a relationship worth fighting for. I felt sad because they were right. Rene showed proof that his girlfriend would go to lengths for him, and that just made me even sadder because I never really had a girl I liked to put in effort for me ever. I just imagined that the next relationship I would get would be a proper one and that I wouldn't try to date any of those "users" ever again. They also talked me into joining the military/special forces with them but I just held out on it. In the end, they gave solid advice and it just boosted my mood because I was still feeling horrible from the past few days. We stayed there for hours until finally leaving at around 3 a.m. or so. I told them that I was used to this schedule because my last situationship made me stay up until 4 a.m. and they said that I should try sleeping way earlier these days. I agreed and we kept driving back to Manila.

Sammy pulled up a few videos of Girls' Generation because he said I reminded him of them. I was a bit shocked because I wasn't that forthcoming about my liking towards them in college, but apparently, he knew that part and played "Gee" on Rene's phone. Sammy then played "Way To Go" to my surprise, and he said that it sounded like it was an anime song. He played other K-Pop songs after that and Rene was jamming along. Eventually, we arrived at my house and they dropped me off. I saw my cousin Aj still outside so I gave him the chocolate rock candies that I didn't like and the remains of 1 bucket of mushroom fries. He said it tasted good and I went inside the house.

I slept like a log after that and spent the day mostly alone. I showed my sister all the pasalubong I had brought in from Tagaytay and gave her some of the mushroom fries that I reheated in the microwave. Then I gave her a slice of buko pie. In the afternoon, I found a new version of a song I used to like in 2022 and it was really beautiful. It's the perfect song for me right now because it brings elements of other songs in that album and I think it perfectly recontextualizes the past 2 years I spent with someone. I cried for a bit while listening to the song. I spent the afternoon and evening mostly alone. I talked to someone on Reddit because I randomly saw their profile and they recommended some ideas for cat food and coffee. I did random things before just going to sleep.