Is it love ch 1 (i'm thinking of changing the title soon)

Chapter 11

10 years later….2

“Woo-hoo!!!!!” said all of the graduates as they threw their graduation caps up into the air. It was a Saturday afternoon in that week of June. It was a big event that day, especially for me and my friend, Jenny. It was a bit sad for us too, because we would be separating from each other again. Jenny and I had been together ever since elementary to junior high, but had to be separated in high school, because we both went to different schools. But we were fortunate to find ourselves together in the same college. 3

And now, our time together in college has come to an end.4

“Aww! Jenny, I’m going to miss you so much!” I said, as I hugged my best friend.5

“I’m going to miss you too, Lilly!!” said Jenny, whose voice was more high-pitched. Jenny was also much shorter than I was, so it probably felt to her like she was hugging her big sis. But in this case, she was the big sis because she was born a few months before me.6

“I can’t believe you get to go to Japan,” I said, smiling. 7

“I know!” Jenny said, squealing. She and her boyfriend were going to skip the reception and head immediately to Japan, actually. So basically, that was the last time I would get to see her before she went to Japan. “I’ll promise to send new manga to you when I get there.”8

“Aww!!! Thank you!! You’re too much!!!” I said, hugging Jenny one more time. 9

Jenny looked at her watch. “Oh, it’s time. Jeff is waiting for me in his car.”10

I nodded. “Bye, Jenny.”11

“Bye, Lilly…” Jenny replied.12

Then we both couldn’t take it anymore and soon burst into sobs and hugged each other again. Then Jenny waved goodbye for the last time and then left.13

“Hey sexy,” someone said behind me. 14

I turned around and saw my tall Filipino boyfriend, Seth, standing above her. We were almost the same height, except for the fact that Seth was one inch taller than me. I smiled. “Hey sexy,” I said back, receiving a bear hug from Seth. “Can you believe it? Jenny’s leaving me to go to Japan.” 15

“Oh right, I remember. Where is she, by the way?” Seth looks around for Jenny in the crowded mass of students, parents, and confetti surrounding them.16

“She just left,” I said, wiping the last tear from my eyes. “I’m going to miss her so much!”17

“Me too,” Seth said, sighing. “I’m going to miss that short, sexy ass of hers.”18

“Hey! That’s my friend you’re talking about!” I smacked Seth on the shoulder playfully, laughing.19

“Well, you have to admit, she’s short,” Seth said, shrugging and smiling.20

“You’re so mean,” I joked. 21

“You know I’m just kidding, baby,” Seth said, hugging me again.22

I hugged Seth back too. “Yeah, yeah, yeah…You know, I don’t really feel like sticking around for the reception.”23

“Yeah, me neither,” Seth said, taking my hand. “Let’s ditch this place and go somewhere else,” he whispers into my ear. 24

I giggle as his breath tickles my neck. “Where?”25

“Mmm…someplace special,” Seth said, smiling.26

I groaned. “It doesn’t have to be special—as long as I’m with you, it’s special.” Then I grinned.27

Seth and I walked over to Seth’s car, in the midst of waving goodbye to our classmates. Seth and I had met since freshman year in college. For two years we had just been friends, and then last year, when Seth confessed his feelings for me, I said I liked him too. And so, we became an item after that.28

I looked out the window, sighing. Seth took the wheel, and started cranking up the tunes to SOAD. It was then Seth noticed me looking out of the window. He gently knocked my shoulder at a red light, getting my attention.29

“You okay?” Seth asked, staring at me with that genuine smile of his.30

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, smiling. “It’s just, you know, after today—“31

Seth chuckled a bit. “Don’t worry; we’ll see each other again soon. I promise,” he assured me, stroking my hand.32

I smiled even more, interlocking my fingers into his. I enjoyed this feeling, holding hands with Seth, but sometimes I felt like…there was something missing. 33

“Alriiiighhhttt,” Seth said, as he pulled into a parking space. I grinned and reached for the car’s door handle, until I was stopped by Seth. “Lemme get that for you, milady.”34

I shook my head and started laughing as Seth went all the way to the other side of the car just to open the door for me. “Oh, you’re such a gentleman,” I joked as he opened the car door for me. 35

“You know, I’m just doing my job as a fellow chauffeur,” Seth said, pretending he was a limo driver or something.36

“Well then, thank you, chauffeur,” I said as Seth helped me up out of her seat. “And here’s your tip.” I leaned over and gave Seth a kiss on the cheek.37

“Why thank you, milady,” Seth said, still in chauffeur mode. Then he changed to teenage-guy-who-just-scored-a-date mode and said, “Yes!!” doing that umpire hand motion. Then he turned back to adorable-college-boyfriend mode and held my hand.38

I giggled. That was one thing I liked about Seth—his changing character forms. It was pretty adorable…and funny. “Sooo…where are we going?”39

“You’ll see…” Seth hinted.40

Soon we were both heading towards a door to a restaurant. 41

“Applebees?” I said, giggling.42

“Yup, not too special, not too blahh,” said Seth as they went inside. Soon a waitress attended to us.43

“How many?” the waitress asked.44

“Two,” Seth replied.45

“Very well, follow me,” said the waitress, leading us to a booth for two. Soon we were both seated in the booth, accompanied with two menus. “What drinks would you like?”46

“Um, an iced tea for me, please,” I said.47

“Same here,” Seth said, smiling to the waitress. 48

“Alright, I’ll be back with the drinks and to take your orders.” Then the waitress noticed us still wearing our graduation gowns. “And congratulations, by the way.”49

Seth and I looked at each other and smiled. “Thank you,” we both said to the waitress before she nodded and went away.50

“Ok, what looks good?” I asked, picking up my menu.51

Seth put his menu down and looked at me. “You, baby.”52

I smiled and chuckled.53

Seth puts his palm under his chin and stares directly at me. “No, really, I could just eat you up for dinner…and then maybe strip you for dessert.”54

I laughed. “Not happening,” I said. 55

“Okay, okay,” Seth chuckled and returned back to his menu. A while later, the waitress came back with our drinks and then took our orders. 56

I took a sip of my iced tea. “So, um, when does your volunteer job start?”57

Seth took a sip of his, too, before he replied. “Tomorrow.”58

My eyes dilated in shock. “Seriously? Tomorrow?”59

Seth nodded. “Yup. My boss said I have to report to his office immediately on Monday. But considering that it’s all the way in Washington, I have to leave New York…tomorrow.”60

“Washington D.C…or..”61

“Nope, Washington the state,” Seth said.62

“Aww, that sucks. I thought we’d have at least one more day together after graduation before you left,” I said, reaching for Seth’s hand while I did this pretend puppy whine on my face.63

Seth chuckled and took my hand, kissing it. “Don’t worry, babe. Only three months and we’ll be together again.”64

“Aww, that sounded so romantic,” I said, smiling.65

“Well, you know me,” Seth began, doing that character change he always does, “I’m the romantic kind of guy.” 66

I giggled.67

After a while, the waitress brought what we ordered over to our table. 68

“So, what did you say you were going to do for the summer again?” Seth asked me, a while after they started eating.69

“Well, I have this journalism internship thingy during the summer. I received a letter saying to meet Mr. Jazz at his office, so I guess it starts from there.”70

Seth nodded between a bite. “So when do you have to meet him?”71

“Monday,” I replied, simply.72

“Wow, what a weird coincidence.”73

I smiled and sighed. “Yup, it is.” Then I took a bite of my steak.74

“Any idea on what he’ll have you do?” Seth asked me, after a short bit.75

I shook my head. “Nope. Not a clue.” And it was true, actually. 76

So we continued talking, blablabla, and eating, and then it was time for dessert, even though I didn’t know what Seth had coming.77

As I took a bite of my fudge chocolate chip sundae, Seth stared at me, instead of eating his dessert, which looked lonely. Not that food has any feelings or anything. If it did, we’d probably be dead by now.78

“What?” I said, putting down the spoon of sundae I was about to put into my mouth.79

Seth smiled and shook his head. “Oh. It’s nothing. I was just thinking about how we’ve been together all this time.”80

This was pretty surprising. “Well, yeah. I mean, even after we started dating, not that much changed, so…”81

“No…a lot has changed for me…for us,” Seth said, looking deep into my eyes as he reached over for my hand.82

I gulped. I didn’t know why I felt pretty panicky…I actually thought I’d react differently. So I forced a smile. “..I…”83

“You know I told you I loved you, right?” Seth said, still staring directly at me.84

I giggled like that was a rhetorical question. “Well…yeah, like a million times,” I joked.85

“Well…I really do,” Seth said slowly, as to increase the dramatic atmosphere. I wondered if he was doing a character change again or if he was being really serious. 86

I giggled again. “You know I love you too,” I replied, pretending to nuzzle his nose like those old couples do, hoping he’d catch on and start laughing with me. But when I looked at his eyes, I saw that he wasn’t kidding. He was serious. 87

“No…I mean…Lilly, I’m in love with you.”88

And at that moment I froze. I don’t know why…I thought I’d react differently from the way I did, like, maybe fall into his arms or any of that romantic llama jama. But, I didn’t. I was about to open my mouth to say something, when I started choking. 89

“Were you okay back there?” Seth asked me once we were back in his car, which lied in the parking spot surrounded by darkness. 90

I nodded, because I didn’t know what else to do. We sat there for a while in a succinct awkwardness. I stayed there, staring at my knees, or something else; I couldn’t tell because it was kind of dark. Seth stayed there, tapping the wheel with his left hand’s index finger while he had his key in the ignition, but didn’t start it yet. 91

“Um…Seth,” I finally managed to say, after clearing my throat.92

“Yeah?” Seth looked at me like he was nervous, anticipating something.93

“Uhh…about what you said back there, I…”94

“Was it too weird? Too sudden? Too awkward?” Seth asked me, all fidgety and whatnot.95

“No, it’s not that, well, it was kind of unexpected…” 96

“Unexpected?” 97

“Well, yeah…it kinda was—not that I didn’t appreciate what you said back there. I think it was really romantic.”98

Seth laughed. “Well…you know…”99

I reached over for his hand, or for something that looked like his hand, since it was dark. “You know I really, really, like you. And I really like it that you were able to tell me how you really feel about me.” This took a while for me to say. “B…but, well, we’ve only been dating for two years…I..”100

“Isn’t two years enough?” Seth said, although I’m not sure if he was on the joke-y side or the serious side.101

“No, I mean…I don’t think I’m ready to fall in love with you, or at least, not yet. I still need more time to figure that out. But for now, I just really, really like you, Seth, and I want to be with you,” I said, smiling. 102

Seth smiled too. “Okay, I gotcha.”103

“That’s my boy,” I joked, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Afterwards, Seth turned the ignition and started driving.104

I sighed in relief, on the inside, anyway. Honestly, I didn’t know how this all was going to turn out, considering it was the same day of our graduation. But, on the inside, I still got this strange feeling…but I don’t know what.105

I glanced at Seth as he drove his car. Seth was really popular with the guys at the university. Unfortunately, a lot of girls were interested in him too, ever since freshman year; it was as if he was an innocent teddy bear and all the girls were mad crazy bulldozers, just wanting to get under that fur of his. So, basically, I had been the opposite. I had Jenny and other friends too, and I was pretty social, but I never thought Seth would ever look at me, ever. But maybe it was fate that made him look at me in freshman year. And he was always so adorable, like he liked me or something. So…I guess that’s how we came to be. 106

I smiled.107

Soon Seth pulled up in front of my house. 108

“I guess this is it,” Seth said, once we were in front of my house’s doorstep.109

“Yeah,” I said, being a bit shy. “Um, thanks for tonight. It was awesome.”110

“I totally agree,” Seth said, putting his hands in his pockets.111

“How early do you have to leave tomorrow?” I asked, maybe for a reason to say something else.112

“Pretty early…I think you’d still be sleeping at that time.”113

I snickered and so did he. “Good luck, okay?”114

He grinned and leant over for a kiss. It’s been a while since he gave me a goodnight kiss—not a long time, but a while. I kissed him back too; the kiss lasted for three Mississippi’s. It’s strange, but, I thought there’d be more spark in that kiss. Actually, there was a lot less spark than usual.115

“Thanks,” Seth said after pulling back. “Goodnight, Lilly.”116

“Goodnight, Seth,” I said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before going in. Then just like that, I was back inside my house. That was the last time I’d see Seth before he left New York. As I sighed, it was then I noticed my mom emerging from the kitchen. 117

“Hey, Lilly,” my mom said once I took off my graduation gown. “You’re home late.”118

“Really?” I asked, not aware of the time. “What time is it?”119

“It’s already ten past eleven,” she said, so simply. “Where have you been after the ceremony?”120

“Oh, well, Seth and I decided to ditch the reception and went out to eat together. And then he brought me home,” I told my mom. 121

“Ooohh,” my mom said, smiling as if she was a new person, “then that’s fine with me. Congratulations, dear.” She gave me a hug.122

I tried on a smile but ended up yawning instead. “So where is everyone else?”123

“Oh, your sisters? They’re already asleep.”124

“Hmm,” I nodded, and then yawned again. “I’m heading up to sleep then.”125

“Alright, I was just here waiting for you,” my mom said, always the usual excuse for why she would stay up late.126

“Right, right, right,” I said tiredly as I went up the stairs to my room.127

After brushing my teeth and changing to a pair of pajamas, I plopped on my bed. Somehow, I had a feeling that tomorrow, or at least the day after tomorrow, something special awaited me. I closed my eyes.128