They Know The End

Russell

6:00 pm

I couldn't stop thinking about it. Everything that happened. The Ferris wheel. The kiss. The look on Matt's face. And the question.

Throughout the entire experience, I felt. . .confident. I never felt that in my life, when it came to love and relationships. Though, I never had that much experience with it back at home.

With him, it's different. Maybe it was because we were gonna die today. It was probably that. Maybe it was because there was a deadline and it forced my hand.

But I put those thoughts behind my head as I was greeted by the familiar and lovely smell of barbeque. And I could even already hear the chatter of the people there.

At the front of the store was the massive barbeque grill. This was how places like these attract customers: they put the barbeque front and center. And all of the time, it works.

Tracy and her biker friends went in first. Matt, Sasha, and I went in last. He squeezed my hand, which made me blush.

I looked around to distract myself. The barbequehan wasn't a fancy place, but it was humble and it became one of its charms. The rough concrete floor, the plastic tables and chairs. . .if anything, it was close to home.

But I didn't think this was where we were going to eat. It was a bit cramped due to the people, so it didn't take long before Sasha, Tracy, and one other guy was ordering the food for us.

There were six people in her group. Four were boys and two were girls. Sasha was too busy to introduce us to them, so we just stayed a distance away from them.

Judging from their darker skin, they had been biking under the sun for a while now. Matt and I were lighter compared to them.

"Are you okay?" Matt whispered to me.

I managed a small smile. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I can handle people."

He seemed hesitant, but he let go of the topic nonetheless.

It took a while before the trio returned with two plastic bags filled with both pork and chicken barbeque and puso, rice intricately wrapped with intertwining leaves in a 3D diamond.

We went back to the park and sat down on the grass close to a lamp post. We took as many food as we could and ate to our heart's content.

I had five barbeque sticks on one hand and an opened puso on the other. I never found out I was famished until I started eating the meat off. The BBQ sauce tasted rich and smoky, almost like the grill it came from.

The meat was tender, and I loved consuming the slightly burnt parts of the barbeque. The rice was nothing to scoff at either. I had already eaten three of the puso.

I never felt so stuffed in my life. I thought my bloated stomach was just filled with air.

I looked around and saw that everyone was chatting with themselves. I was happy that everyone looked happy and safe. I also felt happy because Matt was beside me, eating his own share of food. 

"Do we have to pay for the food?" I asked Sasha, who was on my right.

"Nah." She gave a dismissive wave. "I actually paid for most of the food there, so you should enjoy it."

I turned to Matt. His share of food was way smaller than mine. "You should eat more," I told him, after gnawing a huge piece of meat off.

He chuckled. "You sound like my dad."

"Does he want you to become fat?" I joked.

"Nope, he wants me to be healthy."

I looked at his shirt, which hid his body. "So you were thin?"

"To him, yeah." He sighed. "He thinks I'm still thin after I exercise a lot."

I raised an eyebrow. "You have abs?"

"A flat stomach," he corrected. He reached out his hand to me. "You can feel it, if you like."

I let him move my hand to his stomach and I could feel the hardness of it and the rough feeling of his abs. He gave me a smile I could not comprehend. I was blushing so hard the entire time.

"Gee, you two should get a room!" Sasha teased.

I looked and saw that almost everyone was staring at us. They looked shocked, but they hid it so well. Luckily, I saw their eyes betray their true feelings.

"They're dating?" one of the boys asked. Kal was his name, I believe.

"N--no," Matt replied. "We're not."

"Yet," I added.

Some shifted uncomfortably.

"Don't tell me you guys are homophobic," Matt asked the four boys icily. Tracy and Sasha were scowling.

"It's just. . ." a guy, Neathan, stammered out.

". . .we haven't seen it in real life before!" the guy beside him, Harris, added.

"We're rooting for you too," said the last guy close to Tracy. His name was Xavier, and for me, was the most sensible-looking out of the group. He gave me a sheepish smile. "These guys haven't seen boys getting intimate."

The other three scowled at him.

"We weren't getting intimate," I said. I wanted to get out.

"You were. You guys were blushing." Kal bit his lip.

Okay, I thought. You got me.

The atmosphere became a lot awkward, but after a while, they uneasily settled back into their previous mood. We cleaned our mess and watched them talk. They were now sneaking glances at us, as if we did something terrible.

Matt and I huddled over beside Sasha as we all stood up and got ready to leave.

"Are you sure you won't play Cards Against Humanity with us?" Tracy asked, still maintaining her goofy mood. "I'm sure Russell hasn't played yet."

How much stuff did Sasha tell her about? I thought.

"Uh, no thanks," Sasha chirped in reply. "It's getting late and we still have to find a way back home."

"I'm sure there's some buses that should bring you back north. See you guys soon!"

"Bye!" The three of us waved goodbye at her and her biker friends before leaving the park.

-

Once we were at a safe distance, Sasha screamed, "Oh my God! I never knew those people were so stupid! I'm sorry that you had to meet them."

"It's fine," Matt replied, seemingly steely after the whole ordeal. "It's typical Filipino Boys, honestly."

She turned to the both of us, frantically. "I've got all of their numbers. Should I just delete them instead?"

"I don't think so," I answered thoughtfully. Then, I just rolled my eyes. "Well, we won't be here anyway, so do whatever."

She didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but she didn't ask about it afterward. Instead, she asked what was perhaps the most sensible question. 

"How are we going to get home?"