One More Chance

"Oh, God!" I dropped my body onto the chair. "What the heck!" I exclaimed as I covered my mouth with my hands. "Do you think he heard our conversation?"

"Uhm... I don't know, maybe?" she ended her answer with a question mark.

"Gosh! Have you seen the look on his face? I think he heard all of it!"

But instead of comforting her best friend, she suddenly burst into laughter.

"What the---why are you laughing?" I asked her with a frown.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it! How I wish you had seen your face when he walked into the kitchen earlier! Jeez! You looked so damn pale, girl!" and she continued to laugh.

"It's your fault! You asked me those ridiculous questions!"

"Hey, what's the matter if I asked you those questions? They were just hypothetical questions, duh! And if ever he had heard them, well, I'm sure he knew what hypothetical question means, right?"

"But Jack..." I paused as suddenly the question 'how would I explain it to him' popped up in my head.

"What?" she grinned. "Come on, Sam, there was nothing wrong with my questions nor with your answers. Besides, you just expressed what was in your mind, and in my opinion, it's better that he finally heard them from you so he could analyze the consequences of what he did."

I just let out a long, deep sigh as I leaned back against my seat. Jack was right, I should not be bothered by what he feels right after hearing them.

I awkwardly walked in front of Luke and my brother's table. Patrick and some of their friends were also with them and Jack was with me as we walked past them.

I felt his stares behind my back but I pretended oblivious until we sat down at the next table. They were laughing and singing now perhaps from the effect of alcohol... well, except for Luke who I always caught staring at me.

I took a deep breath as the guilt in my chest as well as the pressure I was currently getting from his stares made me feel uneasy in my seat.

"Samantha, what is going on with you? You seemed like a cat on a hot tin roof, for God's sake!"

"Ouch!" I complained when I felt Jack's palm on my thigh.

"Can you sit still?"

"But that's what I'm doing!"

"Oh, hell, you're not! Come on, if you're wondering if he overheard our last conversation and if you're bothered by what he feels, why don't you just pull him to the other edge of the swimming pool and talk to him?" "I'm not bothered!"

"Tss! Yeah, of course, you're not! I'm your best friend, so I believe you!" the sarcasm was clear in her voice.

I shook my head as I chuckled at her.

"Oops! It's your chance now to talk to him!"

"What?" I frowned, but then followed what she was looking at only to see Luke walking toward the other side of the pool. "What do you want me to do?"novelbin

"What the heck--- of course, you need to stand up and follow him, duh! He's talking to someone on the phone so you stay behind him and wait for him until he's done talking to whoever that someone is!" "But Jack...!" I hesitated to get up.

"Will you stand up and follow him or will I shout and call him and tell him that you want to talk to him? Which of the two?"

"Jesus Christ, Jackeline, you're insane! Argh!" So yeah, I was forced to get up and do what she said.

Walking toward the other edge, I forgot how many times I took deep breaths to calm myself and stabilize my hammering heart inside my ribcage. He was facing the opposite direction so he didn't see me walk behind him. "Yeah, I know, I'll be back as soon as possible," I heard him say before he ended the call.

"Hi,"

It was the shortest greeting of all the greetings listed in my vocabulary, but I don't know when it became the most awkward one at that moment. I swear, I witnessed the surprised look in his eyes when he saw me before he changed it into a cold one. 'Damn you, Jackeline Soriano!'-

"Sam,"

Even mentioning my name became cold as ice.

"C - Can I talk to you?" Heck! Why do I have to stutter?

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now, I still have a meeting by 9 pm."

And my jaws dropped as he walked past me.

"Luke," I called out and he turned around with a sigh.

I felt like I was thrown back into the times when I had to talk to him about being a father to the baby inside of me. That feeling I felt back then was just the same as what I have right now, especially when he looked at me with those same cold, expressionless eyes. "If you're going to ask me if I overheard your conversation with Jack in the kitchen earlier, well, my answer is no. I didn't even hear any words so, you don't have to worry." "But Luke---"

"I'm sorry but I really have to go,"

"Huh!" my heart sank into the deepest corner of my chest as he cut me off and walked back to their table. He left just like that without even bothering to glance at me.

I was about to ask him why he was giving me cold shoulders when he didn't hear our conversation, but he just left. I even saw him walk back into the house. He's probably going now to the meeting that he mentioned.

I know everyone witnessed what happened so, with a heavy heart, I slowly went back to our table. I was on the verge of crying but I fought back those tears. It's not the right place to let them flow and I don't want my brother, his friends, and my best friend to see them. "What happened?" Jack asked, motioning me to sit down next to her.

"Nah," I shook my head. "He ignored me!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. I saw that,"

"Then why do have to ask again?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Hmmp! That jerk even gave me cold shoulders! Haist! And you know what, he didn't even give me time to speak, for crying out loud!"

"Whoa! Haha... so now you know the taste of your own medicine," she laughed, but then that made me frown at her. "Didn't you want him to stay away from you?"

"That's a different situation, Jackeline Soriano!" I huffed but she laughed even more.

"Ohh... I love the way you mentioned my name! I now realized that I'm really destined to be your sister-in-law!"

"Haha... sister-in-law my foot!" but then I smiled as I remembered their roller-coaster journey before admitting their feelings to each other. And eventually, I found myself laughing with her. I just laughed out the weight of my chest.