@tory-dim -- Hey, i miss your stories already! :)

***

One message received: "Hey Dumbo! You busy?"

One message sent: "Nope. Why?"

"Just asking. Hey, I didn't see you on the soccer field this morning."

"Sorry. I was stationed at the basketball court."

"Too bad."

"I went there but the game was already finished. I heard your team won. Congrats!"

"I made three goals today..."

Should I reply to his text? What if he would say something that would render me speechless, or would textless be the appropriate word? I decided to reply to his message. "That's great! How's your ankle? I hope it's not hurting you."

"No. But my heart is," his reply to me.

"What? Are you okay? Maybe it was the heat. Maybe you need to get ECG."

"I haven't seen you all day that's why my heart aches."

I suddenly giggled as I read his reply. I flopped on to my bed and couldn't stop myself from smiling. Really, since when did Mark become this cheesy and corny? "Ha-ha. Your pick up lines are so lame. LOL."

"I guess you're really tired today, huh?"

I texted my reply: "A little. Why you ask?"

"Because you kept on running in my mind all day long."

Now he was really being corny! But I just couldn't help from laughing as I read his message. "Worst pick up line ever! Hahaha."

"I want to see you tomorrow."

I paused for a minute. Ryan already had someone in his life. Mer has a boyfriend. I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to expand my circle of friends. "Sure."

"Great! I don't have any game tomorrow so I could hang out with you."

"Okay. Got to go. Need to sleep now."

"Okay. Goodnight, Kyla."

"Goodnight, Mark."

"Those three goals I made today, they're for you... Three goals for I Like You."

I did not respond to his last text. He finally said it. And I had no idea what to reply.

***

"Okay, Kyla. Let's review our notes," Mer was saying. But I wasn't really listening to her. My mind was drifting and floating away. It was Mark and his corny pick-up lines' fault. I suddenly smiled as a memory of his text flashed across my mind.

We were at the cafeteria having our snack of halo-halo, and Mer was droning on and on again about whatever she was saying.

"Hello! Earth to Kyla!" Mer said, waving her hand in front of my face.

"W-what? Sorry, Mer. You were saying?"

She rolled her eyes. "I said let's have a recap of the notes I wrote. So okay. You mentioned before the things you like in a guy, remember? So I made three columns with Luke, Franco and Mark's names at the top then below are the qualities that you like about them."

I gave her a nod, indicating for her to proceed.

"Okay," she started. "Under Luke's name: Boy-next-door, knows how to play the guitar, intelligent, charming."

I guess Luke had those qualities.

"As for Franco," Mer continued, "mysterious, bad-boy type and knows how to fight, charming in a brooding sort of way."

Franco was full of thrill, and I would never be bored with him. And considering that he often gets chased by their rival gang, life with him would be filled with thrill and suspense.

"For Mark," Mer read her notes, "guy who is into sports, funny, we will consider his three goals for you as sweet."

"How about my cupcakes? They need to like my cupcakes," I stated.

"Only Ryan eats your cupcakes," Mer pointed out. "Even your mom finds it disgusting."

"Wow Mer, you just hurt my feelings." I settled my elbow on the table and propped my chin on my hand. "At least Ryan likes my cupcakes. I wish he's my secret admirer. That'll solve my problems."

"What did you just say?"

I looked at her with a blank expression. "Did I say anything?"

"You said --never mind. Anyway, among these three gorgeous guys, who do you like best?"

Hmm. Who did I like best? "I don't know. I can't decide." They all have these qualities that I suddenly find charming and irresistible, considering that I only made those up before. The curse was trying to wind itself in my life! How could I explain that I suddenly I found a boy-next-door, bad boy and a jock? And I was torn as to who I liked best. See? The curse was finally making its presence known.

"Do not think about the curse," Mer said as if reading my mind. "It's not the curse that brought these three gods in your life --its fate." She suddenly had this dreamy expression on her face as she sighed wistfully. "I wish I have a sun god for a boyfriend."

I chuckled at that thought. Mer and her ideas were sometimes hilarious.

"I just thought of something," Mer said, sort of with an expression as if an imaginary light bulb appeared above her head. "Speaking of gods, Luke could be our sun god. I think Mark would be perfect for the god of the sea role. And Franco would be our brooding mister god of the underworld. What do you think?"

"I think you just lost it, Mer," I answered, laughing at her casting for the role of gods of Olympus. "And who might I be in this story?"

"The mortal who these three gods are fighting over for."

"And who might you be?"

"Aphrodite of course! I thought it was already obvious?"

I chuckled as Ryan joined our table.

"And Ryan could be Zeus," Mer added as he eyed Ryan handing me a bar of dark chocolate. "Because Ryan always takes care and looks after you. Because mere mortal Kyla gets a chocolate. While goddess of love and beauty Meredith gets nothing. Bummer."

Ryan just chuckled at Mer's drama and handed her a brown paper bag. "Here you go, Mer."

She opened the paper bag and inspected its content. "Oooh! It's a shut-up-and-stop-whining chocolate chip cookie. Thanks Ryan, you're the best." She took a bit of the cookie and she dramatically closed her eyes as if savouring the taste of the cookie. "Hmmm. This is good."

"I knew you will like it," Ryan answered.

Mer schooled her expression and tried to look hurt. "First the salad for lunch, now chocolates for desert. Best friend Kyla receives the special treatment, while poor old best friend Mer gets neglected. I feel left out."

"But you said you don't eat plant food when I offered you salad. And you also said you don't like chocolate that much," Ryan explained.

Mer made a pout. "But I'm a best friend, too. I deserve a strawberry cheesecake."

Ryan laughed good-naturedly. "Then strawberry cheesecake it is. Tomorrow."

"Oh! I love you best friend Ryan!"

"And I love you too best friend Mer."

See how crazy my friends were? No wonder I became a lunatic.

"So what did I miss?" Ryan asked. Then Mer gave him a recap of what she wrote and her theory about the identity of our Mystery Man. Ryan's brows furrowed as if he was in deep thought. "But what if none of those three guys is our Mystery Man?"

I had never thought of that possibility.

Mer just wave her hand, dismissing Ryan's question. "At least we have identified three guys who like Kyla. Soon enough, she will have a boyfriend, thus proving to her that the family love curse is not real. So Ryan, please do not ruin my plans for making my best girl friend find happiness."

Ryan threw his hands up in surrender. "Yes, ma'am. All I'm saying is that Kyla should be ready for those possibilities."

"It's okay Ry," I assured him. "I'm ready for this now. I told you I will have to face the curse sooner or later. And I think the best time would be now. If I do get hurt, I know the two of you will be there to join me over a gallon of chocolate ice cream while I drown myself in sorrow."

"You know I'll swim that river of sorrow and rescue you before you drown in despair, right Ky?" Ryan said. "Just like how you saved me when Amanda broke up with me."

"I know, Ry. I know you will give my heart CPR to revive love and resuscitate hope. That's what best friends do." I looked him in the eye and I saw he meant what he had said. It made me smile to realize how lucky I was to have Ryan in my life. He was always there for me, looking out for me. He was not only my friend, my brother, my shadow, my partner in mischief and petty crimes when we were young... He was already my life. And thinking about it made me feel I was the luckiest girl in the world.

"Okay!" Mer interjected. "Please stop from acting like star-crossed lovers in a really bad movie. It's cheesy, I tell you."

I pulled my eyes away from him and stared ahead of me instead. I saw Franco crossing the cafeteria and looked as if he was heading towards our table.

And I was right. He was now standing in front of our table. "Ice Cream Girl, I need to talk to you."

I took a quick glance at Ryan and Mer. "Sure Franco. Have a seat with us."

He shook his head. "Not here. Come with me." I gave a gasp of surprise when he suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my chair. He was leading me towards the exit when I twisted my neck and looked over my shoulder to tell Mer to look after my things. But she was already shooing me with her hand and mouthing "I got this." Ryan was clenching his jaw and fist.

The sea of students gave us a wide berth like red sea parting as we made our way through the crowd. He led me outside of the campus and I knew where we were heading: The abandoned building.

We entered the building and walked further inside until we reached the room where his murals were.

"I finally told my dad about my paintings," he said. "I even showed it to him."

I whirled around to face him. "What did he say?" Franco gave me his devilishly cute smile and I already knew the answer. "I knew he'd like it!"

"He said he was proud of my works. We're still talking about it, though. Negotiating about my future plans, that is."

"But that's great! It's a start, right?"

"Yes, it is a start. I'm glad I met you to give me that pep talk. I owe everything to you. But that is not the reason why I brought you here." He again held my hand and led me to a connecting door to the other side of the room. "I want to show you that one."

I turned around at the direction he was pointing and what I saw took my breath away. It was me in a very vivid and lively swirls of colors. I was holding a mic on one hand, my hair, which I wore lose that night during the concert, was flowing behind my back in dramatic waves. There were stars above my head, and behind me were wide wings like that of an angel. I was smiling in the picture, a smile so bright and cleverly painted, I could even feel the exhilaration the girl in painting was feeling. That was exactly how I felt that night on stage, and Franco was able to capture it in his mural.

"I -I... Wow..." I stammered. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything. Not yet..." He spun me around and he gently tilted my chin upwards so our eyes could meet. "That was how I saw you that night. And I'm glad that you came bumping into my life with that ice cream."

His thumb continued to caress my cheek, and my words were stuck in my throat. My heart felt like as if it was beating rapidly. And I just stood there, gazing in his smoldering eyes with no idea on how to respond to his words!

He inched his face closer to mine. "I like you, Kyla. I really do." And he ended it with a kiss.

It was my first ever, real, electricity-inducing, mind-blowing kiss on the lips.

I felt like I just died and gone to heaven.