Read Table for Two for Free Online Page B

Really.”
    “Really?” Henry repeats. “She
doesn’t mind that she’s like, the empitome of fasyon , and we’re in shorts and step-in all the
time?”
    I don’t even correct him that it’s epitome, and that nobody says step-in anymore. “Look at me,” I
say, gesturing at my own legs and feet, clad in shorts and flip-flops. Since I
resigned from my full-time job several months ago to “find myself” and “decide
what I want to do,” I have been partial to this laid-back, hassle-free style on
my apprenticeship’s off days (which is five days a week). “She’s never ashamed
that I look like this when we go out. Why should she be ashamed of you? You’re
not the boyfriend. You’re just the boyfriend’s friends. She doesn’t care.”
    Henry shakes his head at me.
“Yeah, but dude, you look like...”
      “Like her younger brother?” I finish for him. “That’s fine.
I’m baby-faced. The ladies find it cute.”
    “More like her driver,” Henry
says.
    “ Alalay ,” Martin butts in.
    “ Taga-buhat ng shopping bags.”
    “ Taga-bukas ng pinto. ”
    “- Taga-bili ng merienda. ”
    “ Taga-timpla ng kape .”
    “ Taga-punas ng pawis.”
    “Okay, okay, I get it,” I say.
“But I’m telling you, it’s not a big deal. Kim doesn’t judge. She’s not like,
well, not like Vicky.”
    “We know she’s not like Vicky,”
Henry says.
    “Nobody can possibly be like
Vicky,” Martin says, grinning.
    I grin back. “So what’s the
problem with her?”
    “Nothing,” Martin replies. He
looks at his brother, who nods at him. “Kim’s perfect.”
    “And that’s the problem,” Henry
says. “Because you’re not perfect. And you don’t even try.”
    I stare at the
both of them. Could these two possibly be making enough sense to lead me to an
epiphany? I begin to consider it, but I am distracted when Blake storms in,
takes a seat beside Henry, gulps down Martin’s beer, and completely ignores me.
    “You can’t ignore me forever,” I
tell him. He doesn’t say anything.
    “Apparently he can,” Martin says.
I have a feeling the twins are enjoying this. I wouldn’t be surprised if they
actually placed bets on who would throw the first punch.
    An awkward silence descends over
the table. “Why are you so mad at me?” I ask, just so it wouldn’t be so awkward
and so silent anymore.
    “Oh, I don’t know,” Blake says.
“Maybe because you assumed Vicky and I were getting married because we were,
oh, I don’t know, having a baby, and not, oh, I don’t know, because we’re in
love?” He is flushed and out of breath when he finishes this sentence. It’s
still awkward, but at least it’s not silent anymore. Good start.
    “You don’t have to keep saying,
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Blake,” Martin says. “Because you do know.”
    “Yeah, and one ‘Oh, I don’t know’
is enough for sarcastic purposes,” Henry adds. “Carl got the point: that you
think he’s being an asshole.”
    “He didn’t say that,” I protest.
    “Doesn’t mean I don’t think it,”
Blake mutters, glaring at me with gritted teeth. He actually looks kind of
creepy, like a thirsty vampire but not in a mysterious, intriguing Edward
Cullen way. Not that I find Edward Cullen remotely attractive.
    “Ooh, snaaap!” the twins chorus
gleefully.
    “You know what, this is a waste of
time,” Blake says, pushing the table away from him and standing up so abruptly
he knocks over a couple of empty glasses. I hope he pays for those; he’s the
only one currently employed full-time. “I came here because I thought you were
actually going to be man enough to apologize. But now I see that I was
mistaken.” He fishes out a five hundred peso bill from his wallet, slams it
down on the table, and says, “I’ll see you around,” before turning away.
    What is up with all the slamming
down of innocent things tonight? Sheesh.
    Henry and Martin look at me
expectantly. “What,” I say, getting a napkin and trying to sweep the