Martin was invited to a birthday party. No, he wasn’t the principal guest, sabit lang sya. Debbie was the real invitee. Since they got together again after so many years of separation, he obliged.
Though the celebrant was not a close friend, they’ve known each other for a number of years. Bumped into each other a number of times but never said more than a Hi or a Hello. But nonetheless, he found himself in the party because Debbie was a grade school classmate and a very close friend thru high school and to some extent, even in college. Or is she?
At the garden, where the party was happening, Martin saw a number of familiar faces. There was Bettina Herrks who flew in from Frankfurt , there’s Melita Pumps who now works a Marketing Director for a winery in Napa Valley
First stop was Bettina whom she knew from high school. Martin overheard her saying “Si BFF talaga ang ganda! Swerte ni Pareng Joven!”. A guest in her table asked her, “Close ba kayo ni Ms Lian?” She replied, “Close? Ganito kami, noh!” Pointing to her index and middle fingers closely together. “Swerte nyo naman Madam! Kayo pala ang BFF ni Ma’am Lian.”
After waiving to Bettina, Martin moved to another table, this time to Melita. Now, Martin is actually close to this lady so they greeted cheek-to-cheek. He didn’t realize that he actually interrupted her with her explanation to the other guests in her table. She too, is a BFF! She was telling them that they’ve been thru a lot; from the time both of them are nobodies to today that they’re both made and famous. Martin asked himself, “Kayo din?” As if to answer him, Melita said, “Kung di man sila nagkakilala ni Joven, I am sure marami rin sya makilalang mayaman, matalino, gwapo at sikat kasi super ganda si BFF!”
To Martin, this is just another bragging rights being blurted out. He told himself, “Who am I to say no? Di ko rin alam kasi di naman ako privy dun sa celebrant.”
Seeing Debbie having a good time talking with her old friends from grade school, Martin thought he’d be better off in the sidelights. Anyway, lahat naman eh di nya barkada, much less BFF. So in the farthest corner table half-empty, he thought he can probably sit na. Wrong!
At the table is Jillian Sights, a lending magnate so to speak but a past due debtor and was a bad client of Martin in a bank he used to work with. They had a falling out kasi ni-recommend nya but in the course of the loan, she defaulted.
Right away he knew, off limits sya dun. So Martin thought he’ll spend the whole night standing up or sitting in anything solid enough to hold his butt. As such, he never got to hear what Jillian has to say as yet another BFF.
So sino ba talaga yung BFF nila? Why are they so bragging in the rights to be her solo BFF? Well for one, Lian is now a famous model and has an equally famous husband. To be seen with her is like a billboard ad in Guadalupe EDSA, libre kaagad plugging mo! And syempre, konting pagmamalaki na si BFF ay, BFF mo!
Right after Lian gave a short speech, she went down to the tables to meet and greet everybody. What happened was a bit of a comical event. Bettina, Merlita and Jillian are all tugging Lian to their respective tables, as if to show she’ll go to their table first to show kung sino nga talaga BFF!
It was evident that Lian was irritated with the gestures. But ever the gracious person, she let it all in stride.
After satisfying each and every BFF’s desire to be photographed with her, Lian saw Debbie and Martin having cocktails in the corner and non-chalantly joined them. She said to Debbie, “O, dito pala boylet mo bakit di mo man sinabi sakin? Just like that, they greeted each other cheek-to-cheek and was surprised when a flash bathed them. “O, enjoy lang kayong dalawa, marami pa tayo pagkukwentuhan. Don’t ever leave without telling me!”
Needless to say, after an hour or so, Martin and Debbie waived goodbye to Lian. But Lian went after them and both gave them another cheek-to-cheek good byes. Again, flashes filled the area and cameras clicked.
The next morning, Martin was reading the paper and on the social page was a double shot of Lian, each one showing her giving a kiss to Debbie and the other to Martin with a caption “Future Power Couple?”
Martin gave it a quirky smile and said, “Who’s the BFF now?”
