Back in the Game...

" Cil, laag daw ta tonight ngon Mai kay day off niya.", goes a text from Joey.

I just arrived in Cebu after a 2 month hiatus in the Lion City, Singapore.

For the past year, Joey, Mai and I have been inseparable.

" Let's meet for dinner at Zao. Jim is inviting us. " , a follow-up text from Joey. Jim is a constant figure in most of our night-outs.

By 7pm I was dressed and ready to go out. I grabbed my purse and headed for my car. Took me 30 minutes to pick up Joey and another 5 minutes to reach Mai's place where Zao was conveniently located.

After a hearty meal and listening to some shocking updates, I received a text from Andrew, " I'm on my way to Grill Ave. See u there at 9 ". Another one from Lloyd followed, " Are u guys all together na? I'll be waiting for u at Grill Ave."

So, the troupe drove down to our favorite hang-out, Grill Ave where Lloyd's band is a regular, to start our night.

After consuming 3 bottles of Strong Ice, I whispered to Joey, "I'm getting bored". With a knowing smile, Joey informed the group that we will be transferring to his new-found haven, Autoshop.

"Now you're talking!", was Jim's excited response.

I glanced at Joey with a blank look. "It's a flesh market. That's also the place where I kissed a girl!", Joey offered without blinking.

"Oh!" was my only response to that.

And Autoshop we went. As soon as I stepped inside, I realized they were right! The place was jam packed with sweaty bodies gyrating to the beat. I haven't even reached our table when a guy comes in front of me and started to dance. I neatly sidestepped him and chased after Joey.

I love dancing. After finishing off the bottle of Red Horse, I joined the group on the dance floor.

Joey was busy checking out the guys around. Jim has his arms around a girl we don't know. Mai was busy texting her newest fling. Andrew was indulging himself on the bucket of booze left on our table.

"Cil, that guy's hot!"
"The one wearing white polo is cute."
"Do you think that guy is straight?"

These are the quips Joey threw at me.

"There's one way to find out dear if they're straight or not. If he looks at me then he's straight but if he looks at you then you got what you want." I answered with a smile.

Unfortunately, Joey didn't get his wish. So we decided to just be each others dancing partner for the night. I've got no problem with the set-up since I'm most happy when I'm dancing with my friends. Every time I go out, Joey has always been my buffer to unwanted attentions but this night was different.

I was dancing on the ledge when Joey grabbed my hand and pushed me to the nearest table.

"Cil, this is Allan.", introduced Joey with an innocent smile. " He's asking me if he can dance with you."

Caught off guard and with no escape since my bodyguard himself decided to abandon me with blessings(you know I'll always love you Joey even if you feed me to the lions), I exchanged pleasantries and danced with him for a couple of minutes. I then excused myself to return to our table to down another shot of alcohol. I pulled Joey aside and asked, " What did you do that for?"

"Besides that he's a cutie, he gentlemanly asked for my permission. Cil, you're only here for 2 weeks so just enjoy! Anyway, he's seems to be a nice guy and I haven't seen him dancing around." was his reasoning.

My fate that night was decided by Joey. With Allan's style of non-offensive persistence and Joey's matchmaking moods, I ended up dancing with him till dawn.

At 5 am we called it a night. Jim drove off without a new girl in tow. Mai left earlier to meet her new love interest. Andrew also left earlier with the excuse of "Something came up." And I dropped Joey home.

After dragging my inebriated self up to my room and threw myself on the bed, my cellphone beeped.

"Cil, text me when you're home. Welcome back! We missed you. luv u!", was from Joey.

"Hi, this is Allan. Ur great. Hope to see u soon.", was from my new found friend.

Postscript

That night I was back in the game and into Cebu's nightlife.
With my unattached friends, we partied non-stop.

They made sure my brief visit was never dull.

Looking forward to my next visit in 6 months...