Christmas Treat

Amongst the thousands of shoppers doing some last minute shopping at Oxford Street, I finally saw him. With his grey trench coat and black cap on, he was there, at the middle of the footpath, waving at me.

“I kept on calling you! I was looking all over for you in here.” I tried not to say it as if he was my boyfriend, but the thought was just too hard to resist.

“Sorry sorry… low signal at the basement. Haha!” Art thought it was just a joke. I was already freezing while waiting for him outside the GAP store beside Oxford Circus.

“Fine. It’s madness in here,” I said. “We have to go someplace where I can breathe.” Thousands of Londoners were battling it out for the last stocks for the upcoming Christmas and bank holidays. Since the snow prevented them from buying their gifts, last minute shopping became their sole option.

Art needed to buy some stuff for the kids at his place. Damn. Is this where all of your Christmas bonuses go to? I have to kill you, spending at a time of austerity.

“Wanna buy some cheap ones? Let’s go to Trocadero then. They have small bazaars over there,” I said.

“Sure, but I’ll follow you. I dunno how to go there from here.” What the hell… he should know this by now… he’s been in London for almost 2 years already!

We traversed on the small streets, since Regent Street was jampacked. After a few minutes, we finally arrived at the famous Piccadilly Circus, and above it was the Sanyo logo with its brightness on full force.

Jesus, there seemed to be more people than usual. Hundreds were waiting outside the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum for their turn to get inside. Beside it was London Trocadero, a large arcade and gaming complex.

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“Are you sure?” I asked again.

“Yeah I am. Unless you have a curfew, then it’s fine. Haha,” he jeered.

Another impromptu film watching…. Haha good thing Art has this affinity to fantasy and young adult fiction, like me, so he decided that we would watch The Chronicles of Narnia. The worst part was, Art’s gonna pay for my ticket. He said that it was his Christmas gift to me. Jeez, I hate these kinds of signals… Mixed signals I mean.

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“I dunno what to say. Nakakahiya. Don’t worry, once, I have more money with me, I’ll-“

“As I’ve said, stop worrying about it.” Art was going for his seconds already.

We were at a Chinese Restaurant in Gerrard Street that does buffet. The place felt really funny because of two things. First, it’s because finally, I am in a place wherein I can fit. Well, I don’t really look 100% Oriental, but to most other nationalities, they think that I am from one of these three countries: China, Vietnam, or Thailand. Um, no Philippines?

Second, we’re only 1 or 2 streets away from Soho, London’s gay district. Actually it can overlap because gay bars can be found in the outskirts of Chinatown already.

The Chinese resto we’re eating in was the cheapest we can find. Buffet for a fiver? Not bad. Compared to the ones who 8 quid or more, sans drinks.

As usual, being the nosy bastard that I was, I kept on pressing him about his career and about this girl he met from a dating site. Seriously, I still find it hard to believe the latter one. No pictures on FB, no status updates, nothing. If Gene, Tina, and I would press him about this, he would just laugh and show an innocent face, even though if his mind is as dirty as a landfill.

He still isn’t saying anything. He just talked about his career progress. I keep on hearing good things from him, like how he can be offered a job at a British bank. And as expected, he was doing his jobhunting through connections. I was a bit tempted to ditch him during that moment because it felt unfair for me. But since he decided to treat me, I had to stay.

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“That would be 5.67 please,” the Indian guy on the till said.

“Are you sure? Can you weigh it again please?” I demanded. And true enough, the weighing scale was damn accurate. I can hear Art snickering at the back.

“Hahaha! I was wondering why you kept on scooping sweets. Children know how to portion, you know,” he said, still laughing really hard.

Since Art paid for my ticket, it’s just right to pay for the food or whichever thing he wanted. Since he wanted some sweets, we went to a candy shop and scooped some gummy worms and chocolate. 100 grams equated to 1.26. Not bad right? But as you guys can see, I think I had scooped a bit too much.

“Why didn’t you stop me then?” I was getting a bit pissed off already.

“Well I wanted to, but you’re just so funny to watch. Like a 5 year old kid who’s very excited in scooping this and that.” He was still laughing uncontrollably.

“Sorry ah, I rarely scoop sweets even back in Manila,” I reiterated. I wanted to get mad, but I just can’t. His laughter was just really irritating, in a good way. Maybe when I get home, I’ll really see the gravity of spending almost 6 pounds just for sweets.

We entered the cinema. Same format and everything as the last film showing. I could see him from my peripheral as he was watching the film intently. I could hear him laugh from time to time, but usually at the corny parts. And for me, I was listening very closely at the actors' accent, and was checking to see if they have traces of the modern one. Aside from that, nothing really happened. Told you my life’s boring.

After the show, we both headed off to Piccadilly Circus station. I thanked him and greeted him a Merry Christmas. He replied with a greeting as well, and I headed off to the Bakerloo line platform.

As soon as I get home, I really need to talk to my cyberfriends about this. I can’t take these mixed signals anymore.