Hitting Balls

"Nik? Nik?" I can feel Lucky's hand shaking me gently. "Nik wake up, we're here." he whispers.

"Huh?" I say as I slowly open my big bulging sore eyes.

I'm still in Lucky's car and he's sitting beside me, staring at me curiously. I look around and I see a lot of parked cars.

"Are you okay?" he says, his eyes glinting concern.

"My head hurts." I say, clamping my both hands at the back of my neck.

"Sorry." he says.

"Why?" I ask immediately when he bump his head on the steering wheel.

"Sorry." Lucky says punching the windshield of his car.

"Hey. What's wrong? Where are we?" I ask, looking at him curiously and nervously. What's happening? Did we hit something? Did something happen while I was sleeping?

Lucky lifts his head up and says…

"We're at the car towing office. We've just been towed." he says. Oh my G!

"What? Are you serious? How?" I ask nonstop as I don't understand why his car was towed when we were inside it.

"Yeah. Seriously, you don't remember anything? I parked the car when I saw you sleeping. I know how much you hate sleeping in a moving car. I waited until you wake up but you didn't for almost 2 hours. And because of that the towing officers caught us. I tried talking to them but they didn't budge the reason I told them." he explains rapidly.

I'm slightly strucked of what I heard. So it was my fault?

"I'm sorry. I promise I'll get your car back." I say, facing down. Lucky loves his car more than anything or anyone- even his ex- girlfriend.

"You should be." he says. "Do you reckon how many times do I have to wake you up? I even sprinkled a little alcohol on your nose, but you're such a sleepy head that we ended up here."

"What? You put alcohol into my nose?" I ask, widening my eyes over him.

"Yeah. You sleep like you're dead. You won't wake up even… even…" he stops.

"Even what?" I ask, leaning my head over his face.

He look away then he says, "Even I already keep hitting your balls."

"What? You prick!" I look at him furiously. How dare him!

As soon as he saw me turning to him with a furious face, he raises his hands up in the air then he laugh so hard.

"Come here." I say as I manuevered myself to him at the other side. I raise my hand, preparing my thumb and point finger to pinch him.

"No." he says leaning his back on the car door, trying to avoid my pinch. "No, please don't!" he says pleadingly at me. One thing that Lucky hates is pinching. Pinch, pinch, pinch. Anything that involves pinching.

"Please don't, huh? You dare to hit my balls when I was asleep and you're scared of my pinches? Now take my wrath as I unleash the power of my pinches, avenger of balls!" I say, sounding like a stupid Thanos.

I'm about to pinch him in his cheeks when I heard few people laughing outside. I look outside to view who's there. Looks like a group of friends- five of them carries a bag of groceries each while the other one holds a bucket of chicken from a fast food chain.

"Hey! How come that those guys can get their car back when it's towed?" I ask. Am I missing something?

"Hehehehe." he cracks an awkward laugh. "We're actually at the car park of Robinsons Mall. Sorry. I lied again." he says while making a peace sign.

You lying prick!!! I almost feel sorry for him and blame myself for making his car towed. He's such a douchebag. I'm gonna really pinch him hard.

"Come here!" I scowl at him.

He crumples himself to avoid my pinches then he suddenly says, "I'm sorry. I was just kidding with you. I'm just trying to make you feel better. After what happened earlier at the hotel, I know how much it affected you. I thought that if I make fun of you, you'll be forgetting the pain you've felt for a moment. I'm sorry if I lied but that's the only thing I know to make you feel less stress. Atleast, now I know that you still have the energy to pinch me. You've been crying the whole ride until you just snore that I thought you died because of crying." he says in a serious manner.

I stop as soon as I heard his explanation. I move back to my seat. Lucky can be a jerk sometimes, but most of the time he'll be your number one supportive and protective friend. I'm happy that he's my bestfriend.

"Thank you." I say looking at him in the eye. He's right. For a moment there I forgot the pain that I've been feeling the whole time.

"But still don't joke anything like that anymore." I say while pinching his nose.

"Ngouch! Ngokay Ngokay!" he answers, tears coming from his eyes. I release my hand from his nose, marking a red fingerprint.

***

"Seriously, why are we here?" I ask as we start walking into the entrance of the mall.

"I figured out that you still haven't eaten anything yet. So maybe we could have a bite here at the mall." He's right. I haven't anything at the party and my tummy screams so hard right now.

"Do you know any good restaurant inside this mall?" I ask as we step inside. We pass under the metal scanner and let ourselves check by a big security guard.

"I don't know. Maybe we could find something as we walk around." he answers.

"Okay." I say.

We settle eating at 'Pork Grillz'- a restaurant which caters and serves dishes mostly about pork. We ordered a few line-ups including pork sisig, barbecue, pork caldereta, and a fresh lemon juice.

"I've been meaning to ask you this." Lucky interrupts the silence when we fondly eat silently. "After we eat, do you want to go back to your apartment?"

"Huh?" I say. Actually, I never thought of anything to do next. I haven't realzed where to go, what to do, what to think, when to go back, or will I still go back?

"I don't know." that's the only answer I can give him.

"Yeah. Must be hard to think right now. I bet you don't want to go back to your apartment tonight after what happened." he says. True.

"Yeah. I'll probably book a hotel for tonight. Then tomorrow, I don't know." I say, hardly chewing the food as I think of what's going to happen next day, next month, or next year.

"You uhmm... can stay at my house tonight if you want to." he offers casually.

"Really?" I say. "Wow! For the first time in our friendship years, you invite me into your house!"

Lucky rarely or never invite anyone into his house ever before. Even his past girlfriends never ever had a single chance to step at his doorstep not even a single toe.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't be so proud about it." he says casually, sipping the last drop of his lemon juice. "Hurry up! We should hit the road as soon as possible. And I'm tired already."

"Okay." I scoop the final rice serving and sip my lemon juice as fast as I can until I suddenly choke so hard and cough constantly. I almost feel like I'm out of breath.

Luckily, Lucky pats my back immediately and calls the waiter to get some service water.

"Ohohoy! Excited aren't you?" he says while patting my back, sitting beside me.

The waiter hurriedly came back bringing a glass of water. Lucky reaches the glass and feeds the water into my mouth. I hardly gulp and few water spill from the glass.

"You're really a messy eater." he says as soon as I became okay.

"It's your fault, idiot!" I say.

"What? It's not my mouth to begin with!" he defends indignantly.

"You made me hurry."

"Ohohoy! Look at you." he says and stretches his arms in the table to get a tissue. He lock his gaze on my mouth, wiping the mess around it gently.

He move his head into my mouth closer until I can hear him breathing. Our faces are at an inch apart. Does he really need to move closer to wipe the mess in my mouth? Is it normal?

I can feel that he's trembling while doing it.

What is he nervous about?

Why is he so caring?

Is there something I should know? Lucky?

Should I be lucky to have Lucky?