the dare: what i can do to break someone's machismo

so what do you think are the major problems of the philippines?

it was a friday night and for most people, its a gimik night. but ideally, it was not for me since i have classes for the entire day of saturday. but for the past months, i used to attend classes and cram paper dues without a a descent sleep or had passed bad papers. i guess, friday night is just hard to resist.

so knowing myself, i still went out with my best friend and the rest of the gang in sarahs (the most popular inuman in UP diliman). its been a while since i saw them and i guess, in a way, i have forced myself to restrengthen the old knots.

we only had four bottles of beer. then we decided to call it a night because i'll be needing to help another friend for her thesis. but this friend, invited me to meet her other sets of friends for another drink. so the kaladkarin part of me, as usual, tagged along again.

when we arrived in drews along katipunan avenue, the place was jampacked. she introduced me to her friends. mostly, girls; loud but entertaining girls!

their gang decided to meet up because of m, one of their closest friends, who just recently came back from south korea as an exchange student. he walked in with a korean guy named henry. henry is goodlooking. he has this typical korean boyband look: tall, chinky eyes (of course), tall nose, thin red lips and his straight, to quote m.

then my second inuman started. i've realized, im beginning to be an alcoholic again since i've been drinking for weeks straight now.

anyhow, in the beginning of the inuman, i decided to limit my faction to the people i only know. although, the rest of the circle was quite distracting, for the rest of the girls started kissing each other, which i find very typical in this kind of bars.

then later on M, joined in in the lips ball and they started giving each other smacks and french kisses. while henry on the other hand, was just laughing and observing them.

i, or we, didn't mind it at all. i guess thats just how close and comfortable they were. my only consideration was that they dont really have to flaunt it that way--- or probably again, im just too old for it.

it didn't take me that long before the alcohol spirit kicks in, especially im not really into hard drinks. then i just realized, henry was already talking to me. asking me, what my endevours are? what do i do? if ive been to their country? etc. etc. etc.

so being the hospitable filipino that i am, i politely answered. though i must admit there was a bit of language barrier. but we pretty much understand each other. then, i asked him back.

so why the philippines? have you already served your military service? hows south korea with north korea so far? me, trying to move away from the conventional beauty contest questions, which i think had already asked from him a million times. well, for a 20 year old guy, i must say, he answers well. he thinks years more than the other korean people i've spoke to before. until i asked him, so what do you think are the major problems of the philippines?

without any pause, he immediately answered back. as if he already had a canned answer in mind. first, the government. then, smoking and drinking. lastly, and there too many gays.

ofcourse, among all the answers he said, it was the last line that struck me the most. why? why did you consider gays as a problem?

i appreciate them. im mascom (student) so i have gay friends. but you see, im also christian.

i then sense that henry was starting to get into everyone's nerves. well, i kinda expected it since everyone in the table were sociology graduates/students.

for me, i truly understand his faith and all that. probably because, by now, im already settled with the fact that religion or faith is perhaps the most difficult issue to debate with. noone really draws out a common meeting point because belief is not something that you can totally change over a conversation or even a day. if ever it will happen, it will be long process of dis and reassemblying.

nonetheless, considering homosexuality as a national problem is something i think goes over its definition of what a national problem really is. for me, its not that as if you'll control or prohibit one's sexuality, will basically help the country. considering the fact, that most homosexual nowadays, are active contributors and citizens that are no longer enclosed among the stereotyped professions. in my opinion, the filipino society has, so far, transgressed the issue of gender in a borderless professional space, where one is no longer classified based on his/her gender.

anyhow, i respected his answer. i guess, it was an opinion he is really entitled with since he came from a relatively different culture than ours. but then, he asked me if i were comfortable with that "problem." and in a way i said, yes. though i told him, i don't really considered it as a problem. then surprised with my answer, he asked me the same question thrice, which i answered back with greater stress and conviction in each repeats.

"really?! seriously?! no kiddin?!"

then he moved closely and whispered, "if you are really the person you claim to be, then can you give my gay friend here (M) a french kiss?"

by that time, i was already on the verge of a heart attack.

you see, despite my extrovert personality, i still consider myself as a very private person. a lot of people can actually atest to this. and kissing in public, especially in a well packed place, is something i would not really do. eventhough people wouldn't eallymind. but then again, i thought, if this would cause breaking another person's machismo, then perhaps its worth it and besides i remember putting "making out with a stranger" as one of my lifelist last year. so i heed to the challenge.

but i told henry that, i'll only give m a french kiss, if he'll do it to him too afterwards.

still convinced that i am bluffing, he agreed and sealed it with a handshake.

so i stood up from my chair, grab m's back neck, move him closer to my face and gave a good two minuter.

for me, everything just turned blank black. all i could sense was the crowd cheering. nothing else.

then we were done. i moved away, returned back to my seat and laughed while looking at henry's surprised face.

i admit, i was already too tipsy to mind the people from the other tables, who were also cheering that time. m then, extended his hand and congratulated me.

the poor henry, on the other hand, was still shocked in disbelief. and by the time the crowd turned their cheers to him, he asked for a moment. he prayed and started talking to m and explained to him beforehand what they're going to do will not mean a thing to him and that he is still straight. when m affirmed, henry then shut his eyes and just waited for the guy infront to kiss him. m then dived in with his tounge trying to get in in henry's closed lips.

the crowd then reacted that it was not a french kiss since there were really no tounge from both parties involved. so henry loosened up and allowed m's tounge to go through. in other words, the kiss went longer than it should have been.

when they were done, everyone cheered louder for all three of us.

suddenly the girls in our table asked henry to do it as well to me. but i refused, saying that its no longer part of the deal and the atmosphere was getting more immature than it used to be from the time i kissed m. no, from the moment harry came up with that dare.

but basically, henry and i shook each other's hands and in a way i am glad that we were both (hu)man enough to stand by our words.

after a while, we noticed henry started making the same moves toward the other girls. trying to throw the same dare we made earlier. but the girls politely refused, but then he kept on insisting until some of them were beginning to ask for my help.

i guess, it was already too much alcohol for most of us or the guy was just trying to reconfirm his sexuality by doing it to the girls. well, im just laughed at the thought of it. eventually, henry raised the white flag and officially ended his night by sleeping on the table. while us on the otherhand, decided to hit home.

it was definitely a long night. nonetheless, it was all worth it. probably because something new happened for me in an inuman. someone went out of his comfort zone and crossed a life list. while the other hopefully learned something out of it, thats if he still remember everything that happened when he wakes up.