How to uncrush your crush—Step number two: Let go of all the stuff that reminds you of your crush…

“GIVE me your phone, Cash,” Irani asked her after reading the second stop in the article on her iPad. 

Cashmere took out her cell phone and handed it to her best friend. "Here."

Irani looked at her as she tapped her phone's screen. "What's your password?" 

“Twelve-eighteen. Grey's birthday.”

Irani shook her head. "Really, Cashmere? You haven't changed your wallpaper yet? It's still Grey's picture here on your screen. Even your password's still his birthday."

Cashmere pursed her lips. "What? We're still the same, Irani. You have your crush Andrei as your phone's wallpaper."

“At least, I only have him as my wallpaper,” she defended. “I never set his birthday as my password. Besides, I only have ten pictures of Andrei saved in my phone gallery. Unlike you, Cashmere! You have at least one hundred photos of Grey in your phone." 

Irani opened Cashmere's phone and went to the gallery section. They immediately saw a collection of Grey's pictures saved on it. 

“Three hundred fifty pictures, Cashmere,” Irani muttered, looking at her with disbelief. 

Cashmere shrugged and pursed her lips guiltily. Half of those pictures were pictures of Grey that she took every time Cashmere attended his band's gigs. 

Irani handed her back her cell phone. "Now, I want you to delete all of Grey's pictures on your phone," Irani said. 

Cashmere's eyes widened at her best friend. "Huh? Why would I do that, Irani?" 

Irani rolled her eyes at her.  “Remember, Step Number two: You have to avoid everything that will remind you of Grey. So, you have to erase his pictures on your phone."

Cashmere pouted in refusal. "Do I really need to do that, Irani? I'm already avoiding Grey."

"Sure, you're avoiding him. But when he's not around, you can see him if you look at your phone. So what's the sense of you avoiding him when your phone is still full of his pictures? 

Cashmere bit her lower lip. "But I personally took half of these pictures." Cashmere sighed as she scrolled down Grey's pictures in her gallery. 

Irani crossed her eyes over her chest and raised her brow at Cashmere. “I thought you wanted to forget about him? I thought you wanted to get rid of your feelings for him?" 

“Yeah. I said that…" Cashmere sighed because she would never win against her best friend. "Five. I'll erase them now. But can I leave at least five pictures of him?" 

Irani shook her head. “No. You can't do that, Cashmere. You have to delete them all," she commanded in a strict voice. 

“Fine.” Cashmere took another sharp breath before she pressed the delete all button. "Here. Are you satisfied now?" she turned to her best friend, showing her now empty gallery. 

Irani pursed her lips. "You should also change your password, Cashmere."

Cashmere groaned in protest. “Really? Even that?”

“Of course,” Irani answered, the corner of her lips curled up in a smile. 

"Tsk. I feel like you're torturing me, Irani."

Irani chuckled at her. "Come on, just do it, Cashmere. It's for your own good."

“Fine.” My lips were pouting as I went to my phone setting. From Grey's birthday, I changed my password to my birthday instead. 

“Your new password shouldn't have any association with Grey, Cash," Irani reminded her. 

Cashmere sighed. "Yeah. I changed it to my birthday."

Irani let out a satisfied smile as her attention drew back to the iPad on the table. “Okay, let’s move on to step number three," Irani muttered. 

“Step number 3: Stop praising your crush in your head. Instead, compare your crush to the ugliest animal in the zoo.”

Irani grinned amusingly as she looked at Cashmere. "Oh, I love this step number three, Cashmere. What's the ugliest animal in the zoo for you?"

Cashmere pursed her lips as she played with the straw of her frappe. "Uh… gorilla?" 

"Then every time you think of Grey, imagine him as a gorilla?" 

Cashmere winced at her best friend. "Huh, how could I do that when Grey's literally the most good-looking guy I know."

Irani rolled her eyes. "Stop praising him, Cashmere. Think of him as an ugly person. Come on. Close your eyes and think of Grey. Then in your mind, replace Grey's head with a gorilla's head."

Cashmere closed her eyes and tried to do what Irani asked her. She then groaned after a moment. 

"Ugh, I can't do it, Irani."

“How long are you gonna stay in Batangas, Blue?"

Cashmere asked his brother. They were having dinner at home when her brother mentioned his trip to Batangas together with the student council. Her brother is an officer of the university's student government. 

“Five days. Will you be okay here alone?" her brother looked at her with concern. 

Cashmere smiled. "Of course my dear brother. Besides, it's not as if I'd be literally left alone here in our house. We have Manang Prising and our driver."

She reached for her glass of water. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm an adult now. I can take care of myself."

"You're just eighteen, Cashmere. Let me remind you of that."

Cashmere raised her brows. "But eighteen is an adult, right? Besides, I'll be turning nineteen a month from now." 

“Speaking of your birthday, are you sure you don't want to have a party, Cashmere? "

Cashmere shook her head." I already had my party last year. I just want a simple celebration this time. An intimate dinner with you guys is fine. I've already told Mom about this when she called me. She told me they're going home next week."

Her brother nodded at her. "Of that's what you want, Cash. By the way, do you have any plans tomorrow?" 

It was Sunday tomorrow. "Hmm, nothing Blue. I'll just stay here at home, I guess. Why are you asking?" 

"It's Indigo's birthday tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"