Toto and the Boys III: Dannie

Chapter 9

But thankfully, Troy had a friend who lived in Cadiz and all of us—Beatle, Tata, Vicky and me—were safely parked away from the main streets of Cadiz. It was the first time I saw him after he dropped Dannie the day after Christmas, actually. I thought the two of them would be okay. They were in a good mood the last time they met, right? But no, they were awkward around each other. Was it because they had not seen each other for weeks? I just knew it was not good! But I had to bear with it, right?

While Dannie, Troy and the rest of their friends, including Miguel and Lee, went out to roam around the streets and get dirty with paint with nothing but Troy’s camera in hand, I got to talking with Tata and Beatle. We had some catching up to do, you know. I had to beg for mercy for not talking to them because of leaving me behind last New Year’s Eve. Vicky was the first to forgive me. Beatle said he didn’t really care and that he just kept quiet because the two vics would burn his engines if he as much as talked to me. Tata was not an easy vic to please so I had to work on her a little bit more. When I finally said I wanted Troy to end up with Dannie, she finally gave in. She had been worried lately, she said. Troy had been acting weird. He met up with Jordan and Dean alone quite a few times but he never went to the boys’ apartment. Vicky said he was probably avoiding Dannie.

But why? The last time I saw them they were really okay!

Beatle said they may have looked okay but all of us should know better. My buddy was right, I guess. Maybe the awkward tension between Dannie baby and Troy had grown during the days they had not seen each other.

To distract me from that worry, I asked them about the details for the wedding I must have missed while being with Dannie almost every day. Tata said the groom was not having cold feet but the bride was.

I was horrified. Wasn’t she the one who wanted the wedding?

Beatle said it was only natural for a woman to get cold feet.

But the wedding is still on, right? Dannie’s almost done with all the preparations!

Vicky almost roared her engines saying the wedding was definitely on. Beatle agreed, saying he had overheard the groom tell his friends he wouldn’t let the bride walk out on him after everything they had been through.

Well, good for the both of them. I had already embraced the fact that I would lose her over him so he better drag her down that aisle!

We spent the rest of the day talking and praying no one would enter the gates and start pouring latex paints on us. Georgie would raise hell if that would ever happen to me!

The amazing thing Troy did happened when we had to leave Cadiz.

*****

Dannie was sure Troy was trying to avoid her all day. Or maybe he had been for weeks. She had not seen him since after Christmas. And she had thought they were okay after he dragged her to his parents’ house. She even expected him to drop by a few days after the New Year but he did not. She was afraid to ask Dean and Jordan and she was not ready to ask Jackie and George either in fear that they would make such a big issue out of it.

He did not insist that she ride to Cadiz with him, Miguel and Lee. And he didn’t complain when she insisted she take Toto with her and not ride Beatle and Victor.

Everyone was sort of okay with that, actually, and that kind of surprised her. Normally, Jackie and George would argue to leave at least one car behind. But none of them did that. Maybe they thought she needed her own space?

Troy led the convoy to Cadiz and when they got there, he did not even talk to her like he normally would. He did not even make an effort to piss her off like he used to. It seemed that she was just there but not really. He never talked to her directly, nor did he call her by her name and she would not be human if that did not bother her at all.