Speeding Through a Blind Curve

LAP THREE

"Ew, Ate, close your mouth!"

"Shut up."

The garlic bread she shoves into Max's mouth does an effective job of shutting him up. Tim, however, picks up on her anxiety and turns to follow her gaze.

Aileen is making starry eyes at Yuan as they walk in. JR appears next and tries to flirt with the hostess as soon as he walks through the damn door. Not far behind them is Mike, with Tessa hanging from his arm like some cheap accessory.

Rae wishes seeing them together didn't trigger the same stupid memory each and every time . . .

He felt like rain after a drought, smelled like crackling fire during winter—his breath like butterfly wings fluttering against her neck. It was the best she felt in so many days she wasn't quite ready to let him go. "Thanks for coming, Mike. I really appreciate it."

The way the palm of his hand soothed the stiffness of her back, the strength she was able to get from his arms around her, she needed all this. And how convenient was it that he was right there, all willing to give it to her without asking for anything in return?

Tessa and Aileen emerged from the crowd gathered outside of the chapel. "Hey, Rae, it's getting kinda late. We're gonna go ahead." Tessa's arm felt warm around her shoulders. And as Rae leaned in, eyes appreciative as she looked at Aileen's concerned expression, she felt at peace.

"Thanks, you guys. Seriously."

"Will you be okay here?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go."

She did her best to smile. Watching Tessa's driver lead both Tessa and Aileen to the car and seeing Mike walking in the other direction with an unlit cigarette between his lips, Rae wondered if things were ever going to be the same. With all the chaos bubbling inside her, she wasn't even sure if she would ever go back to normal.

"Here's your water, sir." Lina the waitress comes and goes as quickly as the memory does.

What happened with Tessa and Mike is no secret to her brothers.

She remembers being found in her room, crying, surrounded by pieces of random things she associated with her fallen friendships. Tim didn't know how to console her then, uneasy, still stuck on the fact that they should have a mother who's much better at talking about female heartbreak than he will ever be. But he did his job, and he did it well—always supportive but never patronizing. Tim never once made Rae feel weak.

"It's been three years, Rae. Don't tell me you're still not talking to them," Tim speaks over the noise in Rae's mind.

"Oh we talk, mhmm." Her fork is swirling in the air from all the hand-swishing she's doing while she elaborates on this. "Most of the time Tessa starts by delivering an underhanded insult. Then I give a witty retort. Aileen giggles. Next, Tessa takes a jab at me again. If it's not a particularly good day for my bitchy alter ego, I walk out. Tessa likes to pick up where we left off anyway whenever we see each other again, so it's all good. I can walk out whenever I want to and not miss a single thing. We tight, yo."

"Avoid them, then. Focus on school. You're already distracted enough."

"I wasn't the one who told them to eat here, was I?"

Aggressive chewing would best describe what Rae is doing at the moment. Her efforts are divided between avoiding the crazed look Max is giving her, ignoring Tim's remark about her being overly dramatic, and trying not to turn her head again to the sound of Tessa's cackling.

---

Rae and Max are waiting right outside of Shakey's. Max is sitting in the passenger's seat of their car, door open, with Rae leaning against it. An emergency of the post-overeating kind called for a trip to the nearby 7-Eleven for Tim.

"I still don't understand why he couldn't have just bought tea from Starbucks. I mean, it's right there." Her little brother doesn't even look up from whatever it is he's playing on his phone as he whines.

"Two tea bags in a cup for 100 pesos? As if kuya would ever."

"Hah. Remember when he found out how much that Estrelle's cake he got cost?"

"His hand was shaking! He couldn't even slice it properly!"

They can never really fault Tim for how he's so careful with money though. For all intents and purposes, he's become their dad. That's a huge burden to carry and he's been trudging along with not as much as a squeak of complaint. Tim's a saint.

Unlike this apparition of who might just be Satan's illegitimate spawn himself.

Mike is suddenly right there by the exit, cigarette poised between his lips and lighter gripped tightly in his right hand. In his black button-down shirt and black dress pants, Rae would think this is a mature person standing here about to deplete the ozone layer one puff at a time. But of course, there's a higher possibility of her being wrong.

"Uh, Hi. Rae, Max."

"Hi Kuya . . ."

As Rae's little brother, Max is morally, spiritually, and biologically obligated not to interact with his sister's first heartbreak. But Max is way too nice when it comes to other people. Which is why even though he's polite enough to respond to Mike's greeting, his voice also trails off in the end when he turns to find that Rae is not at all pleased.

"Oh hey! Rae!"

Confused faces turn to the enthusiastic sound of a fourth person joining this unlikely party of three. Of course it's JR, having just burst through the exit, speaking through his own cancer stick between his teeth. There's that grin again. Rae wishes it isn't as charming as it actually is so she can at least scowl at him for having shitty timing.

"JR, you know each other?"

"Yeah!"

"No."

It doesn't help that they answer at the same time. With JR sounding as exuberant as ever and Rae being less than amused, mouthing "Cut it out," even Max is a little bit puzzled.

Mike's cigarette is left hanging from his lip, unlit. His shorter, currently more agreeable and excitable cargo-pants-wearing friend looks as if he's about to walk over. Rae sees this and is already poised to kick Max's feet in and shut the car door before sliding into the backseat herself.

But, bless him, that's when Tim gets back. "I got you guys some ice cream." He's talking but he's not looking up from the brown bag he's rummaging through just yet. Which is too bad—because then he would've been able to see how Mike gives JR a look, in turn making JR give Rae a look, all ending in Max finally getting up and away from the awkwardness.

"Kuya, uh, Ate has friends." Max tilts his chin swiftly toward the boys by the exit before grabbing the bag from Tim's hands. Sneaky little rat takes a cue from her thoughts and locks himself inside the car with the food, like a little kid with his popcorn waiting to watch some cartoons. He'll be watching Dumb Ways to Die if Rae will choose to be accurate.

"Oh. Mike."

"Long time no see, Kuya . . ."

Rae's eyes widen when JR cuts in and introduces himself to Tim—"Hi, I'm JR," firm handshake and all. He deliberately goes around the car after that instead of going back the way he came, sneaking in a "Hey," as he passes Rae. Then he's lighting his cigarette and is back by Mike's side in a snap.

"Right—Rae, we should probably go." It's no surprise that even Tim feels a little confused by what JR just did. She finds herself thankful for it this time around though. Mike is suddenly looking like a constipated cockroach watching Rae wave hands and mouth curses at JR as she enters the car.

"Do I smell trouble in paradise, Ate?" Max speaks through a bite of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream as soon as Rae is settled inside.

He's promptly shut up by a smack upside his head.