Toto and the Boys I: Jackie

Chapter 18

“No, of course, I can come. It’s just that…it’s nothing.”

“You’re not making sense, Jackie.”

Jackie. He called her by her first name again.

“It’s just that Brian might come.”

He looked confused for a while then he finally realized what she meant. “Your suitor?”

“More like a stalker,” she said under her breath before she continued, “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. He hasn’t been following me around for quite a while now so I guess I’ll be safe.” She followed her statement with a dry laugh before walking away.

  *****

Jackie would be leaving Friday afternoon and would be back home Sunday afternoon. She would leave with the team and come home with the team. Or at least that was the plan.

Georgie drove me that Friday since Jackie would be leaving. She was back in the apartment, packing for the trip that afternoon. The plans changed when she suddenly called Georgie in the Red Cross HQ, asking for help or whatever.

“What do you mean he’s going?” asked Georgie as she walked to me in a hurry. “Who? Brian? Then why do you want me to come get you?”

She listened to Jackie’s long narration for a long time. And then she stared at me like I was about to be driven to hell--and hopefully back.

I knew what was about to happen.

“You’re going to Campuestohan, Toto,” Georgie told me as she strapped my seatbelt over her and started my engine.

WHAT?!

  *****

“He hasn’t shown his face for weeks, we haven’t heard his freaking voice singing outside the apartment for quite some time and you never received any calls or texts from him. So I think it is okay, right?” Georgie asked Jackie after we picked her up from the apartment.

No, it’s not safe, I said dryly despite the knowledge that I might not survive the road later.

“But you’re right. It is better you take Toto with you. You can get out of there anytime you feel threatened in any way,” Georgie added when Jackie just gave a desperate sigh. “And call us. Don’t forget to call us.”

Jackie groaned. “I can’t believe he’s coming. Why does it have to be him?”

“He works in the HR. It’s their job to facilitate such activities. Did you tell Dean?”

“I don’t know,” Jackie answered. “But he knows I feel anxious knowing Brian might be coming along. But he didn’t say anything about it. After all, he’s not coming and he’s not in the right place to stop anything like this from happening.”

George raised an eyebrow. “Weeks ago, you were willing to wring the guy’s neck for not doing anything. Now, you’re making excuses for him.”

Jackie didn’t say anything. She simply closed her eyes and leaned her head against my headrest.

  *****

“Are you sure you’re taking your car with you?” Karen asked her. They were outside Collins Corporations, waiting for the rest to come.

“Yes,” Jackie answered, looking at her phone as if she was busy with something when in fact, she was doing nothing but scroll down her phonebook.

Joseph arrived a few minutes later, followed by Jamie, Daisy and Bernie. Along with Jackie, Joseph called them the “EEE Guys” because the last syllables of their known names sounded like it: Jackie. Bernie. Jamie. Daisy.