THREE YEARS LATER
"Troy, the bag," Dannie said before they walked out of the doors.
"Shit. I forgot. I'm sorry." He ran to where they had been standing a few minutes ago and came rushing back to her with the black bag in hand.
"Jackie will kill us if we forget that one," she told him and finally let him push their cart out of the airport.
"They're just freaking dresses and scarves and whatnots."
"When will you ever stop complaining about them?" she asked laughingly.
"Until I hand it to her," he uttered with feigned annoyance. Troy held out his hand for her and she took it with a smile. He bent down and planted a quick kiss on her lips.
It was nice to be home.
*****
You wouldn't believe where I was or who was driving me right now.
Guess. Just try it.
Come on.
You would never have imagined it. I never did as well until a few days ago.
His fingers gripped my steering wheel nervously. Yeah, like it was his first time driving! I knew this was going to happen! I knew it! He would deliver us both to our own respective gravesites if he didn't put himself together.
He was tasked to do a lot of errands and I was left in his care so he would have a service. Yeah, right. After all these years, after all the love and care, after all the shipping, I ended up as a freaking service.
Everyone else was going to the airport to meet Dannie baby and Troy. Everyone except me and this guy.
Of all the many things we were told to do, he was only able to do just one so far: buy ice. We still had to get the cake. And the barbecue. And the freaking fish and meat and chips!
Hey, dude, faster! What the hell are you doing? Are you freaking driving me or what? But he seemed to be too focused on driving me safely than getting our tasks done.
I'll be doomed, I muttered under my breath.
I should have been to the airport! I should be welcoming Dannie baby!
If Georgie wasn't pregnant, she would have insisted to drive me. And if Jackie was not too smitten to be glued to her husband's side, she would be driving me. But she had been glued to Dean's side for like forever since they got married two years ago. Like really, they should be pregnant by now but they weren't!
Finally, we reached our destination: Calea. We had to pick up Dannie baby's favorite cake. He hastily climbed off me and even dropped my freaking keys on his way to the door. What a klutz! He had to run back and pick them up and back into the café again.
I could only sigh in frustration. A young woman sitting in one of the tables outside witnessed what happened and smiled. Free entertainment, eh, lady?
Finally, after five minutes, he walked out with the boxed cake.
Careful now, careful! Let's not ruin this day for my Dannie baby!
"Hey, excuse me..." the woman from the same table earlier called out to him. He turned and stopped.
Of course he would. She was a looker. "Yes?" he asked.
"Can I ask something?" The woman had already approached him and she was opening a piece of paper. "I've been looking for this address but I can't seem to figure it out. The streets are quite complicated."
He studied the address while holding the cake.
Hey, you, let's go. Come on! We still have a lot to do!
"It's two jeepneys away from here," he explained and gave her more directions. "You should be able to find it there. Just look for the big blue building and you'll see the street I am talking about," he continued.
The lady smiled at him warmly. Her red lipstick bared her perfect white teeth. Her black dress gave off a sophisticated feel though she only paired it with dark flats and a brown leather body bag. "Thank you so much..."
"Lee, my name's Lee." He shook her hand with his free one.
"Nice to meet kind strangers around here. I'm actually from here but...well, things happened and yeah, I'm here again," she said with a laugh. "Anyway, thank you once again. I'm Tessa, by the way."
*****
I was still deep in thought while we were driving back to Troy's place after Lee was done with the errands. That lady's face looked kind of familiar, you know. And her name. Was it just coincidence?
Well, yeah, maybe. Who knew, right?
My thoughts of that encounter outside Calea flew out my windows when Dannie baby arrived with the others. Oh holy gas she looked prettier than the last time I saw her!
Troy must have been taking good care of her!
"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Georgie was shouting while they entered the house. Jordan had been sort of overprotective lately since she had a bleeding episode last two weeks ago. They said the doctor wanted her to be more careful. And she was more careful, but it was better that Jordan was there. Better be sure than sorry!
"And you've been just taking pictures for the last two years?" Dean was asking Troy.
"Well, people paid for most of them," he answered before helping Dannie baby with their luggage.
"His blog is doing pretty great," she bragged.
"Yeah, we saw it," Jackie sighed.
"Hey, who's doing the barbecue?" asked Miguel.
"Us, of course," Lee replied from the door, meeting Dannie baby. "Welcome back, sister."
She slapped him before he was able to embrace her.
"What? You're our sister. You're marrying our brother in spirit," he waved to Troy.
"If I haven't seen you in two years, I would have smacked your face," Troy uttered before giving him a bear hug. "Now, do the barbecue. We're hungry."
"Hey, Toto," Dannie baby said to me, finally having noticed my overpowering presence.
Dannie baby! I miss you so much! Come, come, give me a hug!
She touched my hood with a bittersweet smile on her face.
Come on, let's just be happy for now!
"I missed him so much," she whispered to herself.
"Well, who wouldn't? This old car has been your life in so many ways," Troy said beside her. "Come on. Go freshen up. We had a long flight."
Then they all disappeared inside. I heard their laughter from outside. If Victor aka Vicky, Tata and Beatle were not there, I would have cried all my gas out. I would have emptied my tank right there and then. But lucky me, I was still with friends—even though my fate was sort of doomed.
*****
"Should we at least talk about how you proposed?" Jackie asked when they were finally done catching up. Food was being prepared by everyone and it was such a nice atmosphere to be in, Dannie thought. But of course, you would have to give it to Jackie to dig every detail.
"It is nothing romantic, really," Dannie finally said.
"It was intended to be romantic," Troy contradicted.
"He did it while I was in class. I was writing something on the board and when I turned around, all the children were holding up these small pieces of paper asking me to marry them in different languages."
Everyone laughed.
"Marry me, not them," Troy corrected.
"The papers, at least those I could understand, read MARRY ME. Who were holding the papers? The children. So, apparently, they asked me to marry them."
Jackie was bent over her knees laughing.
"You should have thought about how Dannie would take it, man."
Troy was looking glum. "She still said yes when I suddenly appeared. Duh."
Dannie laughed and hugged him. "Well, that's the story, Jackie. You have asked me that question so many times over FB and I recounted the event as much."
"She's still hoping there's a better version," Dean guffawed. Troy playfully kicked him.
"Okay, okay, guys...please, help us out here!" Miguel shouted from the kitchen. "Someone needs to start the fire outside!"
One by one, the men started to gather outside, talking and laughing together, sharing stories they had missed or wanted to recount.
"We missed you so much, Dannie," Jackie said with tears in her eyes.
"Don't cry again. You already cried a bucket at the airport," she told her friend.
"She might be pregnant," George said, looking at Jackie meaningfully.
"No, I don't think so. She's always been this way," Dannie disagreed.
"So, we're planning another wedding," George uttered with a satisfied beam, caressing her bulging belly with one hand.
"Yeah, I guess so." Dannie couldn't help the smile that lit up her face.
"I am so happy that you're very happy," Jackie cried some more.
"He makes me happy." Dannie tilted her head to where Troy was.
Her two friends chuckled. "Who would have thought it's gonna be him all along?" George asked in wonder.
"No one, I guess. No one really had any idea," Jackie agreed.
Dannie didn't say anything. Maybe the people around them never put any thought on it, but somehow, in their own time, she and Troy knew all along.
*****
My amazing friends and I were talking about how much we missed the old apartment. We had to leave after Jackie got married (I was still the bridal car, you know) and Dannie had to leave for India. Jam was still there and I would still be driven there by Jackie from time to time if she ever missed the place and she just made visiting Jam an excuse for checking out the place again. It was the place where Dean proposed to her, after all.
While I was narrating how far we had come from that day Dean sang the song Ordinary Song to Jackie to propose to her while standing on Tata's rear playing the song with his band outside the apartment, my three beautiful boys came close to me. They were wearing those bittersweet smiles of theirs again.
I have a bad feeling, guys, I said to my friends.
And then Lee appeared from behind them, his grin from ear to ear.
YEP, I DEFINITELY SHOULD START MY ENGINE AND ROLL AWAY NOW.
"So we are finally letting him go, right?" Jackie asked, her tears flowing once more.
"Well, we can't just leave him parked to rust," Georgie said.
"But we still need him for my wedding," Dannie added.
"That can be arranged, boys," Lee said behind them.
The three women in my life looked at each other and nodded.
Jackie opened her hand and revealed three sets of keys.
I was literally heartbroken at that moment. But then they were right. I should have seen this coming, right?
"No one deserves him more than us, but you're the best other option," Georgie told him as Jackie finally dropped the keys in his hand.
"Remember your promise, Lee," Dannie seriously said. "Toto will be mine for a day on my wedding day."
Lee was grinning nonstop. Holy Volks, why him? Why not Jam? Oh, yeah, he has Nomad. But doesn't he want a car with a room? Why does it have to be Lee?
Vicky reassured me that everything was going to be alright. Lee was part of the famiy. He would always be around my boys. And he was the only one without a car at the moment so he was really the best option.
But he better learn how to drive properly. AND FAST!
"Wanna take him for a test drive?"
"I already did this morning," Lee answered Georgie.
"We still want to see how you give him justice." Dannie pushed him toward me and he climbed inside with a bit of apprehension.
He very slowly reversed me out of the garage and into the road.
My boys followed us outside.
Then I realized. Vicky was right. They would still be around and they would always be around as long as Lee was alive so I better keep this man breathing from now on.
Georgie waved for Lee to go further away and he did so by stepping on my gas.
From my rearview mirror, I could see my boys. One was pregnant and proud, one crying to see me go and the other contentedly smiling.
All were happy and that was enough for me.