Jackie led Dean as far away from the crowd as possible.
“Karen has been coming here for quite some time and she hasn’t recognized me,” Dean was saying behind her. She was still pulling him by the hand toward the exit of Art District.
“You were coming to our table, remember?” she said, shooting a quick glance back at him. “And if she found out I was there, she would invite herself at our table and your secret will no longer be a secret.”
A few more steps and she stopped, seeing the staircase that led to the second floor of another building. She decided to go up there, thinking outside was not a good idea.
She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She knew it was Karen. Jackie could already picture out the scene back there. Karen would be standing by their table, having recognized Dannie and George. And she would be asking after Jackie. Her two friends better be great liars.
Dean never said a word as they climbed up the stairs.
“What now?” he asked.
“Urgh!” Jackie cried in frustration, letting go of his hand.
“What?” he asked, concern and panic in his voice.
“My purse! I forgot my purse! What if she sees it?”
“I’m sure she won’t,” said Dean, looking down the balcony. Muffled music from the different bars and the laughter and voices of the people downstairs were the closest clue they had of what was happening out there.
“I have to call Dannie…” Jackie said, tapping on her phone.
Dean did not give a comment and just watched her impatiently wait for the call to connect, his forearms resting on the balcony.
“Hello! Dannie! Is Karen there?”
“What? I can’t hear you!” her friend shouted from the other line.
“Is Karen there! Karen!”
“Ah, yes, yes. They took the table next to ours. Where are you?” Dannie asked, the loud music in the background getting fainter. She must have walked out of the place.
“Somewhere. Did she ask where I was? I’m trying to hide Dean, you know.”
“Yes, she did. George said you’re at home. You left your purse.”
“Keep it. Please text me if Karen’s going.”
“I don’t think that will happen soon. What do I tell the rest of the band? They have been asking us what happened.”
Jackie covered her phone and looked at Dean. “What do they have to tell your band?”
He frowned and thought for a while. “Just tell them we had an emergency?”
She nodded. “Good idea.” She addressed Dannie, saying, “Tell them we had an emergency.”
“What kind?”
“Just make up any.”
“I can’t make up stories.”
Jackie rolled her eyes in frustration. “Then just say you don’t know.”
“Okay, copy. Are you coming back?”
Jackie looked at Dean. “That depends.”
When the call ended, she asked, “So, what happens now?”
Dean shrugged. “I’m not the one who dragged us up here. You tell me.”
Jackie circled on her feet. “I can’t think of anything right now.”
Dean pushed away from the balcony and stared at the only open glass doors. “Have you been inside there?”
Jackie frowned. “Orange Gallery?”
He nodded.
“No, not really.”
She saw him take a deep breath and say, “Orange Gallery it is.” He walked ahead and then stopped when he noticed she was still rooted in her spot. “Coming?”
“Ah, yes, of course. Orange Gallery it is!”
*****
So I was talking to Tata about Troy and his unfortunate fate that night when he had to be dragged out of Art by his friends when I saw Karen.
What is she doing here?!
I knew Jackie would be in trouble if Karen as much as saw her with Dean Gamboa doing whatever she was planning to do tonight with that man. Things might look good for her plan to get rid of Brian, but it might also make things complicated. And plus, Dean Gamboa was keeping this side of him a secret. What if he would be found out and he would blame Jackie girl?
Not good, not good.
Tata asked why I was in a panic mode and I told her the little details she didn’t know. It was not like she would tell others, right? If she did, not a single human would understand anyway.
I was in the middle of telling her about how I thought Jackie was going crazy when I saw it again. The black BMW. Same plate number as the one I saw parking outside the boys’ apartment.
I had the weirdest feeling that it was not going to be the last time I’d spot it. I still couldn’t see who the driver was. It parked far away and stayed in the darkness. The driver did not go out.
Hey, Tata, you know that BMW?
Tata said she didn’t and asked why I was asking.
Nothing, I think I just think that vic’s cute, I lied. Yeah, of course, I could lie as well. What? You think we can’t? We learn from our owners!
*****
“I can’t believe I never dared enter this place before,” Jackie said with awe. The Orange Gallery was not a big one, but it was a cool rectangular room with different artworks on the walls.
Jackie was walking along the right wall and Dean at the opposite side. They were the only visitors around.
“Me too,” he said, staring at the abstract painting before him. They slowly made their way to the end of the room where a glass wall overlooking the main road below stood.
“It’s drizzling,” Jackie commented with a smile, looking at the tiny drops of water blown by the wind outside.
“It would be a good night if I am home,” Dean said, walking closer to stand beside her.
She smiled and looked at him. “I can picture you in a rainy day, reading a book and listening to music.”
A small smile appeared on his lips. “I gather you can’t often imagine others doing the same thing.”
Jackie thought about it for a few seconds. “Yes, maybe. But mostly it is because I’d like to believe that men could stay and feel at home for a long time. Most of them get restless, you know.”
“And you think I can stay and feel at home for a long time in a rainy day?”
She nodded. “Can you?”
It was his turn to think for a while before answering, “Yes, of course. Nothing beats a quiet afternoon with a good book.”
“And the rain.”
He nodded. “And the rain.” He was looking at her with a gentle smile on his lips. “You like the rain, don’t you?”
“Of course. Me and my friends enjoy a rainy afternoon in our apartment.”
“Hmm,” the sound escaped his throat.
“What do you mean ‘hmm’?”
He shrugged, taking his cap off his head. Jackie eagerly watched, wanting a glimpse of what his hair looked like outside the office. It was tousled! Tousled! She so wanted to reach up and brush her fingers through it, but she stopped herself. She didn’t want to end up pinned against the glass wall dead. Dean quickly brushed his hand through his hair and his cap was back on his head again. Jackie almost told him that it was disrespectful to wear your cap under a roofed room.
“I don’t know, I just never took you to be the type who enjoys such moments,” he said, answering her question. Jackie struggled for a moment to remember what she asked him.
“Well, you don’t know a lot of things about me to think that.”
He stared at her for a moment before returning his gaze outside the glass wall. “Yeah, you’re right.”
They were silent for a long time before Jackie felt her feet were about to give up. She turned around and saw the bench at the center of the room. “I need to sit down.”
Dean followed her away from the glass wall and the drizzle outside to the bench.
“Why did you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?” Jackie asked, bending down to massage her foot.
“What you just did. Dragging me up here to escape Karen.”
“You’re keeping your drummer side a secret, right? You could have been found out. And Karen would have known I know and it would only complicate things.”
“Complicate things?”
“At the office. You know people talk about us since that--” Jackie stopped herself when she realized she talked too much.
“Talk about us?” Dean asked, frowning.
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Jackie,” he warned.
She sighed. “Remember that time when you exchanged your Coke with my Pepsi? And then you asked me to have lunch with you a few hours after that.”
“And people started talking about us?” he asked incredulously.
Jackie rolled her eyes. “You don’t know a lot of things behind your closed door. Yes, of course, people talked. It was not like you invite your employees for lunch every day. Or even spend a few minutes talking to them by the vending machine.”
He was silent and Jackie bit her lip.
“Hey, don’t think too much about it. The rumor would die before you know it. They always do.”
She saw him nod at the corner of her eye. “Just tell me if things go way out of control.”
Jackie turned her head and looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“When people start doing things they are not supposed to.”
“90% of the people in the building do the things they are not supposed to.”
“I meant against you,” he said dryly.
Jackie blinked. “Against me?”
He nodded. “You just tell me.”
Oh God, I wish you had told me that from the very beginning. Then, I wouldn’t be stuck in this big mess with you, Brian and the fake FB account, Jackie thought.
“You’ll tell me, right?” he asked, his eyes seriously serious.
Jackie could only manage to whisper, “Yes.”
*****
Dannie texted Jackie that Karen and her friends didn’t appear to have any plans to move. She relayed this to Dean who stood up and said, “I need to get back down there. The band needs me.”
“Okay,” Jackie nodded without moving.
“You’re not coming?”
“I guess I’ve had enough for tonight. I’ll just wait with Toto for Dannie and George. And plus, Karen thinks I’m home.”
He seemed to hesitate and didn’t make a move to go.
“Go, the band will be looking for you,” she said and added, “but tip your cap lower. Karen’s still there.”
He grinned. “Okay. Thanks again, Jackie.”
“No problem,” she smiled and watched him walk out of the gallery and her smile faded. “It’s the least I could do,” she whispered.
*****
I didn’t have that much energy came Monday. I was still thinking about that black BMW vic.
Jackie seemed to be deep in thought as well for she was silent the whole journey. George and Dannie had noticed the same thing but did not dare comment. They just shared a look that said Jackie might be going nuts.
My mood touched bottom when I saw Beatle was back. And it looked like nothing happened. Whoever operated on him did a fantastic job! He should really tell the boys where to take me next time.
But he wasn’t talking to me yet. He was still angry at Jackie. Who wouldn’t be?
So for the rest of the day, I was back under my lonely acacia tree beside the narcissistic BMW.
As my rustic, metallic mind passed by that thought, all light bulbs (front and back, including the one at the hood) invisibly lit up.
Hey, do you know a lot of other BMW’s?
She said of course, since they were not a lot around town.
Great! Then do you know them by plates?
She said yes again, saying the plates were their own personal pride.
And then I gave her the specific plate number that had been bothering the hell out of my old engines since I first saw it.
*****
Jackie was lost in her own thoughts during the meeting. She should have been feeling happy because today was another Brian-free day. No texts, no phone calls, no coffee, no stalking--nothing. She should definitely be happy about it, but today she couldn’t make herself feel anything other than guilt.
When their meeting started earlier, Dean Gamboa had opened up to the different teams her suggestion the other day among others he had received from other teams. She felt grateful that he gave importance to her creativity.
He shouldn’t be this nice, she thought. Please go back to the old arrogant boss that you were.
Her thoughts were suddenly put into a halt when everyone in the room suddenly burst out in excited cry. Karen for one squealed with excitement beside her.
She looked at Dean who was wearing his usual I-am-serious-but-not-angry look and her gaze traveled to her friend, her mind blank.
“What just happened?”
“Weren’t you listening?” Karen asked, the excitement still on her face.
“What?” Jackie asked again, her voice lowered.
“We’re going on a summer team building! It’s about time! Isn’t it exciting?”