I wasn’t comfortable with the thought of Jackie going on that trip, especially with what was happening the past few days. For one, I saw Brian walk up to me while I was waiting for Jackie under my lonely acacia tree in the parking lot. Jackie wasn’t around to witness the scene, but the guy gave me the creeps when he ran his hands over my hood. He didn’t say a word. He just stayed there (even sat on my hood for a minute or two) without doing anything.
Second, I saw the black BMW again. AGAIN! I was taking a rest outside the boys’ apartment. Everything was good. It was a silent night and the boys were probably asleep in their rooms. And then it rolled by once and came back a few minutes after. The windows never rolled down to give me a chance to get a glimpse of the driver. What the hell, right? It stayed there for about five minutes and then it was gone in the silence of the night. I tried talking to the BMW vic, but it wouldn’t even bat a headlight at my direction. Again, what the hell, right?
So yes, you could really imagine what I was feeling that day when Jackie announced that she was going on a weekend trip with her team in Campuestohan. It was not that far away, just a one-hour drive from the city, really. But still, I had this feeling that something could go wrong. Very wrong.
George and Dannie felt the same way. Georgie even suggested that Jackie take me, but Jackie said that I couldn’t possibly make the drive alive. Well, she was right. From what I heard from Tata about the road going to Campuestohan, I would probably go home in scraps.
The only consolation was the thought that Jackie would be riding a small rented bus with the rest of the team. But I didn’t know anyone from her team. They could be just as sick as Brian.
*****
Jackie first thought that they would be having their team building with the other teams, but it turned out that the HR department decided to do the team building by team in their department like last year. So she would be leaving with only Karen, Joseph and three more namely Jamie, Daisy and Bernie.
She was quite disappointed since she really thought she could have some fun time with the other teams whom she had worked with in the past. They never really had a lot of time to meet and have fun outside the office in the past few months, especially with Dean around. They could have finally have a few days away from the office and away from the presence of their boss who always made them feel nervous.
What devastated Jackie further was when Dean announced that two HR personnel will be coming along to facilitate the team building activities.
She was standing by the vending machine, praying for a Coke, when Dean showed up beside her.
“I’ll give you my Coke if it drops a Pepsi,” he uttered.
The machine did what it always did and dropped the blue can. Jackie picked it up with a sigh and handed the Pepsi to Dean without a word. He fed the machine with his bill and punched the blue button. Lo and behold, it dropped the red can. He bent down to pick it up and handed it to her. “Thanks,” she murmured.
He looked around for a bit before he turned to look at her troubled face. “What’s wrong?”
She was about to blurt out about her fear that Brian might be one of the two HR personnel to go with them, but she held her tongue. “Nothing.”
Dean frowned. “It looks like it’s nothing.”
“Really, it’s nothing.”
“Come on, tell me.”
“It’s just a minor thing regarding the team building activity this weekend.”
“You can’t come?”
“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.
Jackie was busy giving Joseph a lame, fake excuse why she needed to take her car with her when the man who started it all approached them, carrying a large box.
He gave Jackie a small smile before looking away to give everyone instructions before they left. Brian’s fellow HR companion, Victor, was a big, burly man with a small laugh. And he laughed a lot. Jackie thought he did it more than ten times while giving additional instructions.
“Ready?” Brian asked them, looking at Jackie in a neutral way.
Jackie’s heart started thumping against her chest. Yes, he was different. He seemed distant. She should be happy about it. But there was something different in his eyes as he looked at her. Something that told her she should be very careful.
“Jackie,” Joseph spoke as Victor cheered everyone to gather their bags and board the waiting bus before them.
“Yes?”
“Okay, you can take your car. Just make sure it doesn’t break down along the road.”
Jackie rolled her eyes. “Of course. Toto is very well-maintained,” she said half-heartedly.
“You’re not riding the bus?” Victor asked Jackie and she saw Brian look her way before walking to the bus.
“Yes.”
Victor thought about it for a moment before he shrugged and said, “Okay, then. Is someone riding with you?”
Jackie opened her mouth to say no but someone answered behind them. “I am.”
And this time, her heart almost squeezed through her ribcage and leapt out of her chest. She whirled around and saw Dean Gamboa in his usual Dean Gamboa the drummer attire: shirt, pants and baseball cap.
“You’re coming?” Joseph asked in awe.
“Yes,” their boss answered.
Everyone boarding the bus stopped and turned around when they heard the commotion, including Brian. And they threw Jackie their teasing look, excluding Brian whose brows were almost in a line. She ignored them and looked back at Dean Gamboa, her mouth hanging open. Really, this guy was like a spoon. He always made her open her mouth.
He raised his eyebrows at Victor and Joseph. “Well? I thought we’re going?”
The two men turned and walked to the bus without a word.
“What’s with you?” Dean asked Jackie who was still looking at him with shock.
“I thought you were not going.”
“I’m the boss of the department. It is only given that I come along.”
“But you’ve never come along before and--”
“I really hate to explain things further,” he cut in. “Where’s your car?”
Jackie didn’t say a word because Brian was looking at them through the window of the bus. Having been used to his annoying presence in the past, she had developed an additional sense she called ‘Brian Alert’. And right now, Jackie was pretty sure Brian was looking at her and Dean. Instead, she led Dean to where Georgie parked Toto earlier. She didn’t know why, but she felt relieved now that Dean decided to tag along.
*****
“Can I ask why you are riding with me?” Jackie asked when they were finally alone inside me.
And man, I tell you, I was so relieved to have Dean Gamboa behind the wheel. He insisted on it after Jackie said they should take me instead of Beatle. Really, she should have said yes. I was too beaten and too old for a rough road!
“I hate crowds,” Dean simply answered.
“No, you don’t. You play drums in front of them.”
“I hate riding the bus.”
Man, you should stick to one reason. What’s wrong with you?
“You hate riding the bus,” Jackie repeated, her voice filled with doubt.
“Just stop it, Jackie.”
“I hope you take care of Toto. Please be careful driving through the rough road later.”
“This is why we should have taken Beatle.”
Jackie gave a snort. “You named you car?”
“Of course. And as far as I know, I’m not the only one out there who does that. Troy named his Tata, right?”
“I was just surprised Dean Gamboa would name his car.”
“Well, I gave it a name. End of surprise. Just let me drive.”
We were following the bus quietly with Jackie staring outside the window, her thoughts probably far away. Or maybe it was with that bus in front of us where Brian was.
“So, he came.”
“What?” Jackie asked.
“Brian.” Dean stole a glance at her direction.
“Yeah. Perfect.”
“He really makes you that anxious?”
“Yes. So please, let’s not talk about him,” she answered sharply before turning away again.
Oh-oh, Dean, my friend, it seems that we pissed her off. I suggest you drive in silence.
*****
The drive to Campuestohan was not that long. It was easy for me for the most part because there were more concrete roads than the rough one, which was the last part. Since my bumper was set so low and my wheels didn’t have as much circumference as the bus, we arrived ten minutes later than everyone.
The place was so cool I really felt like I was already in heaven. I must have died along the way, right? Because I could see the clouds hovering over the neighboring hills. We were atop one and to see the mountains and the hills surrounding us with the clouds just almost within our reach almost made me wish I was dead, about to meet my maker, Volkswagen.
There was a big, but not too big, lodging house made of wood in the very center of the highland resort. It has a wide balcony on the second floor which offered a full view of the hills, the pools a few meters away and the tiny cottages that looked like they came out from a Hobbit village of the movie The Lord of the Rings.
Everybody was already settled on the second floor of the lodging house and they were spread all over the balcony, talking and taking photos. They all stopped and looked over at us when we came in and I wondered how many of them were surprised to see me still alive.
Dean parked the car and they got out.
“Let me get that,” Dean said to Jackie (who had been really silent for the whole ride after that talk about Brian) as she grabbed her bags from the backseat. Knowing Brian was with everyone else in the balcony of the small lodging house, she let Dean carry all the bags like a boyfriend should.
“You are not going to help us get away from rumors circulating around the office,” Jackie whispered to him, locking my doors.
Dean looked over his shoulder, his face shadowed by his baseball cap. He saw what Jackie was talking about. He turned to her and shrugged. “Let them think what they want to think. What they think is none of our business.”
And with that, he walked off like a boss that he was toward the lodging house. Jackie could only follow, and I knew that she was hoping that this trip, with the unexpected appearance of Dean, would lead to something good where Brian was concerned. Because really, it was obvious she wasn’t excited about this plan of hers anymore than she was weeks ago.