Chapter 13. The Chase
The months passed by quickly. We were smacked dab in the middle of November and things are beginning to look up in the love department. At least that holds true for Tim. As for me and Patty, we were still single and nowhere near our goals of triumphing in the relationships we sought out. Speaking of Patty, she asked us for a little bonding sesh in one of our favorite burger joints.
I watched Tim’s lean, muscular form as he headed for our booth in the corner- fries, burgers, and drinks in his tray. He placed the food in front of me and I began to spread the fries and smear ketchup all over it. What can I say? Sharing is caring.
Like an unspoken agreement, Tim and I faced Patty at the same time. The blue-eyed girl cringed when she saw our questioning look. “Okay Patts,” Tim said. “Spill.”
I dipped my fries in ketchup and silently observed Patty as she looked at the table in discomfort. She didn’t usually ask for meetings like this. Tim was always the one who did that for us. I wonder what was wrong. “Are you even going to speak?” Tim questioned.
“Zip it Tim,” I said and touched Patty’s arm. “Tell us the truth. Are you pregnant?”
Tim choked on the fries he ate and stared at me with wide eyes, or as open as his chinky eyes could go. “Way to beat around the bush cutie.” I shrugged and concentrated on Patty. “Well?”
“Don’t be silly Dulce,” she said. “I’m a virgin.” Tim reached out for his burger. “You look like it too,” he mumbled. I kicked his shin under the table.
“Then what’s the problem Patty?” I gave her an encouraging smile. She sighed and said, “I think I’m in love.”
Tim took a bite from his burger and chewed slowly. “How is that a problem,” he mumbled. Patty grabbed her can of soda and took a sip. “I haven’t seen the other person.”
“Are you having imaginary friends again?” Tim mocked while rolling his eyes. Patty glared at him. “No Timmy,” she said with a sour tone. “That was years ago when we were 8 or something. Quit bringing that up.” She sighed and added, “I met the person online and we haven’t exchanged pictures yet.”
I leaned back on my chair while Tim spoke. “How can you be in love with him or her if you haven’t seen him before? For all you know, this person can be as ugly as the bride of Chucky or has a body odor.” I laughed at Tim. Body odor? Where did that come from?
“Oh shut up you,” Patty said while covering her face. “I haven’t seen her before but we did exchange emails.” I caught the word HER in the sentence. So Patty was bisexual all along. I thought she was straight. Oh well. Welcome to the club.
“Where exactly did you meet this mystery person?” I asked.
Patty’s blue eyes peeked from behind her hands. “There’s this platform in the net where you can share your fictional stories. She was an author there and I messaged her because I loved her book so much. She seemed so sweet so we exchanged email address. We’ve been talking ever since.”
Tim placed his burger on the table. “Girl that’s dangerous.” I nodded in agreement. “How sure are you that she is a she?”
Patty shrugged. “She called me. I heard her voice.” I popped fries in my mouth. “You heard her but you’ve never seen her. Seriously Patty. . . This girl is as shady as heck. Why didn’t you exchange pictures or asked for her Instagram?” I said.
“She said she couldn’t,” Patty said glumly.
“She couldn’t because she’s ugleeeeeh!” Tim said out loud. I gave him a dirty stare and turned to Patty. “While I don’t think that this person you’re in love with is ugly, I do agree that it’s dangerous to be,” I searched for the right term, “enamored by someone you haven’t seen before. But who knows? Lots of people succeed in online dating.”
Patty nodded and took out her phone. “I was able to record a conversation with her. Want to hear it?” When Tim and I consented, Patty began scrolling on her mobile and pushed a button. A woman’s voice spoke up. Tim and I leaned near Patty to hear it better.
“Hi Darling,” said an eerily familiar voice in the recording. “I’m just checking if you’re okay. I miss our conversations but I’m so busy at the moment that I rarely have time to browse my email. I hope we can see each other soon.” The recording ended.
“Want to hear another one?” Patty asked.
“Sure,” I said.
Patty tinkered on her phone and the woman’s voice sounded again. “Hello Patty honey. I’m here in Ita. Never mind. . . You’ve been doing good yeah? I’m getting bored with this lifestyle and just want to settle with a nice girl like you. I don’t know what you look like but I’m sure I’ll see past that and appreciate you whatever happens. See you soon darling.” The recording ended.
“If it’s any consolation, she sounds sexy,” I said. Honestly, the woman’s voice sounded familiar but I didn’t think much of it. “So when will you meet her Patty?”
“I don’t know yet Dulce. Violet is always busy and I don’t think I’m ready yet.” So the woman’s name was Violet? Nice. “Why aren’t you ready?” I asked.
Patty pointed to herself. “What if she doesn’t like me?”
I snorted. “What’s not to like about you? You’re cute. You’re nice. Heck if I haven’t practically seen you in your diapers, I would have gone for you.”
“Speak for yourself hotshot,” Tim smirked. “Oh I know! Why not just go for each other you two? Fall in love already so you can make babies. I’ll be the cool uncle of course.” As an afterthought he said, “I have a question. How do lesbians have se-?” I stomped on his foot so he’d shut up.
“I don’t know how I became friends with a foul mouthed creature like you Tim.”
He gave a sly smile. “Because I’m the one who spice up both your lives. If I wasn’t here, you’d be bored has hell.”
I stuck my tongue at him. “Or maybe because I had no other choice cause we were all in the same grade school and I had no one else to talk to.”
“That too,” he said. “So what do you say? Fall in love with each other and problem solved. No more drama.” He took a sip from his soda. “But I think the two of you will just stare at each other in bed instead of making out.”
“I can’t Tim, so just end your delusions.” I said with a straight face.
He touched my arm. “Don’t tell me you’re still hooked up on Denise.”
“Someone else,” I said in a rush. I deliberated whether to tell them or not about my blossoming feelings for Glace. Maybe I should. They were my best friends after all. “I like Frio.”
Tim and Patty turned to me with stunned looks on their faces. “How did that happen?” they said at the same time.
I shrugged and took another fries. “It just did. Anyway, I’m going to pursue her. I need a game plan guys. Help me?” The two grinned widely at each other before turning back to me. “Leave the planning to us,” Tim said with a gleam in his eyes.
The three of us thought of a game plan to make Glace notice me. However, every time I tried to ask her out or bring up a romantic subject, I get tongue-tied and just wanted to crawl in a hole. I admit that I was too shy for my own good. That is why November has come and gone but I still made no progress. I know I was a wuss. Is that such a crime?
I stared at Glace’s long and elegant body. She walked to the corner and took a sip from her bottle of water. We were currently inside the classroom, practicing for the school play with our other classmates. Because the performance is just weeks away, we needed to take this seriously.
One of our classmates- the acting director for this play- clapped her hands to get our attention. “Okay guys. Break time’s over.” She pointed to me and Glace. “Frio, Dulce, let’s hear the orchard scene.” To the other’s she said, “Places people.” Everyone scattered and gave us room in the middle.
Glace and I met in the center of the classroom. Everyone was looking at us and it made my palm sweaty. Glace gave me an encouraging smile to help me. She was such a pro at this. I kept forgetting that she acted in real life.
Glace raised her hand and stared deeply in my eyes. “She speaks: O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head. As is a winged messenger of heaven.”
She spoke the lines so convincingly that I almost gushed at her. I stared mesmerized at her face until the acting director cleared her throat. Oh hell. I needed to deliver my lines.
“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.” I tried to arrange my features the way it was supposed to be. I didn’t enjoy this whole thing, but the thought of Glace being my Romeo appealed to me.
It was hard not to do my best when Glace was so serious and trying for us. The least I could do was to put on a good show. After running a couple more lines, the director finally seemed satisfied. She made us gather around her.
“That’s perfect Frio and Dulce. Remember what will happen in the last scene. Absolutely no kissing guys. It would be great to include that, but I know that both of you wouldn’t be comfortable with it so just move your head closer and pretend that you’re kissing for the play. Clear?”
“Sure,” I said with a shaky laugh. Glace looked at me strangely but didn’t speak up.
Before everyone dispersed for the day, I decided that it was time to put the plan in motion. No more excuses this time Dulce. It was now or never. I walked over to her. She was rummaging through her bag and had her back to me.
I cleared my throat. “Hey,” I said awkwardly. At the sound of my voice she turned around and smiled. Her coffee brown eyes twinkled in greeting. “Hey stranger,” she murmured.
My heart skipped a bit. “So you like Romeo and Juliet?” What kind of lame question was that Dulce? I nearly face palmed myself. Way to go!
“Hmm… I don’t like how they died at the end, but I rather enjoyed the meaning behind it.”
I frowned. “Was it the fact that they ended their lives to be with each other in death?”
She shook her head and took out a hair tie from her pocket. She expertly pulled her hair up just the way I liked it. “No Dulce. Some critics said that the ending of Romeo and Juliet had a sexual context.”
“I’ve never heard about it. Educate me?” I said with a smile. This girl was seriously brainy. How could I not fall for her? Only a fool would do that.
“Sure,” she said. “You know how Romeo drank from her cup and Juliet stabbed herself with a dagger? To translate that in a non-PG 13 way, Shakespeare was basically saying that they consummated indirectly. It was a symbolism. Get it?”
I thought about it. “That makes sense. Juliet did call it the Happy Dagger,” I chuckled. Glace laughed low. God even her laugh was sexy.
“Uhm… You know. I never did get to thank you for taking care of me for almost a week. I want to make it up to you.” There. I said it.
She arched her eyebrows. “No thanks necessary Dulce. It was my pleasure. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being sick so I had to do what I could.” I touched her arm gently. “But I really want to make it up to you Glace. Can I come over to your house later?”
Her eyes widened before it darted to my hands. I noticed that I was still touching her so I dropped my arms to the side. “Sure,” she said. “You know my address anyway so you can come anytime you want. Or would you like to ride my car with me?”
“I brought my ride Glace. Besides, I don’t want the paparazzi to see me leaving school with you.”
“I nearly forgot about that,” she said with a frown. “Okay, I’ll just see you later then. I have to go now. I need to hide from the admirers.” She winked.
“See you,” I said. She picked up her bag from the table and walked briskly out the room. Five people immediately tailed her. She had so many fans. I wonder how she was able to handle that.
I walked to my own bag and grabbed my phone. I shoot Tim and Patty a text message saying that I was going to put the plan into action. In case you’re wondering, our plan was pretty simple. All I had to do was cook for Glace to get her heart. I didn’t know if it would work though. But since cooking was my expertise, I prayed that I could express my feelings through it.
I headed to the direction of the parking lot and whistled softly. The grocery was my first stop. I needed to buy the ingredients for the meal that I was going to prepare for her. Afterwards I had to drive home to change into something, I don’t know, sexier?
I did all of those things before driving smoothly to Glace’s house. By now I have her address memorized by heart.
The gate to her property was opened by an inch. That’s strange. Glace liked that closed. I peeked inside before walking in and heading to the house. The front door was also ajar. I didn’t mind it and went straight to the living room. Where was she? She knew that I’d visit. Maybe she was in the kitchen.
As I entered the dining area, the sight that beheld me made me stop and gasp for air. My knees shook on its own. Glace had her back to me and appeared to be kissing Eris. I wasn’t that sure. But the way Eris leaned to her and the way Glace’s hand was raised to the redheads face convinced me of what was happening. Their heads moved in sync and Eris groaned softly.
My hands tightened on the grocery bag that I brought with me. I felt sick in the stomach. My eyes teared up and clouded my vision. I didn’t think it would hurt this much to see her like this. No. I couldn’t stand it.
I placed the grocery bag on the table before silently walking away from the house. When I reached the car, I bit my lip to stop myself from crying. I had no right to cry for her. We weren’t together. She didn’t even know I love her. How do I turn it off? Was there a switch somewhere that would stop this awful feeling?
I took a large gulp of air and forced myself to calm down. To calm down and not break down from the wrecking ball that was smashing continuously, breaking my heart. Drowning my lungs. Burning my insides to cinder. Making me bleed.
She and I were nothing but friends. I should be thankful that she even gave me the time of the day. Get a grip Dulce. Start the engine and go. You don’t belong here.
I did as my mind instructed and drove swiftly away from her house. When I reached my destination, I cut the engine and got out. My feet took me to a place that I haven’t visited in a long time. I sat down on the grass. “Hey daddy,” I whispered and stared at my father’s tombstone.
“I’m so sorry I haven’t been,” I said while trembling. “I was so caught up in myself that I neglected coming here.” I tried to form a smile but it ended as a grimace. “Your daughter experienced her first heartbreak today dad,” my voice cracked despite telling myself not to feel weak.
“There’s this girl that I really like. She has coffee colored eyes that I love to stare at. Sometimes I feel like she touches me from a single look. I love how she takes care of me and I like how she’s very loyal. But I also hate that about her. She’s so fateful to someone that isn’t me.”
“She wasn’t mine daddy and I still ended up falling for her. I’m so stupid.” I hugged my knees and stared at the tombstone. It read Richard Gavin- a loving husband and father. Underneath the dates was a quote. True love waits, it said.
It was a lie.
A/N: The rain dance that one of my readers made urged me to update. Sorry for the sad chapter though. I was listening to Taeyang's Wedding Dress while making it. Don't know him? Check the youtube vid for the song. It's in Korean but dang it will make you cry.