A piece of the past…
Dannie walked the narrow pathway toward home with easy steps. Though her feet with at ease with the maze-like twists and turns of the familiar path her heart and mind were nowhere near calm. She could feel her heart start to hammer against her chest. But she had to face what was coming like she did for years.
She could hear her mother’s angry voice from behind the door as she stood outside. Children from around the squatter-infested she called her neighborhood almost threw her off her feet as they ran past her.
She knew she would regret opening the door but she did just that like she had for years. What greeted her were her mother’s shouts as she stood before her husband with hands on her hips talking about how he spent the afternoon drinking. Her father shouted back at his wife and Dannie silently made her way to her room which had a curtain that served as a door. There was just one bed and in it lay the only person she came home to every day.
“Hey,” she whispered to her sister as she placed her bag at one corner.
Her younger sister just smiled at her and asked, “Did you bring me something?”
No, because she had not received her allowance from her benefactors yet. Then she remembered something. “Jackie gave me something before we left school. It’s nothing but she hoped you’ll like it.” She went to her bag and took out the orange headband from her friend.
Tessa, who was one year younger, smiled as she pushed herself from the bed with what was left of her strength. Dannie handed her the band and watched her sister admire it.
“Danica! Are you home?!” her mother’s voice cried out from outside.
“Yeah,” she answered back.
“What the hell are you doing in there? Get your ass out here and cook supper!”
“Coming,” she answered again, standing up from her sister’s bed.
PRESENT DAY
“I am so excited now that you decided to spend your vacation outside the convent,” Jackie said from the passenger seat with her usual exaggerated tone of excitement that usually contagious.
“Of course, where else would I go?” Dannie asked, looking outside my window. “It seems that things are still the same,” she noted.
“Don’t be silly, Dannie. You’ve only been gone a year. Not a lot has changed,” Georgie said without taking her eyes off the road. Lately she had been more careful, especially after that incident where I almost got freaking killed. And Jordan had her on a leash. Well, not really because she would not obviously allow that, knowing her. But it was still a leash of some kind that mellowed down most of Georgie’s extremeness.
“A lot has changed,” Dannie baby contradicted. “One of you is getting married. That’s BIG.”
“Well, yeah, you can say that,” Georgie admitted.
“I was really surprised when you told me the news,” Dannie said.
Oh, don’t mention it, Danny baby. You wouldn’t want to know my reaction. I would not dare tell the tale but it was out in the open now. Vicky, Beatle, Dee and even Nomad knew about my stupid reaction.
Honestly, I shouted something like, “Who’s gonna take me now?!” when I heard the freaking proposal. Because, really, if one of them was getting married, it meant I was in trouble. Dannie was spending her time becoming a nun and she would not surely be needing me like the past one year. That only left the other two and one of them was getting married which meant I would only be used by the other one who was bound to get married someday as well and who would take me then? Where would I go?! Those were my concerns and those thoughts still bothered me every now and then.
“I was surprised, too,” Georgie answered Dannie.
“Me too. It was just a shock,” Jackie said in agreement. “I can’t believe a lot has changed for the past two years. I mean for the three of us.”
Georgie just nodded and Dannie just looked out the window. There was something in her eyes and her silence that told me she was thinking about the things that happened to before she left for the convent.
Before we arrived at the apartment, Dannie asked aloud, “Has my mother dropped by the apartment by any chance?”
That took us all by surprise but Georgie and Jackie knew better than me because they were both fast to recover.
Jackie answered, “No.”
That was the end of it.
But it did not stop me from wondering about the real reason why Dannie baby entered the convent. I wanted to believe it was because of her strong faith and conviction to serve God but I couldn’t help but think that she had other reasons. Maybe Dannie locked herself in the convent not to fulfill her heart’s desires but to escape its fears.
*****
“Do you pray every day?” Troy asked.
Everyone looked at him incredulously.
“What?” he asked, looking lost. “I don’t know what happens inside a convent.”
Jordan turned away from his task of skewing pork for their barbeque later to say, “You’ve been bombarding Dannie with questions since you got here. Give her a break, man.”
“Well, thank the heavens someone has finally heard my prayers,” Dannie uttered with a sigh, standing up to join Jackie and Dean making the dessert. “And yes, we do pray every day.”
“Did you get what I sent you last month?” he asked, following behind her.
“Stop with the questions, Troy. I want some silence right now.”
“I thought you have had enough of that since you’ve just walked out of a convent.” Then his face lit up with excitement as he said, “Hey, I have a better idea. Why don’t we go to Art District tonight?”
“No,” everyone answered.
Dannie saw his face fell with his shoulders. “Why?”
“Dannie’s tired.”
“No, she’s not. She just walked out of the convent. I was there. She did not get here by plane. There was no traffic. She did not really do anything. Are you tired?” he asked her innocently.
She gave him the usual look she had developed only for him from the day she met him and he held up his hands and stepped back. “Okay. Some other time then?”
When she did not answer, he walked back to his chair and fished out his phone out of his pocket. “Can I invite some friends over?”
“Unless they are Lee and Miguel, no you can’t,” answered Jackie. “If it is another lady friend, you know the answer to that, Troy.”
Dannie frowned. “Another lady friend?”
Jackie rolled her eyes as she carefully sliced a mango. “He brought a woman here last week and they were both so drunk. I can’t believe you let him go in that state, really,” she added to Dean.
“He was gone before I could stop them,” Dean said dryly.
“So he still brings women here?” Dannie asked.
“Of course. But now he brings them here wasted unlike before. I don’t know. He’s been drinking more often than usual, right Dean.”
Dannie stared at Dean but the guy just shrugged, avoiding her gaze.
*****
After the barbeque, my boys decided to spend the rest of the night with Jordan and Dean outside the apartment, drinking coffee. Lee and Miguel already left to go to Art District. Troy joined them an hour later.
They were talking about the wedding, but nothing about Dannie or her mother or even Troy. Everyone knew it was a touch subject, especially after what happened one year ago. Though they all acted normal I got a feeling that they were all still adjusting with the changes.
Jam joined them for a talk and he too drove off with Nomad to go somewhere.
Jordan and Dean left when the coffee was over.
“Be careful, the two of you,” Jackie told them as they walked to Vicky aka Victor and Beatle.
“The wedding’s in a month. We don’t want any accidents,” Jackie added.
“No groom, no wedding,” Georgie said dryly with a sigh.
The three great women in my life waved the men off and disappeared back inside the apartment. I was nearly in tears of gas just imagining them being together again. I had missed this. It had been too long for me and now they were complete. If only they could all be together for a long time…Just like old times, right? But Dannie was only back for the holidays and the wedding. She’d be locked away in the convent soon and it was tearing my engines just by thinking about it.
I was thinking of many things that night when I realized someone was driving toward me.
Tata? What are you doing here?
My friend did not answer, of course. She knew I’d find out anyway. And I sure did.
Oh, oh, this is not good! What the hell, Troy my boy! What are you doing?!
He did not hear me, of course. He jumped off Tata with a stupid grin on his face and wobbled his way toward the apartment.
Is he drunk? I asked Tata. Of course, he was! But wait…who the hell is this?!
A woman dressed to almost nothing was also climbing out of Tata and she was giggling for no apparent reasons.
Not again!
“Shhh!” Troy addressed the pretty almost-nude lady with a laugh. He walked toward the door of the apartment and knocked twice.
“Are you sure this is right? We can always go to your place,” the lady said in a whisper which came out louder than intended.
Get her out of here, stupid! I shouted at Troy.
But no one ever listened to me. Troy knocked again and a few seconds later, the door opened.
It was Dannie baby.
*****
Dannie frowned up at Troy’s drunken state. “You’re drunk,” she pointed out, holding the door in place so he could not barge in.
“Of course not. But I am so freaking tired, Danica. Can we spend the night here?” he asked, his eyes droopy.
“We?” she asked, her eyes flying over his shoulder and that was when she saw the dark-haired beauty smiling behind him. She returned her gaze at him and said, “You know I just came back here, right?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“And you decided this is the best time for you to bring a woman here and you are both drunk. Nothing really changed with you, Troy.”
“Stop with the lecture, teacher Danica,” Troy lazily said. “I mean SISTER Danica. I almost forgot.” His eyes looked down at her like they did one year ago before she left for the convent.
“She’s a nun?!” the lady behind Troy asked in surprise.
Troy continued to stare at Danica, his face more calm and the smile on his face more gentle. And then it disappeared the moment he blinked and took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he answered the lady. “Can we come in? Really, Danica, we need a place to stay.”
“Go find a hotel, inn or motel somewhere.”
“You will let me drive around the city in this state? Come on. Just one night. We won’t do anything.”
“Yes, we won’t,” the lady chimed in.
Dannie stared at both of them, weighing the matter. She finally stepped back and opened the door to let them in. “Don’t do anything stupid, Troy or I’ll kick you out myself.”
He grinned down at her and held up his hand. “I promise.” He then turned to the lady behind him and took her hand to lead her to the carpeted living room.
Dannie’s eyes followed their clasped hands for a few seconds before she faced the door to lock it.
When turned back, the two were already cuddling on the carpet, eyes closed and whispering into each other’s ears.
“Troy, remember what I told you,” she warned before she entered her room.
“Sure, sure,” he absently answered without looking at her.
Dannie sighed and closed herself inside her old room.
As she lay on bed, the memories of last year flashed before her eyes.
“You have to think hard about this, Danica,” Troy had said.
“I already did and this is my final decision. Stop looking at me like that. It’s not like you. You should be happy the fun-spoiler is going away.”
He shook his head, his expression incredulous yet patient at the same time. “I can’t let you go like this. Just stay a few more months and try to think more about it.”
“Troy, just accept my decision like Jackie and George did.”
“Danica, I have more reasons why I can’t let you go.”
She frowned and her heart started to race. She did not dare ask why. He leaned over to peer at her with a serious look on his face. She tried to look away but his eyes locked hers in a strong and intense gaze.
“I love you. Not just as a friend. I’ve loved you for a long time and I’ve been meaning to tell you and it has been making me crazy. And if there is any part in you that considers the same level of affection, don’t go. We have to give this a shot. I am ready to give it a shot, Danica.”
Dannie closed her eyes to block out the memory. She had made her decision a year ago. She should not be bothered now that Troy had moved on. She reminded herself the same answer she gave him last year. They could never be more than just friends.