by Yuriko Hime
The doorbell rang twice. Glace looked annoyed as she placed her plate on the bedside table. “I’ll be back in a second.” She disappeared outside the room. Minutes later, I heard argument near my bedroom. Who the hell was that? As if to answer my question, the door swung open. Faint cinnamon scent wafted inside the room and there stood Denise with all her Barbie looks. The song Barbie Girl played in my mind. It almost made me laugh out loud.
“Two minutes Denise,” Glace said behind her. “That’s all I’m going to give you.”
Denise glared at Glace. “You may be a big Hollywood star, but you have no right to keep me away from my girlfriend.”
From my view, Glace’s jaw clenched. “Oh she’s your girlfriend now?”
“Well are you?” Denise retorted. Glace didn’t reply at the question, which made Denise laugh. “You’re so predictable Frio. Dulce is not taken yet. I’ll claim her.”
Claim? What the? “I’m right here guys.” The two ignored me. I focused on Denise. “What are you doing here?”
She walked confidently to the side of the bed where I was sitting and made herself comfortable. “I’m here to take care of you babe. You should have called me right away. What is Ice Queen even doing here?”
“She’s taking care of me.”
Denise arched an eyebrow. “Why? Are you two even friends?”
“Something like that, yes.”
“I don’t believe you Dulce. The Ice Queen doesn’t like to get close to people.”
Glace sighed as she walked to our direction. She went to the bed, scooting near me. "Why not tell her the truth Dulce?”
“What truth?” Denise and I said together.
She pressed me to her. “That we’re a couple,” she said, loud enough to get the point across.
I gulped. My eyes darted to Denise’s face. Her mouth opened in shock. “You’re lying,” she seethed.
“Would you like us to do it in front of you so you’d believe us?” Glace asked coldly. She pushed me down on the bed and straddled me. “We’ll give you a show Denise. You can watch, but you can’t join us. Dulce is mine.” She inched her lips forward. My heart leaped out of my chest.
“Stop,” Denise said in disgust before Glace’s lips touched mine. “I’ve seen enough bitch!” Glace and I watched as she stood up from the bed, fuming mad. “But I won’t let this lying down. I’ll ruin you Frio!” She turned to me. “Once I do, Dulce will come back to me.” She turned around and stomped out. A few seconds later, the front door banged shut. Something was very wrong with that girl.
Glace relaxed. “That was close.”
“Yeah.” My voice shook. Hope Glace didn’t notice. Having her on top of me made me more nervous than the Denise encounter. I silently cursed my teenage body for feeling like this. “Can you move away Glace? I can’t breathe.” She rolled on my left, mumbling an apology. “You shouldn’t have said that to her. Denise is one sneaky girl. Who knows what she’ll do?” I sighed and grabbed a pillow.
“I don’t give a damn about her. What’s important is she’s going to stay away from you now.” Both of us stayed silent while we thought about it. Glace was probably right. This was for the best. The farther Denise was, the better I could live my life.
“What do you want to do now?” I asked after a few moments, wanting to clear my head from the thoughts of Denise.
“Want to play strip poker?”
I glared at her. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” she said. “Hmm. Want to play the quotes game?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
She touched her chin. “Well, I’m going to say a quote and you have to answer it with another one. Game?” I nodded. “I’ll go first.” Concentration crossed her features. “Okay here goes. If you like her, if she makes you happy, and if you feel like you know her, then don't let her go. From Nicholas Sparks.” She smirked.
It was my turn. “If you love somebody, let them go. For if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were. Khalil Gibran.”
Glace frowned. “I don’t like that quote.”
I shrugged. “You don’t have to like it. That’s my answer to your quote.”
She stared at the ceiling. “Here’s another one Dulce. We have to allow ourselves to be loved by the people who really love us, the people who really matter, from Joybell C.” She smiled with satisfaction.
“I guess that’s just part of loving people. You have to give things up. Sometimes you even have to give them up. Lauren Oliver,” I said with a poker face.
“You’re purposefully contradicting me.”
“What did I do?” I asked innocently.
She frowned. “Here I am telling you about romantic quotes, and you’re shunning them with negative ones.” She groaned. “Okay you go first this time. Let me see you try it.”
She really wanted to go there? My mouth curled at the side. “You love me. Real or not real? Suzanne Collins.” Glace’s jaw dropped in surprise. She mumbled something incoherent. I laughed and touched her nose. “You don’t have to answer that. It’s just a quote.”
“Dulce I-”
I placed my hand over her mouth, muffling the answer she said. “Don’t,” I said in a hurry. “Please don’t. Let me enjoy this moment. When we go back to school, I swear to God that I’ll forget all about this. But here and now I want to believe this lie.” After making sure that she wouldn’t speak, I removed my hands from her. “Please,” I said softly. Please don’t shatter this fantasy.
In response, she cupped my chin and locked her gaze with mine. She looked conflicted, but at the same time her eyes were tender. Glace moved her face several inches near mine and stopped. “Dulce I. . .” she repeated. Her voice trembled, while my heart pounded in anticipation. She inhaled deeply and instead of doing what I hoped she would, she brought her soft full lips to my cheek.
Even though it was an almost kiss and not the -I love you so much let’s get married type- my heart still melted. I still had space in her heart, even as a friend. That would have to do right? But at the back of my mind, I have made a decision. With or without a chance, I wanted to pursue her. May the best girl win.
Chapter 13. The Chase
The months passed quickly. Before I knew it, we were already in the middle of November. Things were 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. Speaking of Patty, she asked us for a little bonding session 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 on his tray. He placed the food in front of me. I began to spread the fries and smear ketchup all over it. What could I say? Sharing was caring. Like an unspoken agreement, Tim and I faced Patty at the same time. The blue eyed girl cringed when she saw our questioning looks.
“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 wondered what was wrong. “Are you even going to speak?” Tim asked.
“Zip it Tim,” I said, and touched Patty’s arm. “Tell us the truth. Are you pregnant?”
Tim choked on his fries. He stared at me with wide eyes. “Way to get to the point cutie.”
I shrugged and concentrated on Patty. “Well?”
“Don’t be silly Dulce,” she said. “I’m a virgin.”
Tim reached for his burger. “You look like it too,” he mumbled. I kicked his shin under the table.
“Then what’s the problem Patty?” I smiled encouragingly at her.
She sighed. There was a dreamy look in her eyes. “I think I’m in love.”
“How is that a problem?” Tim asked before taking a bite from his burger.
“I haven’t seen the other person.”
Tim arched an eyebrow. “Are you
having imaginary friends again?” He really loved to tease Patty and me. That was his mission in life.
Patty frowned at him. “No Timmy,” she said sourly. “That was years ago when we were eight. Quit bringing that up.” She sighed and added, “I met the person online. We haven’t exchanged pictures yet.”
I leaned back on my chair as Tim spoke. “How can you be in love with him 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 him. Body odor? Where did that come from?
“Oh shut up you,” Patty said, 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. I forgot the number one rule in this earth. Never assume anyone was straight.
“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. I messaged her because I loved her book so much. She seemed sweet, so we exchanged email addresses. 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?” Ha! I was one to talk. I didn’t even have my own account.
“She said she couldn’t,” Patty said glumly.
“She couldn’t because she’s ugleeeeeh!” Tim announced. I gave him a dirty stare before shifting my focus on 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 took out her phone from her bag. “I was able to record a conversation with her. Want to hear it?” When Tim and I consented, she began scrolling on her mobile. After pushing 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, thinking hard about the voice.
Patty tinkered on her phone. 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. I shouldn’t think much of it. For all I knew, she could live in outer space. “So when will you meet her?”
“I don’t know yet. Violet is always busy, and I don’t think I’m ready.” 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!” he said, clapping his hands together. “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 to shut him up.
“How did I become friends with a foul mouthed creature like you Tim?”
He smiled slyly. “Because I’m the one who spice up both your lives. If I wasn’t here, you’d be bored as hell.”
I stuck my tongue at him. “Or maybe because I had no other choice. 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,” I said with a straight face. “End your delusions.”
“Don’t tell me you’re still hooked up on Denise.”
“Someone else,” I rushed. 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 simultaneously.
I shrugged and helped myself to the fries. “It just did. Anyway, I’m going to pursue her. I need a game plan guys. Help me?”
The two grinned widely, as if similar thoughts were running in their minds. “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 was the reason why November has come and gone, but I still made no progress. I was a wuss. Was that such a crime?
Glace was tall and elegant. I followed her with my eyes as she walked to the corner, sipping from her bottle of water. We were currently inside the classroom, practicing for the school play with our other classmates. Because the performance was just weeks away, we needed to take this seriously. One of our classmates- the acting director for this play- clapped her hands to call us. “Okay guys. Break time’s over.” She pointed to me and Glace. “Frio, Dulce, let’s hear the orchard scene.” To the others 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. 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. Though I didn’t enjoy it, the thought of Glace as 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. Just move your head closer and pretend that you’re kissing for the play. Clear?”
“Sure.” I laughed shakily. Glace looked at me strangely but didn’t speak. 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. “Hey,” I said awkwardly. At the sound of my voice, she turned around and smiled.
Her eyes twinkled. “Hey stranger,” she murmured.
My heart skipped a b
eat. Damn, the things she could do to me. “So you like Romeo and Juliet?” I said as an attempt to a conversation. What kind of lame question was that Dulce? I mentally 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. Glace expertly pulled her locks 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?” This girl was seriously brainy. How could I not fall for her? Only a fool would do that.
“Sure. 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. It was out in the open.
She arched her eyebrows. “No thanks necessary. 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. “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. I dropped my arm to the side. “Sure,” she said. “You know my address anyway. Come anytime you want. Or would you like to ride my car with me?”
