-chapter two-
-present day-
Darren is sitting on the set, he is still waiting for his scene, the crews are still checking the lights and the blockings. It is going to be a tough scene for him. He is supposed to be happy, in love, and fulfilled, as they are going to shoot his wedding scene with his on-screen girlfriend. He has to really use his acting skills for this scene, because his real mood, is far away from that.
It’s been a month since he walked away from her. And for the month, there was no phone call, a text or anything from her. She wanted to end things, he thinks quietly, I guess she wanted a clean break. He keeps checking on his phone, a habit he developed for quite sometime now. Every time his phone beeped, he keeps wishing for a miracle, for something that will go his way.
He sits there fiddling with his phone, remembering the last time they were together, the fight that ends things for them. He loved her, wait, no, he still loves her. Even when she said that their relationship was just ‘fun while it lasted’. Even right now, when all he’s feeling was betrayed, he can’t stop loving her. He poured his heart out for her, and it meant nothing for her. She said she was leaving, she had to go home, no questions asked. The decision was final, he has no saying in it.
His phone vibrates, he jumps and sees the number. It was an unknown number, usually he’d ignore it, he has no reason to pick up strange calls. He stares at his phone, remembering the time when he was expecting to get a call from a strange number.
-sometime last year-
“Hello,” Darren picked up the phone from that strange number. He was waiting for that call since yesterday, a call from a number that was not listed in his phone. This was the 3rd call today, 7 since yesterday, he had picked up wrong numbers, telemarketers, and fans who happened to stumble into his phone number. Kids these days, they really need positive outlet for their talents.
“Hi, it’s Adya,” her voice echoed on the other line. Definitely the one he’d been waiting for. She sounded slightly different than when he was talking to her in person, but both gave him the same effect; his heart skipped beat and his lips began to smile. Ever since the day of her visit, she had been on his mind. Her cute ways when she stumble into things. And he knew she wouldn’t know, he paid attention to her even when she wasn’t looking.
“Oh hey you.”
“Estelle gave me your number, she said you came by.”
He chuckled, “Yeah, I had a day off. I figured you’d be there,” he added the last sentence carefully.
“Yeah, I’ve been working on my dissertation all this week. I forced myself to come by today, if not I’d go crazy.”
“Yeah, Estelle told me about it. It was great to see the kids again though, and I guess Mateo found his cool.”
Adya laughed, “Yeah, your duet with him contributes to it.”
He chuckled. Jeff came by and tapped him, “Come on Darren, we need you on set.”
“Yeah just a sec,” he said to Jeff.
“I guess I have to let you go now huh?”
He didn’t want her to, “Yeah,” he said heavily.
“Okay then, thank you again.”
“Hey no problem.”
“See you around,” she said and about to hang up the phone.
“Do you have any plans tomorrow?” he said quickly before she hung up.
“Um, no, not really.”
“Do you want to grab some drink or something? I should wrap up around 7 tomorrow.”
There was a pause on the other line, Jeff was gesturing him to go to the scene, he gestured with his hand for him to wait.
“Okay, that’d be nice.”
He felt his heart fluttered and suddenly felt 10 feet tall, “Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Great, text me your address, and I’ll pick you up around 8?”
“Okay.”
“This is your number then?”
“Yes Mr. Mitchell it is,” she laughed.
“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“See you tomorrow.”
He hung up the phone and Jeff was calling him, “Come on Darren, I hope that phone call is from Spielberg about you landing a part in his latest creation.”
Darren walked to the set and gave his phone to Jeff, “Nope, but it’s better, I got a date with her.” Now he didn’t have to pick up strange numbers again.
-present day-
“Hey Darren we need you now,” Jeff calls out to him.
Darren is still staring at the number, contemplating whether he should take it or not.
“Hey Darren come on, we don’t have all night!”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” he says while he tosses the phone to the chair.
The shoot wraps up for the day, he is still lingering on set, complete with his tuxedo and all. Wishing, it wasn’t just a scene he was shooting.
“Darren, you’re okay?” Curtis, one of the producers, comes in to talk to him. Curtis is a man in his mid-forties, usually dressed with a v-neck t-shirt and jeans. His blond hair hang loose down his shoulders, giving a cool laid back impression whenever you see him.
Darren startles and looks up at Curtis. He is shorter by at least 2 inches from Curtis. He lets out a small smile, “I’m okay Curtis.”
Curtis chuckles, “You’re a good actor, but you can’t lie to me.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, I’ll take that for now.”
A pause, and Darren is still fiddling with his phone, “I’d better get going,” Darren excuses himself and change.
He drives home, and occasionally glances at his phone. Waiting for it to ring, or vibrates, or anything. Anything from her. He longs for her. He lets his subconscious took over his driving. The drive takes him back to that time, the first time he went to her place.
-sometime last year-
“Hey,” she opened the door with a smile, slightly surprised to see him an hour early than he had promised her. “Come in,” she said and gestured him to pass the threshold.
“The shoot finished early so I figured I just came straight here,” he said while screening the quaint apartment. It was a typical student quarters, with one room. She had her kitchen on his right with the breakfast table that was currently occupied with her MacBook and knick-knacks. He looked to the living room and found Mateo buried in his homework. “Hey, Mateo’s here?”
“Yeah, his mom has to work double shifts. She needs someone to watch over him. They have no one else. She should be here around 8. I didn’t know you’d come early.”
He smiled, truth be told, he didn’t mind at all, he just wanted to spend more time with her. “It’s okay,” he said.
“Have you had your dinner yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“I’m making spaghetti for Mateo, you want some?”
“Yeah, cool,” he said.
“Great,” she smiled and left him to the kitchen.
He looked over Mateo and came over to him, “Hey buddy.”
“Darren!” he said and his face light up.
“Watcha doing?”
“Math, can you help?”
“Let’s see, whatcha got there,” he said and looked at Mateo’s work. While he was helping with Mateo’s homework, he occasionally took a glance at Adya. She was setting up the table for dinner, suddenly he felt the chill, like this was right. This was how it supposed to be. He comes home from work and she’s cooking dinner while he’s spending time with their children. Wait a minute, what? Why was he thinking ‘children’ when they haven’t even had their first date yet. But it felt right for him.
“Come on you guys, dinner’s ready,” she called from the kitchen.
Mateo gave a sign of relief, “I’m hungry,” he said.
“Yeah, me too,” Darren said and they got up and went to the kitchen. Darren had to help Mateo up the stool. They ate their dinner and listened to Mateo telling them about his day. Not long after they were done with their dinner, there was a knock on the door. Adya opened the door, and a middle age woman came to view. He could only assume it was Mateo’s mom.
“I’m sorry Ms. Adya, I didn’t know you have plans,” she said when she saw Darren.
“Oh no, it’s okay,” Adya said.
“Yeah, I have a great time with Mateo too. He’s my man,” Darren said to her.
Mateo’s mom was looking at him confused.
“He meant, Mateo and him are friends too,” Adya explained to the older woman.
“Ah,” Mateo’s mom looked relief, “Thank you again Ms. Adya.”
“You’re welcome Ms. Esposito, any time you need my help to watch over Mateo, just give me a call.”
“Okay, I will,” she gestured the door, “we should go, you have a great night Ms. Adya, Mr….”
“Darren,” he said to her.
“Okay Mr. Darren.”
They said their goodbyes, then it was only him and her in the room.
“Shall we go then?” Adya said to him.
He looked at the table and frowned at her, “How come Mateo got chocolate milkshake and I just got apple juice.”
“I ran out of chocolate chip.”
“Let’s go to the store and get some then.”
She gave him a look.
“Mateo made it look so good,” he said to her with a face he hoped will win her over.
She sighed, “Fine, let’s go then, it’s not too far, we’ll just walk there.”
“Great,” he smiled and took his coat, and he helped her put on the coat.
They walked side by side, Darren kept glancing at her and sometimes he caught her glancing back. He smiled.
“So your day job what is it?” he said during the stroll. He was trying to keep up with her, she had long strides for someone her size.
“Regional planner,” she said, “but it’s back home. Right now, I’m just a student.”
“Really? What are you studying?”
“Geography.”
“And you’re taking your masters?”
“Ph.D,” she said, “here we are.” She gestured to the door to the grocery store.
He looked at her confused while opening the door for her, “I thought your job drives you crazy, why bother with the Ph.D?”
“Yeah, but I’m on scholarship, I can’t really choose,” she said as she walked in the store. He found himself unable to reply. For his whole life, he doesn’t really have to do anything he doesn’t like. There she was, doing something that drove her crazy, but still able to find a balance.
She greeted the cashier as she walked in. The cashier knew her by her first name. He followed her closely and watched as she picked the groceries.
“Do you want anything?” she turned around to him.
“You got some chips at your place?”
“I got those baked ones.”
He gave her a look, “I played gay, not gay for real,” he said and she laughed. “How come you eat those anyway? They taste like cardboard!”
“Then cardboard must taste so good then.”
He looked at her, and knew they’d do this a lot down the road, and he can’t wait to do that. He didn’t know why, but he kept thinking about his future with her from that moment.
He picked up a bag of chips, “The real one,” he said as he put down the chips on the basket.
She chuckled amused, “Is that all?”
“Yeah,” he said they paid for the groceries and walked back to the apartment.
“Does Mateo come a lot?”
“Yeah, I mean someone needs to keep an eye on him, he’s a great kid.”
“Yeah, he’s a cheerful one.”
“He reminds me of my nephew back home, same age, not as troublesome though.”
He laughed, “You like it at the center huh?”
“Like I say, it’s my way to keep my sanity.”
“That bad?”
“No, the truth is, I just want to help out, I used to be one of them. Being a new kid is hard enough, being a new kid in foreign land, that’s 3 times as hard,” she said as they arrived back to the apartment.
“Even when you’re in grad school?” he said as they were settling the groceries. Adya took out the groceries from the bag and started to make the milkshake.
“No, back when I was in high school,” she said while she pouring the ingredients together to the blender, “I went to high school here.”
“In LA?” he sat down on the stool looking at her working the blender.
“No,” she said while she reached for the glass, she poured the milkshake and put it in front of him, “whipped cream?”
He nodded, and she put on some whipped cream and a straw.
“There you go.”
“Thank you,” he took a sip, “This is good!”
She smiled.
“So, where di you go to high school?”
“Centennial High School, Columbus, Ohio, my mom was studying at OSU, she brought us along.”
“No shit, then you’re a buckeye.”
“Through and through.”
“I’m a wolverine.”
“I know, we can’t be,” she teased him.
He laughed, “Well, there’s always Romeo and Juliet.”
“They died at the end!” she protested
“Together nonetheless.”
She scoffed, “Aren’t you a hopeless romantic.”
“It’s what gets me here,” he said and reached for her hand. She didn’t retreated.
“So are we still going to get a drink?”
“We’re drinking right now,” he said and smiled.
“True.”
“This is better actually, crowded bar is not a good place to talk, and I don’t think they have a killer milkshake like this.”
“A little rum in it then it becomes interesting you know,” she smiled.
“Ah, do that next time,” he took another sip and suddenly Adya was laughing at him.
“What?” he said, he had no idea what was going on with him.
“Wait!” she said and reached for her phone, she took his picture and showed it to him.
“Ow,” he said and wiped his nose.
“Twitter would love this.”
“And how old are you, twelve?”
“Thirteen and a half thank you very much.”
“I should go then, or I might be charged for statutory rape.”
“If anyone is in danger of that is me to you, you do know I’m older than you right?”
“And you do realize that I passed the legal age right?”
“Ow shush.”
“I don’t care. I like being around you.”
“You’re hopeless romantic and charming. You do know it’s not healthy right?”
“Chronic disease, the one I hope to pass on to you.”
She scoffed, “I have a confession to make though,” she said in serious tone.
He caught his breath. She sounded serious, he was preparing for the worse like she’s betrothed or she used to be a man, “Okay, what is it?”
“I’m a fan.”
He breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn’t anything he was afraid of, “Really?” Her cheeks became red, it was too cute to watch, he was amused by it.
“Yeah, I have your videos back from your Youtube days, and I have all your song on my iPod, even your indie releases.”
“No shit.”
“Don’t freak.”
He laughed, “No, it’s just that, I never took you as a fan.”
She shrugged, “You’re that good.”
“That I am huh?”
“Oh, God, never mind that.”
“Can’t take it back,” he smiled slyly.
“Whatever,” she said and her face was just burning red, he had to laugh.
“I’m having a great time,” he blurted out what supposed to stay on his head. He waited for her response, he didn’t want to be seem like a kid who was infatuated.
“I’m glad,” she said with a smile. There was a pause
“You know what goes great with this?” he pointed to his milkshake, changing the subject.
“Grilled cheese sandwich,” she said.
“Peanut butter and jelly,” he said at the same time. “What? Grilled cheese?”
“Ow, like PB & J is a better option?”
“Yeah, the nuttiness of the peanut butter would go perfectly with the chocolate.”
“But the jam would never mix dude, I’m telling you, the saltiness of the cheese would balance the chocolate.”
“Ow you got to prove that theory.”
“Fine, let’s make our own respective sandwiches, and see whose theory is proven.”
He chuckled, “Oh you’re on!”
They made their sandwich, and put it on the table.
“Okay, now, let’s try it,” he said, they each had half a peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese sandwich.
“Which one’s first?”
“You eat mine, and I eat yours.”
“Sounds kinda kinky,” she said with a smile.
“Are you teasing a minor Ms. Sutrisno?”
“One, you have learn how to pronounce my name right, and it’s not called teasing, it’s simply responding.”
He laughed, she was his match, “Just eat your sandwich.”
They took the other’s sandwich and ate it then gulped it down with the milkshake.
“Omigod, you said that was good?” He said and cringed. Truth be told, it wasn’t that bad. He just didn’t want her to win.
“Like this is any better, like I say the jam doesn’t blend.”
“This is a good grilled cheese though.”
“The pb&j has a nice blend to it too.”
“Admit it, it goes with the drink.”
She gave him a look and he laughed. He glanced at his watch, time had passed by, and he didn’t even realize it. He hated the fact that they have an early shoot tomorrow, so he has to come early in the morning.
“You have to go aren’t you?” she looked at him, he swore at that time she knew what was on his mind.
“I don’t really want to, but I have to,” he said regretfully.
“Don’t use me as an excuse of being late then.”
He smiled, he didn’t want to go, he still wanted to be with her, “Yeah, I should go.” He started gathering his stuff. “Do you want to have lunch tomorrow?”
She looked at him, she seems shocked by his questions. He was afraid that he was too forward.
“I mean, I have long gap tomorrow, and I have to shoot again at night.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, it’ll be great.”
“Cool, I’ll pick you up at the center tomorrow at noon?”
“Um, actually, I’m teaching tomorrow, so you can just pick me up in campus?”
“I’ll call you when I get there.”
“Great.”
“Wonderful,” he said and gave her a kiss on a cheek. He knew if he kissed her it would be too forward. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
-present day-
He stands there in front of her apartment door, he just realizes how much he misses her. Just the sight of her door gives him hope, she is on the other side. He is gathering all of his courage to knock on the door, when suddenly a woman’s voice calls him.
“Darren?”
He turns to the source, “Estelle, how are you?”
“I’m good, what are you doing here?”
“I…uh…I want to see Addy, what are you doing here?”
Estelle’s face falls, he knows whatever is going to come next will not be a good thing. She shakes her head and looks at him in pity. “She really didn’t tell you did she?”
“No, what is it Estelle? Is she alright?”
“Darren, I don’t know how to tell you this, but she went back.”
No comments:
Post a Comment