“Uh… the meeting…” Jackie uttered, her hands clumsily fumbling through her note. “It happened in uh…Bar 21 and uh…Mr. uh…”

“Miss Ramos,” Dean Gamboa called her attention. She looked up and saw that everyone was looking at her with amusement except their boss. “Everyone doesn’t care where the meeting was held. And it was not Mr. Uh. It was Mr. Kho and Dolosa.”

“Uh, right! Mr. Kho and Dolosa. They uh…we uh…discussed some things that are very essential for the project…” she flipped through her notes as she said it.

Dean Gamboa cleared his throat.

“Okay, I found it!” she almost shouted when she saw the scribbles she made yesterday. “So we talked about the different contacts. The food, the tables, the venue, etcetera. They both agreed to the Sugarland Hotel venue because of the food. And…” she peered at her note. Why didn’t she write it legibly? “The theme is yet to be discount…ted?” She didn’t really read ‘discounted’. She just added the ‘-ed’ because it sounded grammatically correct at the moment.

Dean Gamboa was now frowning. “Discussed.”

“Uh, yes, the theme for the event is yet to be discussed. Since it is happening this April, I thought it would be great if we suggest--”

“What you think was not discussed during the meeting, Miss Ramos. You should have raised it yesterday.”

“Well, sir, I thought it was not right of me to discuss it with Mr. uh…”

“Kho and Dolosa.” Their boss’ tone was more weighed and everyone shifted in their seats like they had an itch.

“Yes, of course, Mr. Kho and Dolosa was more concerned on the budget and their own suggestions that I thought it was not necessary--”

“Thank you, Miss Ramos,” Dean Gamboa said, cutting her sentence short. “I expected you to at least remember the important details of the meeting. But since you obviously can’t, let me do the job.”

Karen looked at her with sympathy. The others tried to avoid eye contact. They all knew what it felt like to be treated that way by the boss.

As Dean Gamboa continued the report like nothing happened, Jackie silently vowed for vengeance.

  *****

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!” she cried through her clenched teeth as she kicked the vending machine standing by the elevator doors. “Why can’t you give me the Coke? Why? Every freakin’ time!” she asked the machine, clutching the Pepsi can in her hand. “I punched the red button, not the blue one, you idiot!” she added as she gave it one last kick.

She whirled around to see Karen gaping at her.

“It always gives me the Pepsi!” she explained.

Karen frowned. “That’s odd. It always gives me the right kind.”

“Then it is stupid!” she answered, glancing over her shoulder to throw the vending machine a furious look.

“Anyway, I will be going out tonight. They said Anon will be playing some songs. Would you like to come with?” her friend asked as she fed the machine a fifty-peso bill.

“No, I can’t,” Jackie answered, scanning her phone, specifically Dean Gamboa’s fake Facebook page. “I don’t have Toto today. George has him and she wants to go to Sanders tonight. And we’ve been to Art yesterday.”

“So, you heard Anon?”

She looked at her friend. “Yeah.”

“They’re great, right?”

She remembered Dean Gamboa with the baseball cap again. He was just so cool. “Yeah.”

But he’s a heartless bastard!

“I just wish the drummer would take off his cap, you know. I’ve had a pretty good look at the others except him. Was he still wearing that stupid cap last night?”

“Yeah,” Jackie answered, half of her mind focused on texting George. Her friend had not yet made her profile searchable.

“Well, anyway, I know you’re pretty upset about what happened this morning in the meeting. You alright?”

“Of course,” she scoffed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because our boss burned your ass in that meeting?”

“He burns everyone’s ass, Karen. And plus, karma’s a bitch. He will get what he deserves in no time.”

And just as she was saying that, Dean Gamboa appeared in front of them.

“Sir,” Karen managed to utter while Jackie just stood there with her mouth hanging open.

Dean Gamboa stared at her impatiently. “Miss Ramos, are you going to ride the elevator?”

“What?”

“Are you going to ride the elevator?” he asked again, his eyes boring into hers.

“No,” she answered.

“Then, can you move aside and let me pass?” he gestured at the elevator doors behind her with his hand.

“Sure, why not?” she said before she could hold her words. She mentally slapped herself. Great, just great.

Dean Gamboa just gave a frustrated sigh as she stepped aside with her Pepsi can and phone.

  *****

Their apartment was not big, but it had enough space for three rooms, one room smaller than the other two. Dannie occupied it since she didn’t have a lot of things to put inside like George and her diving gears, backpacks, hiking boots and a lot of other equipment for her outdoor activities. And Dannie definitely didn’t have dozens of shoes, bags, dresses and beauty products like Jackie.

Their living room was directly connected to their small kitchen at the far end of the apartment. At the back was their laundry room, slash stock room. What the boys didn’t have was a couch. They never thought it was necessary. Jackie brought in a lot of large throw pillows and a large customized teal carpet. They didn’t have the time to buy tiles so they thought a carpeted living room and bedrooms was more practical. All they had to do was clean them with the cheap vacuum cleaner they bought at a discounted price in a Chinese store downtown. The kitchen and the only bathroom in the apartment were the only areas covered with white tiles.

It was a bungalow apartment so all the rooms were lined up at the right side, just as you enter the main door. Their right wall was painted white, the right one hot pink, and the kitchen mustard. Since they couldn’t find the time to regularly wash curtains, they had white blinds for all their windows. A potted plant was at one corner, just beside their television set, and their wall decorations were different Aztec-inspired designed fabrics that Jackie bought from local fabric stores in Central Market, which she framed using two-by-two woods George cut and nailed together. With Jackie’s artistic mind, they managed to have a cool apartment which was actually livable and comfortable.

They were sitting around their small, white, square dining table, sipping wine as Dannie cooked dinner. George was busy checking and calculating the bills delivered yesterday.

Jackie moaned.

“What’s wrong?” asked George without looking up.

“Our neighbor activated his WIFI password,” she frowned at her laptop.

“You have your phone. I told you he would find out sooner or later.”

“He’s an old man. How did he figure out his WIFI should be password-protected? My phone’s dying because of too much tethering.”

“Then don’t go online,” George answered.

“Do you want the sauce to be hot or sweet?” asked Dannie from behind.

“Both,” they answered.

“I need to go online,” Jackie continued with the conversation. “Dean’s making quite a few FB friends.”

“So you’re first name basis with your boss now?” George asked.

“His name is too long. Oh, another request from… Johanna. No common friends. I guess it’s safe, right?” When no one answered, Jackie clicked the ‘accept’ button. “She’s pretty. But sorry, girl, Dean’s already taken.” She looked at George who was still busy over their bills. “George, please, just make your profile searchable for even just a minute. No one’s going to find you within that time.” The look George gave her told her she better stop. Jackie just shrugged. She knew how important it was for George to keep her privacy, especially from the people who wanted her to come out from hiding.

George was not really hiding. She was just making it difficult for everyone to track her down. Her family knew where she was, but not specifically. They would call her from time to time, but Dannie and Jackie never asked her about her conversation with her parents. They just knew George didn’t want to come home because of some stupid family business. They also knew that sooner or later, George would have to face it and that she couldn’t get away from it even if she wanted to. Right now, she was just prolonging things while delaying the inevitable.

  *****

Since it was Friday, the boys were supposed to spend it at Sanders or Bob’s Cafe like they usually would, but Jackie had other plans. She wanted to go to Art District again. Jackie came prepared tonight. She went home early and changed her clothes and made herself up.

George had gone to an overnight training out of town. So she was out. Lucky her, really.

Dannie said she was not feeling well so she went home early. And I knew she only said that as an excuse to get away from the crowd and the loud music. I could understand her, really.

So it was just me and my girl Jackie once again. She was in a good mood than she was yesterday when she told everyone about how Dean Gamboa embarrassed her in front of her officemates. I guess the reason for her happy mood today was the fact that Brian didn’t show up in the parking lot.

I was actually surprised myself when he didn’t. I knew he was pestering Jackie about the Facebook account of Dean Gamboa, so it seemed that Jackie’s plan might be getting results.

Tata was already parked outside Art District.

Troy is here?

Of course he was. He was always where the party was and since it was a Friday, he was here. “See you later, Toto,” Jackie said as she parked me right behind Tata.

Alone again, naturally, I sang as she walked away.

  *****

Jackie was feeling great. Brian didn’t show up today and she only got three texts from him. She prayed he was losing hope.

But she couldn’t just think he would give up this easily. She still had to keep up with her scheme if she wanted to permanently keep her sick stalker away. And she would do that by making Dean Gamboa more real than he was yesterday on Facebook.

Troy waved at her when she entered the area. He was with his long-time friends again.

“I didn’t know you guys will be here,” she told them. Miguel and Lee had always been around since high school, being best buddies with Troy. Miguel was the typical no-work-all-play rich kid, being the son of a wealthy farmer, or haciendero as what most people would call their type. Lee was an office guy, a little nerdy, but cool to be with. Whenever Dannie and George were around, Dannie would prefer to talk to Lee. George hated Miguel though, like how Dannie hated Troy. But theirs was a different kind of weird friendship. They all had their differences since high school, almost always bantering and arguing over simple matters, but they would all still call each other friends when people asked.

“Don’t you miss us?” Miguel asked.

“You wish,” Jackie scoffed as she sat down beside Troy. “Ready?” she whispered beside him.

“Always,” he said with a wink, lifting his camera.

Jackie looked ahead and there he was with the same baseball cap from last time; still sitting at the back of the band; still doing his tricks with his drumsticks.

When Troy texted her that Anon would be playing again tonight, she jumped at the chance. She wanted to be familiar with Dean Gamboa’s every move--moves of both the boss Dean and the drummer Dean. So that she could make him more real in his Facebook account. She only prayed Karen would not show up. It would complicate matters and it would make it difficult for her to concentrate.

“Hey, guys!” The vocalist cried out. No one knew their real names yet, and it was a bummer for Jackie. The only guy she knew was Dean Gamboa. Troy said he’d try to find out their names if he could and she held on to that. Knowing his friends meant knowing him more.

There were more girls tonight and they started to cry out when the band started playing.

“Happy Friday, everyone!” the vocalist said before he started singing Friday I’m In Love.

Jackie fought the urge to join the others in jamming along. She loved that song since she heard it in the movie 50 First Dates.

But she had to focus right now. Her friends were not there to help her decipher Dean Gamboa. She had to do it alone. Miguel and Lee were out of the question. Troy was busy taking pictures and if he were not, he was as good as the other two.

The band played another song from the seventies, one that the older tables appreciated with howls. All the time, Jackie’s eyes never left Dean Gamboa’s sight. He never looked up and when he did, it was to talk to his band mates during song breaks. And then he would be back playing like he was in his own silent world. One thing Jackie noted was that he drank his beer in a sexy way. Yeah, sure, he did it like how Troy and the others would, but he did it while he was tapping on the drums! And his throat was just…

Jackie shook her head. She had to remember that Dean Gamboa was her enemy. He was nothing but a big imposter!

She had had quite a few beers so she excused herself from the table due to the call of nature. She turned her attention back to her phone as she walked to the ladies room and did her thing.

Jamming for my girl. She wrote the status for Dean Gamboa.

This would obviously make other ladies swoon. But this was not for anyone else. The status was for Brian alone. Jackie was Dean Gamboa’s girl now. Well, at least on Facebook, that is.

Dannie sent her a text earlier so she opened it.

When she was done, she walked out of the ladies room, tapping a reply for Dannie’s for her friend. When she looked up, she froze. Walking toward her with his head bent and covered by his black baseball cap was no other than Dean Gamboa.

Luckily, her feet were faster than her brain and she managed to hide behind the large pillar to her right. The pillar was painted with a picture of a mermaid who was smiling at her as she pressed her cheek against it. When Dean Gamboa passed by, she slowly circled back and around the pillar, peering at the edge.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

That was pretty close.

Will be home soon, she added in her text to Dannie and sent it.

She started to walk back to where Troy and the others where when someone bumped her from behind.

“Hey! Watch it!” she shouted as she whirled around. And all the cells in her body had a sudden, momentary heart attack of their own, paralyzing her as she stood there face to face with Dean Gamboa himself.