If anything, George was more confused than before.

What did Jordan mean by, “You’re the only one who is confused here.”?

The only conclusion she could come up with was that he was not confused because he was sure of his own feelings for his girlfriend. He knew what their kisses meant to him. That meant that she was the only one who could feel the spark.

And the realization that she asked for the kiss this time was eating at her.

In the end, she decided she’d act cool about it. Just like the way she asked for the kiss.

But she still couldn’t think about how her relationship with Jordan had changed since they got together.

They grew up around each other, yes, but she never knew him that much.

And the stupid wedding agreement happened and she was forced to know him and his stupid quirks.

Was the same thing that happened to her mother also happening to her? Was she starting to like Jordan because that was what their families expected? Was she unconsciously learning to like him?

She shook her head.

She didn’t want to end up like her mother. She had already planned what to do with her life without anyone dictating her to and she’d stick to that plan.

Jordan was someone her family wanted for her. She never wanted him for herself from the beginning. With or without his girlfriend, that should stay the same.

*****

“Just do it,” George urged him, looking at her watch. “I have a test to give the trainees in ten minutes.”

Jordan was at the edge of the concrete diving board, not moving and looking down at the water 20 feet below.

“You can do it,” she added with a laugh.

Deep inside, she was glad that he did not bother to talk about the stupid thing they did last night. It was as if it never happened.

“I don’t think I can jump on my own,” he finally admitted. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Just push me and let’s get it over with.”

“What?” she asked with disbelief. “I am not pushing you. The fun starts when you decide to jump so just do it.”

“I don’t even want to do it.”

“You promised.”

“Then just push me.”

Assessing the fall, she thought it would be safe to push him.

And she did just that without warning.

His scream reached her ears, but she looked down to check if he landed safely. His head came out of the water in no time and he was swimming to the steel ladder to climb back up.

George was laughing at him when he emerged all wet and looking grumpy.

“I can’t believe you pushed me,” he shot at her.

“You asked for it!” she said in between laughter. “You must be shaking so you don’t have to go to the training. You can relax around the resort.”

She left him without a word to meet her anxious trainees.

*****

“She’s crazy,” Jordan was saying to his phone. His hair was still wet, but he had changed into a fresh white shirt and a pair of board shorts.

“Man, you know from the start that she is dangerous,” Troy’s laughing words rang out from the other line.

Now you know what you’re facing in the future, Jordan my boy.

“Did you tell her yet?” Troy asked. He was on loud speaker because Jordan was buys eating lunch alone.

“No.”

“Then when are you going to tell her?”

“When I feel it’s right,” Jordan answered. “She is still against the idea of the arranged marriage. Said it would be a relief if our folks back out. That gives me a lot of reasons not to tell her. If she wants me, I want her to know it is because that’s what her want, not what others want.”

“Then did you drop the hint that you broke up with your girlfriend? At least tell her that.”

“Knowing her, she’ll only think I did it because of guilt.”

“Why don’t you meet us when you get back? We have to obviously talk about this. George is a hard-headed woman and it is hard to break her.”

“I know,” Jordan agreed.

I second the motion, my friends. I second the motion.

*****

Late that afternoon, Georgie surprised us by saying we had to go home.

“I thought we’re going home Thursday?” Jordan asked.

“We’ll stay overnight at Dumaguete. The training’s over so why stay here?”

“To relax?”

“I can relax back at Dumaguete. I need to have a good sleep before the long drive back to Bacolod.”

“I’ll drive Toto if that’s your concern.”

Georgie looked at Jordan sternly. “We stay overnight at Dumaguete.”

“Fine.”

You’re such a ship-wrecker, Georgie! You know you’re shrinking your own ship, right? Come on, Jordan, just freaking shake her to her senses!

But Georgie was the boss and we left the beautiful island at exactly 5:45 in the afternoon.

I was actually hoping we’d miss the last barge out of the island, but we got there on time.

“Pay for your own room,” Georgie told him later when she drove me to the nearest and cheapest inn we could find in Dumaguete.

“Okay.”

It seemed that Jordan was tired of arguing. He was in a foul mood because Georgie was not making it easier.

But I agreed that he should not tell her about what he felt toward her. Not this soon. Georgie was obviously still trying to deny a lot of things at the moment. This was not within her comfort zone.

Let’s take it slow, Jordan. Just be patient. She’ll come to her senses soon. Just keep the love, bro, and let it grow.

That’s so cool it rhymed, eh?

*****

The ride back to Bacolod was a lot different.

One, spending the night in separate rooms must have given them enough time to think about things and the road trip was sort of fun.

Georgie was still cautious about things they talked about, but it was a calm drive.

She even let Jordan drive for two hours!

Second, we took a different route home.

At least there was a new scene for me to admire, right?

When we got home, Troy and Dean were at the apartment.

Vicky and Tata bombarded me with questions and I told them about everything. They literally dug for every little detail I could remember. I also told them of what I discovered about the Kanlaon trip and they both agreed that it was probably the trigger of Georgie’s sudden change of behavior. They said that it was better if Georgie knew about Jordan breaking up with his girlfriend.

I knew it. Women wanted those things cleared up.

But how do we tell Jordan that he should tell Georgie?

I defended Jordan by saying that he was taking it slow. That he was having a hard time keeping up with Georgie’s hard-headedness.

She’ll have to figure it all out on her own, I guess, I told the vics.

*****

The next day, we dropped Georgie and Jordan at the HQ. She was in a hurry because she needed to finish up a report about the training and pass the names of the trainees for their licenses to be forwarded back to Siquijor once done.

I was back under the boring acacia tree of Collins Corporations and Jackie and Dean were having their usual cups of coffee while leaning against my hood.

“How’s George?” he asked.

“Why are you asking? You were there yesterday when they arrived.”

“I just figured you talked about something when you were along with her…never mind,” Dean said, brushing the topic off.

Ha! Dean was fishing for information!

Jackie caught on it faster than I thought and suspiciously peered at him. “What are you not telling me?”

Dean was not a good liar after all because he gulped and his eyes panicked as he said, “Nothing.”

“Dean,” Jackie warned. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not ‘nothing’ if it’s about my friend.” Jackie was serious now.

“Jordan likes her,” he finally admitted. “But you can’t tell her that. You know your friend. She’ll think of the absurd reasons to disregard that. At least at this point.”

But Jackie must have been stuck somewhere of what he said because she did not say a word. She stood gaping at Dean.

“He said he might be in love with her. Did George say something that might tell she feels the same?”

Jackie was not hearing him. She was still grasping the information.

“Hey, Jackie, you can’t tell this to anyone. Jordan will kill me,” Dean begged.

“He likes her? He loves her?” she finally cried out.

“Might be in love with her,” Dean corrected.

“But he has a girlfriend.”

Okay, here we go again.

Dean frowned. “Didn’t he break up with her?”

Jackie’s eyes widened. “He did?”

Okay, I could feel someone else was about to join the Team Jo ship here.

Make room, people! Jackie’s climbing on board!

“Then did he confess already?”

“Why are you asking me?” Dean asked. “You’re the best friend.”

“She didn’t say anything.”

“Then he didn’t say anything.”

“Well, she should.”

“Your friend is not making it very easy at the moment, I guess. Let’s just wait for them to do the move. Remember, don’t say anything.”

Jackie’s mind was already reeling as what I could see.

“I regret telling you. You’ll blow everything off,” her boyfriend stated.

“I promise not to tell her, okay?”

“You always slip your tongue.”

“Oh, shut up. I won’t.”

“Don’t tell anyone. Even Dannie.”

“But, Dean! This is a big thing!”

“Just forget about it. Let Jordan do the work.”

Jackie’s expression turned dreamy. “You know, if they end up together, their story will be like a fairy tale! Arranged marriage and boom! They fall in love. Isn’t that sweet?”

Dean shook his head. “I should not have told you. Let’s go, we’re running late.” He pulled her hand and they started walking to the building.

“We have to help Jordan…” Jackie started to say.

Make room for my right hand, pirates! Team Jo is growing!

*****

When we dropped by the HQ to pick up Georgie and Jordan who were both looking tired after three consecutive runs, we surprised them with Jackie saying we’ll go to Dean’s home because he was practicing with Troy’s dad.

She had been glancing at Jordan through the rearview mirror with a knowing smile and I wanted to throw her off my driver’s seat. She was being too obvious. Good thing Dannie came along and they started talking about her challenging day at work where a parent almost shouted at her for not giving her son five stars yesterday.

Georgie seemed to be okay with the idea of going to Dean’s place. She must be thinking she should surround herself with more people so she could forget whatever was bothering her.

*****

Troy and his father were already there when they arrived.

“Ah, Danica, we meet again!” the old man with a big smile on his face when he spotted Dannie behind George. “How’s work?”

“She’s still a teacher, dad,” Troy addressed his father dryly.

But the old man was not done with Dannie yet because he completely ignored the others as he asked another question. “Is my son still being a pain in the ass?”

“All the time,” Dannie answered with a smile.

“Okay, why don’t you continue with your practice? You don’t want to disappoint mom with a lousy surprise, right?” Troy suggested, stopping any follow-up questions. “Danica is still Danica. So are the others.”

But it seemed that his dad was still not ready to go back to singing yet because he turned his attention to the others and continued chatting.

Troy’s dad was a jolly American guy who had been living in the Philippines for more than forty years now since he married Troy’s mother. He spent almost an hour telling them the story of how he met Troy’s mom and fell in love with her. George finally saw why Troy would cringe at the thought of his parents being overly in love with each other.

She liked it though. It was a kind of love she never got to witness with her parents.

“I just want to sing her a song that will sweep her off her feet,” he said to them before they resumed practice. Dean would be playing the guitar and he would sing.

“Hey, you want to go outside and chill?” Jackie asked Jordan directly which was a surprise for both him and George.

She never really talked to Jordan if it was not necessary.

George even became more suspicious of her friend when she would not leave Jordan’s side while they waited for Dean and Troy’s dad to finish their practice inside the house with Troy telling his dad, every now and then, that he was being too cheesy for his age.

“What’s with you and your sudden interest with Jordan?” she couldn’t help but ask when Jordan left them to find the bathroom.

“What? Isn’t it nice of me to finally making an effort to be nice to him?” Jackie answered. “Actually, Dean told me I should be nice to the guy since he lives with us every other week. And I am doing that.”

She narrowed her eyes at Jackie. “This is not something you’re just cooking up for your stupid teams, right?”

“What team?”

“Team Jo and Team Ja,” Dannie said dryly.

“What? Of course not. You know, as a matter of fact, since I got to know Jordan more, I realized I had judged him too prematurely. Dean helped me realize that, actually. He’s not bad at all. And he was good to me during the Kanlaon trip. And never really did anything I didn’t like. So I guess I am in Team Jo now. Dannie’s left at Team Ja.”

“I don’t have a team,” Dannie shot at her incredulously.

“Well, whatever.”

“You should stop this, Jackie. You’re being childish,” George warned.

“No, I’m not. But I am curious though. What do you think of Jordan? I mean, just think about this in a different way. Let’s say you met him randomly like you did Jam or any other guys in the past. He’s not the guy your parents want you to marry.” Jackie let her words sink in before she continued. “Do you think there will be a chance that you will like him? You know, to be someone you can potentially love?”

Dannie seemed intrigued as well because she did not scold Jackie. In fact, her friends leaned closer to look at her, expecting an answer.

She couldn’t give them any. She was struck dumb.

Presented with that scenario, George finally saw her situation with Jordan in a different light.

She thought she knew the answer to her friend’s question, but there was no way she was going to tell them anything.