Georgie asked the other boys if she and Jordan could borrow me after dinner. Jackie happily gave her the keys, of course, being a very supportive co-captain of the Team Jo ship.

Both Jordan and I were excited about Georgie’s plan. She never told us where she would take him and it was a great surprise, especially for me, to find out where it was.

It was her secret place.

It was the only place she had for herself whenever she was having troubles. This was the place she would drive to if she wanted to be alone. And she took Jordan here?

Man, I am telling you, that girl loves you! I shouted at Jordan. Do you know that I am the only one who knows about this place? And now you do and it is no easy task for her to do it! She loves you, man!

“What’s this place?” Jordan asked as they climbed out of me.

It was not a very beautiful place, especially at that time of night. But it was isolated and peaceful. It was just outside the city border. It was just a small path, almost hidden, between two large sugarcane plantations. In the middle of that path was a large tree that Georgie had kicked and thrown rocks or beer bottles at in the past.

“A place where I go to whenever I want to think or be alone,” Georgie answered him. They walked to the tree. There were sugarcanes around us so it was not a very pretty site. But at least it was private, right? The sky was terrific that night though. No clouds, just stars. And they were twinkling for us, probably ready to grant our wishes.

“Did you really go out to have coffee with Jam last Sunday?” Jordan asked with amusement.

“Yeah.”

“Jackie did not mention it.”

“Well, we did. Outside the apartment,” Georgie answered.

Liar! No, you didn’t! You never went out at all!

But please, seriously, the two of you…just freaking talk the real talk! Come on!

I expected them to at least kiss since it was their favorite past time, right? But no, that did not happen.

To my horror, Georgie faced Jordan and asked, “Why don’t we make the list now?”

“The list?” Jordan asked with a frown.

“The list of reasons we are going to present to our folks on Sunday.”

NO! DON’T DO IT! Jordan, my boy, you can’t allow this to happen! Let’s tie her up and gag her mouth. Hide her in my trunk. I won’t tell anyone until she comes to her senses!

Georgie’s face was blank as she walked toward me and opened my door.

You can’t do this, Georgie. Don’t do it! GEORGINA LACSON, I am warning you!

But she was not hearing me. She reached for a paper and pen inside my dashboard and came back to sit on my hood.

Get your ass off my hood! I hate you!

Jordan shook his head with a smile as he came near Georgie. “Really? Now? You can’t wait to get rid of me that fast?”

“I just figured we should do it now. Why should we waste more time, right?” Her voice was empty. So was her face.

He scoffed as he dug his hands deep inside his front pockets and swayed back and forth while Georgie readied the paper and pen.

“I can’t believe you took me to this place of yours just to do this.”

“I told you this is the place where I think. It’s time for us to think, right?” she said, her voice flat and bare of emotions.

You are killing both of us, Georgina. Yes, you got that right. You are Georgina to me at the moment. I hate you right now!

But Jordan seemed not to share my sentiments because he was smiling down at Georgina’s (yes, not Georgie) bent head.

Hey, buddy! It’s time to man up! You can’t let her do this!

“Okay, let’s start,” she said, her voice flat, pen at the ready.

“Do the honor,” Jordan said, his voice filled with amusement.

She did not look up but when she spoke, her voice was almost shaking. “I am serious here, Jordan. We have to convince them that we can’t work out at all. It will be a disaster if this marriage happens.”

With that, Jordan stopped swaying and stood still. “Of course,” he said his face suddenly grim. “Let’s make the list.” His voice was flat once more, too.

Oh, Jordan, I feel for you, bro! Your heart must be bleeding like my freaking engines right now.

Georgina (yes, not Georgie) squared her shoulders and started writing.

“You are such a neat freak, I am not. I can’t clean after myself most of the time.”

“But I can clean really well. Or you can if I tell you. The folks will not really care how clean we live,” Jordan answered with his flat tone.

She did not give a comment and continued with, “Our jobs are too important for the both of us. It could be a big problem if we get married.”

“But I know what happens in your work. And you know what happens in mine. We both understand each other’s work. They all know that by now.”

“Your friends don’t really like me.”

“They don’t really matter to our parents and to you, so no big loss there. And your friends like me anyway. Again, no big loss.” And me! I like you too, man!

“You hate it when I snore when I am tired.”

“I can sleep with a pillow over my head. My mother knows that. And that’s a stupid thing to mention.”

She let his comment slide. “I can be very physical. I hurt you all the time.”

“But I can actually block your strikes most of the time and I am getting good at it.”

I was actually enjoying it. They were both angry at each other now. And I loved every second of it.

“I don’t eat normally,” Georgina (yes, not Georgie yet) continued.

“But at least you eat unlike other women,” Jordan snapped incredulously. “Our parents will not even care about what you eat.”

“We don’t know each other all that well. Three months were not enough to know if you can really be with someone.” Her voice was starting to rise and she was no longer writing. But she was not looking at Jordan either. Her hand was balled around the pen in a fist.

“That’s enough time, you know. And they would not believe everything you previously said if you say that to them on Sunday. It contradicts everything.”

This time, when Georgina (yes, still not Georgie) spoke, her voice was stronger and louder. “I can’t be dominated by you. I will not allow it and you won’t be able to live with it for too long.”

His face did not change as he continued to look at her dryly. “I never succeeded in dominating you in the past three months and I don’t have any plans to do so again if I want to stay alive.”

“You will, once we’re married.”

“I don’t think I’d want to do that. I tried, it didn’t work.”

I could feel the growing tension between them. I could always taste it in the air around us.

Georgina (still not Georgie, yes) finally snapped her head at him, her expression guarded. “You have a girlfriend.”

His face was still flat though. He was getting impatient. “No, not really.”

“I don’t think I can live with the idea of--what?” she stopped when his words finally registered in her head.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“At the moment, you don’t because she’s out of town.” Her anger was almost at boiling point. Oh, I love this!

“I broke up with her when we went to Troy’s farm for the first time. And we talked about it when I came to Manila to see her last weekend. We are officially over.”

“If you only did that because you feel obligated to--”

He pulled out his hands from his pockets and peered down at her. “How long are you planning to do this, Georgina?” he snapped at her, his brows furrowed and his face equally angry.

Ohhhh. Perfect timing, Jordan. Perfect!

“Do what?”

“Contradict everything.”

“You were the one contradicting everything I was saying from the very beginning.”

“Because I don’t agree with them,” he uttered indignantly.

“Why?”

“You know why,” he snapped at her. “Let’s stop this. Let’s just go back to the apartment.” He took a step forward and waited for her to move.

“But what about--”

“Nothing’s going to happen on Sunday or the next Sunday after that. No meeting with the folks.”

“What?”

“I don’t intend to meet them to tell them that we cannot work out. We’ll lose the case in a second.”

She jumped off my hood all of a sudden and stood facing him. “Why the hell not?”

“Because I can’t make other people believe what I don’t believe myself in the first place, that’s why. So let’s stop this.” He started to move toward my door but her words stopped him.

“I don’t understand--”

He stepped back and faced her again. “Georgina…George, I know you are not stupid. And I am certain that you know what I mean.” Jordan appeared like he was trying not to explode.

“Well, can you tell me? Because I want certainty at this point. Say it straight. I don’t want to freaking be on the edge guessing here like I had been doing in the past few weeks.”

His voice was filled with frustration as he said, “You know I am not good with this.”

 “Well, so am I. What the hell are you trying to say? You love me?”

“That should not have come from you--”

“Well, you wouldn’t say it. And I don’t want to keep guessing because I am tired of it. Yes or no?”

He did not answer. You dimwit! What the hell are you waiting for?!

George (nearly Georgie now) stepped closer in front of him. At that moment, I thought I finally saw the old George again. The one who didn’t back off from a challenge. It was as if I was looking at someone who finally gathered the courage to do something she had wanted to do for a long time.

“It’s a simple question, Jordan. Are you telling me you love me? Because if not, then I am out of here. If not, I don’t even want to know why you are like this. If not, then I will go right up to tell the folks that we are never going to work out.”

“Yes.”

“What? I can’t hear you.”

Gosh. How did the table flip over that fast? A few seconds ago, Jordan was the one who was holding all the cards. But I was not complaining. This was the talk I had been waiting for!

“I love you. There, I said it.”

“Well, then, I think I love you too. Well, I am almost sure that I do but I still need to—”

He didn’t let her finish because he grabbed her from where she was standing and pulled her against his length and captured her mouth a second after. She dropped the pen and paper on the ground and wound her arms around his neck to answer his kiss. It went on for almost a minute and I was almost pissing gas by then with so much excitement.

“See how simple that was?” she said after a while. I should be the one asking that, Georgie (yes, she was Georgie again). The two of you should have figured how simple it is from the moment you realized your feelings!

Jordan was frowning down at her. “You’re making fun of me.”

She should, bro! I thought you would be confident enough to make the confession. Why did she have to force it out of you?

“I like making fun of you. Actually, impatience got the better of me after weeks of guessing, thinking and hesitating.”

“And I have liked you since I could remember.”

That surprised her. “What?”

“I’ve liked you since you were in high school.”

“No, you didn’t.”

He shrugged. “It was not supposed to be obvious.”

“You did not show any interest whenever we met.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t think I should.”

“Then why did you even want this marriage not to work? Supposing you are telling the truth.”

“Who would want to be in a marriage where I am the only one who can potentially love you? It was obvious from the very beginning that you didn’t like me.”

“And you had a girlfriend.”

“I said I only liked you. That was not reason enough for me to not get into a relationship with another woman I like.”

“But--”

“But now I more than like you.”

“So I can expect no other women then?”

He laughed. “If artists have that one song, that one painting, that one book--that one masterpiece-- for me there’s just you.”

Georgie’s mouth hung open in disbelief. “You did not just say that cheesy line.”

He laughed again. “Yes, I did. But don’t expect more. That’s all I could muster at the moment.”

“Don’t ever do that again. I hate it.”

She got a laugh for it. He bent down to kiss her again but she stopped him. “What now?” he impatiently asked.

“What do we tell the folks?”

He scoffed. “Don’t be stupid, George. You know what we should tell them.”

And that was how, ladies and gentlemen, we managed to get the mistress to finally board the ship! Let’s go sailin’, pirates!