Jackie and Dean were lying on the carpet watching a movie, with Jackie’s head lying on Dean’s lap, when they came in.

Her friend eyed them closely but she pretended not to notice as she let Jordan lock the door behind them.

Jackie narrowed her eyes at Jordan and asked, “Please tell us you told her, Jordan. Please.”

George shot her friend a darting look. “That’s what you were talking about last Sunday?”

Her friend must have realized what she just said because she jumped from Dean’s lap and sat up looking at her and Jordan. Jackie beamed at them while Dean looked on with apprehension. “So? What now?”

She wanted her friend to suffer a little so she just rolled her eyes and went to her room.

Before she closed the door, she heard Jackie shooting a series of questions at Jordan without giving him enough time to answer.

“Where did the two of you go? What did you tell her? You did tell her, right? What did she say? Did she say no? You should have made a big confession. You did, right? Jordan, why won’t you say a thing? Tell me, did you tell her?”

George shook her head and started to change.

She smiled when she heard Jackie squeal with excitement a few minutes later. Jordan should have held out much longer so Jackie would not have a glimpse of sleep tonight, she thought.

What Jordan told her about jumping off the cliff had stuck in her mind. And earlier tonight, she finally got the courage to take the plunge. The ruse of the creating that stupid list had paid off big time, she thought with a wicked smile.

George went to bed for the first time after twelve weeks with a feeling that she was happy and with an assurance that tomorrow would be the same.

*****

When she woke up that morning, her eyes widened when she realized she was huddled against Jordan’s sleeping form on the bed.

His face was buried in her hair and she could feel his warm, even breathing. She hated to kill his peaceful slumber by kicking him out of the bed but she did it anyway and did so with success.

“Ow!” he quietly cried out as he rolled on the floor, careful not to make a lot of noise to alarm the others in the apartment.

“What the hell are you doing sleeping in my room, on my bed?” she hissed at him, kicking his shoulder lightly with one foot.

“Okay, okay, stop,” he said in haste as he scrambled backward to the wall opposite her bed. “Troy suddenly came with a bunch of teddy bears and he was drunk. He threw up on the carpet and Dean had to beg Jackie to let him sleep in her room and I had to sneak in here as well.”

She never noticed him enter or lie beside her on her bed. “You did not ask permission.”

“Well, I figured since we decided to be together, you wouldn’t mind—” he received a flying pillow for that. “You have to see the condition of the carpet, George. No sober person can ever sleep on that at all.”

She shot out of bed and tied her hair. “Then where’s Troy?”

“We left him sleeping on the carpet,” he said with a cringe, also standing up.

“And why did he bring teddy bears while drunk?” she asked, hands on waist.

Jordan shrugged. “Dannie?” he guessed.

“Dannie?” she asked incredulously.

He raised his eyebrows at her as he picked up the pillow from the floor. “Don’t tell me you don’t know. I know everyone has an idea what Troy has for Dannie.”

George closed her eyes and sighed. “He’s an idiot.”

“Why?”

“He can’t be with Dannie.”

“Why not?”

“It’s just impossible.”

“Why?”

She threw him a darting look. “Dannie has issues. They just can’t be together.”

“We thought we’d never be together. Look where we are now,” he reasoned.

She made a move to kick him but he blocked her attack with the pillow. “Stop hitting me.”

“You know, I like this relationship after all,” she said as she opened the door.

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

“I get to have an exercise,” she said with a grin before walking out.

Everyone stared at the two of them. By everyone it meant Dannie who was looking shocked and pleased at the same time to see her come out of her room with Jordan, Jackie who was obviously greedy for more details, Dean who was looking refreshed, and Troy who was looking lost and very much suffering from hangover. Everyone was around the table eating breakfast and drinking coffee.

Before Jackie could speak, George cringed her face and cried out, “What the hell is that smell?!”

Everyone around the table looked at Troy who rolled his eyes. “I’ll clean it up later.”

“And?” Dannie asked him.

“And I’ll throw the carpet away and replace it with a new one,” he answered dryly. “Just let me eat for a while, Danica. My head is aching like crazy.”

George and Jordan joined them around the small table.

“You still haven’t told us why you brought those teddy bears,” Jackie said, pointing at the three giant teddy bears by the door.

Troy looked over his shoulder with a blank face. “I can’t remember.”

“Who were you going to give it to?” Jackie said with a knowing smile as she stole Dannie a glance.

“His girls, of course,” Danica answered. “So he could get them easy.”

Troy opened his mouth to protest but he decided to close it again. George heard Jordan scoff beside her. He knew something more about Troy, she was certain of that. She’d grill him later once Dannie was gone for church.

When Dannie finally left with Toto, everyone watched as Troy rolled the carpet for disposal.

“You know, Troy, you’ve been dropping by at the most inconvenient time more often than you did before. I wonder why,” Jackie said, her arms over her chest.

“Give the man some slack, Jackie. He has a headache,” Dean uttered as he sipped his coffee.

“I have the perfect song for you, Troy,” Jackie said. “Wanna hear it?”

“No,” was Troy’s instant reply.

“Maybe I hang around here a little more than I should,” Jackie started the Olivia Newton John song anyway. She stood up to slowly walk toward Troy holding an invisible microphone. “We both know I’ve got somewhere else to go. But I got something to tell you that I never thought I would. But I believe you really ought to know….”

Troy had stopped working and was glaring at Jackie.

George chuckled with Jordan and Dean as Jackie continued singing, “I love you…I honestly love you…”

“You should leave the singing to Anon, Jackie,” Troy said dismissively.

But Jackie was not over yet. “You don’t have to answer I see it in your eyes. Maybe it was better left unsaid. But this is pure and simple and you must realize that it’s coming from my heart and not my head. I love you…I honestly—” She was not able to finish her singing because Troy decided to open the carpet once again and chased her with it.

But despite the fun of the moment, George was deep in thought. She worried about Dannie and she worried about Troy. Neither of them would have it easy. Dannie had more issues than her—deeper issues that were too fragile to face because it could break her at any given time if not handled well.

A big part of George wished that Troy was just playing around, that whatever he had for Dannie was just one of his I-thought-it-was-love moments.

*****

So I was telling Vicky and Tata all the details of last night’s events and they were all “oh my gas” and “oh holy cars that’s amazing”.

I was just so happy to finally be free of any worries for my boys. Well, there was still Dannie, but I didn’t have to worry that much since I knew there were a lot of people who would protect her if worse came to worst.

Troy was the first one to walk out of the apartment carrying a rolled up carpet that smelled.

You threw up on that thing, didn’t you, Troy? You were so drunk last night!

Yeah, we witnessed how he parked Tata and almost bumped against my new bumpers last night and stumbled out of her drunk. And then he took out three giant brown teddy bears from the backseat which, according to Tata, he bought from a store while he was a bit tipsy and which after which he kept at the backseat to drink some more. Tata told us that he was telling Miguel and Lee he was finally going to confess to Dannie and he just needed a little alcohol to give him the courage to do so.

That did not really work. That was pretty much obvious.

Troy, please, buddy, can you hold it for a bit longer? Because I don’t think I can captain another ship at this time. I am beat, man. I’ve had a looooong voyage with the Team Jo ship and I couldn’t take in another one for now. So, please, just…hold it in a bit longer.

Tata said she wanted Troy to make a move fast because she was sick of his impulsiveness. He would not stay still in one place because he would always want to know where Dannie was without being too obvious. And she was getting tired of that.

Tata, my friend, please understand. I cannot take more drama as of the moment. You know what I’ve been through this past three months, right?

When Troy came back inside the apartment, it took no more than another ten minutes before he returned outside and this time, with Dean and Jordan.

“What? What?” he asked the two as they walked toward me.

Oh, hell… here we go…

“What were you planning last night?” Dean asked seriously.

“You were so drunk, man,” Jordan added. Oh, he looked so fresh today. It must be because so much weight had been lifted off his shoulders!

“I don’t know,” Troy said, obviously lying. When Dean and Jordan continued to look at him with disbelief, he sighed. “Okay, fine. I finally decided to court Dannie.”

His friends grimaced. “While you were drunk?” Jordan asked incredulously. “Thank god Dannie was already asleep when you came. Else you’d never get as far as the doorsteps.”

Troy sighed helplessly. “You know, admitting my feelings for her to myself was hard enough. It took me years, man. You can’t just expect me to barge in and say, ‘Hey, Dannie, I love you. We should start a relationship. What do you think?’ right?”

“You know Dannie’s having a hard time right now,” Dean pointed out.

“Do you know what it’s about?” Troy asked.

“Jackie never told me. I figured it is a very sensitive topic so I didn’t ask. And I believe you have an idea.”

“There are only two people who can make the boys jumpy,” Troy stated, counting with his fingers. “Brian and Danica’s mother.”

Dean’s face turned grim at the mention of Brian, but he did not say a word.

“I know a bit about her history with her parents but I don’t know all the details. I heard she was abused when she was a child by her old man who died five years ago in prison. Her mother’s still alive though but Dannie never saw her again since she ran away from home many years ago. That’s all I know. That was an open topic when we were in high school so that’s all I know as well. But only Jackie and George know all the dirty details. And that’s one of the reasons why it took me many years to finally decide to pursue Danica. She’s not the easiest target. Thus my drinking last night.”

Jordan placed his hands on his hips thoughtfully. “Are you sure this is the right time? The boys are obviously preoccupied with Dannie’s problems. Why don’t you just wait and let it pass? Gain more courage while you’re at it.”

Troy shook his head much to my dismay. “If I don’t do it soon, I don’t think I ever would.”

All Dean and Jordan could do was shrug.

*****

Troy went out after lunch and came back with a new carpet for the boys. He went home after that when he realized Dannie was not home. Vicky reported that detail to me, of course, since I had to go with Dannie and spend a boring afternoon outside the church.

That Sunday, it seemed that Jordan had no plans of going home to Ayala yet.

He went to church with the boys and by night time, he and Georgie took me for a drive to meet their parents.

I was not really worried about the meeting, but I was so wrong.

*****

“Is that your mother?” Jordan asked with a frown as he peered down my windshield.

“Yeah,” Georgie answered and quickly parked me beside the restaurant. Her mother was briskly walking out the doors and a few seconds later, Antonio Lacson was chasing after her. “What the hell happened?”

“Yeah, what the hell happened?” Jordan asked but his eyes were no longer on George’s parents. He was looking across the streets at his own parents.

They looked at each other and climbed out of me at the same time to run at opposite directions toward their own parents.

Why did I get a feeling a problem had just arose?

*****

George was about to call out to her parents when she heard her father say, “Marianna, stop!”

“Leave me alone, Antonio,” she heard her mother answer without turning around.

“Why can’t you listen to me? I am trying to tell you that no wedding is happening!” her father almost cried out.

George frowned. Did her father just say that?