When Georgie said we had to talk, yes I included myself because they wouldn’t and I have the right to do so, she meant driving away from Art District to the abandoned unfinished mall just near the border of Bacolod and Talisay City.

“You are really making me nervous,” Jackie said as Georgie parked me in the usual place. This was the boys’ secret place.

Dannie was silent the whole ride and so was Georgie, not giving us a hint of what was on her mind or what she was about to say. Jackie did all the talking, taking out her phone for a while during the ride to send a text to Dean to tell him she went out with Georgie and Dannie for a talk.

When the three of them climbed out of me, Georgie went to my little trunk at the back and grabbed the small cooler with beers inside.

She opened three and handed Jackie girl and Dannie baby their bottles as the three of them leaned against my hood.

Somebody should tell these three on the police. They shouldn’t be drinking, especially the driver!

“Our living arrangements will change for the next three months, boys,” Georgie began.

My bumpers almost slackened. What are you talking about, Georgie? Are you getting married tomorrow? Next week? What?

Jackie and Dannie looked at her inquiringly.

She stared ahead, taking a gulp from her beer before she said, “Did I tell you I was arranged to be married by my parents since high school?”

Well, I knew about that already. But the reaction I was expecting from Jackie and Dannie did not come out right.

They did not look surprised.

“Well, we already thought of that,” Jackie admitted.

It was Georgie who gaped at her friends in surprise. “What?”

Jackie looked at Dannie before she turned to Georgie, saying, “Look, we know you have family issues and we sometimes talk about it privately whenever you are not around. We are concerned friends, George, and we know something is going on with you and your family. We came up with a lot of scenarios and you being arranged to be married is one of them. That was actually my idea. Dannie thought it was impossible and I was just being overly imaginative,” Jackie finished proudly.

George scoffed. “Well, it is nice to know I don’t have to explain myself on that one.”

“But with whom? Is he someone we know from college? Anyone we’ve met before?” Jackie prodded.

Georgie shook her head.

It is that dumbass, Jordan Ledesma, boys. No other. Just that one, I answered.

“You haven’t met him, but maybe you know him by name. He went to the same university with us, but went to the States to study further after that.”

Jackie and Dannie waited patiently.

“Jordan Ledesma.”

Jackie and Dannie looked at each other blankly.

Ha! I knew it. They don’t have any idea who he is. And don’t bother asking for a photo of the guy, boys. You won’t like what you’ll see.

“We don’t know him,” Dannie uttered.

“Well, he was not that socially active in school back then, but he was pretty known among my family’s class, if you get what I mean,” Georgie answered.

“And you know him well?” Jackie asked.

“Not really. We’ve been around each other when we were growing up, but not personally. I never liked him, he never liked me.”

“Then why marry?” Jackie asked outrageously.

“Family matter,” Georgie said with a shrug.

“I can’t believe you are letting your family marry you off to a guy you barely know, George,” Dannie spoke up. “It’s just not you.”

George faced her friends and said, “That’s the very same reason why our living arrangements will change for a bit in the next three months.”

“How?” Jackie and Dannie asked in unison.

Yeah, Georgie, how?

“Jordan and I don’t want this wedding to happen so I came up with an idea.”

“What?” Jackie asked.

“I think I can persuade my mother to tell my father not to go through the wedding but that would take some time. This evening, we met with the folks and asked them for a little bit more time.”

“More time?” Dannie interrupted.

“They wanted the wedding to happen before the year ends.”

“What?” Jackie gushed dramatically.

“So we asked them to let us get to know each other better by giving us a few months to live with each other.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jackie interrupted. “Don’t tell me he is going to live with us, George.”

“Well, only every other week,” Georgie told them.

“What do you mean?” Dannie asked calmly.

Georgie took a moment to answer and when she did, she said, “We will live in each other’s place alternately every week. One week in our apartment, next week in his, and so on.”

“But why this? You can just meet up every day. You don’t have to live with each other!” Jackie said in horror.

I’m with you, Jackie girl. I am with you. What if the guy turns out to be a sadistic bastard, right? He’d be unlucky because Georgie would murder him and Georgie would end up in jail. Not a good picture there, Georgie.

“Our folks wouldn’t believe we are doing this for the sake of knowing each other,” Georgie answered, gesturing a quotation park with her free hand in the air to emphasize her last three words. “They have to believe that we are serious with this one so they would agree, thus giving me more time to change my mother’s mind.”

Silence lingered between us. Well, if I spoke, there would still be silence because no one ever listens to an old beaten yellow Beetle Volkswagen nowadays. Or ever. Whatever.

“So, I am asking for your permission to have my betrothed in our apartment every other week,” George said, cloaking the betrothed word with so much sarcasm.

“If he can deal with us, that’s fine,” Jackie uttered before she took a swig from her beer.

“I just hope he doesn’t end up like Brian,” Dannie said with caution.

“He’s not like that,” Georgie promised. “But if he gets difficult, I’ll deal with him.”

Sure you will, Georgie, sure you will.

“So what about your work? What happens if you are staying at his place?” Jackie asked curiously.

“We’ve already arranged that. He goes to my work with me whenever he stays at our place. I do the same when I am at his place. It’s a pretty believable story and our folks agreed to it mostly because they think we are making an effort to really get to know each other. But sure, we’ll do as we said just to keep up appearances. But we’re not going to mess with each other’s lives. We’ll just act like a shadow of the other.”

“He can stay away from his work for a week?” Dannie was looking suspicious now as she asked that. “Knowing the people in your family’s circle, George, they can’t stay away from their work for more than a day or so.”

“He said he can manage,” George shrugged. “I already talked with my boss about my work and since my schedule is pretty much flexible, they had no problem with it.”

“What did you tell your boss?”

“They didn’t ask for any explanation. As long as I can manage my time, there’s no problem.”

Jackie spoke this time, saying, “That would mean less training on your part, meaning lesser money. Not so wise.”

“It’s only for three months. I don’t really care.”

Again, silence. Georgie was obviously not in the mood to talk about specific details as money and work so the other two didn’t push her.

“So, you are cool with it?”

“If we say this is a stupid plan you have here, would it change things?” Jackie asked.

George shook her head. “It is the best we can come up with. We were lucky the folks agreed to it. Now we have more time to work on my plan.”

“As long as he doesn’t prove to be difficult, I am okay with it,” Dannie finally said.

“Fine, me too,” Jackie uttered resignedly.

“Thanks, boys, I appreciate this.”

Well, how about me? Anyone wants to know what I am thinking? I have loads to say, if you must know!

“But what about Toto?” Jackie asked. I almost jumped up and gave her a hug with my two doors.

“What about Toto?” Georgie asked.

Don’t kill the mood, Georgie. I am still getting the feel of not being ignored here!

“Well, if you are staying with this guy every other week at his place, what happens to Toto? You drive him every Tuesday and Thursday, right?”

Yeah, Georgie, what now? Don’t tell me I have to spend the whole week, Monday to Friday at Collins Corporations, in that godforsaken parking lot and that damned Acacia tree! Please, bring me with you! I might just tame that BMW for what it’s worth!

“You can drive him Monday to Friday. I will most probably have to take a ride with Jordan to and from his office when I stay at his place.”

Okay, kill me NOW. Like, NOW! Please! I beg you!

I hated the parking lot at Collins Corporations where Jackie worked because for one, it was boring and hot. And I had to stay at the back where there was this blasted Acacia tree and this narcissistic BMW owned by one of the people working there. Well, there was Beatle, Dean’s black Honda Civic, and he was cool but it could still get boring. We had talked for hours since we knew each other and we barely had anything else to talk about in the past few months. The only times I get to enjoy my parking hours were the ones I spent with Dee, the Red Cross ambulance where Georgie worked, because Dee always had a lot of amazing stories and adventures to share.

Ever since they bought me, I had to spend Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Collins Corporations. And then Tuesdays and Thursdays at Red Cross and weekends with Dannie to church. That had always been my life. I could take the weekends at church because I knew I could use some holy sermons every now and then, but not five days in Collins Corporations! No, please! No!

“I don’t feel good with you living in that guy’s place without any means of escape if things go wrong, George,” Dannie uttered.

“Me, too,” Jackie nodded in agreement and I knew she was thinking about her horrible experience with Brian.

“So, why don’t you take Toto whenever you have to spend the week with the guy?” Dannie suggested.

I wanted to kiss her! Dannie baby, you are one terrific girl! Really, I love you from the bottom of my engines!

“How about the two of you? You don’t have a ride and--”

“Dean can take care of us,” Jackie waved off.

Yeah, Georgie, Dean will take good care of Jackie and Dannie. Don’t you worry!

“And when you guys spend the week at our place, we go back to normal. M-W-F, Toto and I. T-TH, Toto and you and that guy. Weekends, Dannie. Wait, you’re going to go home during the weekends, right?”

Georgie nodded. “We decided we’d have the weekends for ourselves.”

“Well, good. At least would still be able to breath and have fun,” Jackie said with relief. “So, that’s settled. Toto goes with you during your week-long stay with the guy in his house. You never know when you’ll need to run off.”

“Sure about this?” Georgie asked.

Come on, Georgie. Don’t question a blessing if it is showered upon you! Just freaking take it! I will be a good car, I promise. I’d run as fast as I could if we ever have to escape after you commit a crime or something.

“Yes. We insist,” Jackie said.

“Fine. Toto goes with me every other week.”

A long silence between them followed while I cried out in victory.

“So, when does this new living arrangement starts?” Jackie asked.

“Monday,” Georgie answered.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday. Which place goes first?” Dannie said.

“His place.”

“And where does he live?”

Georgie scoffed. “Believe it or not, he lives in Ayala.”

Jackie and Dannie groaned.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

I, on the other hand, was gulping whatever gas was left along my tubes. Ayala, one of the largest and richest subdivisions in Negros?

A part of me hated Jordan Ledesma more. Why the hell did he have to live in such a place? As a matter of fact, it was very near where we were right now. It was a one or two-minute drive away. And I’d be living there for a week every other week.

I wondered if I could convince them to get me back to Collins Corporations?

But I recovered fast. I had met enough condescending looks in the past to even bother feeling intimidated.

*****

We went back to Art District with Dean waiting for us. Anon, his band, had already packed up when we arrived and had already gone. Troy was with him in the parking lot when we arrived.

“I’ve been trying to call you,” Dean told Jackie, his frown visible under his baseball cap.

“We were talking about some important things,” Jackie answered, “which I am also going to tell you because from now on, you have to drive me and Dannie to and from work every other week.”

Troy and Dean looked at each other with confusion.

I watched as the boys filled Dean and Troy in with George’s situation.

If you must know, Dean was still Jackie’s boss (like she would really resign from that place now that she had her boss, the Devil as what she used to call him, as her boyfriend), and they were openly dating. Jackie said their co-workers knew, but they were being professional in the office.

Troy, on the other hand, was still the usual Troy Brady. His ever present camera hung around his neck and his too-handsome features were not something I missed. He had always been pissing me off ever since we met. If not for Tata, his black pick-up truck whom he named to surely spite me, I would not even give him an ounce of my attention. But he had helped the boys in lots of ways in the past so he I could not really consider him a mortal enemy.

But if he dared touch Dannie, he would be dead in my book. I knew, and I felt, that he had this thing for Dannie baby, but it was not happening. Not over my metallic body! Troy Brady was just one of those men privileged with good looks who loved women. Dannie would never be one of his “backseat girls”.

I learned the term from Tata after she told me about Troy’s adventures in the backseat with other girls.

The boys were okay with Troy knowing about Georgie’s situation. They had known the guy for years since high school and though he always bantered with Dannie, they still had this sort of friendship. And plus, the guy had helped them with Jackie’s problems in the past.

Anyway, enough of that. I could bear Troy Brady. I liked Dean. But I hated Jordan Ledesma.

Once their talk was over, the boys drove back to the apartment. Dean came along to have a cup of coffee with them while Troy went to another place to party and I didn’t care.

Now that Jordan Ledesma’s identity had been known, his BMW was nowhere in sight. He had been following Georgie for weeks in the past, and it gave me the creeps. But now, I guess, I knew the reason why he did that. He wanted to know what her life was so he could be ready. Well, that was just my guess. I couldn’t think of any other reasons for his stalking, but I was glad nonetheless that he stopped.

For now, all I had to do was wait until I had to live in that guy’s house. What would happen to me and Georgie?

*****

George was just getting ready to go to church with Dannie and Jackie when her phone rang.

It was Jordan Ledesma.

“It’s Sunday. Why are you calling?”

“We have to meet.”

“Didn’t you hear me? It’s Sunday. Weekends, we’re free of each other. I’d appreciate if you remember that one detail,” she snapped.

“Just for a few minutes.”

“Why? Can’t this wait tomorrow? I’ll be staying at your place anyway.”

“No, because she’s in a hurry.”

She frowned. “Who’s in a hurry?”

“Cassie. She has a flight tonight and she wants to meet you before she leaves.”

“Why would she want that?”

“I don’t know. You ask her. I already talked to her and she asked me to meet you.”

George thought about it. “Fine. Six p.m. and I will be leaving by six-thirty.”

She did not wait for his answer and clicked off, deep in thought.

Fine. She’d meet with the girl. George didn’t want to complicate things with Jordan’s girlfriend after all.