After Us

4.

HIM

The last thing Alden thought Gabby would ever do was buy Maine's books. He was sitting in her living room, waiting for her to finish up with a phone call before they leave for dinner when he sees two familiar books sitting on the top right corner of her book shelf. He stands up to see if it really was Maine's books. Gabby never asked about Maine after their little conversation after her birthday which was already two months ago. He flips through the pages of one of the books and he sees highlighted sentences and folded pages of the book (he thinks it's her favorite part). He gets the other one but it's still brand new and so she probably hasn't started reading it yet. Gabby arrives in her living room in her black dress that matches Alden's black tie. She stops when she sees him holding Maine's book but instead of some other reaction, Gabby gives him a smile.

"To be really honest with you, I really like the premise of the book and it was in the best sellers." She sits down and adjusts her heels. "I didn't even realize that it was hers until I read—"

"Gabby, it's fine." Alden places the book back in the shelf and he gets his keys from his pocket. "You ready?"

She nods and stands up. "Are you mad?"

"Why would I be?" He takes her hand and twirls her around. The smile on his face assures Gabby that he's not—not one bit—mad or upset about the books. "You look beautiful."

"It's your little sister's graduation dinner. I thought I should dress up a bit."

"Angel was so excited nung nalaman niya that you were coming. But please Gab, don't promise her an adventure to the mountains yet. Grade 6 palang siya graduate. Next time na kapag highschool graduate na siya."

Gabby fixes his tie and pats both of his cheeks.

"Don't be so uptight, Jay. Life is all about adventures, you know? Let's go. We don't want to be late."

The dinner took place in a fancy restaurant that Alden's younger sister, Riza, owns. It's a fancy shmancy restaurant in the city. Their youngest sister, Angel, graduated grade school that morning and the little girl wanted to celebrate in a fine dining restaurant which Alden found absolutely absurd because she's just twelve. When he was twelve all he was ever interested about was boob and Mcdonalds. The restaurant was tumblr-ish; something you'd expect from a millennial (or a hipster). There were fairy lights hung on fake tress, book shelves on every corner of the restaurant, a jukebox, a vinyl player, some old family photos and a wall full of secret letters which Riza loves to call as "Juliet's wall" like the one in Italy.

"Haven't been here in a while ha." Alden says, observing the whole place and giving Riza an approving look. "Good job."

"Talagang good job. Nag invest ako sa mga libro. Kakadating lang nung classic books tsaka new books—alam mo ba kung gaano ko kahirap i-order yung libro ni ate Maine?"

The whole table goes silent and all eyes turn to Alden. Instead of giving him an apologetic look or smile, Riza just shrugs it off. Her brother has moved on, right? Or so she thought. She does find it a little awkward when Gabby's the first one to break the awkward silence with the clicking of her spoon and fork against her plate.

"It's a good book, isn't it?" Gabby asks. No hint of bitterness, anger or jealousy in her voice. It was literally just a question. "I'm still on chapter 16 and I'm already so hooked."

"Favorite chapter 'ko yun. The breakup scene."

Gabby nods in agreement. She swallows her food and wipes the sides of her mouth.

"I feel really bad for Aidan. I had to stop reading and do something else."

Alden almost chokes on his food when he hears the name Aidan. Gabby immediately hands him a glass of water and pats his back. She chuckles a bit and Alden (even though he was nearly choked) manages to pinch her sides.