Toto and the Boys I: Jackie

Chapter 13

Maybe it’s time we give him a response, boys, I said when I finally got over my shock.

George and Dannie looked at Jackie. And for a long moment, she just stared at her boss, her mouth hanging open. And slowly, finally, she nodded.

“Good. See you then,” Dean said before he straightened to full height and turned toward his house.

Tomorrow’s Thursday, right? This is going to be fun! Georgie, we have to come! We have to come!

“I have an out-of-town thing to do tomorrow,” Georgie said as Jackie maneuvered me back on the road.

What? No, not tomorrow. Please, Georgie!

“But you can make it tomorrow at Art, right? You don’t have to pick us up. I’ll call Troy anyway. He needs to get more photos,” Jackie said.

Dannie was silent throughout the whole exchange.

“I guess I can meet you once I get back,” Georgie finally said, adding, “I will surely need a few bottles after tomorrow.”

No one said a word. We all knew where Georgie was going. How could I be so unlucky? I was sure tomorrow would not be a good trip for me as it had always been these past years. Whenever Georgie would say she’d be out-of-town without any explanation, it only meant one thing. I couldn’t even make myself say where we were going.

But tomorrow evening was enough for me to go through where Georgie would be taking me. It would only be for a couple of hours anyway.

“I still can’t believe he asked us to see him play,” Jackie said, changing the subject. “Do you think he likes me?”

“He asked us to see the band. Why? Don’t tell me you like him,” said Georgie.

“Maybe he knows about what you did,” Dannie uttered. “Which reminds me…why did you do it, Jackie? That’s just so wrong,” she added.

Jackie chewed on her lower lip. “I had no choice. Brian confronted me, asking why he had never seen me around with Dean Gamboa who is supposed to be my new boyfriend. So I had to do something about it. It was the only way I could get the chance to actually be with my boss after office hours. And it worked.”

George had already transferred at the passenger seat and she turned to Jackie as she strapped the seatbelt around her. “You mean to say that Brian saw the two of you inside Toto? However did you manage that?”

Jackie let out a proud sigh. “I am the best when it comes to acting and directing a great story. All I had to do is come up with a good conflict and arrange for the other characters to be at the same place at the same time. It was a piece of cake.”

“It was still wrong,” Dannie pointed out.

“And crazy,” Georgie added. “You are going crazy, you know that?”

“Hey! I am the victim here, remember?” Jackie said in defense as she guided me to the street where their apartment was located.

“And so is your boss,” Dannie countered.

“Come on, he doesn’t have to know. And he’s an arrogant man who wouldn’t even help me in the first place when I told him about my problem.”

“But he turned out to be nice. He even invited us to his gig,” said Dannie from behind, leaning over in case Jackie wasn’t hearing her.

Jackie was silent.

Ohhh…someone is having second thoughts! What now, Jackie girl? The innocent Dean Gamboa wasn’t that bad after all, right? What do you do, girl?