8 TRACK 8

"You're not the boss of me, Enzo," Dee said.

"Maybe I'm not... but your father is." The Enzo glared at me. What's this guy's problem?

"Are you going to be alright, Dee?" I asked.

"Yes, Lolo. I'm going inside now." She turned to Enzo with furrowed eyebrows. "Go home, Enzo."

Enzo grabbed her arm. "Wait. We're not done here."

"Let go of me," Dee said as she shoved the guy's hand away.

I exhaled and scratched my head. Why do these things always happen to me?

"Pre, the girl said let go." I said with the calmest voice I could muster as my face started to heat up.

Enzo turned to me, his perfect hair mocking my below average twenty peso haircut.

"And who the hell are you?"

"Leave him alone. He's my friend," Dee snapped at him.

"She's right. There's no reason for you to feel threatened, Enzo." I turned to Dee. "Is he your boyfriend, Dee?"

"What? No!" Dee exclaimed as Enzo frowned.

"Not yet," Enzo said with a scowl. "But I will be eventually. It's only a matter of time."

"Until then, please let go of her, Pre... For your sake." I petted Combo Jumbo who popped his head out of my hoodie pocket. "This'll just be a minute, Buddy."

Enzo laughed, then let go of Dee. "Look at this joker. So you're hanging out with cat loving old people now huh?"

"For God's sake, Enzo. Could you stop being a jerk for once?" Dee said with a snarl.

"It's okay now, Lolo. You can go home now." She smiled at me as she closed the gate from inside. I waved at her and then she raised a finger. "No fighting please." She turned to look at Enzo. "I'd watch my mouth if I were you, Enzo. He can break you without even lifting a finger." We watched her walk to the door of the boarding house. If tension could be seen, it would look like lightning bolts between Enzo and me.

"Your father will hear about this, Dee," Enzo said.

"Like I care." She inserted a key to the door of the pink house.

"Look, Enzo. She's just practicing with her ba-"

"I don't care who you are or what you can do." He shook a finger at me. "I'm not afraid of you. Dee's father trusts me with his life. I've been close with their family for years now. It is my job to make sure that she never gets dragged into this rock band nonsense and you, Pre are interfering with my job. You don't want to mess with Tito Manuel's wishes."

I shook my head. "So you're not just an eye. You're a big mouth as well."

"Stay out of her life. I mean it. Unless you want Tito Manuel to come after you too."

"Whatever Dee does or doesn't do, is entirely up to her, Pre." I placed my helmet over my head and gunned my scoot's engine. "Now, I must get going. My buddy needs to sleep."

Trying to play tough guy, he grabbed my collar. "Maybe I didn't make it clear enough. I don't ever want to see you near her."

I grabbed his arm and twisted it making him yelp in pain.

At this, the door to the boarding house opened and Dee stepped out again followed by some girls who I assumed were her board mates. They murmured and some of them squealed like they saw a rat or something.

"My Goodness! You guys always solve your problems with fists. Go home now, the both of you. You're making a racket," Dee said with a frown.

"I was just about to, Dee. Pretty boy here can't keep his hands off of me." I let go of Enzo's arm then revved my scoot.

"I'm warning you, Mister," Enzo threatened with a raised finger.

I scoffed. "I heard you the first time."

Revving my engine again, I blew hot hair onto Enzo's TV leading man face and then waved goodbye at Dee. Then, the girls around her squealed even louder.

I drove off with the satisfaction of seeing Enzo's pale face go tomato red.

The next morning, Dee had cancelled practice for some reason she didn't want to talk about. I knew very well that it was an Enzo reason. Days followed and I received no text from her about resuming practices.

I was about to finally start missing this whole band thing when one early evening, I came to pick up some post-it's from the book store in 'Market! Market!' and some cat food for Combo Jumbo. Then, guess who I spotted loitering around the mall with pearl shakes in their hands? Yes, Dee and the boys.

Shopping for school supplies was always a very personal time for me and Dee could be so annoying sometimes. So, I went the other way, keeping a steady pace but not running in order to not attract attention.

"Hey! Lolo!" Dee called with a wave.

I froze in my tracks, closed my eyes and let out a few slow, deep breaths, then turned towards her.

"Hi," I said with a lousy wave.

"Woah. Someone's cranky today." She petted Combo Jumbo's head that popped out from the kangaroo pouch of my Gray hoodie.

As the boys caught up to her, they greeted me with waves and then Dee shooed them away. "You can go on without me. I'll stay with Lolo." They ran off in a heartbeat.

"What? No. I'm on... official... school... business... uh... stuff."

"Uh. Yeah. That really sounds official."

"Ugh! Whatever. I'm going to shop for school supplies and I can't baby sit you."

"What's so therapeutic about going to a bookstore that you don't want any disturbance? It's not like it's a spa or something."

"It is therapeutic for me! Now, just go with your friends, please. I need to get home before it gets too late," I said as I checked my watch.

"Just let me tag along. They're going to play Ragnarok Online and I don't like that game."

"You promise to behave?"

She raised her hand. "I promise." Then, she took a sip of her shake with the other hand.

"No Margaux Dee stuff, okay?" I said with a wag of my finger.

"What does that even mean?"

"Swear on your life."

She rolled her eyes. "What a drama queen."

"Swear on it."

"Okay. I swear."

Later at a Makati food strip...

"Me want that"

"No"

"Me want that"

"No."

"Buy me squiddy balls, Lolo!"

"Control yourself, Miss Piggy!"

She punched my arm.

"Ow!" I rubbed my arm. "Seriously?"

"I'm so hungry," she said with a pout then kept on pulling the sleeve of my hoodie

"Dee, you already ate Kikiam, Tempura, Crab Nuggets, Isaw, and Buchi. We were supposed to buy cat food!"

"You care more about that cat than me," she said with a frown. And then, all of a sudden, she jumped on my back, scaring Combo Jumbo in the process. The poor cat leaped out of my kangaroo pouch and ran off.

"What the- Get off me, you whale! How could someone so small be so..." I struggled to catch my breath. "Freakin' heavy?"

She bit my ear.

"Ah! That's just it!"

I ran as fast as I could chasing after a sprinting Combo Jumbo with his leash flailing against the wind. Dee screamed as she tightened her piggyback grip behind my back.

Hours later, inside a 24 hour convenience store...

"Miss, do you happen to sell some cat food?" I asked the girl behind the counter.

Shaking her head, she said, "No, Sir. I'm sorry."

"Stupid Lolo. This is a convenience store. What do you expect?"

My eyes twitched and I turned to face Dee. "Well, it isn't quite convenient for me now, is it?"

She stuck her tongue out at me like always when she couldn't come up with a better comeback.

I exhaled. "I guess tuna will do. If you hadn't scared Combo Jumbo off, we wouldn't have spent hours chasing after him. We could've gone to the Pet Express at the mall instead."

"If you had just bought me squiddy balls, then we wouldn't be having this problem."

My eye twitched again and I made a pinch gesture with my fingers. "Dee, you're this close to driving me off the edge," I said through gritted teeth.

She stuck out her tongue at me. Pretty mature. The cashier snickered as she watched Dee and I go at it.

I placed a hand on my waist. "What's with your cravings today, anyway? You've been eating like a pig and you're crankier than usual."

A light bulb went off in my head.

"Woah! Don't tell me... period?"

She made a scrunched up face. "What? No!" she screamed and turned her head away while fidgeting her heart pendant.

"You can't fool me. I recognize period when I see one. Your sister used to have huge cravings like this."

She wrinkled her nose.

"Okay, grab whatever you need, Kiddo. I'll just go pick out Combo's dinner."

"Can I get some Snickers?" She lightly clapped her hands.

I exhaled "I said... whatever you need, didn't I? Now please move away." I shooed her away with my hands.

"Sungit. You must be the one with the periods," she said with a frown before disappearing into the other aisle.

I ventured off into the canned goods section. "Let's see now." Turning to Combo Jumbo, I asked him, "What do you like, Buddy? We have Century Tuna, 555, and Bluebay tuna."

Combo Jumbo licked his paws from inside my kangaroo pouch.

"Here, take a whiff." I placed a can of Adobo flavored BlueBay Tuna near his nose. He sniffed around the can and then pushed it away.

"Hmmm... so I guess it's a no."

I grabbed another can. "How about this?" He pushed it away too. I went through eight different cans before something finally caught his attention. Combo sniffed it longer than the other cans. He looked up at me and then meowed.

"Okay. Century it is. But just this once, okay?" I raised a finger like I was lecturing a child. "This stuff's not good to eat all the time... even for humans."

Combo meowed and licked his paw.

Psycho girl appeared with a box of Snickers, three large bags of Piattos Chips, and a tub of Ube flavored ice cream.

"What in God's name is all this?" I asked in disbelief as Dee dropped the items on my basket.

"Well, you said I could take whatever I need. So..." She pointed a finger at the basket. "That's everything I need."

"I didn't say prepare for the end of the world, though." I scratched the back of my head while she smiled and wiggled her ears.

I inspected the stuff on the basket. "Dee, do you have your night pads? These are all junk food."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm already stacked at home, you pervert."

I placed a hand on my forehead, closed my eyes and sighed. God, help me.

"I give up," I said as I threw my hands backwards. Then, I placed the basket on the counter. As I was about to pay for all my Dee donations, she dropped a bomb that almost made me lose my balance.

"Can I stay with you tonight?"