A Close Second

Seventy Fifth

Keith Andrew Medrano.

Courtney Beatrice Singson never slips.

I knew that. Everyone knew that. I even heard Beatrice herself tell me that phrase herself while chuckling as she picked out wine for a dinner party, a thank you gift for the host.

Never once did I question it. It was absolutely the truth.

But this wasn't even a slip.

It was a goddamn slide.

I watched and just timed Beatrice's deep breaths while she slept soundly on the bed, sitting down next to her on the edge. To say that I was shocked at the breakdown was an understatement.

I didn't expect it at all.

A quiet knock sounded and I looked back at Aya, who looked into the room.

"Nakatulog na si Madam?" Tanong niya ng mahina.

I looked back at Beatrice who seemed in deep sleep. Aya steps forward cautiously, as if walking normally would wake my girlfriend up.

"She just did." Sabi ko kay Aya.

Aya gives me a small smile. "That's good." She says while looking at her. "She needs her sleep."

I agreed, nodding. "She does."

She places a hand on my shoulder. "Let's leave her to sleep first. We'll come back in a little bit. Dinner's ready."

With that, I agreed too.

The table was already set up. Laiza, Greg and Nico had volunteered to cook earlier while I took Beatrice upstairs. Thea looked up at us as she putting them in an ice bucket by the fridge.

"Kain na." Jake says, putting a steaming bowl—tinola, by the smell of it— down on the table. "Nico cooked, just a warning."

"Hoy, specialty ko kaya yan. Favorite ni Ayababes." Nico calls out from the kitchen.

Laiza chuckles. "I supervised, if anyone's worried." She smiles.

Natawa si Aya, taking the plate of rice from the counter and setting it up on the middle of the table. I just pulled up a chair habang yung mga iba umupo na rin.

Dinner was quiet. Aside from the soft dinner playlist Thea had playing on the living room TV, only the scrape of utensils on the china and the crunch of the spring rolls that Greg had fried up were the only things that can be heard across the room.

The sky outside was now a murky black, rain turned into a quiet drizzle.

"Is it okay to address the elephant in the room?" Tanong ni Laiza.

Aya glances at her. "You can't talk to anyone like that, Pres."

"Bobo." Jethro chides her.

"I was lightening up the mood, doofus." Aya fires back.

Their banter actually did it. Thea started giggling and then the rest followed suit. I had to smile while I drank from my iced tea.

"Okay, seryoso na." Laiza says.

Another silence, Thea sipped her drink through a straw with wide eyes nudging Jacob, who looked at her. I waited for any of them to say something until Thea sighed, accepting that she was the one that's going to do the talking already.

"What you saw... is a panic attack." She says, drawing in the quiet again. "I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but Jake is."

Tumikhim lang si Jake. "I am."