In Over Her Head

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

June 2013

“Come on, Erika. Please. Everybody’s looking forward to this reunion. You can’t skip this one,” my best friend, Lorra Quiambao, pleads, taking a sip of her flat white coffee while her gaze shifts from me, her coffee, and her indispensable Blackberry. “Come on, I need an answer. I have to rush to a press conference in the next two hours.”

I look up from the file folder I’ve been reading for the past couple of minutes and eye my best friend warily. I brush my bangs off my forehead. Damn, I badly need a haircut. “I don’t know. I can’t commit to something when I’m not even sure I can be there. I don’t want to disappoint the barkada.”

Well actually, I don’t really have anything planned by September. I mean, a lot of things can happen in a span of three months. Besides, I’m really having second thoughts meeting up with my college friends. I’ve been trying to work my way out of every invitation (usually citing erratic work hours, deadlines, and whatever pathetic excuse I can think of), just so I can avoid them.

That’s because every time the barkada gets together, there’s always, always, going to be a discussion about each other’s love life status.

Seriously? I have better use for my time.

And yes, I’m just trying to avoid anyone nitpicking at my apparent lack of a significant other.

Now it looks like I can’t think up of an excuse (valid or otherwise) to get out of this one. Our friends Alex and Nathan are going to get married in a few months and they’re pulling all the strings to get the entire group together.

 “You already missed Elaine’s birthday last month, plus you skipped Mike’s Puerto Galera treat last summer. You can’t excuse yourself from this one, Erika. This is like the get-together of all get-togethers we’ve had.” She said the same thing about Elaine’s birthday and Mike’s invitation. Lorra can be so predictable sometimes.

“Hoy, are you even listening to me? It’s your break time. Why do you still have your nose stuck in that file folder?” Lorra pokes me with the pen she’s holding and scribbles something on her notepad.

I roll my eyes. “Says the girl who’s perpetually multitasking even when she’s the one who invited me for a coffee break.”

Lorra works as a reporter at NBS8 covering the energy beat. Her job requires her to be on call 24/7, which is why she always has to power dress all the time (even when she feels like crap and she just wants to wear PJs and not comb her hair),  with her Blackberry looking like a permanent appendage.

She puts her phone down and glares at me. “I’m doing this as a favor to Alex and Nathan. This isn’t just a small event, Erika. We’re talking about our friends’ wedding. They’re having this engagement party just for us and their relatives. They’re getting the word out early so we can book our schedules properly. And,” one of her eyebrows shoots up, “just so some people wouldn’t be inventing some lame excuse to skip on their friends.”

I sip absently on my chai tea latte and sigh, defeated. “Okay, fine. I’ll go.”

Lorra’s face brightens despite my half-hearted reply. “That’s great! I’m going to text Alex right away.” She definitely knows how to twist my arm and make sure I stick to my word.

“Hey, Lorra, would you happen to know who else is going to be in that party?” I ask. Somehow, I already have a bad feeling about it.

She takes a huge sip of coffee and looks at me as if I’ve gone senile. “Haven’t you been listening? I said all of us. The whole barkada. The entire gang.”