Driving Home

The College Years

Best Buy Secondhand Car Garage
Libis, 2010

Ignacio Ortiz considered himself a very patient guy. He had to be. He was six-foot-five, and in a country with a five-foot height average, patience was of utmost importance. Nacho was every dude's dude. He played basketball in college, played games on his PS4 and said things like "bro" and "pare" on a daily basis. He went out to bars with his friends and went to the gym every week. Nacho loved the NBA, Marvel movies, and Game of Thrones. He knew everything about cars, and loved learning everything about them.

So when he saw the VW Beetle (still in its original warning light orange color) pull up in front of him in the secondhand car garage, he felt all his patience drain right out of him. He had tried so hard to get her to get a good, fuel-efficient car. He'd chosen a nice and practical Ford Escape he saw in the garage (with only a couple of thousand kilometers on it) for her. The model wasn't exactly known for fuel-efficient, but it was easy to use and the price wasn't too bad. It would be good as someone's first car. Not a clunky old Beetle that would probably disintegrate into dust if he tried to take it to a highway.

"Seryoso ba 'to," he said in the deepest, most deadpan, disappointed voice he could muster. He looked like a giant looking down at a clown car. Which he was. The car's hood barely even reached his chest. Did she really expect him to be happy about this? "Hindi nga. This is the car you picked?"

Standing beside him, in all her five-foot-nothing glory, Isabel Torres was beaming like a kid who just got exactly what she wished for on Christmas Day. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of the dusty orange Beetle, and she immediately threw her body over the hood, nodding emphatically at him.

"Isn't it perfect?" she asked him, sighing happily. Pulling her phone (complete with DIY case) out of the deep recesses of her bag, she handed it to Ignacio in silent command to take her photo. UQR-598 was hers.

Rolling his eyes, he held up the camera and snapped a photo of Isabel.

"Smiiiiile," he said dutifully, angling the camera to get a good shot. The sun had hit the lens perfectly, and she looked like she was about to ride the car back to hipster land where they both belonged. Isabel's grin was wide as she approved of the photo, hugging her best friend's arm (it was the only part of him she could physically grab without having to tiptoe).

Nacho looked down at his best friend. Her cropped black hair blew slightly in the dusty wind, the hem of her flowing grey maxi dress lapping over her jeweled sandals. Her numerous bangles jingled and jangled as she hopped up and down. She was the one who named him Nacho, that first day of college when they first met. He smiled.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Perfect."

***

17 Mt. Fuji Lane
Quezon City, 2011

It was one of those nights that Isabel never wanted to end. Those nights when she and her barkada would just sit under the stars in someone's backyard with beer, chips and good music, talking away. She hadn't had a night like this since their last semestral break, and it was wonderful. She had missed this; having time in her hands with people she loved by her side. They always seemed to talk about the same things. School sucked, their profs were so weird, and they wished they had more time for their orgs. Same old script for the same people. But the fun, easy rhythm of their friendships never changed. Isabel loved that.

She had to admit something was missing, though. Something she didn't even realize wasn't there until one of her friends called it out when he walked through the door.

"O, Nacho! Broooo! 'Musta na? "

Isabel whipped her head towards him, letting it fan around her face as he walked into the threshold of the house. Her six-foot giant was shuffling his chunky high tops on the grass, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. Isabel had always been able to read him like a book, and this was the face of a boy who just got dumped. She knew her chill night was over.

Jumping up from the beanbag chair, she said a hasty goodbye to her friends and grabbed Ignacio's muscled arm, dragging him to her car, which she managed to park outside. No need to tell Nacho it took her closer to thirty minutes to parallel park it.

He followed her wordlessly. He even forgot to launch his usual complaint about the Beetle being too small and cramped. Nacho just looked so sad, and it broke her heart. Isabel plugged her phone into the stereo jack and played the music low. Nothing like a little Bullet Dumas to soothe a broken heart. She knew what this was about.

"I take it she said no," Isabel said slowly as the Beetle peeled off the driveway.

"Yeah," he grumbled, looking out at the window as the city flew by around them. It was nearly two in the morning, and traffic was nonexistent. She loved it when the world just whizzed past them.

Isabel bit her lip and resisted the urge to punch Ignacio's crush, Pia in the face. She knew it. She knew that heart-breaking little tramp was just leading Ignacio on, letting him hold her hand and drive her home the last six months, making him jump through hoops just to take her to lunch. What else did he expect from a girl who worked PR for a party org? Ignacio was practically the perfect guy (for everyone but Isabel, really!), what could Pia possibly not have liked about him?

"You said it in Dothraki, didn't you," she said in a deadpan voice, smiling at him slyly to let him know she was just teasing. "You called her your moon and stars and it scared her."

Normally he would have been impressed at her ability to actually make a Game of Thrones reference, but this time, Ignacio was just not in the mood. Isabel pulled up into a parking space, and Ignacio looked up at the fluorescent blue and green lights that came into his view. He didn't seem all that happy to be here.

"Smile, Nacho," Isabel said lightly, turning off the engine as she studied his face. "I'm treating you to ice cream. Come on."

Ignacio followed her into the store, already smiling a little. In that moment, he was glad he would always have Isabel on his side. She held up two empty swirl-all-you-can cones at him and Ignacio didn't feel so sad anymore.