Driving Home

Post-Grad

Guadalupe
EDSA, 2012

They were stuck in traffic. It was just one of those things that came with driving a tiny car on EDSA. Cars tended to sneak up behind you and overtake you, threatening you with their sheer size and the fact that they weren't as orange as the Volkswagen he was driving. Ignacio never drove Isabel's car, he had sworn up and down that he never would, not even on pain of death. Not that she would let him drive it anyway. She'd been hurled forward into the dashboard way too often when Ignacio was behind the wheel. She wasn't sure her car could take his kaskasero ways.

"How are you feeling?" Ignacio asked, glancing over to his right where Isabel was curled up in the passenger seat with a bright, colorful Mexican blanket draped over her body. This was a contrast to her face, scrunched in pain as it was. He'd put on the Chillitees from her playlist, just to get her to feel better. He didn't know half the artists on her phone, but at least their name had the word "chill" in it.

"Ow, ow, owwwwww," Isabel whined, shifting uncomfortably in the seat. Her arm, placed in its cast over her bag, was the same color as her car, which Ignacio found hilarious. She'd drawn flowers and a TARDIS on her cast, while he drew an approximation of a basketball on the bottom side. He'd also written 'sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry' where she couldn't reach. "Stop using up my brake fluid!"

"You are hopped up on painkillers and the car isn't moving," Ignacio pointed out, smiling as he tapped his fingers against the wheel. "I thought you were kidding when you said you were a klutz."

"This is what happens when you don't listen to me," Isabel said, indicating her injured arm. "I was happy being flabby and uncoordinated until you and your friends saw it. I wore a bandana, Nacho. A bandana."

It was a Saturday of a long weekend in which Ignacio had insisted that Isabel play Ultimate Frisbee with him and his buddies.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

She'd been completely un-happy running and wheezing across the field as shirtless men with nice abs (Isabel may or may not admit that she was more focused on them than the Frisbee, really) tossed a flying piece of plastic around. That was, until Ignacio tossed the Frisbee her way. Isabel had panicked so much that she ran backwards, tripped and fell on her own hand.

Needless to say, she was never playing Ultimate Frisbee after that.

"I thought you would like it, being adored by all those buff, shirtless guys," Ignacio joked, trying to get her to lighten up. He was shifting around too. Even with the chair stretched back, it was still a tight fit inside the stupid Volkswagen. He laughed when she ignored him. "Especially when Diego carried you."

"UUUUGH," Isabel groaned, leaning her head against the window so she didn't have to think about how Diego the Frisbee hottie carried her bridal-style to the car. She could swear she heard him grunt with effort. She probably imagined him offering to kiss her to make her feel better, but Isabel knew to take what she could in the face of her humiliation.

"Ngiti naman d'yan o," Ignacio coaxed as the roads loosened up, and he sped behind Robinsons Forum in Boni. He turned to her with a smile, and she gave one back with all her teeth bared and her eyes as wide as she could make them. She looked more like a serial killer than his best friend, but the sight only made Ignacio laugh even more. Maybe the painkillers were working better on her than he thought.

"I hate you," she said, a grin on her face as he pulled up into McDonald's drive-thru.

"You love me," he said back without thinking, cranking down the window to order her usual caramel sundae.

***

Katipunan Avenue, 2014

"Oo na, oo na!" Isabel yelled as she marched towards her car, slamming the door shut beside her as Ignacio squeezed into the seat beside her in an equally infuriated mood. The Volkswagen's engine roared into life (or groaned, really) and drove off the sidewalk where Isabel had pulled it aside when the motorcycle bumped into them. Her car's rear end was slightly damaged, and Ignacio was in a rage. He'd started yelling and looming in the way that his six-foot-whatever frame could loom into a hapless motorcycle driver. Isabel had yelled at Ignacio and sent him back to the car like a five-year-old.

"I cannot believe you just let him go," Ignacio said angrily shaking his head. "He hit your car, Isa. You could have been hurt or injured— "

"Tama na ang drama, it's fine," she replied, keeping her eyes on the road, leaning forward as she fumed. "He gave me his details and more money than I need to fix it. Suwerte na 'yun."

"You could have been hurt!" Ignacio snapped back, his arms draped over his knees as he sulked backwards into his seat. "You should have let me handle it. What other use would you have for a guy like me?"

Isabel raised her eyebrow at that. There was something about those words that made her tense up in a weird way. She knew when Ignacio was mad about something, and he definitely wasn't angry about her dealing with being rear-ended. If anything, she figured he would be the biggest advocate of the Volkswagen's slow destruction.

"Kanina ka pa BV, ah," She pointed out, glancing at him from her side of the car. Ignacio was still fuming, now even more so. "What's the matter with you?"

Ignacio groaned, burying his face in his hands. He hated being this guy, he really did. He never meddled in Isabel's affairs; she already had girl friends for that. But this, this he couldn't stand. He tried so hard to keep his mouth shut. They were on the way to meet him anyway. Might as well lay all his cards on the table.

"I'm having.... issues," he said slowly. "I don't like Diego."

"What?!" Isabel exclaimed, nearly hurling Ignacio forward when she hit the brakes for the stoplight. "Are you serious? He's your friend, Nacho. What's wrong with me dating Diego?"

"He doesn't call you!" Ignacio exclaimed in equal volume, as quickly as the question came out. Of course he already thought about this. It had been brewing in him for a while. "How many times did you have to beg him to meet us today? How often do you make your date plans? Does he ever even call you?"

"He's a busy guy—" she started, but he didn't want to hear any of it.

"He's not good enough for you," Ignacio said point blank, ending the discussion then and there.

This time Isabel had enough, and she pulled over the side of the road, not caring that she was swerving like a madwoman on Katipunan. She was glaring daggers at Ignacio, and he was already wondering if he had enough cash to take a cab home. But she would never kick him out. She would be angry, but she wouldn't leave him on some street corner. Isabel deserved so much more than Diego was willing to give her.

"He likes me," she told him, sighing deeply. "Diego is the first guy who sees...me...and still likes me. Not because I'm cute or chubby or whatever. He actually thinks I'm cool."

"He's not going to be the only one," Ignacio said immediately. That had been brewing in him for a while now too.

"You don't know that," She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I do," he said, and that was that.