Three weeks after that night, Bech, Jade, and Lily met for their usual get-together. They met at an open-air bar in the afternoon. It had rained the day before, the atmosphere very refreshing. It was a good day to be outdoor, and the three friends always looked forward to their meet-ups. This is how their friendship had survived all these years. Even though they had been in the same university, they had had to make time consciously to get together to draw support from one another and study with one another.
Whenever they met, Lily always updated them with the latest gossip on campus, Jade brought the latest political trends and business news, and Bech shared info on latest entertainment programs. They were a funny trio, and it was a wonder to many who knew them as individuals how they managed to remain so close to one another despite their stark differences. But they found joy in one another. Until recently.
At their meeting, Lily was the enthusiastic one. She regaled all the latest gossip on campus and in the country, yet her friends did not look interested. Each looked lost in thought, and rightly so. For while Lily was recounting her news, Jade’s mind kept wandering back to that night three weeks ago, wondering why Bech would kiss him so passionately yet push him away. Was it a game that she played? Did she enjoy toying with men? He chanced a look at her from the corner of his eyes: she was concentrating on the paper she had brought with her. Things had changed between them, he could tell. For one, Bech was not her jovial self. She was reserved, but she had a smile all the time. Today, her smile seemed forced. Her greeting to him did not include the usual friendly banter they engaged in. Bech and he had a similar IQ and they traded jabs at will; Lily usually seemed lost in their banters so she just observed.
But today, Bech was quiet. Jade knew he had something to do with it. This was the first time they were meeting after that fateful encounter on the lane. If Jade was completely honest with himself, he had not thought of anything or anyone as much as he did Bech. The kiss they had shared had opened wide the small crack he thought he had patched. He didn’t fall in love, he reminded himself. Girls fell in love with him and he took advantage of them. In his opinion, girls did not appreciate love, and he had several experiences to prove it. Girls did not want honest men, men who would take care of them; they preferred ‘bad’ boys who would mess up their lives and break their hearts into multiple pieces and later apologise with food or money. The girls he had encountered were selfish shallow ones who cared only about the here and now. They had no vision or plan for their own lives.
Jade sighed, attracting a curious look from Lily. Bech did not even raise her head. Jade smiled at Lily to indicate that everything was fine, but he knew it wasn’t. And Lily wasn’t insensitive to the atmosphere either. She quietly excused herself to the bathroom; they would need it.
As soon as Lily left, Jade flicked Bech’s forearm and asked, “Why are you avoiding me?”
Bech did not look up when she replied, “I’m not. You always know where to find me.”
Then Jade shot back, “I’ve been trying to see you alone for the past three weeks.”
“What for? Was the other night not enough for you?”
“No!” and he bit his tongue. That was the wrong reply at the right time. Bech looked up at him once, shook her head, and returned to her paper. “I didn’t mean it that way, Bech. I only wanted us to talk about what’s going on between us now.” Silence. A long one.
“What’s going on, Jade?” Bech finally said. She wore a perfect mask of disenchantment. Bech was difficult to read. She didn’t allow herself to be predictable; it was too dangerous. She went on, “I’m not the first woman you’ve kissed; why should I feel special? To you, it’s another conquest on your list. I’m only disappointed in myself for responding to you as shamelessly as I did. So… I don’t know what more you want. Or, should I entertain you in my bed now?” Bech scoffed and shook her head.
Just as Jade was about to reply, he saw Lily approaching them with canned drinks. Lily knew at once that the atmosphere had changed. She looked from one friend to the other and quietly placed their drinks in front of them.
Bech began to pack her papers into her bag when Lily started distributing the drinks. She could no longer stay there. Her breath was becoming shallow. She picked up her drink and said, “I have to leave you, friends. I’ve got some things to catch up with.”
Immediately Lily got up too. “I’m coming with you. You asked me to help you, remember?” Lily shook her head, “You’re growing old, Bech. You forget easily.”
Bech shook her head. She knew she had no activity with Lily but somehow Lily reads her easily. She knew she knew. Besides, Bech figured, she could use some help.
Lily also picked up her drink and followed Bech out of the bar. They walked quietly for some time, heading anywhere their feet took them. Lily held Bech’s hand like the good old friends they were. She allowed Bech the silence she needed; whenever she was ready, she would talk.
And she did. “Lily, what’s wrong with me?”
“What happened, my friend?”
Bech stopped walking. “Jade kissed me!”
Lily had figured that much out but she said nothing. She just waited for her friend, as her friend had done for her when she lost her family and had no one to turn to. When Bech said nothing more, Lily asked her, “Has he made you his girlfriend now?”
“I can’t bear to look at him, Lily.”
“Do think you feel something for him?”
Bech sighed. “I’ve never thought of him in that light. He’s just been a good friend to me all this while. Lily, doesn’t he have a girlfriend? There’s always one girl or another hovering over him… why are you laughing?”
When Lily calmed, she said, “Bech, Jade always has women around him when he’s not with us but none of them is special to him. He’s not been in any serious relationship since he met you.” At the widening of Bech’s eyes, Lily nodded. “It makes sense to me now. He’s been fighting his attraction to you since he met you. It’s been a tough fight, to want someone you fear to have. Come on,” she put her arm around her friend’s shoulder, “my place is closer than yours. Let’s go there and talk.”
As they went, Bech asked, “Why would he choose me? I don’t qualify. I have seen the kind of women who hang around him. I am nothing like those women. They are sophisticated. They know the times. They can engage him on all levels.”
“And you are smarter than all of them,” Lily interrupted her friend. “Bech, are you that blind? He has been falling for you since whenever. He tries to hide it. See, the other day, we really didn’t need to meet you at your place to go to the play. You know you could have picked us up at our bus stops along the way. Remember I mentioned it? Why would he go to great lengths to see you, if he didn’t find you completing him in any way?”
Now that Lily mentioned it, Bech recalled that particular argument. Lily had complained that they would have to do a walk backward to get to Bech’s place when the theatre was on their way from Bech’s place. But Jade had insisted on it, and Lily had succumbed to it. What if Lily was right?
“Bech, do you feel anything for Jade?” Lily asked. They had reached her door and she was turning the lock.
“I don’t know, Lily. I don’t know.” They stepped into Lily’s spacious hall.
“Then why did you kiss him back?” Lily threw her arms wide to indicate that Bech should make herself comfortable. They plopped into her loveseat.
“I don’t know. He made me feel…” Bech began to think. She had responded to Jade. He brought out something she didn’t know she had in her. He made her feel… safe. Secure. Bold. She shook her head. “I don’t know, Lily. But I can’t trust him. What if he does the same thing to me as he does to the others?”
“Then I will strangle him with my two slender hands.” Lily raised her hands to show Bech which made the latter laugh. Lily had very slender hands; she couldn’t even hold Jade’s triceps with one hand.
They continued to converse for a long while after that and Bech felt much better. Men were problems anyway; all women’s problems begin with ‘men-’.
They had a merry time, completely unaware of the clouds gathering outside. A storm was brewing, the magnitude of which was going to topple their world as they knew it.
