38. Countdown

1825 Days Left

“Hey sweetie! It’s so good to see you. Do you want anything? My treat.”

Andrea’s brown eyes that constantly reminded me of Dulce’s lighted up as soon as she caught sight of me. The conversation inside the café where we agreed to meet turned into a low buzz, until it totally faded into the background. I went up to her, earning me a warm embrace.

“I just had coffee at my place,” I mumbled with a smile as I took a seat across from her. “Oh and by the way. Thanks for meeting me here instead of your house.”

She nodded understandingly, giving me a familiar look that seemed to penetrate deep into my soul. That was one of the qualities I liked the most about Dulce’s mother. She had the ability to know that I wasn’t comfortable in returning to their house without her daughter, yet she didn’t pry, unlike other people out there. Andrea took a sip from her cup of coffee. Placing it down with a contented sigh, she said, “Dulce’s doing fine in France. But she’s been so busy with all the studying and settling down that she barely has time to talk. I’m sure you understand.”

I nodded absentmindedly, a hollow feeling gnawing on my insides. By now, the feeling was so familiar that I wasn’t surprised at all. It would plague my body like a disease whenever Dulce was mentioned. “Yeah, she told me about that last week. The chef was running her ragged in the kitchen. Though she’s enjoying a lot. Learning a lot.”

Andrea continued to look at me, studying every reaction I made. It was a good thing that I was wearing my usual disguise of blue cap and sun glasses or she might have seen the sadness in my eyes. “She loves you Glace. Please be patient with her. I know that she forbade you to visit her this year, but you can definitely have your short vacation there next year.”

Staring out the glass window of the café, I envisioned myself with Dulce, hand-in-hand in France, walking on a cobblestone path somewhere. The thought made me swallow the lemon in my throat. “Yeah. . . I’m looking forward to that. Hope the paparazzi don’t detect my departure though. They can’t find out that Dulce’s in France at all cost.” A nod from Andrea. “But enough about that. How are you doing? Is work fine?”

“Oh you know how make-up artists are,” Andrea said, taking another short sip from her cup. “One minute you’re so busy you barely have time to sleep, the next you find yourself staring at the wall, bored.” She gave me a meaningful look, trying to tell me that she’s been missing her daughter as badly as I had during those boring times. “I have good news though,” she mumbled after a while.

“What?”

Andrea’s cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. “I’ve been dating.”

My eyebrows shot up in amusement. “Hope his name is not Rick.”

“Definitely not Rick.” Both of us laughed. Something that I haven’t done for a while since her daughter left. It actually felt good to just let it out. As if I didn’t have a care in the world. When the laughter ceased, Andrea reached for my hand across the table. “Glace. . .” she started. “I consider you as my daughter. One day, you’ll marry Dulce. Have a family together. I just want you to know that whenever you miss her, or if you have problems that you want to discuss, I’m here, as your mother.”

I took a deep, trying my best not to break down in front of her. “Thanks Andrea,” I murmured, deeply touched. “I’ll make sure to visit you as often as I can.”

1460 Days Left

The door of the diner made a distinct sound as I opened it with a push, alerting the waitress behind the counter that a new customer arrived. Ignoring her subtle hints completely, I scanned the place until my eyes landed on Tim, waving his hands to catch my attention. With a smile on my face, I adjusted my sunglasses and headed to his direction.

“Frio,” he said breathlessly as I slid down into the booth in front of him. Tim motioned to the huge guy on his right with a shoulder-length brown hair, and muscles that made him look like he belonged to action movies. “This is my boyfriend Fabio. He was also a graduate of our high school.” The Brazilian guy and I nodded at each other politely. “Fabio, this is Frio, an actress, a star, a heartthrob, my number one idol, and of course my best friends girlfriend.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his introduction. “I see that you haven’t changed.”

Tim smiled, his chinky eyes turning into a line. “Well it’s been more than one year since we’ve seen each other, and you’ve changed. A lot.”

“How so?” I asked, totally puzzled by what he meant.

“You look so cute before, but you’re totally, undeniably hotter now,” he said, his eyes scanning my face and body. “I bet Dulce wishes that she was here to see all that hotness of yours. Speaking of that, you’re visiting her next month right?”

At the mention of my impending vacation to France, my whole body exploded with happiness. I have waited more than a year for this, and no one, not the paparazzi or my fans could ever stop me from going straight to my girlfriend’s arms. To Tim I said sheepishly, “Yeah. I’m so excited. And to tell you the truth, Dulce has become way hotter than me. Have you seen her pictures? Man Tim. . . When we talk in the webcam. She’s. . . And her body. . .”

He rolled his eyes for effect. “Yeah, I never knew my best friend would turn out to be a real heartbreaker in the future. Makes me wonder what you two eat for breakfast to look like the way you do.”

“Hey, you look perfect to me,” Fabio said with a hint of accent in his voice, looking straight at Tim. In response, Tim elbowed his boyfriend. It was a sure sign of affection, though I had no idea how boys could be so rough with one another. Maybe it was how things worked with that kind of relationship, I thought in dismissal.  

When they were done pushing and elbowing each other endearingly, Tim faced me once more. “So I’m taking up law,” he began. “And Fabio here wants to be an action star. The problem is I disagreed.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want chicks and other dudes to ogle him. This troll is mine. All mine.” He settled his head on Fabio’s shoulder. The gesture reminded me of how Dulce would lay her head on my chest before. I turned to look away. As if reading my thoughts, Tim immediately straightened on his seat. “Hang in there Frio,” he mumbled. “Just a couple of years more till our Dulce comes home to you.”

1095 Days Left

“I hope I’m not late,” Patty said as she sat beside me on the bench, adjusting the brown satchel bag to her lap. The wind picked up, ruffling the leaves on the trees overhead. The black cap that I was wearing was nearly blown from my head, but Patty was able to help me, pushing it down securely back to its position. “Got to make sure that your disguise stays on,” she murmured with a twinkle in her eyes. “We don’t want a mob here in the park.”

“Thanks,” I said with a nod. “How are you doing?”

She leaned back on the bench, staring up at the clear blue morning sky. “Good. Good but busy. You know I’m studying to be an editor right? At the same time, I’m trying to have the book I’ve written for you and Dulce published.”

“Starstruck,” I mumbled, remembering the stack of papers she gave Dulce during our last get-together 2 or more years ago. It seemed like it was yesterday when we graduated from high school, all hopes and dreams of having a better future in front of us. Little by little we have worked to achieve those dreams. It was not easy. And the hardest part was being so far from my girl.

“Uh huh,” Patty said, jerking me back to the present. “Who knew that making and publishing a book could be so hard? All those typing. All those editing.” She sighed. “But I know it will all be worth it. I just want to get your story out there Frio. For the world to know how much you and Dulce. . .”

“I honestly don’t know what to say Patty. It’s your first book and everything. You should have made it about you and Eris.”

Patty chuckled at the mention of her girlfriend. “The world is not ready for what Eris and I have in store for them.” Silence. . . After a while she faced me, placing her right leg over the other. “You visited Dulce a year ago right? How did that go? We always chat of course, but I want to know from your point of view.”

“You’re talking like a real author Patty,” I smirked. “Hmm. . . When she saw me at the airport in France, Dulce looked like she was having a heart attack.” The recollection made me smile. It was true though. The moment the two of us made eye contact, Dulce burst out crying. Then she ran, clutched me like she never wanted to let go. I had to remind her that we were in public to convince her to take me to her apartment.

“Then what happened?” Patty asked.

“Then we went to her place, a lovely 2-storey building that she shared with two other girls. Of course she had the top floor to herself. I made sure of that when I made the arrangement. And there’s a lovely balcony that overlooked a garden. It’s a short commute from her place to the city.”

“Go on,” Patty encouraged, a small smile on her lips. It seemed like she was imagining the landscape that I had emblazed in my memories.

 “I was supposed to stay with her for 3 weeks. She didn’t let me get out of her room for the first two,” I mumbled, a blush creeping on my cheeks. “You know what happens after that. Then we toured the villages and city for a week.”

My body warmed at the thought of Dulce when we got to her room. She completely went scene Goddess on me and nearly dragged me to the bed. We’d stay in all day and night, only pausing to sleep, bathe, or eat. Now that I thought about it, I was absolutely amazed at how we could both survive that scene fest.

“Sounds like a good memory,” Patty said with an all-knowing look. “Please tell me that you’re happy Frio. Tell me that you’re happy enough with her that you’re willing to wait for a few more years.”

My eyes closed on its own. “I’m happy with her.” There was no doubt in my tone that I was saying the truth.

730 Days Left

“What movie do you want to star in?” Eris tone was businesslike. She was in one of her manager moods. The kind that said we’d be talking about work and nothing else. Setting five folders in front of me on the table, Eris gave me a quick smile, looking expectantly at my reaction.

“That many?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “I got that many offers?”

Now her smile was that of a Cheshire cat, all gloating and proud. “Why of course Frio. You’re a star.” She glanced briefly at the ceiling, probably envisioning all the lights on us, like we were on some kind of pictorial. Turning back to me she said, “Your millions of fans doubled over the years. The fact that you have a beautiful girlfriend who was nowhere to be found only added to the enigma. Add to that your perfect acting, and bang! We’re looking at millions of dollars of movie deals.”

I opened the folder one-by-one, staring at their titles and cast. “They all look great to me. Whatever, you’re the manager, you choose.” I settled myself comfortably on the couch. We were back in Eris house, all squeaky clean like the last time I visited it years ago. She changed the couch again. Probably at Patty’s request.

Eris stared at me, thinking hard about something. After a few seconds, she mumbled something under her breath, quickly gathering the folders and stacking it neatly on a corner of the table. She faced me, her expression unreadable. “How’s your girlfriend?” she finally asked.

I took a deep breath, knowing the direction of the conversation would end up there. “She’s. . . Fine. . . She already finished the course with the chef and continues her training. I don’t know much about the whole chef thing.”

Eris nodded. “And you don’t have to know. All you need to concentrate about for now is your acting career, nothing else.” She looked hesitantly at me. Cleared her throat, as if wanting to say something important. “When I talked to Dulce on the phone, she told me that she’s getting a lot of offers in France already. Do you know about that Frio?”

“Yes. A lot of big hotels and restaurants want to hire her. I mean, she did learn from one of the best chef’s, not to mention her own cooking is superb.” I paused. “But. . . I don’t see why she has to work there. She can always go back here.”

“It’s obvious that she wants to learn what she can before going home to you. Wants to get ready and all that glam. You do realize that once Dulce comes back, the paparazzi will be all over her. Your fans included.” I nodded in agreement. Eris continued talking. “Be patient Frio. Once Dulce is ready, she’ll be here. And then you can marry her or whatever you plan to do with that woman. But until then, keep your head on your shoulder and continue what you’ve been doing for the last 4 years.”

“And what is that?” I countered.

Eris smiled, her pearly white teeth showing like a true model. “Don’t give up on her.”

365 Days Left

“Thanks for the good job everyone! See you for another project,” someone said inside the room. A few minutes later, Denise came out, looking more Barbie-like than ever before. As soon as she saw me on the lounge, she pulled me up and gave me a hug.

“Hey sissie!” she greeted, hooking her left arm on my right one. We continued to the elevator in silence. Then, walked all the way to her car. Once inside, she turned to me, buckling her seatbelt on. “I missed you Glace.”

I tried to hide my smile. “Who knew that you’d be saying those words to me?”

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t complain. “Well daddy had a nasty way of bringing us together.” The reminder almost made me laugh out loud. It was so many years ago when our dad pulled a stunt on us so we could finally patch up. I thought we’d turn back to being enemies, but here we are now, closer than ever. Denise proved to be a good sister. Something that I didn’t expect. She didn’t leave me when I needed her most.

“So what project are you working on now?” I asked, staring at the road as she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“I just finished a pictorial. I’ll be doing another one next week,” she mumbled. “Say thanks to Eris for being my mentor.”

“Tell her that yourself,” I teased.

When our other friends went to college, Denise was lost and didn’t know what to do with her life. That was when I introduced her to Eris. My friend and manager instantly saw something in Denise, made my sister a model like her, and here we are now, a hundred of modeling gigs later. Denise was quickly making a name for herself in that field and even had a few billboards with her face plastered all over it.

“So how’s my baby Dulce?” she said, turning to the left, in the direction of our favorite restaurant. “I was so busy with the pictorial that I haven’t talked to her for days.”

I stifled another smile, looking out the window. Denise was still in love with my girl, even after all these years. I just let her, knowing that deep in her heart, Denise understood that Dulce was always mine to keep. “She’s busy too,” I said. “She’s going to release a cookbook soon, with all her recipe and cooking advice. She’s making a name for herself.”

Something about my tone made Denise turn to me quickly, a concerned look on her face, then back at the road. “Don’t worry so much Glace. She’ll be here soon.”

“But it’s almost 5 years Denise. I don’t get why she’s not coming home.” Frustration dripped from my voice. Frustration. Longing. Disappointment. “I just want her back.”

“Trust her,” was all Denise replied, as if she knew something that I didn’t. A couple of minutes more, she parked the car outside the restaurant and looked at me. “The moment you give up on her, I won’t hesitate to grab her. Even if you are my sister. Even if I love you. Because Dulce is the kind of person that you never let go. And don’t you forget that.” She unbuckled her seatbelt. Got out of the car.

I followed her, saying, “I won’t give you the satisfaction, or anyone else.”

“Good,” she muttered with a smile, heading inside the resto.

?????? Days Left