LUKE: An Unexpected Companion

April 2001

“What???” I knew my voice sounded alarmed but surely, I must’ve heard my sister wrong. “Can you repeat what you just said?”

Kate, in her ever-matter-of-fact voice, confirmed that I heard her right the first time. “I have invited Mace to come with us on our trip to our hometown, Badian.” She sat down on the bean bag at the corner of my room, crossed her arms and looked at me with a calm smile on her face.

I stood up from the bed I was sitting on and looked at her like she’s grown bunny ears over her head of jet black hair. “But why?” I sputtered. “Why must you invite her?”

Kate shrugged and ticked off her fingers as she gave her reasons. “Because she’s my bestfriend, because she hasn’t gone there in a long time, because I knew the fresh air would do her good and because I didn’t think you’d mind at all as your break up happened four years ago.” She looked at me straight in the eye. “Unless of course, if you still like her.”

“I don’t like her anymore,” I quickly replied. “I’ve gotten over her.”

“That’s even better then,” my sister said with a clap of her hands. “That means you’ll have no trouble being with her because you don’t have any feelings or hang-ups anymore.”

I scratched my head. “But I still don’t see why she has to be with us. Couldn’t you just have invited another friend?”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Honestly Luke, I didn’t think there’d be any trouble between you and her at all.” She looked at me pointedly. “What’s past is past, right?”

“Is she okay with me being in the trip?” I asked a little anxiously.

Kate looked at me in the eye. “Yeah, she’s okay. She didn’t put up any fuss. She said she can’t wait to explore what new things Badian has to offer and is looking forward to seeing you.”

“She said that?” I asked incredulously.

“Yep,” my sister replied with an emphatic nod. “The way I see it, she’s perfectly okay having you around. A normal reaction of a person who has no feelings over her ex-boyfriend or whatever it is you had four years ago.” She pointed an accusing finger at me. “It’s you who is having quite a reaction from what I am seeing now.”

I forced my voice to sound casual. “I just don’t want her to be uncomfortable. You know, delicate things like exes being together can be awkward.”

Kate raised an eyebrow and threw me a skeptical look.

“I swear that’s all” I said holding up my hands. “I’m okay with the arrangement too. It’s just that I’m worried she’d get awkward with me especially when the entire family is around.”

Kate gave me a smug look. “Well, if that’s all you’re worried about, I think you should worry about yourself more. She has totally gotten over you now.” And with that, she left the room and I was left to ponder at her words and what’s going to happen in just two weeks’ time.

Mace is okay with all this?!? I thought a little wildly. How could she be okay with all this?!? She’s going with us to Badian, my mind screamed at me. Back to the place with a lot of memories! I took a deep breath and tried to calm my heart which had been pounding since my ever-sensitive sister dropped the news like a nuclear bomb. Alright, breathe man, just breathe. It’s going to be okay. You’ve gotten over her, you’ve moved on and you’re not affected by any of this nonsense at all. NOT AT ALL!

Except that who was I kidding? I was not over her, far from it as a matter of fact.

Leaning against the wall, I closed my eyes and recalled the first time I laid eyes on Mace. It was December 1994 and she was quite new in the youth committee of our church. She was not your typical drop-dead gorgeous girl. She didn’t have long, flowing hair that always stayed in place nor did she have the height of a fashion model. She didn’t have almond eyes, long lashes, a narrow nose or pouty lips any guy would go for.

Fair in complexion, the best description I could give to Mace that time was she looked pretty much average. If you would see all of them popular girls in our neighborhood standing in line, she would probably be the last girl you’ll notice. Or if you do notice, you would probably dismiss her as a tomboy and certainly not girlfriend material.

She was petite, just enough to reach 5 feet, with shoulder length hair that never stayed in place because it had a life of its own. She walked with a natural attractive sway but this was often concealed by the baggy clothes she wore. While most girls at age 16 started wearing fitting blouses, Mace was still donning T-shirts and hip-hop jeans that hid her hour-glass figure. She never wore makeup and was never even attracted at the thought of smearing all that goop on her face even when her friends, including my sister, already started wearing it.

To be honest, I wasn’t attracted to Mace at all. I just ticked her off as “one of the boys” who was fun to hang around with. She was, after all, one of the few girls who carried conversations with ease and more importantly, sense. Being around her was anything but dull.

But she had a child-like air about her. Despite being doomed to wear eyeglasses for a lifetime, she looked younger than all her friends. Even younger than me who is supposed to be 2 years her senior. She had the most awesome ideas one could think of when it comes to gifts, surprises, dramas and group presentations. She dances better than anyone I know and although her voice is nothing spectacular, she can sing along to just about any song playing on the radio with the right lyrics.

And it was one summer day of 1995 when we volunteered to help out with the Presidential elections in our neighborhood that it happened. She was sitting with eyes closed at the front seat of the parked pick-up truck of our friend, having her afternoon break and I was able to grab a chance to sit at the driver seat for a much-needed rest.

Our friends seated at the back were teasing us, mainly because we were the ones seated at the front. I laughed it off at first but when the teasing persisted, I decided to play along with them thinking this tactic would make them stop their noise and leave us to rest in peace. Impulsively, I reached for her hand and twined my fingers with hers.

Her eyes flew open at the movement and she looked down in surprise at our hands. Then she threw me a quizzical look. I pointed at the people at the back and whispered, “Just play along.” She glanced at the people in the rearview mirror and smiled mischievously. She laced her fingers with mine more firmly and sat back against her seat and closed her eyes. Our hands were entwined quite snugly for all people to gawk and see.

And I felt like I’ve just found the pair of fingers that fit mine perfectly.

So right in fact that I didn’t want to take my hand away. And that’s exactly what I did. I remember wondering why she didn’t take her hand away either but didn’t dare ask. I sat back against the driver’s seat and closed my eyes, just happy and content at the sensation of having her hand in mine. For the 30 minutes break that we had, our fingers stayed snugly entwined. Even when our friends had stopped the teasing, even when they got down from the jeep because break was over.

I didn’t want the moment to end but knew it was time to get back to work. I turned to her and saw that she was awake and looking at me intently. Her face was soft, her smile serene and it took a second for me to realize that she wasn’t wearing her eyeglasses. I noticed for the first time that her eyes were brown. Suddenly, my heart started beating an erratic tempo.

She gently took her hand away.

“That was some show we gave them huh?” she said with an amused laugh. Then smiling brightly, she jumped down from the jeep and started walking back towards her assigned area.

All this time, I never said a word. I couldn’t. I was just staring at her, trying to control the still erratic tempo of my beating heart.

She smiled as bright as the sun.

She laughed like a million tingling bells.

She could drown me with those brown eyes.

And I, Luke James, never looked at her the same way again.