Friday, April 15, 2011

Just Like The Old Times - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Jessica was finally done with her one-hour cardio workout and she grabbed her face towel and started to pat her face dry; she was exceedingly sweating just like how she usually is everytime she gets in the gym. She began walking towards the women's locker room.

"Hey young lady don't tell me you're done already, you haven't done some boxing moves yet." Erick, her personal trainer, got in her way and stopped her.

"Ha-ha. So my trainer's gotten even much stricter now huh?" Jessica jested.

"Not that I'm tighter or stricter now, but isn't boxing part of your regular workout? Isn't it in your routine?" Erick asked.

"Ugh, not today, man. Maybe the day after tomorrow. I'm quite in a hurry now and I ain't got too much time to rape those punching bags and those mitts ya know," Jessica explained while doing the boxing-hand-motion.

"I see you're heading elsewhere huh,"

"Got that right. I'm off to the airport with my folks to see our long-time-never-seen friend who's arriving today, fresh from Canada."

"Seems like you're gonna have fun today. Alright then, I'm letting you go. Have fun!" Erick said as he raised his right palm gesturing for a high-five.

"Haha! Thanks, man. Bye!" Jessica smiled and slapped her palm against Erick's.

She continued walking towards the locker room, took a shower, and got dressed. She grabbed her things and left.

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The ringing of her phone woke Jaqui up. She reached for her phone from under her pillow and answered it.

"Hello?" Jaqui sluggishly said.

"Jaqui. It's good to know you're awake already." She heard the voice of her mom.

"Well, the ringing of my phone woke me up"

"Anyway, your sisters have gone to your cousins, and I took your little bro with me here at the market so technically you're alone there. I know you're heading somewhere else too, but I'll leave you just one single task for today and that is to take the plastic of fabrics and bring it to your Tiyang Anna, she's been askin' for it the other day. And make sure you lock the main door and the gate before you leave, and I have the duplicate keys with me."

"Sure mom. Goodbye." Jaqui put her phone back down.

They haven't prepared some breakfast for Jaqui before they left, now she was thinking twice of eating or just leaving without a single ounce of nourishment inside her tummy. She glanced at their wall clock and it told her it was 9:30am and she knew she had to be ready by 10:30am. Realizing she only had an hour to prepare herself, she thought it'd take her much longer if she'd prepare herself some breakfast so she decided not to eat anymore. Jessica and Jaqui were supposed to head to Josh's crib first, as what Josh instructed them last night and they'd get going together to meet up Mitch, then finally meet Desiree at the airport. She was seeing her folks again today, and they would see Desiree again after so long. A smile of excitement grew on Jaqui's face. She excitedly grabbed her towel and headed straight to the bathroom to get herself ready.

After a 30-minute bath, Jaqui was done and now she was having a hard time picking the finest clothes to wear for the day.

"This one.. No, this one... Wait, maybe this looks better, no wait it's damaged!" Jaqui exclaimed, as her hands problematically rummaged her closet, looking for the nicest thing to wear.
"I better find something really nice, I'm meeting the girls-plus-guy again today and there's no way I'll --- WAIT, AHA! GOTCHA!" Jaqui finally spotted what seemed like her most-favorite shirt and excitedly grabbed it.

It was a black Nakajima Yuto Shirt that fell loosely as she put it on. And did we mention Jaqui's a die-hard Yuto fan? There's a very outstanding story behind it as to why it's a bit loose for her, when and where did she get it, and most importantly, from whom did she get it. That story is forever stamped on Jaqui's memory. She once again remembered that wonderful story of hers, which by the way, she'd happily tell her fellas about, later as she sees them again.

Her phone suddenly rang and the ringing sound of it echoed around their empty, quiet house. She ran to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jaqui what's uppie?" Jessica sounded vibrant from the other line as she hollered Jaqui.

"Hi Jessica, I'm all dressed up. Just runnin' some errands for mom and I'm on my way. You at Josh's crib yet?" asked Jaqui.

"Uhmm, not quite. But I just got off the jeepney and I'm walkin' already, and I'm only a couple of footsteps away from his house. I just hope he's all geared up already, he wasn't answering my texts and calls. Now I'm suspecting that maybe he hasn't even showered yet and that he's still sleepin'!"

"What? C'mon maybe he's just busy readyin' himself, he better be ready by now!"

"Yeah. I know, or else our plans are destroyed! We can't be late."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure Josh is all prepared. And I've my fingers crossed by the way." Jaqui assured.

"Well keep 'em crossed 'cause I'm about to find it out NOW. I'm in front of their house and about to go inside. Just text me if you're on your way okay? Bye"

Jaqui hung up, grabbed her things, and the keys, and made her way outside.

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"Hey Josh?" Jessica called out from the outside of his house. She didn't really used to do this before; like calling out her bestbud's name first before getting inside, like sort of asking for permission to come in..she usually just undid their gate and opened it herself and she just normally got inside. But this time, she called his name out to check if she was gonna receive answers, giving her atleast a hint that Josh is already up and isn't snorin' in his sleep anymore. To her dismay, Josh didn't respond. Jessica undid the gate and pushed it open now, going inside. Silently, she walked up to Josh's bedroom, and opened the door.

Jessica's jaw noticeably dropped at what she saw: Josh was still sleeping, he's all crawled under his bed's covers which were pulled up all the way to his head so his whole body is covered. He almost looked like a human corpse in a morgue that's covered up with white cloth.

"What the fudge?! JOSH?!!!" Jessica tensely yelled at the still-sleeping Josh.

"I knew it, I knew this was gonna happen! In the first place you instructed everybody about what time to wake up, what time to be ready by, what time to get going, you acted like Mr. Sergeant at all and now what?!" Jessica continued, this time coming nearer to Josh's bed and she was gonna pull his blanket away from him, "Oh man now c'mon~ Get your butt up already and take a -"

"HEY OLD FAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!!!!!!!!!" Josh suddenly roared at Jessica when she pulled out the covers, only to reveal that Josh was already dressed up in his smart casual clothes.

"YOU FREAKIN' HAM SANDWICH!!!! YOU PUNK'D ME!!!!" Jessica shrieked and reached for a pillow and smashed it to Josh's head.

"Ha-ha-ha you... -thought I ...-was ....-still as....-leep?" Josh said in between uncontrollable giggles.

"Well that's how you've always been! Always wakin' up late and all that!"

"Yeah but this time I surprised you!" exclaimed Josh.

"And how come you're geared up already? You're never like that dude."

"That's because I'm excited! Haha! Is Jaqui on her way yet?" asked Josh.

----"Just in time." -Jaqui abruptly popped out of nowhere, standing by the door of his room.

"HEY JAQUIIIII!!!!" The two shouted in unison, excited and happy that they're ALMOST complete now.

"I guess we should get going already." Jessica suggested.

"Yeah, Mitch is probably preparing-slash-already-prepared by now." Jaqui said, complying with Jessica's suggestion.

"Woohooo! This is gonna be fun! I'm excited!" Josh shouted.

"You should be!" - The two girls told him.

They all got in Josh's car and got going.

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Mitch was currently in a condo somewhere in the same place where the airport was located. She was applied in a drug store in that particular place for her medical training, she was an intern and she needed to complete 200 hours of work. The place was way far from her hometown, so she needed a temporary place to stay. They were given a 2-week break, luckily. Her mom had accompanied her for the past 2 days, she's staying with Mitch until Desiree takes her and all the rest of the folks somewhere else and enjoy themselves.

"Today is gonna be awesome! I can't wait to see them!" Mitch said as she blowdryed her nice bob-cut hair.

"Mitch?" Her door slowly opened and her mother's head popped in.

"Hey mom!" Mitch greeted.

"Wow, you look great my dear." Her mom complimented. "Have they called already? Are they on their way?"

"Yes mom, Josh just texted me and they're still a bit too far, but I'm sure there's no heavy traffic so they'll get here pretty soon."

"And what time are you going there?"

"They said Des is to arrive at 1pm, so we'll leave maybe 30minutes before 1pm." Mitch said.

"Okay, I'm sure they're gettin' here in no time." her mom assured and slowly left the room.

Mitch looked at herself in the mirror and smiled at her reflection. She felt so gorgeous, marveling at her own face and how her peach tank top and knee-length dark jeans nicely hugged her figure. She had nice curves. She often wore flats, considering the fact that she's got the height and she's the tallest among the other gals, Mitch never really needed heels no more. She looked at her reflection more. She always did that. And once she was done with being amazed at herself, she started dancing a little, she spun around like a ballerina, falling, and plopping right down on her couch filled with DOMO stuffies, now she's lying down, her back against a bunch of Domo. She loved Domo so bad. And while she was sort of buried in her Domo collection, her eyelids grew heavier forcing her into a nap.

*******

It's been almost an hour of waiting. Mitch slowly opened her eyes, checked the time and it was 12 noon already.

"They should be here by now. Hmmm" Mitch whispered as she got up from her Domo-filled-couch. Realizing that the folks would be there at any moment that time, she re-checked herself at the mirror.

"I think I lack something...mmm" Mitch softly spoke as she examined herself more. "Right, I need some accessories."

She walked up to her cabinet and pulled one drawer open displaying her plentiful jewelry boxes. She dug her hands into each box and started searching for some nice jewelry. "Now where is that one....."

A knock on her door sounded. "Come on in, mom" Mitch called out while she busied herself with the pieces of jewelry. She heard the door swung open and footsteps started treading.

"Hey mom have you seen that pearl necklace Lola gave me? I think I misplaced it, you think you could- " Mitch turned around to face her mom, but was extremely surprised to see that it was Desiree standing there, grinning innocently.

"DEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!" Mitch ran to her bestfriend and bear-hugged her too tight, and if bearhugs could kill Desiree would be probably buried 6 feet below the ground that time. LOL

Despite the mystery of how Des got there too early, Mitch just couldn't want to talk of those things anymore and like all she cared about was that Des was right in front of her now.

"OMG! It's you, it's really you! You're real! OMG I can touch you! I can see those braces again! It's really you OMG! No more Skype and videocalls, you're here LIVE! It's real, THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING!" Mitch breathlessly spoke in enthusiasm as she held Desiree in her arms.

"Whoa whoa! Hahahaha! Ofcourse it's me! Will you get a grip? HAHAHA! Girl, I MISSED YOU! AAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Des couldn't contain her feelings anymore and gave Mitch a bear hug too.

"But wait a second, so this was what you've planned to do? To surprise me? Us?" Mitch happily asked as they pulled away from the hug.

"Well, not really... It just sorta came across my mind and I thought it's a great idea to give these types of surprises."

"But how did you figure this place out?" Mitch eagerly asked.

Mitch's mom slowly walked in her room, and gave her that "all-knowing-type-of-smile".

"Mom, you knew all along? So you two connived huh?"

Mitch's mom and Des looked at each other, then looked back right at Mitch and couldn't help but laugh.

"OMG! I can't believe this, this is really truly absolutely real!" Mitch laughed and both her mom and Des joined in the cheerful laughter.

A few footsteps from outside the room were comin' close, but the three were laughing so hard they couldn't hear 'em.

---"What's up everybody and what's with all the laught- " Jessica got cut off by the scene inside Mitch's room, Josh and Jaqui were in shock.

The three other girls stopped laughing, and looked at them who just arrived.

"Hey guys!!!" Des greeted them with such an excited grin on her face.

"DEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!" The three started to hug Desiree and once again, Des almost got killed by the tight grips.

"We wouldn't want to know how all this happened so quick anymore, no more questions to be asked, LET'S GET ROLLIN' FELLAS!" Josh happily told the rest of the folks.

"Right, we should get in some kind of action right away!" Mitch shouted.

"And forget all the worries! We must have fun!" Jessica said.

"I can't wait to experience this stuff again, just like the old times!" Des excitedly told them.

"And now that we're all complete......I guess this calls for another... GROUP HUG!" Jaqui shouted as she lead the whole group motioning into a nice group hug.


Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Epilogue

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