John Doe: A short story
A short story
“Have you seen John?” “Why ask me?” “I always saw you together way back, just thought maybe you know where he is. He’s late, again. C’mon, this is my farewell party.” Dave is a bit snappy. I can’t blame him. It’s his last day in town and after hours of waiting, one of his best friends hasn’t arrived yet. Debbie, one of my closest friend approaching, “Jane..! Finally saw you! How are you? How was everything? Have you had boyfriend or anything?” “Easy Debbie, chill. Well, I’m fine and as usual busy doing sort of things. How’re things going?” “Well, of course, not having you guys around makes me feel incomplete. And….” I just stared at her eyes and let my mind wander around, thinking blankly I say. Don’t get me wrong, I miss her, a lot. It’s just that, I’m not in my right condition to follow her train of thoughts, not that I’m not interested on what she’s saying, but uh, she’d just talk about boys, you get my point. “Jane..? Are you listening? Hey!” “Ah, oh yeah, sure, continue.” “Of course you’re listening, It’s the end of my story.” -She sighed. “What are you thinking?” She said looking at me, teasing. “Oh, uh, nothing.” “Where’s John?” “Huh? Uhm, I don’t know.” I said honestly “Oh I get it, He’s not here yet that’s why you’re acting strange.” “Did not.” “Did to. So what happened between the two of you? Did it work?” “I will not talk about this.” “Yeah, whatever, you’re going to spill it anyway. I know you too well dear.” “OK fine!” I told her that it didn’t work. “He never told me that he didn’t like me anymore, but I’m not stupid, action speaks louder than words.” “You know what, that’s the problem, you always assume. That’s why it never worked with anyone else. Remember Arthur? You left him because you assumed that he still loves re-, re-” “Regine.” “Yeah whatever, the point is, dumping people because you think they will dump you will not hurt you any less and-“ “OK stop, I get it. First of all, Arthur and I were in completely different situation. I didn’t dump John. AND, we never got there, just almost. I haven’t seen him since and it helped me move on faster and we’re not going to discuss it any further.” She stopped talking and raised her hands. What I thought was the end of the conversation just became its beginning. She knows me too well that even when I say enough, she’d still push what she wants and get it anyway. I told her that I’ve moved on and I’m fine. Actually, I never gave myself a chance to think about what happened nor dwell on the pain that I felt. I told her that I’m not eyeing anybody now, just focusing on my career and I can’t remember what I said to convince her to drop the topic. And once again, her turn and this time, I’m trying to follow her thoughts, just to be fair. She talked about her new life, new environment and new boyfriend.
“So, as all you know, basically, this is my last day here, I will surely miss you and promise to come home as soon as I can though we all know that I’m staying there for good.” Dave announced lively though we can see the sadness in his eyes. “So, ah, this is it. Again, I will miss you guys! Cheers!” “Oh thank God, I’m hungry.” Someone behind me said. I scanned every faces in the area, no John. I sat next to Debbie and began a conversation when Dave exclaimed, “Finally you assh*le, where have you been?!” And I turned to his direction and saw John. He’s wearing white shirt, a plain white shirt which compliments his body, faded jeans and his trademark, his forever existing black slip ons. “Jane, you’re drooling.” Debbie giggled. “So you’ve moved on huh? You really look like you’re star strucked there.” I can feel blood rushing through my veins. John sat on the chair in front of me, “Hi Jane, it’s been months…” “Yeah…” I’m out of words. What to do? What to do? I don’t want to look into his eyes. After minutes of avoiding any eye contact, finally, I gave up. I heard him laugh, and I looked at him, he looked back and winked. I swear my heart skipped a beat. White shirt, his smile, his voice, and his brown eyes - the reason I didn’t want to look into it because I know what will happen next - I’d fall all over again.
