LALAKI

Heads & Bodies - II

I lost track of time by the time I exited the bathroom everyone was still there with their heads and bodies floating in complete unison almost ethereal and frozen. Time did not seem to pass outside the bathroom dimension as my clothes reeked of a tropical delight. I couldn't stop thinking about what Paul said. I tried to look around with some attempts to recapture the atmosphere that I left for god knows how long, everyone was tilting their heads always looking at something; everyone and everything always doing something. The expo at this point, had done its mission in completely disconnecting me and alienating me from feeling any remotely indicative of inclusion; I lost my job, my letter is of no use, and my clothes are soaked by a fruity beverage and all I want to do now is maybe check out that life-changing salon that paul-

"Hey!"

A warm slap lands on my shoulder, disarming me and rendering me into an earthquake I turned around to see it was Heather. She was dressed all black like a gothic funeral that had gone through a corporate tunnel. She had chain earrings that dangled from her ears and her skin, a gibbous glowing moon.

"There you are, where the hell have you been?"

Usually, I would think of something cool and vague; or anything poetic to make myself look damaged and different but I'm out of ideas or daunting adjectives to come up with something abstract and thought-provoking

"In a terrible place-" I said.
"Uh-huh."
"Listen, Heather, I'm sorry about the phone call. I was just-"
"It's okay, again I was just worried about that whole stunt you pulled; I'm kind of still not over it-yeah."
"So did Sir JD apologize to you or did you at least file a report?"
"Nah, I quit."
"What? Why?"
"I don't have ample time for dealing with charges."
"I see, so uhh if you quit why are you still here?"
"Oh I'm just crashing this place, free drinks and all."
"How'd you manage to get in?"
"I kept the company ID"
"Oh cool-Uh I gotta go now, I have to go somewhere"
"Want me to drive you?"
"Oh, no no it's fine I-"
"Nah, I insist come on-"

She drags me by the shoulder with force, at this point declining would make me look like an asshole so I followed along. She had an unusually strong grip that strength training and gym sessions paid for; we bristled through the crowd and reached the parking lot, there it lay resting her black 1995 MERCEDES R129 SL320 AUTO.

"Nice car."
"It was my father's. It was either this or a new Mitsubishi Lancer, I went with this one because it has a cassette player."

She gestured for me to sit at the back beside a small cardboard box full of old cassette tapes, she went in and adjusted the driver's seat and mirrors. She stepped on the clutch, tested the gears, and then she drove.

"So where are you headed?"
"Oh take me to Bajada Town Square."
"What's in there?"
"There's something I wanna check out."
"At this hour?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, suit yourself."

Heather drove with ease, her usual demeanor was non-existent she closed her for a brief second now and then-not out of unrest but of some observable serenity; something tells me she likes to drive, she likes the comfort of her car, the vibrations, and movement while being inside, the cold AC, and the sound of rubber on asphalt. It seemed Heather always felt like somebody else when she drove. There were frequent cars on the road but not enough to be a rush hour, by this hour everyone had gone home or watched nighttime Kapamilya teleseryes. The silence does not bother me and I'm glad Heather wasn't talking to me in an attempt to clear out the dead air, she seemed too focused and enthralled on the road and I didn't want to bother that. For now.

"Hey, can you fetch me something from the box beside you?"
"These tapes?"
"Yeah."
"Sure uh," I began to shuffle through the box of cassette tapes, for some reason it made my hands feel itchy, the tapes didn't have cases, some had stickers, some torn off, and some had markers written over them"