jacket

‘Borrowed’ Jacket

I guess I was so concentrated in doing my paper that I almost jump from my seat when I heard the door close. The bang was followed by footsteps along with the sound of keys singing in a fast rhythm. I didn’t bother to take my sight off the computer. I know it was she who arrived based from the sound of the keys. I smelled her Doll scent Ellips cologne as she passed by me but I continued to stare at the monitor. After a few minutes, I heard a popping sound then a distinct sound of glasses being lifted. Out of instinct, I glanced at her direction. She was walking towards me with two glasses filled with soda in her hands. My sight fell on her waist. The jacket was neatly tied there.

“Busy?” Janet asked as she handed me a glass of soda. She looked at the monitor as if she found the letters written on it interesting.

“Quite,” I took a sip then stared at the paper laid in front me.  I looking down at my draft gave me the chance to steal glances at the jacket. Its sleeves were intertwined with each other and were comfortably embracing her waist.  Looking at its yellow and green color sent a feeling through my spine as if lukewarm water was poured to me. I sighed and took another sip. “How was the party?”

She shrugged her shoulders and finished her soda. “It wasn’t that much fun. There were only twelve of us in the party.”  She walked towards the dining table and placed the empty glass there. She took off the jacket and hanged it in one chair.  I guess she went to her room or the kitchen or some place in the apartment. I wasn’t sure for my eyes were locked on the jacket.  I noticed that there was some sort of brownish-black stain smaller than the size of a 25-centavo coin in the edge of the right sleeve. That wasn’t there last night.

“–hey, are you still listening?” Her words interrupted my train of thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, yeah sure. I was.” I tried pulling my mind off the jacket and gluing it back to my paper but I was failing miserably since I kept on glancing back at the green and yellow jacket. “What happened to your jacket?”

“You noticed.” Came her answer. I figured that she was in her room since her door was opened and I could sense some movements, not to mention her voice seem to come from there. “Its soy sauce. I accidentally dipped the sleeve at the party last night.”

“I see.”

She went out of her room carrying a yellow duffel bag in one hand and her cell phone in the other. “Do you think Kaloy would notice it?”

I took a deep breath upon hearing her question. I looked at her. She had changed her white sleeveless with a green tank top and had put on a brown baggy pants to replace her jeans. I looked at her duffel bag, which she had placed on top of the sofa. “You’re going home?”

“Yeah. Mom called last night while I was in the party and said she’ll pick me up today.” She sat beside her duffel and busied herself with her phone. “Aren’t you going home this weekend? We don’t have classes until Tuesday, right?”


I shook my head and faced the monitor once more. “Dad is somewhere in the south and won’t be home for two months. Ask for Mom, I don’t know where she is at the moment.”

Silence followed. I sighed and stared at my draft. I tried to make sense of the concepts and ideas scribbled on that piece of paper but they all appeared as words to me. I sighed once more before I stood up and picked up my half-empty glass of soda. I passed by the dining table, picked up Janet’s glass, went to the kitchen and deposited both glasses in the sink. On my way back to my computer, I passed by the dining area once more and the jacket caught my attention once more. I noticed that Janet was preoccupied with her phone and I was so close to the jacket. I wasn’t able to stop myself.

I touched it.

I felt its cottony texture, so soft that I wouldn’t want the touch of cloth leave my hands.

“You really like it, don’t you?”

I jerked my hands off the jacket. “Huh?”

“I noticed that you seem to stare at the jacket a lot. You like it, don’t you?”

“Well…”

“Kaloy mentioned once that you saw that jacket first. He said you liked it very much.”

“We saw it at the same time. We were just walking around the mall by then.”

“That was before college, right? Kaloy said that he noticed the similarities between us in terms of our preferences, which is why he bought the jacket as a gift on our monthsary. I hope you weren’t mad at him because of that.”

I stared at her not knowing what I should feel. I glanced towards the far side of the area where the windows are and saw that they were closed. The air conditioner wasn’t turned on too but I felt the temperature around me dropping. I sighed and walked back to my computer. “I’m not mad at him.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Kaloy said you haven’t spoken to him for awhile now.”

“I’m – I’m just busy.”

“You su–” Her words were interrupted by the ringing of her phone. “Hello, Mom. Where are you? Oh, ok then. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“Tita’s already here?” I asked her though the answer was pretty obvious.

“Yeah. She’s going to meet me in Vega.” She stood up with her duffel hanging by her side and went straight to the door. She stopped just as she was about to go out. “Kaloy is going to drop by any time today. Can you please hand him those CDs in my study table?”

I simply nodded and off she went.

I sighed and stood up to close. I noticed that I have been doing that a lot lately, sighing. I locked the door and glance at the wall clock, 5:45. “I guess I’m having dinner solo.” I started to head to the kitchen but I stopped dead in my track when I noticed it.

The jacket was hanging in one empty chair in the dining area.

I stared at it. It didn’t vanished from my sight. It was real. She accidentally left it.
Instead of heading to the kitchen like I originally planned, I stayed to where I was, standing.

I waited.

Maybe Janet would remember that she left the jacket and come back.

I waited.

But my legs were starting to hurt but I can hear no knocks from the door. I stared at the jacket. It was simply hanging there, shouting its color of yellow and green. I sighed and shook my head. “I’m being silly.” I sat down in front of my computer and decided to get down to work.

I sat down in front of the computer and stared at my draft.  I tried to analyze the concepts but none of the ideas were entering my head. I slammed the paper at the desk and turned my chair sideways forcefully that I heard it made a screeching sound. I wasn’t facing the monitor anymore. I was staring at the jacket once more.

I looked at the doorway. No knocks yet. I looked at the clock. 6:00. I looked at the jacket.

I sighed.

I stood up and walked.

After a few seconds I was wearing the jacket. I felt it’s shielding my body, from my cold surrounding, giving me warmth. It was just the right size for me, not too small, not too big. I love the way the jacket touched my skin. I breathed deeply. I smiled.

“Anybody home?” there was a knock from the door.

I took off the jacket and tossed it to the sofa as if it was a hot object that burnt my hands. I looked at it and I wanted to pick it up but the knock was getting insistent.

“Hey, long time no see.” He smiled.

“J–Janet just left, about 30 minutes ago.” I told him. Kaloy was wearing a black fitted shirt and a gray short pants, his usual attire.

“Oh, I see. Did she leave any CDs?”

“Ah – yeah. Come in. I’ll get it.” I opened the door widely and headed for Janet’s room. I found the said CDs where she said they would be and went back to Kaloy. I saw him sitting in front of the computer and reading my work. “Here.”

“You’re getting good with these papers and all,” he commented, standing up from the seat. “Have you passed any of those stories?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“They’re ugly.”

“No, they’re not.”

“Yes, they are.”

He sighed. “You have to believe in your works. They are not ugly.”

I stared at the monitor. Looking down on it, I could still see Kaloy. He was still taller than I am. He was still stronger than I am. He was still more confident. I sighed.
I felt a cold wind enveloped me. I shivered. I looked at the door’s direction and noticed that I forgot to close it. I glance at the clock, 6:20. I sighed.

“Let’s have dinner outside, my treat.” Kaloy broke the silence. I just stared at him.

“I don’t have a jacket.”

“Huh?”

“Its cold outside and I don’t have a jacket.”

He scratched his head and walked about the room. I was still looking at the door so I didn’t know where he head to. “How about this one?”

I turned to him and I couldn’t help but gasped when I saw what he was holding.

It was the jacket.

It was Janet’s jacket.

“It’s Janet’s. She left it,” I said, staring at the green and yellow clothing.

“Well, why don’t you use it?”

“It’s Janet’s.”

“So? You’ll just borrow it anyway.”

I didn’t answer him.

“Come on. Let’s have dinner what we used to.”

“You have a girlfriend now, Kaloy. Everything’s different.”

“So? Let us pretend that I don’t have one. Besides, you’re still my best friend, right?”

I looked at him. I sighed.

“Hand me the jacket.”