Our Happy Ending

AERA fished her phone from her pocket when it vibrated, Ella—the keyboardist of their band—was calling her. She immediately answered the call.

“Where the hell are you now, Aera?” Ella asked. She could sense the irritation in her friend’s tone.

Yes, aside from being bandmates, they were friends, too. Aera was also friends with the two other members, Camille and Miles. They were friends since high school, and they were all music enthusiasts. When they were in college, they decided to form an acoustic band. Now that they graduated from college, they pursued their passion for music.

She heaved a sigh before answering Ella’s question.

“You know how hard it was to sneak out of our house,” Aera replied. “I’m almost there,” she added.

Her father does not approve of her passion for music. What he wanted for her was to help him run their company. For him, that was the essence of sending her to school.

“God, Aera! You’re twenty-five years old, and you still sneak out?” Ella said in disbelief.

“As if you don’t know,” Aera sneered and hung up the phone.

The taxi pulled over in front of the bistro bar. Aera brought out her payment from her wallet and jumped out of the vehicle. She almost runs as she went inside.

“You’re late again. You’ll lose your job soon,” Coby, the bouncer, teased her and smiled.

“At last, you’re here!” Camille exclaimed when she reached the backstage.

“Why were you so afraid that I might not show up in our gigs?” she said while taking off her sling bag. She put it inside the locker and sauntered towards her bandmates. “One of you can always replace me as the vocalist.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Miles agreed as she wags her hands up in the air. “But the crowd always wants you. They say you have this soulful voice that captivates them.” Miles picked up her Cajon drum. “Let’s go!”

Aera peeked from the backstage.

The manager went up on stage and introduced them.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Our guest band will serenade us for tonight. Let us give a round of applause for the… Duchess!”

The crowd was clapping their hands as they walk to the center of the stage.

Aera cleared her throat and grabbed the microphone.

“Once in our life, we meet someone who gave us so much to remember, and then one day we woke up knowing that he got away…” She turned to her back and nodded at her bandmates as a cue.

And then, the music started to play.

Aera grabbed the microphone with both hands and slowly closed her eyes.

“Summer after high school when we first met. We’d make-out in your Mustang to radio head, and on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tattoos. Used to steal your parents’ liquor and climb to the roof. Talk about our future like we had a clue. Never planned that one day I’d be losing you…”

She opened her eyes and looked at the crowd.

“In another life, I would be your girl. We keep all our promises, be us against the world. In another life, I would make you stay. So I don’t have to say you were the one that got away. The one away that away…”

“I was June, and you were my Johnny Cash. Never one without the other, we made a pact. Sometimes when I miss you, I put those records on. Whoa… Someone said you had your tattoo removed. Saw you downtown singing the Blues. It’s time to face the music I’m no longer your muse…”

“In another life, I would be your girl. We keep all our promises, be us against the world. In another life, I would make you stay. So I don’t have to say you were the one that got away. The one away that away… The one… The one… The one… The one… The one… The one… The one…”

“All this money can’t buy me a time machine. No… Can’t replace you with a million rings. No… I should have told you what you meant to me. Whoa… `Coz now I pay the price… In another life, I would be your girl. We keep all our promises, be us against the world. In another life, I would make you stay. So I don’t have to say you were the one that got away. The one that got awaaaaaaay… Whoa… oooh… oooh… The one… In another life, I would make you stay. So I don’t have to say you were the one that got away. The one that got away…”

Aera closed her eyes once again, and a memory of the boy she used to love flashed before her. A tear managed to escape her eye. And then she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She followed the girls backstage.

“Let’s grab some drink.” Ella nudged her side.

She grabbed her bag from the locker and turned to her friend.

“Sure,” she replied agreeably.

“Yes!” Ella clung to her arm.

“The manager already had a table reserved for us,” Camille informed them.

“I am hoping the drinks in on the house,” Miles said, really hopeful.

Camille ushered them to their table. Drinks and snacks were already there when they settled.

“Did the manager heard what I said a while ago?” Miles’ eyes wandered, trying to look for the manager.

Aera took a bottle of beer from the bucket. She drank almost half of it.

“Hey, is there something wrong?” Camille asked worriedly.

She shook her head and took another sip of her beer.

“Really?” her friend raised an eyebrow.

Miles crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her intently.

“We’ve been together since we were in high school. We know you better than you know yourself, Aera,” Miles said matter-of-factly.

“Right!” Ella and Camille agreed in unison.

She let out a deep sigh. There is no way she could ever escape that kind of interrogation by her friends. And they were right. They knew her pretty well.

“Bet he remembered that boy again.” Ella looked at her.

“Right,” Aera admitted.

Ella snapped her fingers.

“Aera…” She turned her gaze on Miles. “When will you ever move on?”

“How can I move on if he gave me so much to remember?” she asked.

The three just stared at her.

Call her pathetic, but even though it took five or ten more years, she could not easily forget about him. That boy was her first love, and she couldn’t love anyone the way she had loved him.