Married By Accident

04: Made Up Love Song #24

| Franki |

It's nighttime. A subway train rumbled past over a gritty and industrial neighborhood. Diana smoked a cigarette while strutting up the sidewalk. She's clad in a black leather jacket, tight blue jeans and black ankle boots.

She walked up to the entrance and stopped as she took a drag on her cigarette. She stared at the door, slowly exhaling smoke. Then she looked down and crushed the butt beneath her heel. Raising her head, she eyed the building before getting inside.

She walked past the doorman into a crowded bar.

Electric Love by BØRNS is playing. She smiled at two guys in the door ogling her but continued to walk past them. As she proceeded to the crowd, everyone she passed turned their heads, both men and women.

She glanced around the room maintaining her smirk and walked up to the bar. The bartender immediately slid a drink in front of her. A girl beside her watched as she grabbed it and turned around.

From across the room, Franki approached her wearing a tight red dress and heels. Diana looked at her up and down, setting her drink aside. They stood close, eyes fixed at each other.

Franki looked down at Diana's jacket, running her hand around the collar.

"I've been waiting for you."

*Alarm goes off*

"Wakey wakey."

"Jesus, Maza!" She startled me, I've completely woken from my sleep.

Maza's lying beside me with arms folded above her head and turned to face me, "You know you talk in your sleep, right?"

Shit.

"What the hell are you doing in my room at seven in the morning?!"

Then I remembered we went back to my place for a nightcap after Diana and Juls left last night. Jodie hosted a dinner for us. We had food, wine and french fries while talking about our evil exes. When we got exhausted from Maza's Mexican party shenanigans, we watched old Hollywood films on a projector.

We saw How To Marry A Millionaire because Juls and I are huge Marilyn Monroe fans. Lauren Bacall was also in it, Diana loves her and is also a classic film junkie.

"Um, Sleeping? So what were you dreaming about?" She grinned.

I think I'm having heart palpitations, thank god it wasn't a s*x dream. I mean it was leading to it but holy hell. Was I calling out Diana's name?

I suddenly wanted a hole to open up and just swallow me whole.

"So, Diana..." Maza got out of bed, folded her arms across her chest and slowly shook her head.

I can hear my heart pounding in my left ear.

This is a nightmare.

"Sky and Diana are friends. Or maybe more than friends, who knows, they have a weird relationship. I don't even want to know. They're both super smart who can speak like maybe ten languages. They're well traveled. They're always together. Their families are super rich and very close that they've always rooted for those two to get together. Diana had a falling out with her mom a few years ago, so she moved out. I heard Jodie say she didn't want to ask for any help from her family, so she tried to live on her own. I'm surprised she's suddenly back and lounging at Jodie's place to be honest. Now tell me, did you sleep with her?" Maza just went straight for it, narrated in a very matter-of-fact kind of way. I've never seen her like this. That's when I realized that this is a serious conversation.

"What— No! I did not sleep with her!"

"You also know that aside from sleep talking, you're a terrible liar, right? I saw how you guys were last night. You were also together that morning in Vegas." She stood there, still arms folded across her chest, but this time there was serious concern in her eyes. She wasn't f*****g around. This is not the usual Maza. This was an intervention.

What have I done? Did I just marry and become obsessed with some manipulative, heartless b***h? That explains the morning kiss then her ignoring me. Then kissing me again, then ignoring me. Then last night...

"Franki?" Maza snapped her fingers.

"I... we were super drunk."

"Goddamit Frances Margaret." Her arms dropped.

"Okay how was I supposed to know?! I just slept with her, it's not like I married her or something."

Oh, I definitely married her.

And I lied through my teeth. She was too disheartened to analyze me that very second.

"She has that effect on people. I mean, she can be cool. I like that she doesn't take s**t from anyone. She's gorgeous and smart, but she's not very good with relationships. Trust me, I've attended multiple Diana interventions. I don't want to be that friend, but just be careful. I love you to bits and I just don't want this to be another situation like your last one. There's coffee on your table, I gotta go cover for Juls today."

My last relationship was the worst and took me a while to move on.

It was bad.

I don't exactly know how our conversation ended, but Maza's gone and I'm still standing here, completely frozen and shocked.

Who are you, Diana Mackey?

That's probably why they never talk about Diana or mention her because Jodie knows Maza isn't a huge fan.

She must be quite something to be a taboo subject for two best friends.

"Ugh," I groaned heavily while walking out of my room processing all of that and went straight for the cup of coffee she left on my table.

I can't stop thinking about her.

I have to stop thinking about her.

It's probably a good thing that I have a show later at 8:00 PM. Juls hooked me up last week. She works as a senior event manager in a very hip start-up events management company called SPARK. Maza works there too as a creative specialist/graphic designer. That's how they met and coincidentally they're both half-Australian so that tightened their bond.

I took a nice warm bath and went over some of my music. I had my laptop on my knee and headphones over my head. I could feel myself slightly nodding to certain beats. I'm putting the last touches on a track.

I have a playlist on Youtube called Made Up Love Songs. The title is from one of my favorite songs ever from The Guillemots. These are short original samples I created from my keyboard that I can use on minimal techno beats. Currently, there's 23 of them.

I fell asleep a lot of times, ordered some food, scanned Netflix, then thought all the shows are boring. I watched one episode of Dont F*ck With Cats then decided it was too good to consume it on a shitty day. I turned it off, went back to my music but couldn't concentrate. My thoughts went back to her.

I kept checking my phone; there's a teeny bit of hope that she would somehow text me.

Girl, please use your brain. Hearing what Maza just said, why would she even text you? I mean, hindi nga siya nagparamdam pagkatapos ang mangyari kagabi (She didn't even talk to you after what happened last night.) She's probably out there having a great time with Sky or another girl she met somewhere. Maybe two girls? Who knows?

Stop thinking about her.

I'm so annoyed at myself that I unconsciously cupped my face and just started making crying noises. Good thing I'm alone, I'm losing my mind.

Then I heard a knock at my door.

"Heey sexy lady. Let's go get ready. I'll drive you to the venue." I forgot Juls was gonna come pick me up.

Damn it's four pm, time really does fly when you're feeling like a piece of s**t.

Thank god someone's here to keep me from completely turning into an absolute lunatic. I got ready and by six we were already at the venue. Juls had to be there at least two hours before the event. Well, in fact she should've been there hours before but she drank too much wine last night so Maza covered for her.

We walked towards the club entrance. Club Boulevard. It's only my second time here, the first one was a listening party from Careless Music Manila. It was pretty cool, I think their artists are underrated.

The place is similar to Marquee in Vegas with cabanas, daybeds, pools, and DJs.

The place was already packed. Juls split to look for Maza and some of the Spark staff. I smiled at a few familiar faces while approaching the bar. I was the closing performance so I thought I could relax and have a drink or two.

"Hey Franks!" Someone yelled from behind. It was Jodie, she had a huge smile but looked exhausted.

"What time's your set? I'm trying to look for Diana, she's not replying to my texts. I think she got lost somewhere." Jodie said while checking out my drink and eventually taking a sip.

Diana's here, I thought as my heart started racing.

Why hasn't she texted me? Who doesn't text their wife?!

"Ms. Franki Russell?" A polite looking young lady called out, she was wearing a Spark Team Staff Shirt.

I smiled and nodded.

"Would you like to test your equipment? Please follow me."

I said goodbye to Jodie who was busy looking for Diana.

The noise from the club faded as we entered a narrow hallway, then walked up the stairs. This area overlooks the dance floor and DJ booth. Sections include a beautiful mobile mixologist to pour drinks at your table. I saw this DJ whose name I can't remember. He had a thing for me but I stopped replying to his texts so that encounter was a bit awkward.

Then it just hit me that I'm single. I'm not sad or anything I mean in most aspects of my life I'm pretty happy but relationships are not my strongest point. I always find myself going to not the healthiest ones. And I feel like that could be from losing my dad at a young age. I guess I found myself looking for that love in relationships that you get from a parent. So I would always stay the longest time in relationships that could've ended a lot earlier than they did.

For the future I want to find someone where we would bring out the best in each other rather than the worst.

"Hey can you hang on? I have to get this." The Spark staff answered a call on her phone.

I stood overlooking the club downstairs, to my left was a huge door with two guys standing at the end. I don't know what came to me but I approached it.

"Sorry ma'am, VIP lang po pwede pumasok. (VIPs are the only ones allowed inside.)" said one guy, gesturing for me to stop with his left hand.

The door opened and a couple walked out, their arms wrapped around each other.

Then I saw a familiar face inside.

Diana.

She was talking and laughing with two other guys, one of them was Gino or Dino, not sure but I met him once. A girl was sitting beside her too whose left arm was on her lap. She looked so carefree and untroubled. Then I remembered what Jodie said, 'I think she got lost somewhere.'

Yup, definitely lost. In a swarm of flirty vixens in a VIP lounge. Poor Diana.

"Ma'am." Guy from the door once again gave me a polite smile and shooed me away. He was about to shut the door.

Then she saw me and I'm sure the next events happened in slow motion.

Our eyes locked while the door slowly closed.

See, she's having a jolly good time while you were sulking in your apartment. Lose her number, forget her.

Maza was right.

I tested my equipment in a tiny room in the back then found an open spot at the bar. Maza eventually tracked me down. She gave a forced smile while approaching me, probably still reeling from our conversation this morning. We were silent for a while.

I decided not to drink since I have a set in a few hours but somehow I had the urge of chugging down an entire bottle of vodka. Could this day get any worse? Why am I even upset? Because Diana hasn't text me after last night?

Franki, she's not your girlfriend. She's not obliged to text you 24/7.

...but she's my wife.

"She's the official photographer for tonight." Maza said, interrupting my silly thoughts.

"What— who?"

"Your Diana." She replied in a very flat tone.

Your Diana. Except she's in the VIP area frolicking with probably ten other people.

I sighed heavily, rolled my eyes and turned away from Maza. How the hell did she even book a gig here that easy? Official photographer in one of the most prestigious clubs around the area?! This woman was unbelievable.

"You remember Gino? Overconfident, filthy rich, fun run guy? He owns this bar. Sky, Gino and Diana are besties. He gave her the post."

Maza explained and I pretended that I didn't hear any of that. Overthinking was eating me up while I let a few hours pass by until I finally walked up to the DJ booth.

"Miss Franki underscore!" Some guy yelled in front. For context, missfranki_ was my previous i********: username. I smiled, quickly scanned the crowd and spotted her.

"How's everyone doing? I hope you're having a great time!" I gave a shoutout to Juls, thanking her and the entire team.

Bright lights shone on the crowd and strobing beams of colored lights scanned the ecstatic audience as I played my first track.

[Play me]

I can see her standing still amongst the crowd, gazing at me as I donned the headphones and operated the console. Then she started snapping photos.

It was a lot of multitasking:

1.Working on my track

2. Taking care of my drink

3. Connecting with the crowd

4. Preparing my transitions

5. Moving my body along with my records and switches

6. Bobbing my head with the beat

7. And lastly keeping track of what she's doing, who she's talking to, or if she's flirting with anyone in the dimly lit club.

Give it a rest and enjoy the night. You deserve this.

At some point I see her talking to Sky. Gino arrived and the three of them left the place.

I was the last one to play, so she probably took enough photos and was going on an afterparty somewhere. Last night was definitely quite something. Despite what I found out about her this morning, I still wanted to talk.

I realized she has a lot of friends in this place, she has an entire life back here and I was probably just some random girl that she flirted and spent time with. Does she even care?

I started the day feeling so dull and ending it like this was such a bummer. The crowd was so good and I couldn't even appreciate it.

I checked my laptop for the title of the sample that I'm going to use for my last track.

Made up Love Song #24.

There it is again, 24.

God, I hate that number.