Chapter Text
Raissa gets back home today. Back from CalTech. Back from the place that stole her away from Jo.
Jo is lying on her couch and staring at the ceiling. Where she has been for the past hour.
It’s been a little over a year since she last saw Raissa in person.
Deep down, she wants nothing but to run to that airport and jump into Raissa’s arms the minute she gets off the plane- but she knows she won’t do that. She can’t.
Raissa threw away their relationship that night on the beach. Jo tried to convince Raissa to stay, to stand up to her parents.
“You know, you really don’t have to go all the way to the US for school.”
“We’ve been over this. It’s what my parents want.”
“It shouldn’t be their choice. It’s your life!”
“And what about your life?”
That question had struck Jo, hard. Her mouth opened to answer but nothing came out. Her lips started to quiver and her hands started to shake. She knew the answer. She had nothing going for her, and she doubts she ever would. But she would never admit it, to Raissa or herself. She needed to shift the focus of the conversation.
“This isn’t about me, Raissa. I’m trying to support you! Why are you just letting your parents dictate your life?”
Raissa stayed silent.
“Why are you letting them take you from me?” Jo asked, voice cracking.
“Jo…” Raissa wiped a tear from Jo’s cheek. “I’m sorry.”
More tears stream down Jo’s face. “What if I tell your parents! I’m not scared of them!”
“Jo— “
“They have no right to be doing this!” Jo jumps to get off the hood of the Jeepney.
“Jo! You can’t-“ Raissa follows.
“Why not!” Jo turns to face Raissa. “Why won’t you just fight back?”
“Because Jo.” Raissa rubs her arm and looks at the ground. “I want to go to CalTech! This was my choice. I only said my parents are making me go so that you wouldn’t do-” Raissa waves her hands towards Jo. “This!”
Jo’s body freezes. “What?”
“I can’t stay here just because you want me to, Jo. I have a future outside of this.” Raissa grabbed Jo’s hand. “I’m sorry Jo. I love you, a lot, but I can’t keep letting you hold me back like this.”
Jo’s heart shattered. She was holding her back? Is that truly what Raissa believed? All this time, Raissa wanted to leave. Raissa was the one to choose CalTech. Raissa was choosing to leave Jo alone.
“Okay.” Jo pulls her hand away. “Then go. I wont hold you back anymore. I’ll see you tomorrow at the airport.”
“Jo come on, don’t be like that.”
“Raissa please, just go home.”
“I didn’t mean it like that-“
“Raissa.” Jo stared at Raissa. The look in her eyes made Raissa’s heart sting.
Raissa knew she messed up. There was nothing she could say to Jo. So, she grabbed her backpack out of the Jeepney and threw it over her shoulder. She turns to Jo and says “Mahal kita, Jo.” as a last effort to try to fix everything.
“Mahal din kita.” Jo mumbled, refusing to look at Raissa.
Raissa looks at Jo once more before turning around and leaving. Jo sat inside of the Jeepney for hours afterwards.
They broke up about a month after she left. Raissa was too busy building rockets in California, or whatever, and Jo was tired of feeling like she was dragging Raissa down.
Raissa was the one to actually say it over the phone.
“Should we just break up?”
“If that’s what you want.” Jo replied.
It was evident that neither of them really wanted to end things, but with the way Raissa had left and all the circumstances up to this point, it felt like the only option.
Jo didn’t know what to do. Would she just be avoiding Raissa all summer? Sit inside and binge watch some dumb show all day just to make sure she doesn’t accidentally bump into her ex and immediately want to start things up again?
Not that she wants to, because she’s over Raissa.
She’s been over Raissa. Raissa broke her heart. Why would she go crawling back to someone who left her in the dust?
Jo loudly groans and throws a pillow over her face. “Can’t you just stay in California,” she mutters to herself. “I mean, since you wanted to go so bad.”
A few seconds of Jo angrily muttering to herself later, she feels her phone buzz in her pocket.
Jo removes the pillow from her face. Did she forget she had a shift today? Last week, her manager warned her if she was late again she would be fired. “Shit shit shit shit—” Jo whispers to herself as she rushes to get her phone out of her pocket.
It’s from Raissa.
Jo sits up so fast that she gets dizzy. She doesn’t read the message just yet. She just stares at the “Raissa” at the bottom of her phone. Why would Raissa be texting her? Doesn’t she have family to reunite with? Does she want her back? Would she get back with her if she did? Her mind races and a million different scenarios cross her mind all at the same time.
Almost as if to snap her out of it, a second message pops up. Then a third, and a fourth.
Jo slowly taps the notifications and throws her phone across the couch without reading the contents.
Jo stands up and walks over to the photo of Lola on her wall. “Lola, what do I do?” She stares at the photo. “Ugghhhh” She starts to rub her temples as she walks back to her phone.
“Okay. I’ll just read the message. I don’t have to respond or anything.” Jo jumps in place to hype herself up. “You got this Jo.” she says under her breath and reaches for her phone “it’s just a message from your ex.”
Raissa
Hey Jo!
Sorry to be texting you out of the blue.
My family is throwing a welcome home party for me.
We’ve got karaoke, as per usual haha.
Jo just stares at her phone. Karaoke? Did she really think that would convince her?
She’s just being nice. Jo is sure of it. She puts her phone down on her coffee table and takes a deep breath. She can’t believe that Raissa would invite her in the first place. She’s the one who broke Jo’s heart and so she gets to act like everything is a-okay? Like hell. Jo wouldn’t even answer. There is no way she could go to that party anyways.
Seeing Raissa would hurt too much.
The phone on the table buzzes again.
Raissa
I would love to see you again!
Without hesitation, Jo picks up the phone and starts typing.
yeah for sure! See u later !! :p
Raissa is staring at herself in the mirror. In her hands is her phone, displaying the last conversation she had with Jo. Raissa had lost her phone and someone called her emergency contact, who she forgot she had set as Jo.
How is she supposed to talk to Jo now? Is being formal too much? Are they still even close enough for her to text casually? She lays her phone against her forehead. "Am I overthinking this?" she mumbles.
Raissa glances at the picture she had set for Jo. It featured Jo, of course, with about 5 fries in each of her nostrils, and a bunch more shoved in her mouth.
It had been Jo's first day working at Yum Yum Bird, so Raissa had come by to see how she was doing. It was a little after they started dating so Jo joked about how she had an "obsessed stalker girlfriend". Then she stuffed her face with fries and said she needed to scare her away before she fell for Raissa's manipulative tricks.
Recalling the memory makes Raissa giggle to herself.
It gives her just enough confidence to finally text Jo to invite her to her party.
Hey Jo!
Sorry to be texting you out of the blue.
My family is throwing a welcome home party for me.
It feels a little formal, especially in comparison to how she used to text Jo. She taps her screen wondering what else she can say to be a little more convincing. At that moment she hears her dad singing, very loudly, on the karoke machine. "Aha!"
We’ve got karaoke, as per usual haha.
"Now we wait." Raissa thinks to herself. She bites her nail as she stares at the screen waiting for any sign of an answer.
Jo reads the message after a couple minutes. No typing bubbles. Was her invite too sudden? Was this even a good idea? Raissa taps her fingers on her vanity. The anticipation feels like it could actually kill her.
She types out a fifth follow up message.
"I would love to see you again!" is sitting in the textbox, unsent to Jo.
It's true. Raissa has been counting the days since she started at CalTech. It's not that she didn't enjoy her time there, she just really missed Jo.
Every part of her wanted to hug Jo tightly and let her know how sorry she is. She regrets lying to Jo, she regrets saying Jo was holding her back, and she regrets leaving the beach without resolving their argument.
Raissa shakes any painful memories out of her head. She takes a very deep breath and builds up the courage to hit the send button. "Done. Okay." She closes out of her conversation with Jo and not a second later she recieves a notifaction.
Jo
yeah for sure! See u later !! :p
Raissa chokes. That was fast. Before she has anytime to really process the conversation, she hears a knock on her door.
"Rai honey! Everyone is starting to show up! Come out of your room and greet everyone." Raissa's mother yells from outside the room. She can hear the chatter of her entire family tree outside from in the comfort of her bedroom.
"I'll be out in a second, Ma!"
"Ay! Not in a second Rai, now."
Raissa groans and begrudgingly gets up off her vanity seat. She looks at the message from Jo once more before placing her phone on the table. Her heart starts pounding. At any minute during this party, Jo might arrive.
An hour into the party, Raissa's nerves begin to calm themselves. Jo still hasn't shown up. Maybe she won't ever show up. That's probably for the better.
Raissa has been chatting with her Tita Mai for the past 30 minutes. She has also been trying to escape the conversation for the past 20. The conversation has just been going in circles.
"So how was hollywood?"
"It's nice but that's not-"
"What movies are you in?"
"I'm not in any movies, Tita."
"Why not?"
And so forth.
Eventually she hears someone else call her name and uses it as an excuse to leave. The voice seemed to come from somewhere near the karaoke area, so she made her way there.
Along the way she hears murmurs from her family who seems to be all gathering around the karaoke machine.
"This will be so cute!"
"I've been waiting for her to show up."
"Their voices always sounded so good together"
Confused, Raissa finally makes it to front of the circle and sees Paano Ba Ang Magmahal queued next.
"Awh, who's singing—" Raissa begins to ask before being cut off by a familiar voice.
"No really kuya, I don't want to sing right now."
Raissa cautiously turns to see a girl with a spikey ponytail pushing away a microphone.
"Jo?"