i can't smile without you

It probably was the hottest party I’ve ever attended. I mean that quite literally. It was nearly midnight but we still felt like slimy, blobby chunks of pork being grilled to perfection for some backyard barbecue party. You’re right, Joven, nothing describes it better than, well, HOT!!!

It was Louis’ birthday bash at his place in Bel-Air, Makati last Saturday. I, together with friends from French class, trooped to his stuffy two-storey house to celebrate with him. As usual, it was such a hilarious night.

The food was great (but then again, almost every dish tastes great for me). Having arrived early, Lu, Dax, Michelle, and I helped out Rose (Louis’ girlfriend) in mincing garlic, chopping beans, and cutting leaves whose names I don’t know. These were supposed to be the ingredients for the pancit which I never got to taste, c’est dommage!

The ever-talented Dulce who always has something unscrewed up there (‘love you, brod!), took centerstage with her guitar and sang songs, sometimes even making up lyrics as she went along—such a great stand-up artist, that woman! After a while, Julien and Veronique and other French guests, who seemed to have sprang up from our Forum 2 textbook (Christophe Weiss n’est pas là?) joined our group, and Dulce regaled them with her songs.

Of course, the undoubted star of the night was—drum roll please—Marc…and his winner smile (peace Marc, hehe). After a tiny accident in Australia, which left him with a slightly different grin, he is back with a vengeance and with a brand new theme song (Everybody now: “You know I can’t smile without you, I can’t smile without you…”).

Years from now, when Marc is already our Secretary of National Defense (which is not impossible to happen considering his penchant for anything military and his love for Napoleonic tactics), don’t fail to visit one of his most treasured landmarks down under (in Australia, stupid!), a framed, cordoned off area of gym parquet with bite marks. (Once again: “You know I can’t smile without you…If you only knew, what I’m going through…”)

While Louis was passing around gin tonic, which he mixed himself, we delighted in posing for Dionne’s cam. But of course, no one can beat Dax, the ubiquitous, ready-for-my-close-up-direk, cover boy of Paris and Rome. Like a beach bum, he had his pic taken on the hammock at the garage.

If ever our plan of coming up with a French class calendar pushes through, Dax would be our January boy so his pic could appear prominently on the first page. Then, we’d also put him in February, March, April, May, etc. He can also be our image model for our latest advocacy project: Wax Dax, a move to wax off all of his excess hair.

As if the ruckus wasn’t enough, an insufferable, attention-deficient, hyperactive cockroach kept on getting into the scene. It crawled, flew, hung around, and danced to the shrieks of Michelle and Dionne.

Dulce eventually gave me her shoe with which I vainly tried to squish the damned thing (a little later, Dulce herself squeezed it with flying colors). The screams attracted the attention of this French kid who went out to see what the fuss was all about. I told him, “C’est une carafe” He just gave me a half-bewildered, half amused stare. Weird kid, I thought.

Later on, I realized I was the weird one. I should’ve said “C’est un cafard. (cockroach)” instead of saying “C’est une carafe (glass flask).” The kid must have thought those Filipinos were nuts, screaming like crazy because of a glass pitcher. So much for trying hard to speak French.

After the cockroach incident came Michelle’s “centipede jokes.” Too much gin tonic really affects everyone’s sense of humor, hehe.

We decided to call it a night around midnight (the last time we partied at Louis’ place, we went home at 3 a. m.). We’d surely miss partying at Louis’ when he finally leaves Manila for Japan.

I still had a party to attend. Jonj had texted me that the old Lingua Franca gang would be meeting up at a bar in Quezon City to get drowned in booze. But I thought it was too late to catch up with the guys. So I just took a quick shower and slumped on my bed.

In a weird dream, I heard a faintly familiar song: “You know I can’t smile without you, I can’t smile without you.”