It feels like no one dares to compete with Boim’s room when it comes to being messy. Just imagine, a room that’s only three by three meters, but it’s filled with more stuff than a convenience store. Yeah, that’s because everything is there. Banana peels, clothes that haven’t been washed in a week, colorful socks hanging on a piece of raffia string, dirty school books, basically everything. The color of the walls is almost unrecognizable. Not because it faded, but because it’s covered with the messiest pictures of cool girls. The room is so filthy that when Boim’s maid is too lazy to throw away the garbage in the trash bin near the river, she just piles it up in Boim’s room. Boim has no idea about this.
But who would have thought that the messy room actually gives Boim a lot of inspiration to write love letters? Yeah, Gusur too. When he’s looking for inspiration to write poetry and doesn’t have money to go to the beach, he likes to sit and chill for hours in Boim’s room. Waiting for inspiration to strike. (But what often strikes is Boim’s curvy nanny. It’s okay, Gusur likes it too!)
And that morning, Boim was peacefully snoring alone, after a night of busy writing love letters. His sarong was all over the place, leaving his half-naked body unattended. Yeah, he likes to sleep shirtless. So, in the morning, he’s often found curled up, wearing only his underwear.
“Hey, hey, wake up, Im!” Lupus suddenly appeared from behind the door. He was still wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Apparently, he just finished his Sunday morning jog.
“Im, wake up.”
Boim was still curled up.
“Hey, who’s that girl passing by? She’s so cool…”
Boim immediately jumped down and ran to the window. Lupus burst into laughter. Boim got annoyed and jumped back onto the bed.
“Come on, wake up, Im. I’ve already had time to run around Senayan, and you’re still lost in your dreams.”
“I’m sleepy, Pus. I was busy all night writing a love letter for my new girl!”
“Who?”
“Stephanie Harper!”
Lupus rolled his eyes.
“Wait, seriously, Pus. Even though she came here a couple of times before, I was actually invited to have dinner at Mandarin with her and other rich people. Don’t be jealous, Pus, I’m kinda one of the rich folks in Indonesia….”
“Hm… you’re claiming to be rich just by sleeping like a log!” Lupus scoffed, annoyed.
But Boim didn’t care. He curled back up in his original position. Feeling cold.
The atmosphere became quiet again, Lupus was busy warming up, while Boim fell back asleep.
After a while, Boim woke up, rubbing his eyes and stretching freely.
“Pus, I’m actually feeling sad. Really sad. Will you help your unfortunate friend? Will you? Come on, Pus, say something!” Boim tugged at Lupus’ hand, who was busy moving around doing exercises.
“What’s wrong with you? Put your hand off me!”
“Please, Pus.”
“Okay, what’s the matter? Is it about a girl again? Why Stephanie?”
“Don’t tease me, Pus, I’m serious. You see, I managed to ask a girl out on a date. You know, Pus, this is the very first time for me to actually go on a real date. It’s not because all the previous girls rejected me, but I’m just picky. I don’t settle for anyone. You know, right? So, now I successfully asked a girl out. And we’re planning to go watch a movie and have dinner later this afternoon. But… oh, Pus, please…”
“What’s going on with you? Is it because you don’t have money?”
Boim nodded, blushing.
“No surprise there!”
“Don’t be like that, Pus, I’m just broke at the moment,” grumbled Boim.
His face turned sad. His mouth pouted, showing his sadness. Man, it’s hard to describe how miserable his face looked. Even Lupus couldn’t bear to see it. Especially when Lupus started hearing the muffled sobs coming from behind Boim’s pillow. Seriously, crying like that!
“I actually want to help you, Im, even though you look ugly, you’re still my friend. But, I’m broke too. Seriously. You know, I went all out to break my piggy bank to buy that racing bike parked outside now. So, sorry, Im,” Lupus said softly.
Boim didn’t react.
To fill the silence, Lupus started rummaging through the messy stack of Boim’s cassette tapes. Picking and choosing, he pulled out an old Queen cassette. But then, he was confused looking for Boim’s mini-component system that usually hid behind a pile of yellow newspapers.
“Hey, where’s your mini-component system, Im?”
“Uh… well, Pus, it’s being schooled to become smarter,” Boim answered, blushing.
Lupus looked at Boim in surprise.
“Being schooled, huh?”
“Yeah, to pay off the three-month overdue fee!”
Lupus chuckled.
“That’s why, help me out, Pus. Loan it to me, like to Gusur. Or Joko, or Fifi. Anyone!”
“Why don’t you borrow it yourself?”
“Well, it won’t be successful, Pus. My name is a guarantee of quality: I love borrowing but hate paying back. But this time, I’ll definitely pay. For Stephanie Harper!”
Lupus didn’t immediately respond. He was busy looking out the window, just like Gusur when he’s searching for inspiration. Meanwhile, Boim’s curvy nanny started pacing back and forth. That’s how she behaves when there’s a guy peeking through the window.
“Just pacing around, like an ironing board!” Lupus teasingly remarked.
The nanny gave him a playful glare and said, “But you like it, don’t you?”
Seriously!
Lupus walked in and looked at Boim, who was struggling.
“Okay, Im, I’m gonna help you by borrowing money from the others. But no promises, and – it has to be paid back!”
“Hoorayyyy, you’re such a good friend!” Boim shouted while hugging Lupus. In return, Lupus was struggling because Boim hadn’t taken a shower yet.
The first person Lupus approached to borrow money was Gusur, the wild artist with a way with words. Luckily, when he arrived, Gusur was busy chilling and devouring a bowl of meatballs in front of his house. Still swinging around, wearing only his underwear.
Without any hesitation, Lupus got straight to the point.
“What’s up, Pus? Need to borrow some cash? Hold on!” he said while pretending to reach into his underwear, as it actually had a pocket. He put on a serious face, but it looked funny because there was still a piece of noodle hanging from his mouth.
“Something feels off. I thought someone like Lupus wouldn’t like to owe money to his friend. Unlike me, who’s against borrowing. Why don’t you follow my example?” Gusur joked.
“So, the conclusion is, you’re not gonna give it, huh? Or maybe you don’t have any?!” Lupus cursed in frustration with Gusur’s antics.
“I definitely have money. But for once, learn to follow my example! Because people who like to borrow…” Gusur didn’t finish his joke, as Lupus quickly left him behind. But he managed to hear the complaints from the meatball seller, “Hey Gusur, this time please pay your bill. It’s not fair to eat three bowls of meatballs every day but rarely pay up. This guy, I barely make enough to get by…”
“You’re a troublemaker!” Lupus muttered in the distance. Gusur just grinned. Lupus ran towards Boim, who was waiting at the street corner with his old motorcycle.
The next target was Joko, the kid from Tegal who likes to act rich. But that didn’t work either. “I always have money, Pus. Like yesterday, tomorrow, or two days ago. But it just so happens that today I’m broke. Completely broke. No money left at all. And I haven’t been to the bank yet. You know, it’s the weekend, and the banks are closed!” That’s how Joko rambled on.
Without saying anything, Lupus moved on.
After going around for over 3 hours, Lupus finally managed to get a loan. Not from Anto, Aji, Andang, Gito, or any of Lupus’ other buddies. They were all broke. But from our very own artist, Fifi Alone. Our artist is known to be overly generous when it comes to Lupus. It’s because Lupus is kind of a small-time celebrity as a surprised journalist for Hai magazine, so Fifi wants to be on good terms to get some publicity. But if Fifi knew the money was for Boim, oh boy, Fifi would be furious. You know, Boim is Fifi’s arch-nemesis.
“To be honest, it feels wrong using money from a celebrity like Fifi. But since there’s no other way, I’ll accept it!” Boim commented coldly when Lupus handed over the borrowed money to him.
“Don’t mess around, Im. I’ve been running around like crazy to lend you this money!” Lupus scolded.
“Well, of course. I’m really grateful to you, Pus. You’re my best friend!”
“By the way, who’s the girl you’re going on a date with?”
“Well, that’s classified information. All I can say is, she’s cooler than Gusur!” Boim declared as he zoomed off on his motorcycle. Lupus headed home on his racing bike.
In the evening, Lupus was seen happily shopping at the shopping center with his mom. Earlier, he had a little argument with his sister, Lulu, because usually Lulu was the one accompanying their mom for shopping.
“Just this once, Pus. Shopping at the mall is so fun. You can flirt with the cute shop assistants!” Lulu persuaded.
“No way! That’s a girl thing. Besides, I’m going to watch a basketball game at school this afternoon!” Lupus refused.
“Selfish! Why can’t you take turns and go shopping for once? What if Mom goes alone? It’s tough, you know, she has so much stuff to carry! Just this one time. Because I really need it!”
Finally, Lupus gave in. Of course, after his chatty sister kept persuading him. Unfortunately, when they were about to leave, Lulu managed to ask Lupus to buy her some chocolate. “Yummy! Even if we do buy chocolate, I bet I’ll finish it before we even get home!” Lupus complained.
And now, as mentioned earlier, Lupus was at the shopping center. Waiting for his mom who was buying various things. There was a silver lining, as Lupus managed to exchange glances with a cute shop assistant in a yellow uniform. And he rolled his eyes at a cute little girl who was as small as an ant.
After what felt like forever, the exhausting task was finally done. Lupus, carrying bags like a migrating traveler, started leaving the shopping center. He was busy putting the shopping bags into the taxi’s trunk. A quarter of an hour later, Lupus could finally breathe a sigh of relief as he sat in the backseat. It was tiring. But his eyes still managed to wander and notice the girls flocking in front of the fancy movie theater. Wow, they were pretty. There were tall and skinny ones, ones with crazy hair, punk ones, sassy ones, sweet ones, and… wait, isn’t that Lulu? Lupus immediately glanced out the window, about to call out to his sister. But who’s that guy walking next to her? Her new boyfriend? Lupus squinted his eyes to get a better look. But… Oh, God! That’s Boim, that damn playboy! What is Lulu doing hanging out with that troublemaker?
“Who are you looking at, Pus? Why do you look so excited?” his mom teased.
“Oh, nothing,” Lupus replied, refraining from shouting out to Lulu. He sat back down, trying to act cool. But deep down, he was annoyed. Really annoyed. He just realized that the girl making a fuss about going on a date with Boim was his own sister. If he had known that, why did he bother borrowing money from Fifi for Boim? Damn it! Lulu was being rebellious too. He had warned her that it’s better to be cursed by mischievous spirits than to date Boim, but she still agreed to go on a date.
But Lupus didn’t tell his mom about seeing Lulu with Boim. He was afraid she would be shocked. He would wait to scold Lulu in private later. Just imagine, she willingly refused to accompany their mom for shopping just to go on a date with Boim. Watch out, Boim would definitely get an earful from Lupus too!
Lupus was busy memorizing the Pancasila lessons when he heard cheerful footsteps approaching. Ah, it must be Lulu. Lupus prepared himself to get angry. He immediately threw his book and put on a stern face.
Lulu’s head popped out from behind the door, smiling sweetly at Lupus. “Hey, Pus, guess what – it’s awesome, I just pranked your lame friend. You know, Boim. He insisted on paying for my ticket to watch the Daryl movie. And treated me to pizza and milkshake. It’s so cool, I didn’t have to spend my savings to watch that awesome movie. Have you seen it?” Lulu chirped happily.
Lupus was dumbfounded.
“Didn’t Boim do anything to you?” Lupus asked anxiously.
“Oh, no way. How dare he? When he tried to hold my hand, I gave him a death stare. And he got scared and backed off. Pathetic!” Lulu replied, running agilely inside. She shouted for their mom.
Lupus just shook his head. But he was still annoyed. He didn’t know if he was annoyed at Lulu or at Boim.
