by Allana Luta and KB Meniado
Welcome back to Rewind Down, where we sit back, relax and revisit stories. This feature series is inspired by The Rewatch Project of Forever Young Adult.
This is the last session, so if you want to be on the same page when the next one arrives, catch up here and here. Now where were we?
EPISODE 20, in which another bomb drops on Kit
Kit escapes the island with the help of a certain Denver. And for someone who’s not really her, um, close friend (? she’s just cashing in a favor), Denver’s being pretty gallant, not only taking her away from the now damnable place, but listening to her as she spills her guts all the way to the pub. There, Denver tells Kit two things.
First, Matthew probably loved her. The labels excuse Matthew gave out before that one time at that one party? Back in college, their circle of friends would dick around saying Matthew would be “banging” whichever girl they saw him with, even if he was in a relationship.
Kit, though? They never saw her with Matthew, so apparently that’s a good thing. Being hidden from douchebag college kids, from the rest of the world, if we were being honest, was his way of protecting her image… or something. It’s not a very convincing argument and just leaves Kit confused.
Denver has more under his sleeves and after a bit of prodding from Kit (and more from the alcohol, let’s be real here), he finally shares that Matthew and Bridgette are now back together. As in, for real. As in, Denver saw them with his own eyes, therefore it’s “legit.”
Then he tells her,
“So anyway, he said he loves you? I don’t know, it sounds fishy to me. Have you ever wondered if, for him, this is all just a game?”
Ah, well. There we go. Matthew (probably) loved her. Now he doesn’t. He’s a topnotch, absolute A-double-S-hole. And Kit, bless her poor, wounded heart, hopefully sees the truth and the light.
“It never occurred to me that this could all be, simply, entertainment for him, like a chess game he never finished playing. And in this game, I’ve always been the sacrificial pawn.”
Damn.
EPISODE 21, in which Kit wallows in her sadness
Oh, Kit. We just wanna give her a big ol’ bearhug. She’s been through so much the last few weeks that it’s been kind of overwhelming, actually. So she drinks, listens to sad music and stalks Matthew on social media.
After Denver’s revelation, Kit’s gone desperate. Desperate enough to finally acknowledge her feelings and push her to ask all the questions she’s been afraid to put into words. In fact, she writes it all down in a letter and sends it to Matthew through email.
Matthew doesn’t reply but Tristan is more than willing to keep Kit preoccupied. He’s relentless. He calls (never answered), sends messages (never answered), knocks and waits outside her door (never answered). Kit knows she still needs to deal with this thing with Matthew and can’t handle any more stress, and we get it. Tristan may have been good for her, to her, but right now he’s a nuisance. Kit needs to focus on getting over (or through to?) Matthew, so she ignores Tristan. The #KiTris ship has sunk indefinitely.
Kit listens to Denver though, who has somehow become some sort of shoulder to lean on in these trying times (we’re still waiting for Kit’s actual best friend Hazel to show up). He tells her to just go for it. After stripping herself of her clothes and emotions for him, she might as well say everything. So she calls Matthew’s number (it goes to voicemail, OF COURSE) and asks him,
“…if there is a chance for us to be together. I beg him to tell me now and not years later because if there isn’t even a sliver of hope that we can be who we can be, I would be the first one to walk away, for good and I will never look back.”
Heartbroken yet?
EPISODE 22, in which Kit faces a catastrophe
Despite an overly emotionally charged night, the fighter that Kit is, we see her stand back up… with the help of ever-reliable Denver (who, we are starting to think, might just be the best man because the friends x lovers trope is forever). He invites her to bamboo organ event—and nope, Kit, not Bamboo The Singer, but Bamboo The Plant—but insists that it isn’t a “date-date.”
Our take?
Denver, as you already know, Kit is a great catch.
But we digress. So Denver picks up Kit, who is back at slayin’ in her black and gray ombre gown, as if rising from the ashes of yesterday.
“I figure, when you’re going through something, you might as well look good.”
Mister-This-Is-Not-A-Date-Date Denver is even floored, but the good friend that he is, he makes sure Kit is alright first. He checks on the sh*tuation about the two men toying with her feelings on their way to the concert + dinner + family gathering.
“Still no word from Matthew?”
“Nothing.”
“The chef?”
“Too much.”
“Well, maybe things will work out on its own.”
“Maybe.”
You two are both wrong, we’re sorry to say. Because in the middle of enjoying the fiesta atmosphere, complete with Filipino delicacies and renditions of folk songs, things are about to go messier: Matthew—the same Matthew who has been MIA for the past we-have-lost-track-o-clock—is also at the gathering. With the woman, his woman.
If that isn’t bad enough, he tries to avoid Kit by rushing out of the party with his date.
Kit, just say the word. We have guns—and by guns, we mean muscles, sculpted from typing oh so furiously—at the ready.
EPISODE 23, in which we all gasp for help… and also, air! [WARNING: Major cliffhanger ahead!]
So of course, we follow Kit, who follows Matthew outside. This is a search for truth we cannot afford to miss! We go around the parking lot, feeling like madpeople, too, searching for the car that holds the key. And while we hate for Kit to lose her sh*t over Matthew, we start tapping his car window along with her as soon as we found it!
OKAY, OKAY. We are trying to be calm about this. Also, don’t report us; we condemn violence in all forms.
Moving on, we see Kit totally lose her head. Matthew doesn’t want to roll down his windows so she considers grabbing Bridgette instead. Yes, the Bridgette Santamaria, the journalism graduate who was two years Kit’s senior, the Palanca awardee, the long-time girlfriend. Perfect Bridgette who says the perfect thing:
“Please, don’t do this to yourself,” Bridgette says. She hands me a piece of folded paper and adds gently, “Please stop.”
Our heart breaks from the sight of that piece of paper. That contains Kit’s heart, and it has been reduced to scrap. Before Kit could even react, Matthew speeds away from the parking lot.
We lie. It gets worst-er: Tristan appears. And he’s drunk and he’s telling Kit hurtful things.
“First, you sleep with that asshole,” he says. “Then you sleep with me and tell me you love me. And boy did I believe you.
“And now what? You’re dating that model? You really take your rounds seriously, don’t you?”
OH, DEAR. This is not the time to explain things, and Kit knows that, so she turns away despite the (our) pain. Tristan goes after her, apologizing, but Kit has had enough, whisking him away.
Guess what he does?
He punches a window of a parked car! (Sorry, we have an inappropriate fascination of this Beyonce smashing cars gif.) Denver’s “What the fuck was that?” reaction as he comes into scene as well is perfect. Unfortunately, Tristan does not think so, mistakes the good guy’s concern (“Pare, are you okay?”) as something else and punches Denver too, turning it into a whole bloody mess of a bro brawl.
Kit tries to stop them from (maybe) killing each other, but then, she gets pushed to the side with her straps snapped, making her lose balance. A sudden sound of a car horn, a pair of headlights and then, darkness.
What a way to end our first Rewind Down! Watch out for the return of WAITY in the coming weeks, so don’t miss out!
☁️
BOOKBED 
Anything to share? :)