written by @thisboyperforms
Walking her to the door and down the street so he could hail her a cab, they said their goodbyes and promised to call each other and Yemisi reminded him to not forget about the wedding. When the cab driver drove off, he started heading back to his apartment.
As soon as he got to the gates of his apartment building, his phone started to ring.
“Hello.” He said into the phone’s receiver as soon as he answered the call.
“Hey you. How are you?” The person on the phone said.
“I’m good.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m home.”
“Good. I’m on my way.”
“Do you know your way here?”
“But of course. Even if I didn’t, your key ring has your address.”
“Oh really? I see you’ve got stalkerish tendencies”, Chris answered chuckiling.
Giggling at the other end of the phone, the voice replied “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Alright. Where are you now though?”
“I’m about ten minutes out. I’d call as soon as I get to your street.”
“Okay.”
After she had ended the call, Chris slid his phone back into his pocket and then went back inside his apartment. It didn’t take long before his phone rang again. Answering it expecting it to be his caller from earlier, he was surprised to look at the caller ID and find out that it was Lola’s sister. She said Lola would be discharged that evening since she was better and her psych evaluation showed her to be in a healthy frame of mind and not suicidal and ergo will be going back to school instead of her going home. She also told him that Lola didn’t know that she was calling him with a hint of suggestion in her voice. Getting the message, Chris thanked her and assured her that he would step up accordingly.
When he got off the call, he started thinking about the perfect welcome back surprise that Lola would really like. He set about making some calls and trying to put some things in order. He was still making plans when he heard a knock on his front door. Walking over to the door, he opened it and the vision that was at the door was indeed a sight to behold.
“Hey”, he finally managed when he was done drinking her in with his eyes. She had definitely pulled out all the stops.
“Hey you too”, TY replied.
“You look incredible.” Chris said.
“Aren’t you just a charmer? But thanks.”
“Come on in.” Chris offered.
Walking into the living room, Chris said, “Sorry about the mess.”
“What mess? Please Please. For a guy living alone, this place is spotless.”
Chuckling, Chris said “If you say so.”
“What happened to your phone? I called and called it was busy. I finally decided to ask the gateman where I could find you.”
“Oh sorry. I was making a few plans.”
“Oh? Plans about what?”
“Lola’s sister called me earlier, and she told me Lola would be discharged this evening. I just thought I should do something nice for her. I owe her that at least”, Chris said.
“Oh really? That’s nice”, TY said trying and failing to hide her crestfallenness.
Sidestepping an awkward moment between them, Chris said “We’ve got a few hours to kill.”
TY smiled, then said “Oya. Give me gist.”
Chuckling, Chris said “There’s not a whole lot of gist.”
“You’re deflecting. What happened when you went to the hospital?”
“What would you like to drink? Water, juice or my personal favorite – vodka?” Chris asked.
“Nothing for now. Stop deflecting, what happened?”
“Nothing really. I got there after her mother had left. I didn’t want to get interrogated by the KGB. Got there, I got interrogated by the FBI instead – her sister.”
Laughing, TY asked “What was she asking you?”
“She wanted to know why I wasn’t with Lola when the whole shebang went down because normally, I was supposed to be with her. She wanted to know why when she fainted and had to be rushed to the hospital, I wasn’t within 100 yards of her”
Laughing, TY asked “what then did you tell her?”
“I just told her we got separated and that she wanted to hang with her girls and something of that nature”
“And she bought that? How did you then explain the fainting part?”
“I said she must have been exhausted and probably didn’t eat”, Chris replied.
“She really bought all of that?”
“I don’t think so. But I guess she really didn’t want to question me further just in case she might be wrong.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah. So that’s all the gist. Am I off the hook now?”
“Yes. I’d have that drink now. Some water will do just fine.”
Chris brought her the water and they stayed talking and laughing across many subjects. Their respective childhoods, growing up, firsts, and all whatnots, mainly just more about each other that they didn’t talk about the last time they were together. It didn’t take long for them to begin to think like they had known each other all along.
Looking at his watch, Chris said “Oh snap! Look at the time.”
“What’s the problem?” TY asked.
“I need to get to Lola’s room. She must be back by now. Knowing her, she won’t call me until tomorrow. She always hates being seen as weak.”
“Oh really?”
“It was bad enough to be seen on a hospital bed for her. She’d want to see me when she’s all better.”
“That makes a certain amount of sense.”
“How do you mean?”
“When people have seen you in a certain way they seem to change their attitude toward you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“Okay. If you say so”, Chris replied.
“I need to go freshen up. Are you heading to school? I could drop you off.”
“Don’t worry. I’d find my way. I’ll show myself out.” TY said.
“Alright. Later then.”
“Yeah. Later.”
TY made her way to the door and they said their goodbyes. Chris locked the door after her and went to the bathroom to have a very quick bath. Putting on his clothes in record time, he made some calls to confirm plans he had made earlier and set off to find Lola. It took all of thirty-two minutes to get to Lola’s hostel and being evening time, the hall attendant didn’t want to let him in. Five hundred naira later, he was granted access.
Getting up to her room, he knocked and then got invited in. He could see Lola’s bag atop her bed, so definitely, Lola was back. He asked the person that invited him in about Lola’s whereabouts and she responded that Lola went outside about thirty minutes before and she also added that Lola was fine and back to her normal bouncy self when Chris asked about her about Lola’s wellbeing. Deciding to go and wait outside – instead of staying up in her room and knowing that she would soon be back anyways – so that he would see her when she was coming back to the hostel.
It did not take too long. But see her, he did. Only just that it wasn’t in the way he had envisioned. He had thought nothing of the black sedan that had pulled into the driveway. From where he was, he could see the entire driveway leading to the front of the hall but because he was sitting right in the shadow of the light the halogen bulb produced, he could see everything in front of him, but he couldn’t be seen easily.
He took interest in the black sedan when Lola came down from it and he had originally thought nothing of it and was about to go say ‘thank you’ to whosoever that had brought her back just at the nick of time when he stopped in his tracks.
Lola had gotten out the car from the passenger side and waited for the person driving the car and the guy had come down and they had both walked hand-in-hand from the lot to the make-out zone as the area was normally referred to by the students. The area was just beside the hostel and because the lights didn’t shine all the way to the side it was almost always shrouded in semi-darkness as soon as dusk hit. He stood from where he was sitting and followed them at a couple paces behind. He saw the guy pull Lola into his embrace and just stood transfixed when he saw the guy grab Lola’s behind and started to kiss her. With the way he was moving and the way she was responding, he could tell this wasn’t the first time that they had done this.
He went back to the spot where he had been sitting and waited for them to finish up and it took quite a while before Lola came back out into the lit area giggling and adjusting her skirt with the guy in tow. Walking over to his car, they hugged and said their goodbyes and she waved to him as he drove away. She started towards the entrance of the hall, when Chris stood up and she was startled as she saw him.
“Hey baby”, she said as soon as she saw him walking toward her, recovering from her disconcertion albeit a little slowly.
“Hey” Chris said.
“How long have you been out here?” she asked.
“I just came down now. Your roomie told me you just stepped out when I went up there to find you.”
“Oh sorry”, I went to pick up some supplies, she said holding up the bag of groceries.
“Oh I see. I see the grocery store also sells kisses and body groping too.”
With her face flushed, she asked “What do you mean?”
Chris laughed and said “Don’t worry about what I mean. We’re done.”
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