She had advised him to keep the
baseball cap on if he did not want to feel the pressure of being a celebrity. About
two hours had passed after the game they enjoyed at the viewing centre, but he
was not done enjoying the company of this mysterious chic he just met today. He
suggested they go to a
“Are you serious? No space to
park?!” he whined driving slowly by the rears of the cars parked at the
entrance of the club.
“Are you sure you don’t want to
go to another club?” she inquired out of concern
“This is the only issue, I have
here, the parking lot is not so spacious”
“Across the road just has one car
parked there, you could park there if you want.”
“Good idea”
He made a U-turn and parked
across the road though the car moved slowly, he seemed to have done it so fast;
it was just a long stretch of wall on this side of the road, just the side walk
and no entrances.
She looked appropriately dressed,
she was not ugly, she appeared a regular
babe, but she wasn’t so regular he could not place his hands on it; there
was a mystery around her. He was beginning to get curious. She was fiddling
with her phone again, probably out of words to say or normal behaviour in this
time and age.
“This is the part where we go
into the club” He called her attention.
“That’s how bad I’d be at acting,
forgetting the lines and acts”
“You have the face of an actress
that would sell better”
“Really?”
“Do you know it crosses my mind
sometimes that a celeb like you does not get to cross the road?”
“So you just looked at me right
now like ‘Ah! So John Smith can cross the road’”
“No, not really”
They got through the entrance,
the bouncers had this scary ige. Everywhere seemed a lot darker, but the darkness
seemed normal, even from the outdoors. There were a few protocols he attended
to but he seemed a little afraid, like he wasn't meant to be there. They were passing through the dance floor now,
everywhere seemed to be filled with this really thick smoke most likely from
the cigars and cigarette, it made things more vague. He turned back and it
seemed Lara was shivering, he handed her his coat and moved behind her
navigating her to the VIP lounge. The whole room thumped from the music.
“What would you like to drink?”
He was shouting in her ears, she pulled away a little.
“Let’s get to the bar first, I
guess you know your way around” She shouted in reply
He saw that Lara was still uneasy, they kept navigating through the busy crowd to the lounge. There was less
noise here.
“So what would you like to
drink?” He asked again after they settled on the sofa.
“I don’t want to drink anything,
it’s so noisy here can we go outside?” she finally replied
“What?”
“Let’s go outside!”
“OK!”
They made way again and were out in no time, no protocols this time. Lara
stopped at the entrance, turned to face him and began mouthing something, he
couldn’t hear clearly or understand what she was saying and he didn’t know why. Music was coming very
loud from somewhere; maybe from inside the club, no, it was closer, in front of
him. Lara, no Nneka was singing, Lara was now Nneka singing louder and louder accompanied
with every instrumental effect but her face was very stern like she was warning
him and he would never listen, never budge.
She started from the beginning
again soundtrack first, then he realized what she was singing; her face more
stern, it was his ring tone, his phone was ringing.
John woke, he peeked at his phone
screen with Efe’s picture on it and slid to answer just before he missed it.
“Guy you no try o, since last
night you haven’t picked my calls”
“Sorry, I…”
“A text would have done it and I
would know you had female company, we know how Saturday nights end naw”
“No!” John cleared his throat as
he raised his torso, the splitting headache probing if he had too much to drink
from last night “Not at all…”
“Anyway fashi long story, can you help me make a transfer? I need twenty gees like yesterday, seriously.”
“Wha.. don’t you have…”
“Would I be asking if I had?!
Jay! Don’t make my morning worse, I had a really long night and we’ve run out
of cash, would fifty make you feel better?”
“Okay, slow your roll what
happened? No dey para for early mohmoh na” he croaked
“Obiora got us into some police
trouble over some petty woman issue o, kind of ending some of us behind the
counter and stuff last night. It’s been rough man, but Kelvin is with my ATM so if
you send the pepper, we can get this thing over with, I’d give you full gist
later”
Not again “Okay, I’d try get online and make the transfer.” He
winced
“Like quickly so I can travel
back for work, thanks bro”
The call ended. John let the
phone slip from his grip he was still groggy, really tired but not from the
bottles. He hated having to do these rescue missions over and over again. He
placed his feet on the rug, glanced at the wall clock half past nine. His mouth
felt septic. With the headache still there, he made way to the bathroom sink,
opened the tap and let water run gazing his reflection in the mirror above the
sink.
***********
Sola didn’t feel like being in church at all. Nothing made sense, music, prayer, talk, offering, that especially made her
feel like she was being robbed when she passed the basket. She should have stayed back she
thought. Without an ounce of emotional strength she wondered how she was going
to handle the week. No, that was too far with how she was feeling right now. She
had broken up with Iyke finally. She thought she was strong, he could change from the way every little argument ended up in threats and thoughts of the
monster she didn’t want to discover. Was she too eager, to rash, not enduring , avoiding the thorns, looking for a bed of roses or what? Choosy, insatiable,
confused? She couldn’t place her hands on it. She wasn’t sure if she really did
the right thing with this one.
‘A good man is hard to find my dear, when you find the raw material for
a good husband you hold on to him and be there to make him the kind of man you
want’
Her mother’s voice echoed in her
thoughts. But she gave in this one, as in she gave. She gave and crossed the
line with it. She had thought he was the one and she had finally found him, she
was going to end up with him anyway and love justifies our actions sometimes. Now
she felt violated, she felt numb. Lara nudged her for the umpteenth time,
trying to get her to participate as the whole church congregation rose to their
feet again for what she didn’t care to know right now, she looked tiredly at
Lara and returned her distant gaze forward where it had been all morning deep in
thought. She shouldn’t have allowed Lara drag her to church, she would have
been better off crying her eyes out into her pillow.
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