...IN THE MAKING (2)

Most times she would act indifferent anytime she sighted celebrities in public places, but not today and not with him. He was one of the stars that tickled her fancy lately, he was gradually becoming the hot cake of the evolving movie industry and the few firms that want to be recognised as standard Nigerian movie production companies, she hated the name Nollywood though. TDH, sturdy, and with a face and
voice good for action movies, but he mostly featured in challenged love stories.

The breeze after him brushed gently against her face giving off his surprisingly mild cologne. God! She caught herself staring; she dug into her handbag immediately, she had to find something, anything. Aha! My phone, the right corner of her lips twitched. She surfed straight to the messenger and uploaded a new status.

‘Guess what my eyes just saw?’

“Good afternoon” she heard him say as he settled right beside her. Oh my God! He’s got manners and is far from aloof. She caught herself again she must have been staring a little too.

“Oh! Good afternoon, forgive my manners it actually feels different when you are in person” she felt awkward with the cliché

“Okay,” he chuckled

She felt the urge to continue “So what brings you to a regular dry cleaning outlet” She teased

“Um… this one has been around for years and has a lot of loyal customers like my friend who sent me to pick his clothes up today.”

She raised her eyebrows and chuckled “So you have those kind of silly friends that send you on silly errands too?!”

His lips curled into a smile again and this time she noticed his dimple deeper than in the movies. “You can say that again, well he’s the only one who does that with me and gets away with it, he’s my childhood friend and manager”

“Ah, that’s nice” he’s so cute “Mine is a pain in the ass”

He laughed, she finally glanced at her phone that had been vibrating for incoming messages, her contacts had been replying her status update, and they wanted to know what was going on.

“Excuse me”

“Sure” he affirmed

She typed swiftly ‘John Smith in flesh and blood’

When she was done and turned to him, his eyes were fixed on the television screen adjacent to them; the channel had just been changed to a sport channel transmitting a live European Premiere league match. One of the football clubs just scored a goal at that instance she saw his feet jerk slightly; her lips curled as he restrained himself from jubilation.

“Sorry, are you a fan of that club?”

“Huh?”

“I guess I’m distracting you”

“Yes, I mean no, I don’t support the club” He turned to her now

“So you’re restraining from praising a goal I think you liked,” she arched her eyes “The life of a celeb.”

He tilted his head and shrugged with a smile at the remark.

“So where do you normally watch your matches?”

“At home,”

“It had better be with the boys or it would be so boring”

“They come over most times”

“I guess that’s not happening today”

“That’s right”

Soon they were talking more about football clubs as Lara leveraged on the bits of information she had gathered about them from different sources prior to this event. The receptionist called her attention to what she was really at the dry cleaner’s for. As she was at the counter clearing, she saw John Smith nibble with his phone as she stole glances at him from the corner of her eye. She couldn’t believe how good she was conversing with stars. She caught herself from smiling for no apparent reason in front of the receptionist that might just think something is right somewhere. Yeah, a celeb I admire is right here, so beat it. Lara mind yourself o, you can’t start losing it here abeg!

Parked and ready to go she turns to John Smith about to mouth something.

“Please forgive my manners, I didn’t even ask your name, what is your name please?” he said as he rose to his feet.

“My name is Lara, and what’s yours?” she smiled

“It’s John Smith” he returned the smile “Can I help you with that?” gesturing to one of the bags in her hands.

“Sure”

“So where are you headed?”

“Back to my boring flat, concocting mischief against my naughty friend”

“What are friends for if not…” the receptionist interrupted calling John Smith’s attention this time, Lara rolled her eyes towards her direction and gave her a slightly stern look. He asked Lara to wait for him, so they could continue their conversation. She took a seat, this time feeling a little bit awkward. This was one of the days, her spontaneity peaked. He went with her bag, he looked like he was trying to hurry the clearing, while she stared at the television screen. She didn’t know if she was happy or sad. He was coming her direction now, she rose.

“I was thinking, maybe you could keep me company?”

“What?” Are you patronising me?

“No, don’t take that wrongly, the next match to be played is by my club, and I don’t want to watch that game alone in my boring house”

“There are a few decent viewing centres I observe guys watch games at, I could recommend one”

“See, I’ve been enjoying our conversation, and you knowing what you know about football, I find that interesting and would like to watch a game with you, please.”

“Er, Okay! I don’t have a car here…” Like you have one at all Lara!

“Great! We would go in mine” He gestured towards his SUV; two cars were driving into the parking lot. The driver of the second car called out to John Smith giving him a thumb up, an obvious fan, he responded warmly. He opened the door to the back seat and eased in the bags and suits on hangers.

“John Smith, that name rings a bell, are you that famous actor?” He laughed

“You have a good sense of humour and are the only person I’ve met for the first time, and not felt the pressure to act like a celebrity”

“I’d take that as a compliment” he revs the engine and changes the gear to drive out of the parking lot.

“Yes, you’re not the regular ‘can I have your autograph’ fan, I mean person, I meet almost every day” she arched her eyes.

“So Lara what do you do?” He glanced at her

Lara was not sure what she would really term what she was into right now, but she was sure of one thing. She was in to have fun and she would be having his personal phone number at the end of the day.

Cool! This is too good to be true


                                                            ...IN THE MAKING (1)