CHAPTER FIVE
March 2019
The second semester had just kicked off and the pressure was high. Everyone was looking for ways to relax before the lecture weeks started. We rounded off the first semester exams a week after my matriculation ceremony in January, went back home for the presidential elections in February and resumed after the gubernatorial elections were over in March.
Things seemed to be topsy-turvy everywhere but the sports festival week was set to begin and there couldn’t have been a better time for that. I was looking forward to it, a lecture-free week where everyone would be outside watching or participating in a sport so I could sleep in peace.
My dreams were dashed before I could even go to sleep when Kate asked me to go with her to watch Endie play. He was on the AFL team and they were playing against the Ekiti State University team. I’m more of a basketball girl myself but Tara couldn’t go because she had volleyball practice. On that note, I agreed to go with Kate.
Our hostel was the closest to the field but the sun and the scorching heat it had partnered with, made the usual ten-minute walk feel like a journey of a thousand miles. I had never been happy to see the sports pavilion before that day. It was packed but Jones had managed to save two seats for Kate and me. We sat down on either side of him, it wasn’t the ideal seating arrangement but it was convenient.
He wasn’t very expressive and didn’t make any commentary. He simply watched in silence which was fine by me, the last place I wanted to make conversation was at a game I didn’t understand.
The game ended on a high note with a total of four goals from AFL and three from EKSU. It was such a close call before the captain scored the final goal. The crowd went wild! Guys running around, jumping and screaming “Siuuuu!”. I’d never seen anything like it.
Endee ran over to us as we walked down the stairs to meet him. Immediately we got to him, he lifted Kate off the ground and swung her around like a handkerchief. He was very excited and she was excited as well. Jones and I stood by the side and watched, sharing in their excitement but not so much.
We were congratulating the players as they passed by us when I felt a tap on my right shoulder. Since I’d been fooled by that trick many times, instinctively I turned to my left instead. Quickly realising what I had done I looked over to my right but it was too late.
The guy who tapped me was already chuckling in amusement, he recovered quickly,
“Hi, Tete right? I’m Ojie. My friend over there wants to talk to you but he’s shy like mad, can you please come say hi?”
He pointed to a guy sitting alone on the bleachers on the right side of the pavilion. Ojie wasn’t in the game, I knew this because he wasn’t wearing a jersey but Shy guy on the bleachers was.
I gave him my brightest, most confident smile,
“No. If your friend wants to talk to me, he can come here”
Ojie opened his mouth to say something but I guess he decided not to, he simply smiled, nodded and left.
I put my cap on and got ready to leave the field. Kate had made plans with Endee that she’d conveniently failed to mention earlier so the walk back felt even longer. Situations like that made me appreciate my earphones even more. I put them in and walked out of the alleyway, straight onto the grassy path on the other side.
The volume was just low enough for me to notice a set of footsteps that seemed to be shadowing mine. They got so close that I turned around to see who it was. I had hoped it would be Kate, but there was no one there.
It was silly of me to think she would change her mind anyway, she wasn’t exactly the poster child for ‘mental flexibility’, but I didn’t know that yet. When I turned to face the road again, someone was standing by a tree on the left just up ahead. I could tell it was the shy guy from earlier, I guess he didn’t need a wingman anymore.
I continued walking as I took a closer look at him, he was wearing the usual AFL uniform with a pair of muddy white trainers. He was now leaning on the tree with his arms folded. I knew he was waiting for me to catch up to him, and this made me walk even slower.
From where I was he looked a bit short, he was brown-skinned, lanky and beautiful. Yes, beautiful, like a girl. There was something slightly feminine about how attractive his features were,
“Men should never be allowed to look this good, it’s ungodly—’’
I thought,
“Especially not after such a vigorous activity”.
I was still thinking that when he ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. I knew I was staring but I couldn’t bring myself to stop.
Locs? He has locs?
The longest, tiniest, shiniest head of healthy locs! I had always wanted natural locs for myself, I was almost jealous. He smiled as I got to him, I smiled back but I didn’t stop to say hi. The last time I stopped to talk to a good-looking guy I ended up needing a new phone.
I walked right past him towards the administrative building, the white rock. I knew he was going to follow me and he did. Seconds later I heard him jogging after me, and in a flash, he ran past me and turned around so he was jogging backwards in front of me.
I stopped and took out my earphones, he stopped jogging and simply stood smiling. He wasn’t even out of breath, if I had done what he had just done, I would have been on the ground gasping for air, begging for glucose, cold pure water and first aid.
Shy guy was much taller up close. With him standing right in front of me, I felt uncomfortably small. I took a step back to add to the space between us but I lost my footing. He caught my arm just in time and pulled me up. It was embarrassing, to say the least.
He wasted no more time and introduced himself,
“My name is Mo, I’m a 400-level C-Computer Science student. You’re Tete, right?”
The voice I replied to him with was one I didn’t even know I had, it was soft and light and airy, it was… girly?
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Ev-everyone has heard about the cute fresher with the weird name, y-you’re quite popular actually”
He said with a shy laugh, it was cute. Too cute, so I changed the subject,
“I see you’re not shy anymore”
I said as I walked around him and straight ahead knowing he would follow.
“Is that what he said? I’m not sh-shy! Ojie is f-foolish, don’t mind him. Besides, you asked for me to c-come meet you myself, didn’t you? I’m here now”.
Mo’s words occasionally danced with a subtle, almost imperceptible stutter, he took his time to articulate his thoughts and spoke with a charming sincerity. I thought he was an okay guy but what do I know? Ceekay seemed okay at first too, I wasn’t having it,
“So if I didn’t say that, you wouldn’t have come to meet me yourself?”
“I was t-tired, guy. The game had just ended and we w-won. I thought you’d come.”
The laugh I let out was so loud, it shocked both of us. By the time I regained my composure, we were off Obasanjo Way, past white rock and on the road to my hostel. In my heart, I had intended to put on a straight face but my brain didn’t get the memo when I turned to look at him. I smiled brightly, teeth and everything,
“Well, you thought wrong”.
He changed the subject,
“I like your eyes”.
I stopped in my tracks, tilted my head and gave him a questioning look,
“My eyes? That’s random, but if it sounds like a compliment, I’ll take it, thank you”
I shrugged.
“Not eyes—”
He chuckled,
“I mean, yes, your eyes are pr-pretty, but I said ice, your chain”
He pointed at my neck, Ceekay’s cuban link chain. I still wore it everywhere, don’t judge me. I simply smiled and started walking again. Mo walked to my hostel with me and we shook hands goodbye.
He watched me walk in and then left. He didn’t take my number or ask to see me again, but at the time, I couldn’t have cared less. All I cared about was the necklace that stole my shine and its owner who broke my heart… and by association, my phone as well.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events, or incidents are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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