US

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Seconds turned into hours so fast that I had spent almost four days in a row in California. Mum took as to meet her co-workers T the restaurant she works. We found out that she was admired by most of her colleagues at work, especially the Male workers. My brother and I decided to follow my mum to the restaurant to help her bartender. She had disagreed at first, but my sister persuaded her, and after a decade of thinking about it, she agreed. We arrived exactly on time and helped her tidy up the place.

Soon enough, it was lunch. Mum marched my brother and me to their cafeteria and ordered two bowls of yam chips with chicken balls each. The chips weren't that tasty, but the chicken made up for it. Raising my head, I found myself staring at us with amusement. She had finished her meal and ordered the same meal for each of us.

"No, mum, we are okay, aren't we?" Brian asked me, and I nodded in agreement.

"I thought you were not because your father - ." Mum started, but Brian cut her short. "Mum, it's alright." Sighing lightly, she stood up and started walking to her usual post. After finishing my meal, Brian and I decided to explore the inner circles of the restaurant. Roaming for about fifteen minutes without finding anything interesting, we decided to return to where the bartenders usually sat. Upon arriving, I saw a man who looked very familiar. My mum had an ineffable expression.

"Betty, kindly come back." I heard my dad's voice. I silently tapped my dad, and he jolted back. Mum gave us a warm smile and diverted her gaze back to my dad.

"Charles. I don't think this place is appropriate for such a conversation. Besides, I'm not coming back to Ghana." My mum said, playing with the glass cups. My dad sighed and ordered his bodyguards to leave us. "Betty, I wouldn't force you, but it's for the best." My dad tried to convince her.

"What's best about me coming back to that house," She paused and looked at us before she began again, "I will be done at one o'clock, we can talk about it, but for now, I'm busy." My dad turned to us and silently smiled before he disappeared.

"Finally home!" I exclaimed as I slumped into the sofa. Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I checked my messages and started replying to them. I explained to Sasha my current situation as well as Jay and Felicia. Suddenly an unknown caller popped on the screen, waiting for me to answer it. About four microseconds later, I received it.

"Hello," I said calmly.

"Tasha, it's me, Jason." I heard the caller identify himself and later went on, "I've been to your house three times, but you weren't around, so your dad gave me your number."

"What did you – I mean, how did you define our relationship?" I found myself asking. I just wanted to know what he said to my father.

"Nothing much. I just told him we're being assigned to a project together, back at school, and I forgot to take your number." He explained carefully.

"Nice way of defining it to my dad. Why did you call?" I asked after a brief pause.

"Nothing big; I just wanted to know why you weren't available for about the last two days." He explained.

"I don't think I owe you an explanation, and I don't see why I should inform you about my whereabouts," I said, feeling angry at myself.

"Tasha, I'm sorry about everything that has happened since we became friends. I didn't plan; I didn't wish for any of the last things to happen." He apologized, but I decided to be a little challenging.

"I also think I didn't plan any of that. We are friends, and we happened to kiss each other. Apart from that, there's nothing else between us." I said and waited for him to talk, but he kept mute. Finding some words in my mouth, I decided to speak up. "You've kissed other girls apart from me, before and after we kissed. There are a plethora of girls, including my best friend," I paused to catch my breath. "You don't have to be apologizing about unnecessary things. We are friends, and we kissed once, that's all." I carefully finished and waited for him to speak up.