Late Eighteen

24| Chapter twenty four

Z: Hey beautiful.

A smile immediately came onto my face as I hurriedly tried to type a reply. Before I could, my phone's screen went black, then came back on, flashing bright into my eyes with my ringing tone resounding throughout my room.

I was getting an incoming call from Zeke.

My hands began to shake as I took deep breaths to calm my erratic breathing. My hands glided across the screen, accepting his call as I pressed the phone against my left ear.

"Hey sweetheart." His voice came filtering through the phone like soft silk. I closed my eyes, then exhaled before opening my eyes again, smiling softly to nothing in general.

Boys are such sweet talkers, I'm telling you.

"Hey to you too." I made sure I cleared my throat before speaking, so he wouldn't classify me as one of those frogs that's in the zoo. "What's with the endearment?"

He chuckled. "Well, you're sweet and you own my heart so that automatically makes you my sweetheart. Don't you like it?"

I blushed red like a freaking tomato, my insides twisting in a jumbled mess.

Of course I liked it, how could I not?

So, this is what romance feels like? Loving someone to the extent that you have no choice but to swoon and smile at everything the person says, even if it sounds like nothing but gibberish?

"How're you doing? Why did you call?" I asked instead, trying to avoid his question.

His deep chuckle sounded like bass to my ears. "What, can't I call my girlfriend without having a reason to?"

This always happens when we talk.

Me trying not to choke as I blush and him busy laughing away at my frustration. And it's quite embarrassing— me not able to get through a conversation with him without blushing like crazy even though it barely shows on my face.

But somehow, he always knows when I'm flustered by his words and he's so quick to tease me about it.

Before I could respond, he interrupted me. "I want to taste your lips, so so bad. Is it possible if I kiss you over the phone?"

And ladies and gentlemen, that's how I end up in the bathroom splashing cold water on my face, trying to keep my heart from going straight off the Earth and back in seconds.

I bit my lip, my hands clutching so hard to my phone that I thought I would break my knuckles. "Really?"

"Yeah. But that's not why I am calling, I wanted to know if you'd like to hangout after school tomorrow, shebi you like icecream?"

"I love icecream." I whispered so quietly that I doubted if he heard me.

But he did.

"Great, see you in school tomorrow sweetheart. Have a good night rest and make sure you think about me, you hear?"

"Yes Zeke, goodnight." My voice came out breathless as if I just ran a marathon and close to death.

I facepalmed and quickly shook my head, as of that would stop the dirty thoughts from invading my space.

And just like that, the call ended, leaving one of us disoriented for the rest of the evening.

Breathless and scorching hot.

-

I feel sleepy.

All I wanted to do the next morning I got to school was go just sleep. How do I even start to even explain the fact that I just wanted to be on my bed sleeping on a Wednesday morning at barely eight a.m?

If you looked closely in my eyes, you would see the black ringlets around my eyes, signifying lack of sleep. I ended up reading till two p.m after I ended my call with Zeke yesterday, which is why I feel very tired to even lift up my hands.

"Are you okay?" Micheal asked as he peered at me from above my head where I laid my head on my desk.

"Leave me alone, I just want to sleep." I snapped at him.

What's he doing here anyway? He should just go and continue proving his intelligence to the teachers and leave me alone. Everyone was surprised when they find out that he was mildly brilliant in class, which led to his new found popularity in just two days if his resumption.

But in my eyes, he's still the same generous Micheal I know.

We barely talked after our last encounter, which didn't really end well. We greet like normal classmates should— Good morning, good morning and we go our various ways, nothing out of hand.

"Are you tired? You look stressed." He asked again, clearly not knowing the meaning of privacy as he sat beside me.

I rolled my eyes and placed my head on the table to avoid his stare.

"Look, I get that you're angry for reasons unknown to me but you're still my friend, so I care for you just as you do me."

"Ex best friend." I corrected him, rolling my eyes again.

He sighed, his thumb drawing circles on my hand. I didn't even pull away because I was really tired to react, or even talk for that matter. "We really need to talk Ruth."

"Then talk Mike." I shrugged, my voice filled with sleep.

"When you told me you were leaving, I didn't want to believe it. That was until you left and I realized you were telling the truth, even if if you did leave without giving me an explanation. Friends are supposed to tell each other everything but I feel like you cheated on me with that. Why do I feel like that Ruth?"

I barely heard a word he was saying as I fell into a world of lucid dreams, drowning all all my fatigue away.

This feels like home.