Late Eighteen

39| Chapter thirty nine

I swear I could feel my insides tingle just a little tiny bit but I made sure to compose myself. You could hear the uneven breathes he unintentionally released with short pants of tiredness through his voice on the phone, making it seem as if he ran a marathon or engaged in extra curricular activities.

If you know what I mean.

I cleared my throat a little bit because somehow, it seemed to have something logged in there. "You know me, just browsing through my phone as usual, I don't really have anything going on."

"Boredom go soon kill you." His rich laugh filled the phone and I tried to hard to hard to control the grin on my face. Here I was, behaving like a teenager talking to their crush on the phone. Basically, I am, but we don't need to talk about that. "Aren't you attending Ezekiel's send off party?"

Zeke is supposed to travel to the United States tomorrow unfailingly and we as responsible classmates decided to throw a little party to show our love and support for him. After the death of his mum, he hasn't been the same. I could see that he changed, everyone could see it. He's been so detached and closed off, he avoids everyone like the plague.

Even his dad.

To some extent, I could gladly say I understand the way he feels. But I didn't lose a mum, only he knows how to feel about that. I decided to give him some space while trying to be there for him at the same time. There's only so much I can do but I'll continue to try my best.

"Of course I'm coming, I wouldn't miss it for anything. I mean, this might be the last time I get to see him for sometime or even forever, why would I want to waste it?"

"Well, you might want to get up from your bed now. The get together was scheduled for twelve o'clock and it's almost noon."

"Big head, why would you even assume I'd still even be on my bed by this time?" He couldn't see me but I made sure to roll my eyes like he could.

"Because I know you Ruth, you always seem to forget that. You're probably still in your pajamas with your ugly ass bed head making a ruckus everywhere." His infective laugh filled my ears again and I couldn't help but ask God what I did in my past live to receive a blessing as big as this.

Even when I tried to pretend to be mad, I just couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of me. "You dey craze, idiot." A deep laugh tumbled out of me, my laugh like that of an hyena compared to his. "You still love me like that and I know it, so don't even try to belittle me."

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever had the opportunity to see babe, there's no doubt about that. I'm so lucky to have you, I hope you know that." His voice had taken a soft tone, voice so gentle I could hear the affection in them, it had me feeling all types of things. "Be ready in an hour, I'll come pick you up on my way, okay?"

"Of course." And then he cut the call.

I couldn't help the blush that spread across my cheeks, that bastard sure knows how to make me blush.

I am so fucked.

• • •

By the time Mike and I got to the location where the get together was supposed to take place, the party was already in full swing. On the bright side, Mike had made me blush atleast a dozen times during our ride here, I'm convinced my cheeks won't be able to hide the soft shade of pink covering my cheeks any longer.

I've known Mike all my life, and I still managed to miss the simple fact about his charm. Before we relocated to Nigeria, I've always know the ladies to go for him, but he's always refused them for a particular reason. As friends, I never questioned it but I'm starting to get curious. He could be friends with anyone, why me?

And this is not even me downgrading myself 'cause I give so much credit to myself, but I just feel the need to know.

I turned to him and saw that he was facing out the window. We were still sitting in the car, oblivious of everything around us even after coming almost an hour late. Mike's muscles flexed as his right hand rested on the centre console, his left on the steering wheel of his Range Rover. I started to notice little things about him, things I never even noticed before.

To me, he didn't look like a boy anymore, he looked more like a man.

Feelings started to arise inside of me, feelings k didn't even know were there, and I became confused on how to make worth of it. Eventually, I turned to him and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

At this point, he was already oh his phone but he dropped it to give me the best of his attention. It made me feel all mushy and warm inside, I couldn't explain it. "Yeah, if course, that's okay."

I turned to face him so I could see his eyes more clearly. "I have never seen you with a girl, why is that?"

He looked at me for about ten seconds before releasing a deep sigh, dropping his phone in the process. "I used to like a girl, I still do."

"Oh..." Somehow, I felt a tinge of jealousy hit me and it irritated me to the deepest part of my heart because I couldn't fathom why. "What's her name? What happened to her?"

"She moved across the freaking country, that's what? But that's okay, 'cause we're back together, after so many years. I love her so much, I just hope she feels the same way for me."

Now, the jealousy in me had graduated to full blown anger so I decided to change the topic. "It's getting late, shouldn't we go inside?"

"Yeah, of course."