Serendipity [BoyxBoy]

Chapter Six

Unlike everyone hanging around the field who obviously looked like they were there to participate in the ritual of kicking balls into nets, in his black hoodie, jeans and scuffed converses, Nosa looked more like he was on his way to an emo’s anonymous meeting but had lost his way.

“Nah,” He replied, hooking a thumb behind him in the general direction of his house. "I live around so I come here sometimes."

“To watch the game?” Irekanmi asked. 

Nosa opened his mouth to reply but the 'yes' he should have said died on his tongue. Standing here in this place he had been coming to for over ten years now-- first with his Dad when he was still young enough to play football with youths and then alone when he got old enough to wander on his own— this was the first time he realized that he had never actually watched a game. 

Nosa knew almost everyone warming up by face and even some by name. He knew they only played a handful of times during the raining season because the wet grass grew long and no one had the time to cut it. He knew when Brother Stephen had to stop playing for a few months because of a leg injury. But he didn't know what positions they played. He didn't know if they sometimes played even with the grass at their shins. He didn't know what move had caused Stephen's injury. 

So why did he come here every Friday evening when he could be home taking a well deserved nap? 

"To be, I guess."

Irekanmi blinked once, then again, like he couldn't quite believe what Nosa said.

Nosa changed the subject before Irekanmi’s brain could attempt to process his answer more.

“What about you?” He asked politely.

Irekanmi gave him a pointed look then gestured down to his clothing as if to say ‘I am here to play. Obviously.’

Nosa bit back a laugh, shaking his head. “I mean, I’ve never seen you around here before. What brought you to this area?”

Irekanmi bent down to lace his shoes. Nosa noticed that they were already laced.

“I moved here recently,” he said. “Well, not here—” his shoulders lifted and fell as he chuckled. “I mean, my family moved into a house in this neighbourhood. He looked up and grinned at Nosa, “I guess that makes us neighbours.”

Nosa’s heart did that weird thing where it stuttered again and, although Google had told him he was totally going to die and he should visit a doctor, he ignored it.

“Cool,” he said.

Irekanmi straightened up and looked across the field. “What anime are you watching now?”

Nosa's mind drifted back their first conversation (if he could even call the one sided event that), to Irekanmi's shock at the fact that he didn't rate anime. Last week Monday seemed like ages ago. 

Nosa shrugged. “I haven't started.”

“Irekan!” Someone on the field called. 

“I dey come!” Irekanmi shouted back. 

Again, that slight lilt in his pidgin made Nosa cringe.

“How about we meet here tomorrow morning?” Irekanmi suggested. “We could go to my place and chill.”

He shouldn’t have been considering it, being mature and polite didn’t mean he liked Irekanmi. What the hell was he looking for in the den of his enemy?

Aside for a way to take him down.

Nosa shook his head to clear the thought. This wasn’t a movie. Irekanmi didn’t have a body in his closet… or at least he hoped he didn’t.

Nosa pulled up his schedule. He had to wash his dad's car, mop the house after Egho swept it and do his laundry.  

"Sure," he heard himself replying.

No, not sure! He had to make lunch and pick beans for dinner then babysit Ehi for the rest of the day. 

Irekan smiled kindly then went off running to his position, tossing a “See you tomorrow,” over his shoulder.

Nosa took a walk around the field over and over again, until the feeling of grass underneath the soles of his shoes began to irritate him.

Then he walked back home.

▪️▪️▪️

Eghosa was sitting on a bench outside the house when Nosa got back home. Her hair was only half braided but she didn’t look like she was in a hurry to finish it as her eyes scanned through something on her phone.

Nosa slammed the gate shut and she jerked up, like she’d just been caught doing something wrong. Nosa eyed her skeptically.

Egho relaxed when she saw that it was only Nosa and placed her phone down on the bench beside her.

“Hi,” Nosa greeted. 

Egho nodded her hello and went to parting a segment of her hair to braid. 

When they were little, Mum used to make Egho’s hair on Saturday evenings like this one. She’d take her time washing Egho’s thick hair, after which she would sit her down on the small wooden stool that belonged to his grandmother and was older than both his parents, and go to work making the school’s regulation hairstyle of the week. 

Whenever he got tired of napping through his Saturday evenings, he’d go to watch his Mum make his sisters hair. He started looking at the hairstyles pinned up on their primary school’s notice board and relay them to his mother; love come down, two chuku, C & O. That was his contribution to the work and, if he was feeling especially generous, he’d hand his mum combs and Shea butter when she needed it. 

This was before his mother got too busy for to make Egho’s hair. After braving hair salons for a few years, Egho learnt to make it herself and he had too many other things to deal with to check the notice board. 

Nosa sat down at the opposite end of the bench and watched the agama lizards in their compound chase each other while Eghosa worked. Her phone began to vibrate, an incoming call, but she didn’t move to get it and he didn’t ask her if she wanted to.

“Are you busy tomorrow?” Nosa asked, breaking the silence. 

“Maybe,” she replied without looking at him.

“Could you please stay with Ehi?” 

Egho's fingers froze in her hair and she turned to take in the look on his face. For a minute, Nosa thought she was going to give him her usual sarcastic reply, or remind him that it was his turn to take care of their little sister.

Eghosa was older than him and she’d always had a better social life than he did, even though she acted like she hated that she had friends who thought she was amazing. She probably had places to be tomorrow. People to see. Things to do. 

“Okay then,” Eghosa said. 

“Okay?” 

She rolled her eyes. “I just said okay.”

“But—”

“Do you want me to change my mind, Nosa?”  That immediately shut him up. 

Nosa stood up, leaving her alone to braid her hair. 

He had to get started on his chores.