Christmas is Red

The Creeps

When he told them that he was a writer, an expected sort of awkwardness hung in the atmosphere.

It was always that way around him really, something oozed out of him constantly to break camaraderie, to make people self-conscious, uncomfortable, to take an unwarranted sip from their tumblers, and in extreme cases, mildly afraid. It was not something Jidechukwu -Jide for short - could control, not yet at least, but he had a plan.

Kelechi, Kechi for short, coughed - a made up sort of cough, Jide was sure and it caused an uproar of nervous laughter amongst them, amending the broken festivity in the air. Kechi was good at this, making life work around him and that was why even though they were seated round a table of drinks, everyone's posture slightly shifted from the center, angling towards him. It was best that way so that they could easily turn their heads to see him. For this guy, Kechi was fine, in his physique, charisma, words and lifestyle. Every breath he took excited the people around him, but that was not the case for Jidechukwu. Sitting opposite Kechi, with everyone angling away from him, he was barely noticed even in his bright red Christmas themed hoodie. Even his bright enchanting eyes -the only absolutely fine, exciting thing about him - were hidden behind partial shade pair of glasses and that did not help. Which was why they couldn't wait for him to savor his turn to talk about himself. They wanted to go through everyone quickly so that they'd return to Kechi. He had promised to finally tell them about his old uncle who recently married a twenty year-old girl, after everyone took their turn to talk about themselves for a change.

At that, Chioma had exclaimed; "aw!" placing a manicured hand tenderly on her plump cleavage in exaggerated emotion. She added; "That is so mature of you." Kechi had beamed with a huge grin in response.

"What about you, Paul." Juliana, Jul for short, asked the guy next to Jide, who hadn't taken a sip since from his tumbler placed on the center table. He was not exactly one of them, he was a visitor. He was fine also, tall too, but unlike Kechi he was quiet and polite. Jide thought he was cool. "Do you not drink at all, or..."

Paul let out a beautiful laugh that expressed slight nervousness. He might not be used to being put in this sort of situation. He smiled.

"I am Paul"

"And cute" Mmesoma said with a mischievous smile, while still texting seemingly absent mindedly on her phone. She giggled.

"And very brilliant." Chinedu added, he had invited Paul to this reunion meant for only their school mates and supposedly had practically bounded him up and carried him here against his will. "Go on, tell everyone about your big invention and the latest gist."

Paul blushed in modesty as everyone turned their attention to him. Jide stole a glance at Kechi to study his mien in attempt to ascertain his reaction towards the shift in attention. He wore a cool façade, but Jide could see in those eyes, that he felt a sting, it was neither obvious nor convincing.

"I am Paul Agunta, was...um, invited by this fool here." He nodded at Chinedu who laughed in response. "I am from LASU where we met and I am a physicists."

"Physics?" Mmesoma asked. "That's like...a course in University or all these education courses or what?"

"Shush!" Juli ordered, and all Paul did was smile.

"Go on," Chinedu ordered.

Paul chuckled softly. "em...I do physics and I designed something that like...how do I explain it?"

"Well, he designed something that can be used to make devices like drones or cars to never have crash into each other objects or people. Like, guy...it's really cool." Chinedu helped, and Paul seemed relieved.