Titi Iku: Until Death (Sequel To Irikuri)

17- Until Recap

It had been a little over a month since Ade first kissed me. Of course I still didn't necessarily want to live with him again, but he had various ways to convince me now and he used them. Very nefarious ways that should definitely not have been used just for him to get his way, but I'll tell you right now that I wasn't complaining. What I liked a lot about us being together now was our dynamic remained the same. We still clowned each other and made jokes and bickered, but now we were a real couple. Just thinking about that fact made me feel warm inside - which was odd because I never thought I would be that type of person; but as you probably know, love can turn anyone into a fool.

I spent those weeks blissfully happy. Our relationship didn't make all of my problems disappear, but I had learned to not expect that to happen. I learned to stop being dependent on someone else to prop me up, so maybe Ade was right. Maybe we entered the relationship at a time when I was finally ready. I still had more than enough room for improvement since I embraced the dark side of myself in a way that could soon become toxic, but I was still much better off than before. I hadn't seen Ximenes in ages and I was relishing my freedom from him. The man terrorized me while he was alive and for him to continue his reign of terror even in death was beyond excessive. I suppose there truly is no rest for the wicked. Speaking of, Lola and I were still cool even though I was rarely in our room. Every once in a while we'd meet up at the library to get some work done or grab lunch to catch up. She had managed to solidify herself as one of my closest friends and I was hers too. I had never had a real friend group before, so my dynamic with Lola and Asante made me really happy. Although Asante was two states away in college, some weekends we'd visit each other or we'd arrange to get on a group call.

On one such occasion, I sat on my bed waiting for the idiots I called friends to pick up the call so my 'laptop' would stop ringing. Ade hated that I still called his inventions by the dated names of their predecessors, but the word 'holotop' sounded so gross to me. It was fitting -since the laptop Ade had designed used his hologram technology and was quite different from its predecessors - but still gross. The only physical part of the Xcel laptop was a small, foldable, keyboard - almost like one you would attach to an ipad a couple years ago. The rest of the device only became accessible when you entered a pin or let the small camera in the middle of the keyboard scan your face to unlock the device. Then a rectangular hologram 'screen' of sorts would appear controlled solely by motion and the keyboard. I was lost in thought for a second, admiring the device, before finally the small camera rose out of the keybord and turned to me with the flashlight on, indicating the video call had started.

"Bitch you late, as usual." I said as Asante's big ass head popped up on my screen.

"Um girl hop off my dick some of us have lives. Not to mention your girl still ain't here so I'm early as far as I'm concerned."

"My girl? Last time I checked you introduced us."

"Well duh but when she's late or pisses me off she's your girl. Whenever she does something I like then she's my girl again."

"You got issues."

"Don't we all?"

"No girl that's just you." Lola said before her face popped up on the screen.

"Bitch I don't want to hear from your broke ass. Out here having your audio connect before your camera. Buy a new holotop already, damn! In fact don't even buy one, just ask Nani to pop the pussy a lil and I'm sure Ade will spare you one."

"You can't pimp me out right in front of my face!" I gasped

"Bitch I just did, and if I ever get with a billionaire I welcome you to do the same." Asante snorted

"Oh speaking of, how y'all doing? Where's Ade at? He usually always in the background of your calls being a damn menace." Lola laughed

"We're good. I purposely sent him to the store because you're right, he is a damn menace."

"Hey! That's my brother y'all are talking about."

"Asante fuck off. You just like him because you hate Ian" I laughed

"As I should. That boy set the bar low. If I didn't need to go to college so damn bad I would've beat his ass personally."

"Wait I knew Nani had an ex but was he that bad?" Lola asked

"Oh my God. Don't get us started chile" Asante sighed

"He was irritating"

"Aggravating"

"Dishonest"

"Impulsive"

"Dumb as a rock"

"Girl dumber than a doornail"

"Dumber than a vegan vulture."

"Dumber than that one time I called my mom a bitch under my breath."

"Dumber than using tissue paper as a condom."

"Dumber than using a cactus as a dildo-"

"Okay okay I get it! Damn."

"Lets just say Asante doesn't hate anybody. So for her to hate that man as much as she does...anyways chile that's a story for later. The fact that he didn't even cross my mind for a second when I was gone but I was living in his head rent free should tell you enough."

"Bloop." Asante cackled behind her hand

"So anyways enough about the clown. Asante how's your JHU boo doing?"

"Oh I been left his ass."

"Girl what?" Lola gasped "I thought y'all were doing so good."

"Chile he got boring and I'm still in love with Kofi so why waste his time? I only tried him out because I thought maybe I was over it, but since I'm clearly not, I'm not gonna string him along. Speaking of boring, did y'all catch our show yesterday? Bro that shit was trash. Ever since they switched producers it's been deteriorating...." We continued talking like that for at least an hour. I caught Asante up on the internships I had applied for, the irritating girl in my English 101 class that wouldn't leave me alone, and how Miguel was still holding on to the possibility of a 'friendship' with me even though I told him I wasn't interested. I couldn't tell him I was in a relationship for the obvious reasons, but damn relationship or not 'I do not want you' should be simple enough to understand. Anyways, Lola and Asante also shared their stories, what they were doing for thanksgiving break, and caught me up on their lives. By the time Ade finally got back from the store and started whining, we were finally ready to sign off. I waved my hand to end the call and the camera finished retracting just as Ade walked into the room.