Um guys... I edited the last two chapters and changed a few things. You guys should reread them so you back in line with the story.
Enjoy!!
Song; Insomnia- Zayn
🎶 Am I a fool... waiting for you?
What if you never come back?
What if you never come back?🎶
KACELY
"Stuff?" she chuckles
"Yes, stuff like things... activities"
"Activities huh?"
"Yes" I squeak and she gives me a look that makes me feel dumber. I hope the girl beside us can't overhear our conversation. I look over my shoulder and she has an are-you-being-serious-right-now look on her face.
She shakes her head and breaths out the smoke from her mouth before sipping from her glass.
OK I know I am acting stupid, you don't need to remind me
"Zac are you asking me about my hobbies?" Avery asks
"Yeah..." I nod and sip from my bottle awkwardly.
"Uh huh" Avery muses before chuckling mockingly and I look over my shoulder again. The girl is still looking at me waiting for what I will say, for the next part of the conversation.
"Listen I know we just met and it is usually awkward because of the whole get-to-know-each-other phase from the start but we really don't have to put ourselves through that. Can we skip that part and act like we know each other already? We don't have to do the whole 'do you like stuff?' procedure. It's bizzare."
"It is bizzare" I concur and we both giggle. I am so grateful she just said what she said, I feel so much more relaxed now.
"So why did you come out today?"
"Because he made me come out" I reply pointing Henry.
"Your brother?" she asks coming closer to me so I can hear her above the noise from the speakers that just got increased. I nod in acceptance and she finishes the content of her bottle. "Do you regret it?"
"Not really, no" I say and sip from my glass "What about you? Why did you come out tonight?"
"I don't know... for a laugh maybe. I was bored at home, this holiday has been really boring for me" she says before some guys take up a mic and start saying whatever.
"What's been making it boring?" I chuckle and she bends over to answer me before the guy with the mic cuts in.
"Can we have your attention everyone?"
"Pleeeaaasssseee..." the girl beside me says and breathes out smoke as she roles her eyes.
"Today is my man Madjid's birthday and we would really appreciate it if you can all help us sing him a happy birthday song."
"No... no we don't want to" the girl beside me says
"Wanna go outside?" Avery laughs and I nod frantically. I really don't want to sing happy birthday to anyone now. I mean it's not like I don't want him to have a happy birthday, I really just... don't care.
Avery stands up first and before I do, I spot Henry kissing Nancy, like tongue down her throat kissing. In a crowded club like this with the lights lit so bright?
Hmmmm
Could never be me... could never be me.
Avery and I look like the complete party spoilers as we walk out while people sing happy birthday to the guy at the centre of the room. We walk through the narrow corridor and find ourselves on a whole different balcony.
"This is better" she says with a smile and I nod before sipping from my bottle again. The wind blows through her weave and I look away before she catches me staring at her. She is really pretty, her eyes are large and very appealing.
"I was asking why has your holidays have been so boring..."
"Oh... well, nothing serious actually. I've just been home, haven't had stuff to do. I just wake up, do a few chores, eat, watch movies, eat, go out and look for more food to eat, watch another movie... it gets boring"
"Yeah I feel you."
"You can relate?"
"No no, not at all. My holiday has been pretty eventful and possibly draining. I actually came to Ghana so I could get a clear head."
"Where were you?"
"Cameroon"
"Cameroon? You have to be the first person I know who left Ghana for Cameroon" she giggles "What's it like there?"
"Pretty normal actually. Nothing too extra but quite different from here at the same time."
"Why'd you go there? No, why'd you come back?"
"To clear my head" I exhale.
"Clear your head from what?" she asks and leans against the wall.
"Pffftttt.... A lot. Family drama, exams, girl drama..."
"Did you get a girl pregnant?"
"No" I deny strongly "Thank God it didn't get to that, Jesus" I say and she laughs
"What then?"
"I really don't want to talk about it" I tell her and lean against the balusters, finishing the last sip from my bottle before placing it on the space beside me.
"Let's not talk about it then" she smiles and leans beside me. We stand there in awkward silence for a couple of moments and I wonder whether or not to actually open up about Az or any of the other drama sessions I have had to experience these last few months but I decide against it. That is totally uncalled for, I'm just uncomfortable with the silence.
"What's the most fun thing you did in Cameroon?" She asks and I think about it for a second; the swimming competition was good, Limbe was good... Edea was ok too...
"Well I visited this really cool museum once."
"What's it like?"
I look over the city as I wonder whether or not to open up to this girl about one of the best days of my life spent with the girl I love most yet cannot be with at the moment.
"Come on... describe it to me" she urges and turns around, leaning against the balusters instead.
"OK... So it's in this town in the West of the country called Foumban and it has a lot of historical significance to the people of that area. Physically, the building has been built on a ring road made of two levels; the one down is designed in the form of a two headed snake and the top level is made of a spider with a gong on the snake's back, a big black spider."
"That sounds terrifying" she chuckles.
"Hmmm" I enunciate in agreement and she chuckles further.
"Now these two snakes or rather the two headed snake has both mouths open and that is the door to the place. Like the open mouths are the doors and the stairs are their tongues."
"Jesus... are you sure the thing is not demonic?"
"Same thing I thought when I got there." I laugh "I was terrified and intrigued at the same time. but nah, I don't think it is."
"Why a spider though?"
"If I remember correctly, the spider signifies the hard work of the king at that time. I don't remember much and I will rather not misquote their history. It was pretty interesting though, I had the best time there, that day." I admit and recall the other events that followed when I left the museum, when Az and I left the museum.
"It does sound really nice. Do you have any pictures I can look at?"
I do have some pictures in my Google Photos, but I would rather not look at them right now because I will have to see Az again and that will only make me backtrack.
"They are in my laptop. But I can Google it so you can see what I am talking about."
"OK" I turn and lean against the balusters too before taking out my phone and Googling it. She gives the work of art its due appreciation and says she doesn't get how the minds of artists work.
"Some people are just so creative. Like I watched a documentary on this European couple; Christo and Jeanne-Claude who used to just go to places and make the most beautiful things for free, on their budget. Not accepting assistance from anyone, using their own money... just for the love of it, for the passion of it, saying they just wanted to bring joy to people. And the funniest thing is their arts hardly made sense to most people. People saw it as unnecessary"
"Why?" I ask, not because I am too interested in what she is saying but because she seems to be really into the whole topic of arts. And I like listening to her talk.
"I'll take an example of one of their projects called the Floating Piers which was like one million square feet of a shimmering yellow fabric over a lake"
"One million?"
"One million"
"It was so beautiful and people would travel from everywhere just so they could walk on it and you know what?"
"What?"
"It was free! No ticket, no entrance fee, no fine, nothing!"
"You're kidding, so how'd they make their money?" I ask "The documentary didn't say how"
"But why do you keep saying 'was'?"
"Because the project was up just for sixteen days. That's what Christo and his wife used to do during their lives. Like I don't get why someone will spend so much money from their pocket only to have it taken down after two weeks for no pay at all."
"Has to be passion"
"Definitely." She answers. "Art expresses the disorder and confusion of mankind"
"Preach!" I say and we both laugh then we go silent for a while longer, she looks like she is thinking about something and I don't want to interrupt her thoughts. She turns around and looks over the city again and I notice she still has that look on her face. I take this opportunity to look examine her body, what she's wearing, her make up, small beautiful details.
"I am so ready to get out of here." She speaks up
"Get out of where?"
"Ghana. I am so tired of just being here my whole life, I want to travel the world, I want to see places. There is so much I want to see, to feel, to hear, to learn. There are so many experiences I want to have."
"Same"
"I don't think you want to as bad as I do. You have even left Ghana, I have been here my whole life and I am soooo ready to get out of here."
"What's stopping you?"
"My parents. They won't let me out of their sight. They didn't even let me rent when I got into university last year and they stopped me from going to the Belguim even when I got a journalism scholarship there."
"Why?" I ask and she looks at me before speaking
"Our older brother died three years ago and so they are like Nancy and I are all they have. They don't want to lose us too and I get that, but why restrict your other children because another suffered a demise?"
"I feel you. It's not fair to you and Nancy"
"Nancy doesn't care about what our parents have to say oh, she does whatever she wants and I admire her so much for it, she is such a free spirit. She has been to at least seven countries. Last year she missed her exams and went to Dubai. When she got back, our parents kicked her out." She laughs and so do I. "I'm sorry, that's too much information."
"Don't worry I won't tell anyone."
"They later ended up begging her to come back home because she moved in with a man who was at least fifty." Avery spills and we both laugh for at least two minutes.
"A sugar daddy? How old was she?"
"Twenty" she says and we both laugh again. By the time we calm down, my stomach walls are painful. Nancy is so much like Henry, I want to tell Avery about how Henry just stopped school so he could work at a mechanic workshop but I decide against it. I don't know how many lies he has told Nancy other than his name and I don't know what Nancy has told her.
"That's wild"
"Seeeee! I wish I had just a third of her courage. I really don't know how I can break free. I have one more year to get my B tech in engineering and then two years after that to get a Barchelors in Engineering. By that time I will be twenty three." Oh so she's a year older than me "I mean I know it's never too late to follow your dream but... I just don't know if I will be willing to wait that long. You know?"
"Yes I get you, especially since you don't like what you are studying. I can imagine how you felt when you couldn't go to Belguim after your scholarship. But why journalism?"
"I like talking"
"And it's obvious your parents were the ones who made you do civil engineering."
"They were, both Nancy and I. My dad's family owns Ocansey constructions."
"Wow..."
"He and his brothers have this cold war on who will run it when my dad retires. They just had to add us into the struggle. I know my dad wants it to be me, but that's not what I want." This conversation has gotten deeper than I anticipated. "I have just been thinking about it and it has really been stressing me up lately"
"Have you told your parents about that?"
"I told my mom and all she said was 'when your father will retire and you will take over his company then you will see the essence of it all'"
"Do you like get good grades?"
"I was second in my class this year, but that doesn't mean anything. I just hate to fail. Plus since Nancy is such a rebel, my parents have given up on her and now the pressure is on me. It has really been putting me in a bad space lately, I feel miserable, like I have no say in my life." She says sadly and feel really really bad for her.
"You always have a say in your life"
"You don't know what you are talking about" she giggles
"I do. Look at your sister for example, she is doing what she wants."
"Nancy doesn't know what she wants." Avery giggles
"At least she is happy"
"Yeah" she says and we grow quiet again. I watch her wipe a tear off, then another, then another and then she looks at me. I don't know what to do but at the end I open my arms and she hugs me. Her scent filling my nostrils. She cries soundlessly, the only reason why I even know she is crying is because her body keeps shaking and I can feel my shirt getting wet. All that can be heard is the sound of E choke by Sefa sounding from inside. Say something Kacely...
"There's this youtuber I follow- Busara, she is Tanzanian and she loves to travel – kind of like you. Her parents were broke and would not even let her leave their village. You know what she did?"
"What?" she asks and looks at me.
"She worked at this low paying factory for over two years and got the papers necessary to travel to Japan; her dream country. When she got there, she basically lived on the streets for almost a year, not because she didn't get good jobs but because she was moving from town to town, experiencing different things. She would get a job at a restaurant and when it closed, she'd sneak in and sleep there or even hide inside after work was done, that is if that night was not for another mini tour.
From Japan to Singapore to South Korea to China, doing these vlogs and posting on Youtube, learning different languages and now she has about six hundred thousand subscribers just from that and almost half a million dollars as net worth. She's a tour guide to peple who want tours in Asian countries, she helps people with their papers to travel to Asia, she teaches languages to newbies, hotels pay her to lodge in them so she can do vlogs that would get views and make them popular." I narrate and Avery is listening very keenly to me. "She's getting paid for doing what she loves. When you get paid for doing something you love, it's not a job but a luxury." I say and she pulls away from me.
"I'm not saying you shpuld run away and be homeless in Japan oh" I tell her and she laughs. "I'm just saying that in life, you can be whoever you want to be and even if you fail, you tried and then you look for something else and if you keep failing, you die trying"
I watch her stare into space as my words sink in and then she looks at me and smiles.
"Thanks for the advice Zac."
"Don't mention it. I think we should go inside." I'm not ready to have another heartfelt conversation. My Jay Shetty bundle for today is exhausted.
"Yeah, are my eyes too red?"
"No, someone will have to come really close to notice." I say and we head inside to find a guy and a girl on our spots.
"I told them they were your seats but they wouldn't listen to me" the girl I was sitting beside slurs with her eyes closed. She is clearly wasted.
"Sorry chale, I didn't take her seriously because she was drunk" the guy apologises
"Haven't you heard that a drunk man always says the truth?" the girl slurs.
"Olive, shut up" Nancy says while still sitting on Henry's thighs and we all laugh, even Olive smiles.
"Bro it's fine. I'll just request for extra chairs."
"Extra chairs for what? You carry your girlfriend and Zac will carry Avery." Nancy buds in.
"Great" Olive says before the girl sits on her boyfriend's thighs and there is a space for both of us.
"Are you ok with this?" I ask Avery.
"I don't mind it" she shrugs and I sit down before she sits on my thighs. Her hips crushing directly on my crotch. I clear my throat and smile when she looks at me.
"Am I too heavy?"
"No, not at all" I smile and so does she. She wraps her arm around my neck and looks into my eyes for a while before looking away. This feels nice, weird but nice. I guess Henry was right, this is what I needed.
"Should we get extra drinks?" Avery asks and I nod.
"Zaccheus, you good?" Henry asks... he did not just call me Zaccheus.
"Which old name is that? Jesus" Olive slurs and looks at me with a frown.
"Are you serious?" I ask Henry with a smile even though I am pissed and he shrugs with a smile.
"So Zac is short for Zaccheus?" Avery asks a with a chuckle as Nancy, Henry and the girl who just arrived laugh.
"Bartholomew, Methuselah, Zaccheus, Abraham, all those names belong in the Old Testament." Olive says
"But Bathelomeew and Zaccheus are from the New Testament." The new girl says.
"Nobody cares, they are still old"
"I don't think it is too bad." Avery says. "Beside, Zac is nice... it suits him." She smiles and so do I "What about Zacchy? Can I call you Zacchy?"
"It's not that bad. Zaccheus... Zacchy"
"Zacchy?"
"It's nice right? Zacchy... I think I will call you Zacchy from now on... or Zac? No, Zacchy's better."
"Zac are you ok?" Avery asks me with a bothered look and I stare at her for a while before pushing her off slowly, getting up and walking away. I head towards the corridor and then to the elevator but before I can get in, Henry pulls on my sleeve.
"Where are you going? Why did you just get up like that?"
"I'm going back to your place." I say and reopen the elevator
"Is it because I called you Zaccheus? I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd get upset. I was playing."
"It's not even about that. Look I just want to leave alright." I say and get in the elevator as Henry just stands there looking at me till the doors align.
Who knows what day it is?🙃
It's Az's birthday 🥳😂😂😂 half of you probably don't care but
reminded me the other day so I was like lemme drop a chapter on her birthday.
I hope y'all are doing alright though, I'm holidays but I'm actually not on holidays because I'm working on some school stuff. However I hope you guys enjoyed it. Pls vote if you did and stay tuned for chapter 34 hopefully in a few days.
Toodles!