Nana Kwame insisted that we continue the game as if Ethan and Kafui were never a part of it. So we did, with me passing the card over to Akweley who moved it to Seth. On Seth's side was Amina, waiting to receive the card until Seth deliberately let it fall.
"Oooh bummer," he smiled. "Now you have to kiss me."
In the next minute, the assistant swim team captain locked lips with Seth, cupping his stubble covered chin.
"Oh get it, girl!" Akweley shouted beside me.
The kiss intensified until the beaded curtains at the entrance rattled.
"Amina!"
We all turned.
Low and behold, Amina's boyfriend stood behind our game circle with nothing but a horrified expression on his face.
"Ooo," Princess' lips expanded. "This is gonna be good."
"Ish-ishmael!" Pushing Seth away, Amina scrambled onto her feet. "What-what are you doing here?"
"I believe I should be the one asking you that question!" The fair guy came closer. "Didn't you tell me that you were too exhausted to go out for dinner with me? Yet, here you are exchanging saliva with this dumb bastard!"
"Hey watch it bro!" Seth jerked up, ready for a fight but Amina held him back.
"Look it's not what you think. Everything you saw was just a game. A harmless game of Suck and Blow, that's it."
"Oh ok." Ishmael nodded then pulled out a brown envelope that was sticking out of his back pocket. "Then what explanation do you have for this hm?" He slapped the envelope into Amina's hand. "What explanation do you have for the fact that you've been cheating on me for the past two years!"
A cloud of murmurs arose and Amina's face whitened. "Wha-I....what are you-"
"Open it." Ishmael pointed at the envelope. "It's all in there, everything I needed to know about the secret life you were living behind my back."
Paper began to rustle as Amina carefully pulled out the content and though I hadn't even taken a glance, the expression on the assistant team captain's face was enough to relay the message.
"Who..." Seth took the pictures from her, looking equally pale. "Who gave you these? How did you get them?"
"I honestly don't know." Ishmael shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm grateful to whoever left it underneath my door."
"Who's that?" Seth barked into his face. "Tell me who it is!"
"Whoa, get away from me, man." Ishmael pushed him back. "Look, I didn't come here to fight with you over her. You've obviously had your way with Amina for so long, you now think she's entitled to you. So you can keep her. I just came here to make it clear that it's over. There's nothing else between us."
"What!" Amina cried out. "No! Ishmael, please."
"I gave you everything you wanted in a boyfriend, Amina!" he yelled. "I was always there for you in good times and bad. I supported you. I even gave up studying abroad so you and I could be in the same university. And this is how you repay me? By cheating on me cuz I don't have a big dick?"
Princess and a few others filled the air with snickers and snorts. Some girls from the volleyball team had pulled out their phones and were recording the whole show.
"You were never worth any of those sacrifices, and for that... I regret being in a relationship with you."
"No, no, Ishmael please." Amina dashed forward but Ishmael wouldn't even let her touch him. "This was all just a big mistake, you have to let me explain."
The fair guy simply walked out of the lounge.
Seth pulled Amina close to his chest, trapping her in a hug. "It's over baby, stop crying. He's gone, gone for good."
"No, he's not!" With a mighty force, Amina pushed Seth away and took off after Ishmael." The volleyball girls followed with their phones still on record.
Seth stood surprised for a minute before turning back to us. "Where the fuck is Ethan?" He yelled.
When he got silence as an answer, he flung the envelope across the room and stormed out in search of his friend. "Fucking bastard," he muttered.
The envelope now lay discarded on the floor. I stretched over to get it and the rest of the game players moved over to have a look.
They were mostly Amina's nudes and pictures of her in bed with Seth. There was even a typed letter from an anonymous sender, referring to Ishmael as "pencil dick."
"Oh my God, I never knew Amina had the guts to take nude pics," Princess laughed, "Her boobs look like worn out socks!"
Akweley and the others pulled out their phones, snapping the incriminating pictures.
"Ok, that's enough guys stop!" Gathering up the pics, I shoved them back into the envelope and stood up. My tonation was a bit slurred because of the beer and cocktail I drank, but I didn't care. "This is a serious issue ok. We need to report this to the administration."
"Are you crazy?" Nana Kwame snatched the envelope from me. "If anyone reports this to admin, the sender won't be the only one in trouble, Amina and Seth will be dragged into it too." He pulled in a breath. "We can't let these pictures cause more damage than they already have. So those of you who have them on your phone, delete them!"
Akweley frowned. "Ah no wai-"
"Delete it now!" Nana Kwame insisted.
In the midst of grumbles, the other players began tapping on their phones. Akweley, still reluctant to get rid of the images, was about to turn off her phone when Nana Kwame snatched it from her and wasted no time deleting the pics.
"Hey!" Akweley stood up. "You had no right!"
"And you had no right to keep them!" He snapped back. "Have you forgotten that a couple of the guys in the swim team have your nudes? If you release these, yours will go out too. And you wouldn't want that, would you?"
Fear flashed in Akweley's eyes, then she shoved Nana Kwame to the side and stormed out of the lounge. The others too started to disperse, bringing our game to an end.
Nana Kwame sighed beside me, "I'll see you guys later, gotta get rid of these." He waved the envelope in his hand before exiting the room.
"Well..." Princess pushed herself out of the beanbag chair with a grunt. "Talk about drama."
"Yeah, no kidding," I mumbled
"Hey guys!" Someone yelled over the loud music. "Who is up for some beer pong?"
"Oh beer pong, let's go!" Without giving me an option, Princess dragged me out of the lounge and into the crowded kitchen.
¤¤¤¤¤
Copious amounts of alcohol later...
"Here, your turn."
My vision was blurred, but I still managed to take the hose from Princess and fixed it in my mouth. Drawing in a steady breath, I exhaled, watching the gray clouds seep past my lips.
"Hmm." Who knew smoking shisha could be both exhilarating and relaxing?
I took a second draw and passed the hose back to Princess. We were both sprawled on the couch, floating in the wonderful apple flavoured tobacco.
"Wow, you guys are really into this thing huh?" Someone bumped my knee. "You've been smoking this shit for an hour now."
The voice sounded far off, but I had a hunch that it belonged to Nana Kwame.
"Wanna give it a try?" I heard Princess ask but the guy turned her down.
"Naah, shisha isn't really my thing. Plus, Ethan asked me to keep an eye on the guys from the football team. It's half past midnight, and the bastards have already broken three coffee tables and a wine rack."
"Wait...did...did you just say it'sss half past midnight?" I quizzed, trying to suppress the slurring.
"Yeah," Nana Kwame replied. "It's currently 12:32 am."
For some reason my body jerked up. I had no idea why, but there was this knawing ache in my gut telling me that I had to get out of here.
"Hey, hey." A hand clumped down on mine. "Wher-where are you going to?"
"I need to leave." The moment I stood up, everything else started spinning.
"What?" Someone tugged my hand. "Leave to where?"
I also wondered that, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember. All my mind could come up with was Shola's round face and that brilliant smile she always gave me, fading into disappointment.
I moved a step forward and nearly toppled over the hookah.
"Hey, you need to sit down." A figure pushed me back into a chair.
"No." I tried standing up, but that person climbed onto my lap, trapping me in place. "I... I need...to go."
"Akwasi, you can't go anywhere, you're dazed. You won't even be able to make it to the door without falling. Just relax ok." Her hands kneaded my shoulders.
"But...but Shola..."
"Sssh. Shola is right here."
"Where?" I wanted to look into those warm honey brown eyes of hers. Instead, all I could see was fuzzy black.
"Here." Soft lips touched mine and it didn't take much to have her tongue in my mouth. Goosebumps set my skin ablaze when she started grinding and moving her hips against my groin. I felt the blood rushing down to my manhood, so much so that I began wishing the clothes between us would just disappear and I could feel the friction, skin-on-skin.
A million thoughts were running through my head, ordering me to stop, but how could I? How could I stop something that warmed me up and made me feel so good?
My hands wandered up her thighs to her back side, giving her ass cheeks a little squeeze. She echoed out a grunt of approval then paused to whisper, "keep doing that," encouraging me to squeeze some more.
Her mouth then moved down, nibbling all the way to my collarbone and despite my raging thoughts, I allowed myself to get lost in the thrill of sexual ecstasy.
*****