Cover by mellycoco__
After an hour of arguing over whether or not they were going out, the girls finally managed to get Tilewa in decent outing clothes and headed to the nearest mall where they played virtual reality games and then headed to see a movie at the cinema.
"I still don't get why we had to see this movie o", Tilewa complained as they left the viewing theatre. "Complete waste of money, something that I can download and watch in my room, you guys just made me waste my money on movie tickets and overpriced snacks!"
"Omg Tilewa, take a chill pill", Eno shushed her.
"See this one, instead of you to be thanking God that you have friends to take you out, don't you know sitting at home all day can lead to depression?" Uzo quipped.
"Hmm, according to what research o, you have come again with your rubbish theories", Tilewa snapped, her voice taking an irritable tone.
"See ehn, I will not even allow you to annoy me, because I know what is doing you", Uzo replied walking ahead of the group, leaving Eno and Tilewa to walk in silence.
"Can I go home now?" Tilewa begged, facing Eno.
"No," she said in her mother tone "you just pissed Uzo off, go apologise."
Tilewa groaned. She hated when Eno got like this.
"Be quick about it, I'm hungry."
With a sigh, Tilewa doubled her pace and caught up with Uzo then bumped into her on purpose.
"You are very mad, you know." Uzo said.
Tilewa nodded with a sheepish smile.
And just like that, they had made up.
"Okay, can we get food now? I'm hungry", Eno said, emerging behind them.
After placing their orders at the food court, they headed over to a free table at the side of the room.
"Excuse me for a second", Uzo said, barely two seconds after they took their seats.
"Let me see pictures of my baby, it's been too long", Tilewa said, reaching for Eno's phone.
"Okay, I'm coming." Holding out the phone to Tilewa, Eno showed her the picture of a little girl in a colourful print dress on the screen. "This was taken yesterday, she wanted to wear the new dress her dad just bought for her even though we weren't going anywhere."
Tilewa laughed at that.
"Then we took these last week", Eno said, scrolling through a bunch of selfies.
"Aww she's so cute", Tilewa cooed.
"Ahem." The sound of Uzo clearing her throat in front of them caught their attention and they both looked up.
Standing beside Uzo were three men, all dark in complexion. The shortest amongst them had a nice haircut and was about Eno's height while the other two were most likely over 6ft. One was bald while the other seemed to be growing an afro. They all had something in common though, they sported bushy beards and were casually dressed in t-shirts and jeans with palm sandals to go.
"Guys, these are my friends, Tilewa and Eno", Uzo introduced them, then turning to her girls she said, "Babes, meet Gabriel," she motioned towards the short one "Majeed," she pointed at the tall bald one "and Ebuka.
"We just met while placing our orders and I was like, there's three of them and three of us, the more the merrier right?"
"Right" Eno said, her voice laced with fake enthusiasm.
It was just like Uzo to bring complete strangers to eat with them.
"Common girls, don't be rude, say hi" Uzo instructed.
"Heyyyy", Eno said, laying the fake enthusiasm on thicker while Tilewa simply waved at them.
"C'mon guys, join us", Uzo offered, sitting down beside Tilewa whose eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of their sockets as she stared daggers at the side of Uzo's head. The men got seats from a nearby table and all settled nicely with them.
"So what brought you guys here tonight?" Uzo, the extrovert took charge of the conversation.
"Oh, we just came to chill and unwind," Majeed replied with a smooth baritone "How about you ladies?"
"Well, my girl here," Uzo threw her arm around Tilewa "got dumped by her boyfriend a couple of weeks back, so we brought her out to cheer her up."
Eno choked on the bottle of water she was sipping on just then while Tilewa smacked the side of her head without thinking causing the men to burst into a fit of mirth.
"Ow", Uzo winced.
"No shame, Tilewa. I just got out of a relationship myself", Gabriel soothed.
"Were you dumped?" she asked without thinking, the heartache searing in her chest.
He shook his head no.
"Tell me." Tilewa demanded, staring at him dead in the eyes.
"Okay, we only dated for like 6 months and I realised I wasn't feeling it again so I called it off."
"You want my own story?" anger was boiling within her as she thought about how all men were cut from the same cloth. "We dated for three years, hell, he even proposed. Then guess what?" She smiled, but her eyes were cold. "He dumped me out of the blue for the ex that broke his heart 3 years ago."
"Harsh", Majeed quipped.
"You have no idea."
A server at the counter signalled that their order was ready so they all went to get their meals.
The spicy taste of the spaghetti and meatball sauce seemed to calm Tilewa so that by the time she was full, her vexation had completely dissipated.
"You know what?" Majeed asked as they rounded off their food. "Let's all head to the bar", he suggested, eyes locked on Tilewa's.
"Brilliant idea", Uzo, who always loved an opportunity to get wasted, seconded the motion.
"No, no, no", Tilewa began in dissent, but the group was already on their feet. She looked to Eno for help, for support, anything that would make them go anywhere but the bar.
"Tilewa stop looking at me like that, let's go", Eno said.
***
"God! My head!" Uzo lamented for the umpteenth time.
It was Saturday afternoon.
While the girls had drunk their livers out the previous night, Tilewa had stuck to a glass of water with ice and lemon, which could pass off for gin and tonic to an unsuspecting passersby. Her last escapade with alcohol was still fresh in her head and she was reluctant to add another sour experience to her humiliation chronicles, so while Eno and Uzo had requested shots upon shots as they got to know the nice gentlemen who took them out, Tilewa had stylishly sipped on a glass of cold water and she was yet to regret that decision.
They had come in at midnight and had all slept into the afternoon until a call from one of Tilewa's clients jerked them all awake. And as she watched the soup on fire she could not be more grateful for choosing to be sober the night before. Eno had wrapped a towel around her head and was sprawled on the floor of the living room, with the curtains drawn closed and the lights off making the place look like the set of a spooky movie while Uzo chose to stay in the bedroom where the sunlight was streaming directly from the windows. They were both in terrible conditions even after Tilewa had served them tea with an analgesic.
"I swear I'm never drinking again", Uzo moaned from the room.
"I would not bet on that", Eno croaked from where she lay.
"Tilewa how on earth are you not tripping?" Uzo asked.
"Because unlike you both, I chose not to drink last night."
"But I watched you take two glasses of gin and tonic! You're a lightweight, you should be suffering with us right now", Uzo whined.
"You saw me take two glasses of water actually. I told the bartender that I was in charge of getting your drunken asses home so he was glad to serve me water."
"Smart girl", Eno croaked, reflecting on her own foolishness. She had been so eager to have time off from her daughter and her husband that she let herself get drunk to stupor.
"Don't worry, food will soon be ready. The painkiller will kick in on a full stomach", Tilewa encouraged.
***
By the time Tilewa was done with cooking and all her orders were sorted and dispatched to their final destinations, she returned to her apartment to meet Uzo and Eno sharing the leftover tub of ice cream over a movie.
"She's back!" Eno whooped.
"Babes, how far, I even forgot to ask sef", Uzo started. "Tinuke's wedding is next Saturday o"
"Is it next Saturday? I already mixed up the date o!" Eno replied.
"My tailor is sending my clothe tomorrow," Uzo said, "Tilewa how far plans na?"
Tilewa shrugged.
"What's that na, madam. Don't tell me you're not coming", Eno started.
"I just don't feel like attending any weddings anytime soon jo", Tilewa muttered.
"Girl, get over this! That guy did not even deserve you and although I'm sorry you're heartbroken, I'm not sorry you split", Uzo deadpanned.
"You never liked him at all."
"We only ever put up with him because of you", Uzo quipped.
" Speak for yourself, I thought he was a pretty decent guy" Eno said.
"Well, turns out you were wrong!" Uzo retorted.
Emo had a response ready on her lips but it was drowned out by Tilewa's groaning "I'm so sad" right before she burst into a fitful of tears.
"No, no, no. No tears, baby. Positive vibes only", Eno encouraged her, drying her eyes with her palms.
"No tears at all! We are going to storm that wedding next week and show everybody that Olatilewa Gbadegesin is single and ready to mingle!"
"They must know!!!"
Tilewa could not help but laugh at that, as her girls managed to cheer her spirits.
_____________
The long-awaited chapter 8!
This chapter and the previous one have been the most difficult to write since I started this project for so many reasons, but we thank God I managed to get it out!
And I'm officially out of the writer's block zone💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽
Chapters 9 and 10 drop tomorrow!
If you enjoyed this bit, don't forget to comment, share and hit that little star to show me some love🥰🥰
Omg! Is that 2k views I see🤩🤩 you all are just simply amazing! Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to share and repost! The support and encouragement I've received from everyone over the past 5 weeks is so overwhelming.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
xox,
Mure 👑