Saturday, 5:20 p.m.
Maadwoa
"He's coming, act normal!" Gifty exclaims, running her hands through her hair as she sits up straighter on the bench.
I narrow my eyes at her with a scoff, crossing my right leg over my left. "When have we ever acted normal around Tyler?"
We were sitting on my verandah, waiting for Danny to pick us up for the double date. It took a lot of convincing to get Gifty to come with us. Tyler was easy to convince, as he just wanted to have a good time. Gifty was still nervous and upset about the breakup, and was reluctant to see Tyler. I had to beg her to come with us and she finally gave in, claiming 'just for you'.
Tyler saunters towards us with his hands stuffed in his pockets and a smirk on his face. He was wearing jean shorts and a red shirt. He looked like he put in effort today. I wonder why. Gifty lets out a sigh as he gets closer to us.
"He looks so nice. What is he trying to prove?" she questions, crossing her arms with a groan.
"Be nice." I whisper, causing her to scoff at me.
Tyler steps onto the verandah with a smile.
"Hey Jojo." he greets, using his old nickname for me. I roll my eyes at the name.
"I told you I don't like when you call me that."
He chuckles, taking a seat next to me. "Which is why it has resurfaced."
I shake my head, not even responding to him. Gifty shifts uncomfortably, scratching her head with a scowl on her face. I hear Tyler let out a small breath as he turns his attention to her.
"Hey Gifty. How are you?" he asks.
They haven't seem each other since they broke up and I could practically feel the awkwardness.
She hums in response but I nudge her, giving her a warning look. She winces and rolls her eyes.
"I'm doing great. So great." she responds, giving him an exaggerated smile. I could almost cry from the tension.
He nods. "That's good to hear."
I look at the both of them with a tight smile. I hope they don't act like this all night or else it will be unbearably uncomfortable.
"Well, um, we're going bowling!" I tell them with a smile trying to cut through the tension.
"Really? That prince is so cool oo." Gifty exclaims with a genuine smile.
Tyler scratches his head, while glancing at the ground. I hear a chuckle come from his mouth. I look at him questionably.
"What?" I ask.
"You're wearing flats. You need sneakers to bowl, sweetheart." he says, with his lips curved up in an amused smirk.
I mentally facepalm. I should've known that from all the cliche romance movies I watch.
"I'm stupid. I'll go change then." I say, preparing to stand up.
Before I can even move, Gifty grabs my wrist, panic in her wide eyes.
"No! Don't leave -- I mean, I'll go fetch sneakers from your room. Just sit." she rushes out, grabbing the flats from my feet, and quickly standing up and scurrying into my room, it even giving me a chance to respond.
I look back at Tyler with my eyebrows scrunched in confusion while he nibbles on his lips and shrugs.
"I think she hates me." he admits quietly.
"She doesn't hate you."
"She can't even stand being alone with me." he deadpans.
I shake my head. "She's nervous."
"I didn't want it to be this way though. She's still my best friend."
"Yes, she is. Just give her time." I say assuredly, patting his shoulder. He nods, running his hand through his hair.
The door behind opens and Gifty walks out, holding a pair of black and white converses. Thankfully, they would match with my sky blue polo shirt and black jeans. She puts them on the ground in front of me and sits next to me with a sigh.
"You're welcome." she says.
"Um, you look nice today, G." Tyler compliments as he gazes at her knee length denim overalls and purple shirt underneath.
She blinks rapidly as she looks away, patting her straightened shoulder-length hair. "Hmph."
I glance at Tyler to see a tight smile on his face as he shrugs at me. I give him a tight smile. Before we can continue talking, the door opens behind us again. We all turn our attention to the door to see my aunt strolling out with a chewing stick in her mouth. When she sees us dressed, she scowls.
"Where are you guys going?" she asks quizzically.
"Ma, Danny said he's taking us out." I tell her, while my friends nod in agreement.
My aunt hums with a shake of her head. She glances at Gifty and Tyler, taking the stick out of her mouth.
"So you two want your friend's downfall, right?" she questions them.
"No we don't. What do you mean?" Gifty retorts.
Before my aunt can answer, a loud engine roars closer to us, causing all to look in the direction it was coming from. The familiar black limo pulls up, making my heart jump in excitement. Seeing him or just talking to him brightens my whole day (apart from my friends of course). My aunt sucks her teeth, putting her hands on her hips. I ignore her actions and wave him over, to which he waves back and approaches us. I almost drool at his appearance. He was simply dressed in a blue flannel shirt and jeans, yet he managed to look like a model.
We stand up to meet him and I wrap my arms around his torso tightly with a content smiles. He embraces me in his big arms as he whispers a 'hello' into my ear. Before I get carried away and fall asleep on his chest, Gifty clears his throat behind us, causing me to reluctantly let go of him. Danny chuckles to himself, while my friends hold silly grins on their faces. My aunt hums, rolling her eyes at the sight.
"Hey guys. I'm glad you decided to come." Danny says to Gifty and Tyler.
They nervously exchange a look with each other before Tyler clears his throat.
"Yep, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go bowling."
My aunt clears her throat, removing the stick from her mouth to make her presence known. Danny's smile falters a bit as he gives her a polite wave.
"Good evening." he greets her.
"I see our last conversation didn't resonate with you. I hope you people enjoy yourselves tonight." she spits out, taking a seat on the bench.
Danny holds my hand, ignoring her remark while I shrug. Gifty plasters a fake smile on her face, waving at my aunt.
"We will enjoy ourselves, thank you ma." she responds in a sickly sweet tone.
We hold down our laughs at the way my aunt's eyes grow wider. She looks Gifty up and down in disgust to which Gifty shrugs before gesturing for us to leave.
* * *
"No, Gifty, you're gonna break your hand if you hold the ball like that." Danny warns, swiftly grabbing the bowling ball from her as she tried to balance it in two hands. I giggle at her carelessness and Tyler watches in amusement.
When we got to the bowling center, the workers adamantly insisted that we use a private area so that we could enjoy out game in peace. They claimed that a prince and his company should have the VIP section and even though Danny tried to disagree, they insisted. So here we are, bowling amongst ourselves. We had been playing for thirty minutes now, just trying to get the hang of the game.
"Can we play against each other? We can create teams of two." I suggest, bouncing in my seat like a child.
Danny and Gifty eagerly nod while Tyler gives me a tight smile.
"You know how I get with these type of games. Competition is not good for me." he tells me.
Before I can respond, Gifty scoffs.
"It seems you don't know what's good for you anymore."
Danny looks between them with a nervous smile while I mentally facepalm myself. Here we go.
Tyler's jaw tightens while he gives her a fake smile. "Oh, I know what's good for me. And I definitely know what's not good for me."
"Really?" Gifty bitterly questions, crossing her arms.
"Yes, really." Tyler responds from his seat, mirroring her and crossing his arms.
Danny scratches his head before putting his hand on Gifty's shoulder.
"Um, you girls should be a team. Tyler and I will be another team." he suggests .
"Yes please." I agree quickly, not trusting the exes to be in one team together.
"That's cool. " Gifty says, waving me over. I walk over to her and we type our names onto the screen to be team one. The boys are team two.
The screen signals for Gifty and I to go first. The boys sit as we stand in front of the lane. I grab a yellow ball while Gifty grabs a rainbow one. She gestures for me to go first and I excitedly put three fingers into the ball, holding it up with my other hand.
"I hope it rolls out of the lane." Tyler calls from behind like the unsupportive friend he is. Danny chuckles like the traitor he is while Gifty mutters to herself.
"Shut up." I retort trying to aim the ball to the center of the pins. I let out a breath before rolling the ball out onto the lane. We watch in anticipation as it rolls out towards the pins, but before it reaches the pins, it rolls out of the lane like Tyler wished.
I pout and shoot him a glare while he bursts out in laughter.
"It wasn't my fault, don't look at me like that." he remarks between laughter.
Gifty shakes her head and takes my place. I watch as she quietly sits the ball to the center of the pins that were untouched since I suck.
"Don't be like me." I cheer her on.
She giggles as she throws the ball across the floor. It smoothly rolls out towards the pins and hits all the pins. She jumps up in excitement and I happily clap. At least one of us can play.
"Yay!" she exclaims.
Danny claps as he and Tyler stand up.
"Okay, now let the big boys show you how it's done." Danny brags. I pretend to look around like I'm lost.
"When are they getting here?" I sarcastically ask.
"Ha ha." he dryly laughs, as he and Tyler start grabbing a ball for themselves.
"I'm rubbing off on you. It's awesome." Gifty remarks, nudging me with a wink.
Tyler goes first and he blows on the ball, bouncing around as he tries to aim it towards the pins in their lane. He slides it onto the ground like a pro and all the pins get knocked down. He holds his hands up like a champion and lets Danny take his place. Gifty rolls her eyes at her ex while I stick my tongue out at him. Danny also does the same thing and knocks all the pins down. He turns around and throws me a wink, causing me to playfully scoff. Cocky. The boys give each other a fist bump as they saunter over to us with smirks on their faces.
"Are you two ready to lose?" Tyler asks with a taunting smirk.
Gifty hums. "Come on, Maadwoa. We can beat them."
We walk over to our lane again, grabbing the same balls. I decide to go first again, holding the ball up trying to use my eyes to aim it properly. I narrow my eyes at the centermost pin, rocking on my feet as I do so. Before I even roll the ball, I feel arms wrap around me from behind. I jump in surprise, until Danny speaks from behind.
"I'll help you aim it."
"That's cheating! You can't do that!" Tyler whines.
"Shut up." I demand again, while Gifty hums.
Danny helps me to position my arms, his soft hands running up and down my arms as he does so. I felt his breath on my neck as he gave me instructions, which sent vibrations through my body. I was in a daze and I almost forgot I was in the middle of bowling.
A distant shutter and clicking sound from behind us breaks me out of the trance.
"Can you do it now?" I hear him ask. I nod, despite not hearing a word he said. I look around for the source of the shutter noise but there was nothing in sight.
"I know you can do it, beautiful." he says, pressing a kiss to my cheek. My face heats up as he pulls away, going back to his seat. That conniving little snake was trying to distract me.
Gifty scoffs. "That's so cold, Danny."
He shrugs while Tyler chuckles. I sigh, before looking at the ball in my hand. Here goes nothing. I roll the ball into the lane, and it swiftly rolls towards the pins, hitting the center one, which collapsed into the other ones, causing all of them to fall. I gasp, jumping up and down in excitement. The boys groan while Gifty high fives me.
"Yes girl! My turn now."
Gifty takes my place in front of the lane, holding up her rainbow ball. She aims it and throws the ball onto the ground. It almost rolls off the lane but it doesn't, and only hits nod of the pins. She groans but I still clap for her. She smiles until she hears Tyler's remark.
"You could've done better." he jokes.
I watch as the smile vanishes from Gifty's face and her nose flares in annoyance. She narrows her eyes at Tyler, crossing her arms across her chest.
"And you could've been a better boyfriend. Guess we can't all have what we wish for." she angrily retorts.
My mouth drops open and Danny's eyes widen at her words. She realizes what she said and uncrosses her arms. Tyler's jaw clenches in anger again but I can see specks of hurt in his eyes. I know he was hurt by that, especially with what he told me before. But I also know Gifty said that out of anger. I wish she hadn't though.
"I-I'm sorry." she stutters out, not making eye contact with anyone.
"Yeah, you said that before." Tyler spits. Gifty frowns, not looking up at him.
I raise my eyebrows at his harsh tone as it was pretty rare for him to be so vicious. Danny clears his throat awkwardly as a short silence falls upon us. Tyler sighs, looking at Danny and I.
"Let's carry on. Don't let the negativity bring us down." he remarks, standing up to grab a ball.
Gifty sits down, frowning at her lap as she shakes her head.
* * *
After dropping Tyler and a silent Gifty at their homes, the guards drop me at the side of my house. Gifty was pretty much silent the rest of the date while Tyler was acting like nothing had happened, but I could tell he was bothered. We had pizza together but Gifty barely touched hers. I felt bad for the both of them and I hope they work things out because Tyler acted like she wasn't there for the rest of the time.
Danny and I hold hands as we get out of the car.
"Thanks for taking us out. I'm sorry about my friends. " I apologise.
He shakes his head. "No worries. It must be hard for the both of them. I still had fun though. I just love being with you."
I smile, feeling my heart flutter. "Me too."
A voice suddenly calls out from behind me, making me sigh.
"Maadwoa, is that you?" my aunt asks from the verandah.
"Yes, ma. Please, I'm coming."
I turn back to Danny to see the grin on his face.
"I guess you have to go."
I nod sadly, wishing I could stay with him for the whole night. My eyes flutter to his lips, remembering how they felt on mine. I lean in towards his lips and place a soft peck on them, not wanting my aunt to hear and slobbering. I pull away, and he smiles, using his free hand to caress my cheek.
"Goodnight beautiful."
"Goonight. Will you call me when you get home?"
"I will." he nods with a smile.
I wave at him before making my way over to the verandah. My aunt sits there with dirty pots pans in front of her. I roll my eyes at the sight.
"Good evening ma."
"Back from man-snatching so soon? I'm surprised no one shot you dead." she harshly remarks, making the corners of my lips curve downwards into a frown. It's like she wants me dead. She's still convinced Danny is seeing someone and that I am destroying their relationship but she's wrong. Danny wouldn't lie to me.
"Please, I haven't snatched him from anyone."
"You are stupid. Your mother wasn't stupid like you. She'd be so disappointed in you if she were here."
I look down at my feet as tears start to well in my eyes. My aunt is just so wicked. I know she's lying to me. Uncle Kwame always tells me that my mother was the purest, most understanding person he knew. She wouldn't berate and insult me like my aunt does.
"Well since you're still alive, be useful and wash these pots. I don't want to see one speck of dirt." she demands, giving me a disgusted look as she enters the house.
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Hey people! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one will be coming soon. What do you think about Tyler and Gifty? What do you suspect the shutter sound was?
Please vote and comment :)
Song: Sista Afia ft. Medikal, Quamina MP - Weather