This chapter is dedicated to jennzie003 for being a sassy but awesome friend.
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"Wakey, wakey, rise and shine, durhling!"
Suddenly, the curtains were yanked open, letting in a stream of sunlight that burned even through my closed eyes.
"Ugh, the light. It burns." I put a palm over my eyes and turned away.
"Come on, Sabrina, get up. We're going out." Chelsea sat on my bed and shook me.
"No," I grumbled. "Why can't I just sleep?"
"You cannot sleep because it's Saturday and it's already ten o'clock, by the way, plus we don't have any lectures all morning and through the afternoon and I wanna take you out," she breathed in one quick rush.
I sat up from the bed grumpily. "But I don't want to go out."
Chelsea gazed at me.
"I just want to lay your mind off some things, you know," she shrugged. "And as of now, I think shopping is the only way."
By things she meant the encounter I'd had three days ago and how I'd spent the night at James's.
Yeah, I'd already told her about it.
I pouted. "Must we?"
She sighed.
"Alright, what do you suggest we do?" she asked.
"I don't know," I groaned and rubbed my eyes.
"See?"
"Okay, okay, fine. Shopping it is." I gave up.
"Yes!" She slapped me on my shoulder elatedly.
I stared daggers at her.
"Chill, joor," she laughed. "Okay, you just go take your bath while I make you breakfast."
"Really?" My eyes lit up.
"Yeah," she smiled. "You know, tea, eggs, toast."
Smiling, I held her forearm and pulled her into a hug, patting her back lightly.
"Thanks, baby girl."
I pulled back from her.
She grinned. "Anything for you, Sabrina. I could die for ya, you know. And I don't care if I'm being corny."
I laughed. "And the same goes for me."
I took her right hand in mine and locked our pinky fingers together.
"Always and forever," I smiled. "In Klaus's voice."
She laughed. "Always and forever, in Elijah's."
Then she stood up from my bed.
"Alrighty. I am going," she said, adjusting her flay skirt. "Freshen up quickly."
"Sure," I replied as she walked out the door. "And try not to burn the toast, Chelsea."
I heard her laugh, followed by the clatter of a kettle.
"Or the house," I muttered under my breath as I stood up from the bed.
I brushed my teeth and took a quick bath, then I slipped into baggy tees and jean shorts. When I was done drying my hair, I headed out to breakfast.
By three o'clock in the afternoon, Chelsea was throwing a fringed, white, floral dress at me and telling me to put it one so we could "bail".
And by 3:30, we were at Shoprite, waltzing through the front door like we owned the place.
Well, Chelsea was waltzing. Me, I was just walking, feeling like the whole world was watching and knew about what had happened to me three days back, whispering amongst each other things like,
"Oh, so that's the girl who almost got raped. Pity."
"Look over there, that's the girl that almost got raped. Oh, poor thing."
"Earth to you, girl. You de listen to me sef (are you even listening to me)?" Chelsea snapped her fingers in front of me.
"What?" I blinked. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
She shook her head, her mass of dark curls bouncing with the move. "Do you want us to do cloths shopping first or..."
"Cloths," I said quickly.
"What were you thinking about?" She raised her eyebrows at me.
"Nothing, come on, let's go. I don't want to spend my whole day here."
"Sure, sure."
She took my hand and pulled me over to the cloths section.
After checking out a few denims and shoes, I settled for dresses, two pairs of sneakers and heels.
Surprisingly, Chelsea didn't get herself anything.
"You're not buying?" I asked as we walked out the door to the cloths section.
She looked at me, smiling. "Nope. Today's your day. Bills on me."
"But it's not my birthday," I chuckled.
"It doesn't have to be. And, anyway, as you already know, my birthday's in a week. When it comes, you can repay the favour," she simpered.
"Can't wait," I smiled.
And I really couldn't. Chelsea would not believe the surprise party Brian was planning for her.
She just wouldn't.
We headed over to a different section which said, Crunchies and Snacks.
As we went through the sliding French doors and into the large, air conditioned hall, I grabbed a cart from the rack.
"Our icecream's finished. Do you think we should get two tubs?" Chelsea piped up when I had pushed the cart over to the neat rows of icecream encased in a long, cold showcase.
"Two tubs?" I stared at her. "We've already spent enough on clothes, Chelsea. You don't have to..."
She cut me short by placing a hand on my forearm.
"It doesn't matter, Sabrina. And besides, I came prepared."
She smiled and waved a credit card in my face.
"Dad doubled up this time. And what better way than to spend it on my best friend," she shrugged.
I sighed. "If you say so."
"Yeah. Now we can get vanilla and strawberry or just strawberry..."
As she chattered animatedly on what icecream to get, I looked around.
The hall was teeming with people, both in solos and duos and even groups, pushing full or half-full carts around.
The atmosphere buzzed from the sound of the indiscriminate chattering.
Too many people.
"You keep zoning out on me, Sabrina." Chelsea's voice brought me back.
She dumped two large tubs of icecream in the cart and fixed her gaze on me.
"What is it? Really, this time."
The insides of my palms itched.
"Nothing, Chelsea, really. I just...it's too crowded, I guess."
I looked away.
"Crowded? But you're not..." she began.
"I know, I know," I cut in then sighed. "You know what, don't worry about that. What else are we getting?"
She stared at me for a few seconds then took in a deep breath.
"You just pick whatever you want." She let out the breath.
By the time it was four thirty, our shopping cart was already filled to the brim with junk, drinks and fruit juices, and Chelsea had to go over and get another one.
Like she had said, a few things hadn't yet been bought.
Suddenly, she came running back to me, a red shopping basket in her hand and her eyes wide as saucers.
"You would not believe who I just saw?!" she squealed.
I raised my eyebrows. "Well, if it's not Davido, Burna or Rema, then I think I would."
"Oh shut up. I'm talking about Tony! Tony Lanre!" she grinned.
I stared at her for almost a minute, then an "Oh" escaped my lips.
"Oh? Oh? No nau, Sabrina. You have to go over there and talk to him," she told me.
"What? No. No way," I waved my hands.
Suddenly, she looked past me and behind.
"There he is."
I turned around to follow her line of sight.
But I didn't see him.
"Where?" I asked Chelsea.
"How can't you...he's the one in the black shirt and glasses. There's a girl wearing a white hoodie beside him," she informed me.
With the aid of her description, I finally spotted him.
From where I was standing, I got only a side view of him.
Beside him was a girl, who reached him just as the shoulder, wearing a white hoodie, black shorts and white sneakers, and carrying a shopping basket, talking to him.
I watched as he shook his head at something she told him and pushed up his glasses on his nose.
Then she smacked him lightly on the head and pulled his ear. He slapped her hand away, laughing.
And there it was. A very faint, light squeeze in my chest.
"You can always go over and talk to him." Chelsea's voice broke into my thoughts.
And seem like a stalker? No way.
"No. Let's just finish up and go home already. I'm tired," I said and pulled out two packs of cookies from the shelf in front of us.
Inwardly, I was glad Chelsea had pushed the topic no further.
By the time Chelsea and I were waiting in the line to get our goods cashed out, Tony and the girl—his girl—were at some other end of the hall.
Chelsea and I had to stand in the line for almost seven minutes before it got to our turn.
We emptied our basket and cart on the cashier's metallic table and then Chelsea handed over her credit card to the cashier, a woman to be precise.
As we waited for the lady to cash out our goods, I gazed at the clock slightly above her and ticked off the seconds in my head.
Thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven...
"Sabrina?"
I whipped my head to my left too quickly, the hoop earring I was wearing slapping against my right cheek, and came face to face with Tony.
He was standing in front of the metallic table of the other cashier, his stuff laid out on the table.
The cashier was man this time.
The girl I'd seen with him earlier stood beside him, staring at me.
My throat locked.
"Hi. I didn't know you'd be here," he smiled.
I opened my mouth to speak, but only air came through.
"Aunty, move ni, dem don finish your own (they have finished your own)," the guy directly behind me spoke up suddenly.
I turned my head away from Tony to see the cashier putting our goods into four, large, yellow shopping bags.
She shoved it forward to us immediately she was through and I grabbed two while Chelsea grabbed the other two.
We had to move out of the line to make room for others and I didn't get a chance to talk to Tony.
I looked back at him as Chelsea and I made our way to the door.
He was looking at me, oblivious to the cashier putting his goods into yellow shopping bags and saying something as well.
I looked away quickly.
Just as we got to the sliding French doors, a familiar voice called my name.
I stopped and turned around.
Tony was taking fast strides up to me, the girl in the white hoodie following behind him.
"Oooooh," went Chelsea as he got to me. Then she pulled out her phone from her purse and pretended to be interested in it.
"Hi," I told him.
"Hey. I was surprised when I saw you back there. What a coincidence." He chuckled.
I smiled. "What a coincidence, huh."
"Jesus Christ, Sabrina, really?" Chelsea muttered so only I could hear.
He pushed up his glasses and ran a hand through his dark, curly hair.
"Uh, are you on way home?" He dug his free hand into his pocket. Pulled it out. Dug it in again.
"Yeah." I felt the weight of the shopping bag on my fingers.
"Is she the girl you're always talking about, Tony?" The girl in the white hoodie piped up suddenly.
She had a full American accent and double piercings on her earlobes.
Tony snapped his head at her quickly and blinked. "What?"
"The girl..." she stopped mid sentence then her lips formed an O.
"Um, how about I just carry these to the car," she smiled, her cheeks dimpling, and took Tony's bags from him.
Then she walked away from us and out the door after being searched.
Just then Tony seemed to notice Chelsea.
"Wow. Chelsea, you're here too?" he raised his eyebrows.
Chelsea looked up from her phone and smiled. "Yeah."
Apparently, they already know each other.
"How about I take these to the car too," Chelsea said, taking the bags from my hands. "Brian just texted me. He's waiting outside."
"What?" I began to say, but she was already walking to the door.
I turned and looked at Tony.
He pushed up his glasses. Fiddled with his watch. Dug his hands into his pockets, then spoke up finally.
"So, uh," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I've just been, you know, meaning to, uh, you know..."
Then he stopped and let out a deep sigh.
"Sabrina Ikeji, can I get your number?"
I blinked.
"You know, I just wanted to..." he trailed off then shrugged.
"If it's okay with you though," he added then shrugged again.
Tony was asking for my number. Okayyyy. Chill, girl. Chill.
You just chill. It's probably because we're in the same department, I thought.
"Yeah, sure. Sure," I told him. "Right now?"
No, tomorrow. Gosh.
"Yeah." His face lit up in a smile.
He got out his phone from his pocket.
"It's 08056396380," I told him and watched as he dialed the number then tapped on Add to Contacts.
"Great," he grinned, pocketing his phone.
"Yeah." I returned his smile.
He pushed up his glasses.
"I'll, uh, see you at school then," he told me.
"Sure thing."
"Alright, um," he ran a finger over his left eyebrow. "Let's go? Since we're already leaving."
"Sure. Let's go," I shrugged, the atmosphere so awkward it was almost choking.
"Right," he muttered.
After being searched at the door, we walked out the shopping mall together and down the long flight of stairs.
I spotted Chelsea waving at me.
"Alright, bye," he told me, about to take a left turn.
I smiled. "Bye."
He grinned, nodded, then left.
As I walked up to the car, a smile spread across my lips, my heart feeling all warm and smug in there. Like it was sipping on hot cocoa.
"Why's she grinning so much? 'Cause she talked to that hot junior?" Brian chirped as I got into the car.
Chelsea made to smack him on the head and he ducked.
"You better drive or else..."
Still smiling, I leaned my head against the window, tuned out their voices, and unconsciously replayed my conversation with Tony, in the mall, over and over again in my head.
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Gosh, so long a chapter. Sorry about that, really.
So, what's up with Tony when it comes to Sabrina?
Hmm, I wonder.
Alright, bye.
Thea🐶💕