The 16th date

First date, I was nervous and feeling all giddy and super excited. Well this was my first time of falling in love because I was just 17 (don’t give me that look, I was close to being an adult it was just few months until my 18th birthday. News splash I was done with secondary school). My date was at 7:30pm but first I had to get to work at 4:30pm. I was not usually late to anywhere or fuzzy over guys but this one felt different. It was different because he had been consistent while asking me out, well you cannot blame me for feeling this way; I had never been heart broken and I fell easily for his weak lines. Oh, I forgot to tell you my name, I am Chantelle Adediwura Osagie and I am going to tell you about my messed-up love life. I met Edward Alabi at the Café where we both worked, oh you thought I was going to wear a beautiful dress and he would be in a Tuxedo? No, we couldn’t because we had work to do. The actual date was to walk me home in the dark so that we could have our first kiss while we were at it because we both had strict parents. We both signed out from our evening shift at 7:30pm, Edward had volunteered to help a colleague, who couldn't make it for the evening shift, so we could have our date. We boarded a bus half way and walked half way it was all part of the plan and it is called stalling. We finally got to my street and we paused for a while and then we hugged each other. "Thank you for agreeing to be my girlfriend. I love you so much", he said with so much emotion in his eyes. Those words touched me so much that I kissed him and he kissed me right back; power was out and no one could see us. The kiss made my heart skip and I didn’t want it to stop. Edward wasn’t bad at kissing too; his hands fondled my cleavage and my bum while kissing me and I felt like I was in heaven. “Where have you been all my life?" I thought to myself. We had to break the kiss when we saw the ray of light coming from the direction of my gate, I turned and saw that my parents were waiting for me at the gate probably because I had stayed out too long. Oh Lord, I was in for a very long sermon. I waved at my parents and turned to say goodnight to Edward but he had vanished into thin air, I chuckled and managed to avoid my mom’s cold stare as I walked past her. I was about entering the sitting room when my mom started her sermon, “Adediwura”, she said, “I know you are growing breasts now and growing into a lady but kissing a guy in the streets is a no from Daddy and I.” My mom only got to use my Yoruba name when I had done something wrong, my mom is a Yoruba woman hence where I got the Yoruba name from. Daddy cut the conversation short, he asked mom to allow me eat my food before it got cold, Mom only mumbled her usual “You’re spoiling this child” as a reply and then she let me go. I freshened up, ate my food and came back downstairs for evening prayers; Mom led the prayers and trust me she didn’t forget to pray to God about my kissing escapade that evening. We all went to bed at 11pm after watching our favourite family show. In my room, I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss. Edward didn’t call me probably because he thought I was in trouble and then it finally occurred to me that mom could pay Edward’s parents a visit so that she could report him. My face flushed at the thought of not seeing Edward again because his parents were always grounding him anytime he did something wrong. I finally slept off at 12am with thoughts of how to stop mom from going over to Edward’s house that morning. Trust me, that was a very hard task. I heard a knock at my door at 4am, I guess. I didn't check the time, I tried to listen to be sure that the noise was coming from my door and then I heard the knocking sound again. "I'm coming", I said as I tried to put on my nightie jacket. I barely opened the door when mom rushed past me, "Freshen up, we are going to see your boyfriend's parents. We have to get there early before they leave for work." she said. I was astonished, I didn't know what to say, I just did as I had been instructed because you can never win an argument with mom and dad had left for work so nobody could bail me out. She sat in my room until I finished dressing and then dragged me to the car, the car refused to cooperate so mom insisted that we walk to their house since it was two streets away. We got to Edward's at 5am, I'm sure because I checked my phone to confirm and his mom was surprised to see us so early. She offered us drinks but I declined because mom had always warned me never to accept a drink as a visitor, I don't know why she told me that I just obeyed. "Mrs. Alabi, I'm here to discuss about our children, they are the only ones we've got and I think we should lead them in the right path." I felt like the ground was about to swallow me when Edward's mom asked him to come downstairs, his facial expression wasn't good at all. "Please, continue ma'am, what did you say they both did?" Mrs. Alabi said. Mom should be given a Nobel prize because she explained every detail of how we were kissing and smooching on the street without leaving any detail. Mrs. Alabi's reply was rather shocking, "Our son is 20 years old and he is old enough to be in a relationship with your daughter. As a matter of fact, my husband and I have had one on one discussion with him concerning relationship dos and don't and I am share he gets it. Don't you baby?" Edward nodded in agreement. "Now if you would excuse me, I would like to catch my bus to work if you don't mind.", Mrs. Alabi said. Mom smiled sheepishly and mumbled a farewell and an apology before exiting the door of their apartment, Edward and I smiled at each other before I ran after mom. Mom was going to put all this on me and I was ready for it because I knew I was going to see Edward again. On our way home, mom didn't say a word. She got home, stripped off her clothes and got ready to go to her store. I was on evening shift as usual and so I had enough time for my online classes and house chores. After having her bath, mom asked me to come zip up her dress. This is something she could do on her own but she usually called me to do it for her when she wanted to start a pep talk or a chitchat. I knocked before entering her room and then went to meet her at the dressing mirror. "Adediwura" she said, "I know you are growing into a lady and you might want to get into a relationship but I must warn you that it isn't easy. You might not be lucky to find the right one on your first, second, and third, you fourth or fifth try. You might get hurt in the process. What you feel now might be an infatuation, Edward might just be so excited about getting into your pants and when he gets what he wants he will dump you. I love you and I am telling you this from personal experience." The words left me dumbfounded, Mom had never had that kind of conversation before. I left the room and I went to my bedroom. I snapped out of my bed when I heard the alarm, I went downstairs to greet my parents but they weren't there. I went to check on mom and I saw a note from her and it said "Your food is in the microwave, do your house chores in time so that you can attend online classes and prepare for work