Simplethings

Chapter 1-2

FRIEND.

The word sounded wrong when she said it, and even as she drove on the bumpy road and into the main road, she could still see the smile on his face, and the glow in his eyes when he danced for her.

She had heard him. I love you, he had said, causing a whole zoo to erupt in her stomach. She had heard those three words from a number of men, but usually—the meaning shrouded underneath was: 'I love your wealth.' Or, 'I love your body.' She always had one fear that she would never find someone who liked her for who she was, and not for the premium credit cards she took around.

Theodore wasn't like that. Unlike other men, he had never asked her for 'financial assistance', or try to kiss her. He treated her like an average person, not a celebrity under the spotlight.

She sighed. Then why didn't she say anything?

She chuckled silently to herself. Her mother would have a heart attack if she ever found out that she spent every Saturday with Theodore, in a rundown apartment on the ghetto side of Lagos.

She waited till she was in front of a red light, and then dialed her best friend’s number. Nifemi had known Chidera ('Dera' for short) since they met in high school, when Dera stood up for her after being bullied to the back of the lunch queue. "Rich people can be mean." Dera commented after giving the bully a piece of her mind.

"I'm rich." Nifemi replied quietly.

"Everyone in this school is rich. That's why I said rich people can be mean, not rich people are mean." Dera stated and then pulled Nifemi to have lunch with her.

They had been best friends ever since, Dera teaching her the basic pidgin English that her mother hated, and Nifemi giving her exclusive invitations to the elite parties her family was always invited to.

Nifemi had always been jealous of her friend. The third child out of four, she had no burden to constantly please her parents, and she was living the life she always wanted—heading a group of orphanages and schools with the money she had received from her deceased grandfathers will.

If Nifemi got that kind of money, her father would suggest an investment that would benefit her in the future; and her mother would make her buy another piece of jewelry to add to her collection.

As the daughter of a well-known senator as a father and a CEO of an oil company for a mother, Nifemi Adebanjo never made her own decisions.

"Hey you! Look who finally remembered me." Dera teased as soon as she picked the call.

"I'm sorry. I've been so busy." Nifemi laughed, suddenly feeling better. "We've chatted every day this week."

"Yes, but you didn't make time to call me, or even meet up. When last did we have a girl's night out?" Dera joked, her words laced with a hint of her Igbo accent.

"Well I'm sorry. We'll go out tomorrow, after church I'll pick you up."

"Fine. But you'll also get me ice cream." Dera bargained.

Nifemi laughed, she had always found her friend’s obsession with ice cream amusing. "Not more than two medium cups."

"Good. We have a deal." Dera said and they both laughed.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your rare phone calls?" Dera asked.

"Theodore loves me." Nifemi blurted out.

"What? Wait, how do you know?"

"Well he said it, today. He said 'I love you', to me!" Nifemi squealed, finally happy to find someone to show her excitement to.

"Theodore? As in, that totally hot guy you brought the last time we went to the movies? Jesu, that guy was hotter than fire. And his face, gosh! As he was talking I was just staring at him like, why can't all guys look like that?" Dera gushed.

"Dera!"

"What? I know how to appreciate a beautiful creation when I see one."

"You are so... blunt!"

Nifemi laughed as the memories of the day she brought Theodore as her date to watch the movies with Dera, hit her. The latter had just started dating a guy she met at one of her charity programs. They decided to go for an old-fashioned date at the movies, and Nifemi had agreed to make it a double date as long as she didn't bring any of her 'stuck up annoying boys', according to Dera. Nifemi decided to bring Theodore as her date, and Dera went on for weeks about how hot he was.

"Well, I thought you said you guys were just friends." Dera teased.

"I told you that three months ago. A lot can change in three months." Nifemi protested, earning a laugh from her friend.

"So... what did you say?" Dera giggled, as they talked like girls in high school.

"Nothing."

Dera erupted in loud laughter which quieted down as soon as she realized that it wasn't a joke. "Chineke! That fine specimen told you he loves you and you didn't say anything?" Dera shrieked.

"I panicked! He just said it and then I acted like I was so into my book and I didn't hear him and then he dropped the topic. Now the moment is gone and I doubt he'll ever take the chance again." Nifemi sighed.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Dera asked. If anyone caught whiff of their conversation at the moment, they would think Nifemi had committed a crime. "I can't think of that now. I'm almost home and I have a date to prepare for." She replied, driving into the luxurious estate as she greeted the security guard who saluted her.

"Date?" Dera asked, confused. "Oh! The dates your mum forces you to go on. I think you told me about the guy abi?"

"Yeah." Nifemi replied distantly. "What was his name again?"

"You're asking me?" Dera laughed. "Its your date, not mine."

"Ugh! Don't remind me." Nifemi sighed. She had disembarked from the car already and was pressing the doorbell. "I'm in front of my house, talk later."

"Good luck!" Her friends chirpy voice was heard before she hung up. Just in time, her mother, elegantly dressed in a complete aso oke—although without the gele—opened the door. Her mother had a habit of dressing up all the time, even if she was going nowhere.

"You never know when we'll have an unexpected visitor." She would always say.

"Oluwanifemi." Her mother screeched. "Look at the time you're getting home. You're going to be late for your date!"

...

"I'm back!"

Theodore turned back and saw one of his roommates, AJ, walk into the house with his fists pumped in the air. He shared a two-bedroom apartment with his friends—AJ and Khalid—as they all struggled to make it in the city of Lagos. AJ was a typical playboy, with a charming smile and a devilishly handsome face. He owned a barbing salon given to him by his uncle. They always joked that if not for his uncle, he would be completely jobless. Khalid on the other hand, owned a small shop that sold spare parts. He was the quiet one out of them, hardly dating and more interested in books and his business. Theodore was the average one out of the trio. He dated a few girls, and sometimes followed AJ to his parties, but didn't make a lifestyle out of it. He worked at a mechanic’s shop, providing car services to very rich people.

That was how he met Nifemi.

"How was your day?" Theodore asked entirely out of habit. "Good. Ada came around today. She brought her younger brother to cut his hair and she has finally stopped forming. Plus I got one girl’s number today." AJ grinned and Theodore rolled his eyes. "Poor blind girls. Can you go one day without getting a girl's number?" Theodore asked, slightly exasperated.

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Can you go one day without thinking of Nifemi, and one Saturday without meeting up with her?"

"That is totally unrelated. At least, I'm sticking with one girl—"

"That you have no chance with."

"—and not sleeping with every girl I see!" Theodore replied, ignoring his friends comment. AJ was known for being very crude when it came to words.

"And this is why I need to get my own place. It's becoming tiring coming home to meet you guys bickering like an old married couple." They heard Khalid say as he let himself in. He walked past them and into the room he shared with Theodore. AJ got a room to himself because he paid fifty percent of the rent, while the others split the other fifty.

"Bickering?" AJ furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that abeg?" When it came to school smart, AJ was one of the least, but street smart, the best.

"Fighting, arguing." Theodore explained.

"Oh." He paused thoughtfully. "Abeg abeg Khalid! You know you love us!" AJ teased as Khalid came out of the room, handing them plastic bags from TFC.

"Thanks man. I hoped you got my text, I totally forgot to cook." Theodore smiled sheepishly. It was his turn to provide food that day, but like every other Saturday, he forgot.

"We really need to move your cooking day from Saturdays. Nifemi would come and then your brain would just scatter scatter."

"Abi. And you guys owe me for the TFC though. You're lucky there's one close to the shop, and even luckier that I saw your message before my phone died. If not, we would have been eating indomie."

Khalid gave Theodore a pointed look. "Ah ahn! That was one time!" Theodore protested.

"What about the Saturday before that Saturday? You gave us burnt rice!" AJ commented with his mouth full, swallowing his food quickly and taking a large gulp from his bottle of coke.

"I wonder how you eat on your dates." They heard Khalid mutter.

"For your information, ladies love me." AJ said, waving his fingers in front of his face.

"Of course, after you feed them with all your lies." Khalid retorted, maintaining a blank expression.

"You're just jealous 'cause you don't have any ladies to like you jare." AJ replied, matter-of-factly.

"I got...what was her name again?" Khalid paused, cupping his chin in his hands dramatically. "Aminat! I got her from you, didn't I?" He smirked.

"That was one time, and it was because the both of you are Muslims." AJ retorted, rolling his eyes and returned to wolfing his food down.

"Are we still talking about our cooking schedule?" Theodore cut in, raising an eyebrow.

AJ, or rather his ego, was still very hurt by that. "The reason you're on Saturdays, is because you're at home on Saturdays na. Who else would cook?

"How's Nifemi anyway?" Khalid asked, finally sitting down on the couch adjacent from them. He gave AJ a disapproving glance as the latter placed his feet on the stool, and then looked at Theodore expectantly.

"I told her that I love her." Theodore said quietly.

"Great! Did she finally reject you so that we can move on with our lives?" AJ joked.

"AJ, wallahi, if you say another word that would piss me off, I would do what I did the last time, or even worse." Khalid threatened, glaring at him.

"Ah, mabinu oh. No vex, before you kill me." He raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Wha—what happened last time, what did you do?" Theodore beamed in curiosity.

"You don't want to know." AJ replied with sass. "Now tell us what happened? I like gist."

Rolling his eyes, Theodore narrated what happened.

"Sorry man. You'll get another chance." Khalid said and AJ nodded in agreement, still looking at Khalid warily.

"She has a date tonight." Theodore pointed out.

"Ha!" AJ laughed. "You're screwed."

***