The First Time

13. Nerves

Timini’s POV

I walked out of the bathroom after going to pee for the third time in the past thirty minutes and cleaned my slightly wet hands at the back of my jeans.

Having to go the toilet to pee was now my excuse for not calling her yet and other meaningless things too. I sat down on my bed with a sigh and stared at the phone sitting brightly on the bed.

I had been going back and forth about calling her and I wasn't sure I was going to make up my mind anytime soon and I tried to think of other things to do to keep me from not calling her yet but I ran out of options already.

I couldn't call Sharon again because in the last twenty minutes, I already called her five times just to hear her repeat what she told me.

She said she wasn't going to be coming home tonight and would crash at her friend's place for the after party that was happening in the night. And much to my discomfort, I had to say no. She could thank her stars that I was very distracted or she could bet her ass that I'd track her down wherever she is and force–

Now I am acting like a bloody overprotective freak. f**k, what's wrong with me.

I shook my head and bit down on my nails nervously which was something I never did. I was bloody nervous. And I was never nervous. Not once.

The sun had already gone down and every where was dark, screaming night time. Reminding me of the way I had leaned into her ear with every restraint I had breaking and whispering into her ear that I was going to call her tonight.

Now, thinking about it made my blood boil in anger and frustration. What was I thinking? When clearly now it was bloody difficult to call her. Why did I always seem to make bad decisions whenever I was around her.

I picked the phone up and was about to press the green button by the side of her number when I flung it onto the bed and stood up from the bed angrily and began pacing the room with my hands on my hip and grumbling under my breath, promising myself that if I get over my nervousness and build up the courage to call her, I would keep our conversations curt and casual and then I would not call her again. That would be it.

I would leave her alone.

Frowning, I almost ignored the pang of hurt that formed suddenly in my chest, when the door to my bedroom jerked open and a grey headed woman peeked her head in.

I turned to meet Mrs Yetunde standing wearing a 'bubu' and scarf on her head that I was already accustomed to and she was leaning by the door with a slightly guilty expression on her face.

'Mama Yeti I already told you several times to knock the door first before opening the door. Ha!' I exclaimed and walked close to her.

'Mama Yeti' was her nickname that I had given to her years back when I felt Mrs Yetunde was quite strenuous to pronounce all the time. And back to the matter of her not always knocking, no matter how I warned her to always do so before barging in, she still did it. I wonder how it would be if I had company with me or even worse, if I was on the bed, touching and ravishing a certain individual. No don't go there. Not now.

Back to me being angry,

She put her chubby hands on her waist and grinned up ear to ear showing off her teeth that were still quite white despite her age.

'What was that dear?– ' She cupped one ear with her hand, feigning deafness. 'I can't hear you well, you know,' She then added with a shrug. 'I'm getting old after all.'

Pursing my lips, I glared down at her sternly with my hands on my hip to appear intimidating but I only gave up when her grin turned wider.

What is the hell was wrong with the women in this house and them not intimidated by me?

I groaned defeatedly and walked back to my bed, slumping on it tiredly.

She shook her head with a smile and walked inside dragging along with her, a vacuum for which she was going use to clean up my room and then closed the door behind her.

'Do not mind me 'oko mi' (means my husband or my darling to a person that is younger) I'll make sure to remember to knock next time. And I thought you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up.' she finished with a smirk and i shrugged.

She said the same thing the last time she barged in. And the time before that.

The smirk on her face dimmed when she assessed my disheveled self.

'What happened to you my dear? You look rough. Bad day at work?' She asked, leaning the vacuum on the wall and walked up to my bed to sit beside me.

I turned to meet her eyes and smiled gently, basking in the warmth of her motherly presence always brought me. She cared about me no matter what and never hesitated to scold me when I seemed to be doing the wrong thing even though I was twice as large and more than a foot taller than her.

I almost scoffed at the question she asked and my eyes went to the bottle of whiskey sitting in the cabinet across the room. I suddenly craved a drink.

With Mama Yeti's presence beside me and her eyes boring into the side of my head, i turned my head slightly away from her and tried to think of the best answer to come up with.

If only I could just tell her that I met the most desirable and beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on in my twenty nine years on this earth and I foolishly collected for her number promising I was going to call tonight but I was about to chicken out and I've been acting like a inexperienced teenager. And the part that worried me mostly was if she was going to pick my call or not at last and what I was going to say to her of she even picks up—

Mrs Yetunde hit her fist hard on my bicep.

'Ow! What the—' I was about to complete my sentence when she glared at me, silencing me.

'What was that for? Ow!' Groaning, I rubbed the spot on my bicep and frowned at her. For a woman her age, she had muscles in those chubby hands.

'Why were you just staring into space like that and not answering my question?' She asked and I sighed in defeat.

I never understood women. Their 'wahala' (problem) was too much. Imagine hitting me like she's punching a wall because I didn't answer her question on time.

An image of a certain person's hand roaming on my body flashed in my mind and I quickly dismissed the thought with a frown—

'I have a lot on my mind that's all. But I'm good now.' I said reassuringly.

'Don't even lie to me boy. You're not 'good now'. Tell me.' Her eyes sparkled with amusement and one of her lips curved into a smirk. 'Look at you, do you have any idea that your blouse is worn inside out?'

My eyebrows shot up immediately and my eyes went down to my blouse, that I had worn inside out unknowingly.

's**t!' I muttered, taking it off once and then wearing it the proper way. Clearing my throat, I came up with a lame excuse. 'I was tired that's all. Wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.'

'We both know you're telling a lie, so will you just spare us both the waste of time and tell me what really happened?' She pressed.

'Mama! I'm fine and I'm not lying to you. Today was very stressful and I'm tired.'

'I know when you're stressed and you don't like this when you are. You sleep off immediately like a baby so I know when you are really stressed and when you aren't.'

I opened my mouth to reply but shut it back when I discovered it was a dumb lie I was about to spill out and i just sighed.

'Is it that Eva girl again? You're not always like this worked up when the both of you fight. Did she do anything to you?' She added with a dangerous glint in her voice.

'She didn't do anything to me. I– ' I opened my mouth to speak but closed it back again and then said after a moment. 'Eva and i— We broke up already.'

Her eyes widened and then softened a bit as she looked at me. Reaching out, she patted my shoulders gently and said,

'Why? Did you both fight?' She looked down for a moment and sighed, 'I know I didn't really like her but if you really love her and want to be with her then I have no right to intervene.' She said with a slight squeeze of my shoulders.

'No. It was best we broke up. She was too much and she was really getting on my nerves. I know I sound like an ass saying this but, I don't think I felt anything deep for her and she deserves someone better.' I clarified and Mrs Yetunde nodded her head at me.

'Then what is the problem, if it's not Eva?'

I chuckled humorlessly. How was I going to put it without making a fool out of myself because knowing Mrs Yetunde, she was not going to drop the topic.

'I don't even know how to explain– all I know is I am very confused right now and I don't even know what to think. And I also feel like a piece of shit.'

'Tell me, i would understand. You know I always do.' She said with a small smile.

My lips twitched into a curve as I remembered the times she was always there for me and we always worked out my problems. Together.

'Okay I will. This afternoon when I came back from work, I uh–' Clearing my throat. 'I– I met this girl in my parlour, she was with Sharon. ' I saw her raise one eyebrow.

Shaking my head in wonder. 'There was something about this girl Mama Yeti. I don't know how to describe it but she was just so different. So beautiful and she was just standing there looking at me with this– this innocent and beautiful eyes. I don't know how God did it but he took his time creating this girl because she's the most beautiful person I've laid my eyes on.'

Mrs Yetunde's eyes went wide open and she stared at me like I had grown two heads on my head.

'Um– you're sure you're okay? Because I have never seen this side of you. Or are you—' She sat upright with her finger pointing at me. 'Are you lying to me to divert my attention to what really happened? Because i—'

Chuckling, I gently grasped her hands into my large ones and stared intently into her eyes for her to see the truth.

'Does it look like I'm lying now? I'm very serious.'

'Hmm!' She then said with an amused smile on her face.

'So, what was this beautiful girl doing in our house?'

'She is a makeup artist and Sharon invited her for her make-up. She had a birthday party she was going to.'

She arched an eyebrow up. 'Ohh so she is a makeup artist. That's nice. came over to do Sharon's make-up. and she added again. 'So what's the problem now? Did something happen? Or you're still entranced by her beauty that you wore your cloth the wrong way.'

Chuckling, 'No no I'm not done. I um–' Cringing a bit. 'i might have asked for her number and made her uncomfortable a bit. And now I can't bring myself to call her. I am very nervous right now.'

'You! Nervous?' She exclaimed, her eyes raking my 6 foot 4 huge build. ' You're nervous about calling a girl?'

I sighed and nodded sheepishly. 'i am just confused. What if I'm moving things so fast and scare her off or what if she doesn't even pick up?'

'But she doesn't even have your number and won't know it's you calling if she chooses not to even pick your call. And if you think she's worth it, you would pick up your phone and call her right now and you would totally be yourself, you would talk to her and be a gentleman.' She winked. 'Girls love that.'

Breathing out deeply, I nodded and smiled at her. I then picked up my phone, staring at the screen and I felt Mrs Yetunde squeeze my shoulders gently and then she stood up and walked out of the room, giving me privacy.

Pressing on the green button, I moved the phone to my ear and held my breath. With the second ring, she picked up and a beautiful, soft voice filled my ears immediately.

'Hello–?' She mummured hesitantly and my nostrils flared. Gritting my teeth hard together and after seconds of trying to control my breathing, I replied.

'Hi Deborah. It's Timini.'

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