Between 2 African Alphas

Chapter One

This was honestly the craziest thing Emma had done in her whole life. She looked out over Lagos from her and her best friend Momo’s hotel room balcony. The sun was just barely setting over the horizon. Earlier that day as soon as their plane touched down they had met Momo’s Aunt and Uncle. She had recently found out that her mother was actually from here, so she had asked Emma about a month ago if she would make the trip to Lagos with her to finally meet the rest of her family.

There was a nervousness in Emma for some reason, she didn’t know if it was being somewhere so remotely different from home or just simply being away from home but she was one to keep her promises, even if she was more of an introvert than her larger than life best friend.

“Why aren’t you getting ready, my cousin is expecting us to show up at the club.” Momo said as she came to stand beside Emma, her dark skin and braided hair a huge contrast to Emma’s pale complexion and bright green eyes, paired with unruly dark hair.

“I’ll get ready in a second,” Emma responded.

“You better not be procrastinating on me,” her best friend teased, “I mean it is after all my birthday weekend, no doing that lame stuff you usually do. Time to embrace being somewhere new and step out of your shell a moment.”

“Hey I am not one to drink, you know that.” Emma lamented knowing very well her best friend was going to expect her to drink and dance that evening.

“And it is a special occasion, somewhere where no one knows you…” Momo continued basically ignoring Emma’s statement while starting to drag her into the hotel room from the balcony.

Emma groaned, moments later she was looking into her best friend's warm brown eyes as she fussed with Emma’s hair and make-up, “You have baby doll hair, I am so jealous sometimes…” she mused, “You know that your hair is ethnic right?”

Emma sighed, “Yeah, my grandpa was African American/Indian…”

Her best friend huffed, “And you were keeping it from me why?”

Emma laughed, “It’s not like we talk genealogy everyday. My grandmother to this day says if she had known he wasn’t just Indian, she wouldn’t have married him.”

Momo shook her head, “Sorry I didn’t know,”

“It can be hard to discuss that sort of thing in my family. You’re good. It’s better to not know, than to mistake me for being a really pale Puerto Rican like most people do.”

“Well, that is even more reason to enjoy yourself and the culture tonight in a place where no one knows you.” Momo replied with a wicked smile.

Emma frowned a bit, what in the world was going on in her best friend's head. She stood up to go to the bathroom to put on the dress that Momo had set out for her, it was a beautiful turquoise color. “Hold on this is that dress of yours I love,” she said shocked. “Are you sure?”

Momo laughed from the other room, “It would suit you better.”

Emma put it on, the thin straps showing off her bare shoulders and the pattern accentuating the curves she didn’t really have. She came out of the bathroom and set down on the edge of the bed and sparked a spliff knowing full well it would take Momo more time to finish getting ready than it does her.

Several exhausting hours later, they were finally standing outside of a club in Lagos district waiting for Momo’s cousin. They could hear music pumping from inside, somewhere between Afrobeat and trap. Something about it set Emma on edge a bit and she wasn’t too sure why. She had wished that she had brought a spliff with her and Momo but she didn’t want to take the risk of them getting in trouble with the authorities for having it.

“Where is your cousin? Are you sure we are here at the right time?” She complained somewhat in Momo’s direction.

Her best friend was looking around before quickly drinking the mini shot bottle she had on her, “Yeah, he will be here…just be patient,” she laughed.

“Hey,” called a voice a couple of meters away.

They had just met her cousin this morning and sure enough when Emma looked in that direction he was standing there waving them over, looking excited or nervous. She couldn’t really pinpoint his emotions too much, she tugged on Momo getting her attention as she started to step in his direction.

Emma couldn’t remember his name from this morning, but greeted him with a smile as they got close to him.

Momo spoke up first, “Are we going in yet?” she asked her cousin with a huge grin, making Emma wonder if she had somehow managed to already get tipsy from the little bottle of alcohol she had in her bag.

“Actually cousin, no?” he replied quickly.

“I thought we were going to this club?” Emma asked before Momo could respond.

“Abeg, yes I know that was the original plan, but I have a friend that is throwing banger. I figured you two would want to see the real culture.” He said with a nervous grin.

Momo laughed, “Well why didn’t you say so, let’s go cuzo!”

Her cousin started down the street and Emma found that if Momo was going to go, she really had no choice but to follow even though something in her gut told her it was a bad idea. Damn her good heart, but she couldn’t let Momo go without going with her and had that on her conscience all night while she sat back at the hotel.

Darkness had begun to set in good as they got near a house with the lights on and music pumping through the open windows. Nothing looked too out of place, other than someone had yet to bring their animals inside and you could hear goats braying nearby and the clucks of chickens.