“Can someone please answer that phone “
“The owner doesn’t want to pick it”
“Then do something about it, I am trying to sleep, please!” came Tonia’s irritating and authoritative voice, she was always like that anytime she was sleeping, but it wasn’t her fault either, if not for Dammy who left her phone and left for work. Biola took the phone and pressed the red button, only to throw it carelessly on the bed, angered by the fact that her one and only phone had not rang for three days now and here was Dammy’s third handset ringing non stop. She knew it was that guy who was so crazily in love with her, he is so much in love with her as if his life depended on it, though it wasn’t that kind of obsessed love found In novels or movies, even a never-fall-in-love person could see that it was for real but Dammy would not want to hear of it, she hated the guy as much as he loved her. He hadn’t showed up for days now probably because of what happened the last time but he has been trying to reach her, calling the only number she gave him just to know how she is doing and hear her talk to him. “Poor guy!” he didn’t even know she had two other lines she could be reached on. The last he was here, Dammy had done the unpardonable, after standing him up for three hours, she strolled in with her never-do-well boyfriend while they chatted and did stuff, the guy just sat there waiting for his time. Biola had been furious seeing him that way and she couldn’t help but shouted after him as he left that day that he was a fool!
Biola had been there for him that day, making him feel comfortable and keeping his company, he returned her smiles and welcomed her friendliness, he even shared jokes with her and both of them had laughed out loud but it didn’t go beyond that. Biola had tried something else and had secretly hoped that he would open his eyes and see her and finally stop chasing after shadows but he was very firm, turning her down politely though he didn’t treat her that way but she felt worse than trash, she felt like crawling into the plastic waste bag to be thrown away because she hadn’t tried to encourage a man before but who wouldn’t want to have something to do with Harris? He was so cute, so kind, so gentle, it wasn’t about his beautiful face, because if a man was above the handsome category, you could tag him ‘beautiful’ he has it all going for him, everything so pieced together as if life was just a straight line. He was everything to any right thinking girl but he had eyes for the only girl who wouldn’t want to be seen with him. He wasn’t like that Timi guy who in the least could not even hold a smooth conversation with a girl, the chauvinist was so rude and above himself, “who in the world would want to go out with him?” except Dammy of course who is always playing the goat with him.
She wondered why some men could be so blind; whatever Harris saw in Dammy could not be compared to what she had been building in her self. She has always been as good as gold, Mum and Dad’s good girl, she doesn’t have a heart for trouble or guts to party like Tonia or date dangerous men like Dammy. She couldn’t even explain where the courage to seduce Harris came from, perhaps it was her naivety that Harris recognised and pleaded with her to behave herself well. But Harris was so wrong, he was wrong! To behave well was something she was birthed into, she grew in it and now she can boldly describe herself as the future virtuous woman in the book of proverbs. He was one who needed to behave himself for being so much in love with someone who has the least regard for him.
She checked her handset for the imagined missed call she thought she had a while ago but there was none, her phone battery was full as usual, she wouldn’t be charging it for the next three days, she wanted to switch it off but thought of Mum or Dad, they might want to reach her, to encourage her or pray, all they knew was to pray and encourage her, she didn’t even want to hear the ‘patient’ talks anymore, they wearied her the more, how can they tell her to be patient and wait for God’s time when she had done everything right and now that she is supposed to be engaged and get married to a responsible man, no guy seems to be interested. She closed her eyes and tried to shut it all out but she couldn’t sleep like Tonia slept. Her face was free of worries, sleeping so soundly, she wished she could do what the girls did or better still be like the girls in the movies who could do things to make a man fall no matter how strong he claims. Her mother had told her to be careful with her roommates that the children of this world are wiser in their own eyes, “but that works for them anyway” and her life is the exact opposite of being a good Christian girl.
“Life is so unfair!” she whispered as she wept silently into her pillow, how long will she have to wait before God answers her prayers? If not for her sake but for that of mum and dad. She couldn’t fathom how some people could be so lucky which is not as a result of their deeds because Dammy do not deserve Harris, no logic could explain why the morally upstanding guy could be in love with Dammy who lacked any moral values. “Hey babes! Sugar is home” Dammy’s beautiful voice interrupted her thoughts and she quickly switched back to the “happy friend, no worries mode”, “welcome dear, and how was work today” Biola asked.
“Please don’t ask me, my boss finally got the signed divorced papers she had been waiting to receive from her husband and all hell was let loose today, she made our day miserable because she didn’t want anyone to be happy, what baffles me however is that she sent those divorce papers, she was the one who wanted to get divorced, now that she has it, she is so down in the dumps, transferring her aggression on our poor souls! I wonder what women really want from men?”
“Whao! That is not coming from you Dammy, is it?”
“Why? What’s with me?”
“Don’t even go pretending like you don’t know what I am talking about” Biola had sat up straight now obviously defensive and prepared to fight, Dammy looked at Tonia for some support but she was still fast asleep. “So what are you talking about dear?”
“Harris!”
uninterested as ever, Dammy played with the ruffles at the hem of her brown knickers, silently enjoying the look on Biola’s face, thinking if Biola was a white she would have turned red or pink by now, she wondered where she was going with the conversation. Biola finally found her voice, she was going to stand in for Harris, she wouldn’t allow her to treat him like a no-good anymore “He has called you for God-knows-how-many-times today”
“So why don’t you let me deal with that, he is calling me not you”
“Its not fair how you treat him, he loves you yet you treat him with contempt,”
That was the height Dammy could take, she initially thought this was the usual girl talk, but this coming from Biola was novel. She wasn’t the type of girl who meddles in other’s businesses especially one that has to do with men, and the only reason she would do this is if she was falling in love with Harris.
“Are you in love with him?”Asked Dammy
“Yes! ehr…….m… I mean no.”
Biola tried to hide the real reasons but Dammy already saw through her, Dammy threw her shoes in the air and laughed out loud, she shook energetically and laughed hard until Tonia woke, she was still laughing while she changed back into her denim and boldly inscribed “want me more” tight body revealing top and finally left, she finally stopped laughing when Timi came and took her out for the weekend. Crushed beyond words, Biola crawled back into her bed and shut her eyes tightly whether sleep came or not she decided to remain that way for a long time