Desiree (E1 – E5)

E4 - 3 Days to the Wedding

“No… way,” Desiree coughed and passed the blunt to Efe.

He took a puff before answering, “I’m serious,” he grunted out, then let out the smoke he was holding through his nostrils, “I’m serious, I met him,”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “Where? When? How?” 

“When I was in Madrid, he was having a concert there and a friend of mine had backstage passes,” He passed it back to her.

“That is so crazy, you are just lucky,”

He shrugged “I wasn’t star-struck; I’m not a big fan of Bruno Mars,”

“Ohh you must be joking, he’s amazing. I love him and knowing that you have met him makes me feel like I have too, through association you know. So I’m pretty excited right now,”

He laughed, “I think that’s the weed.”

She shoved an elbow into his side.

He laughed harder, “Ow, maybe I should have left you back there, you would have been a great second wife for Uncle Emeka.”

“Probably,” she said laughing too, even though she inwardly cringed at the thought. The old man seemed to have a knack for finding her at the most awkward times and trapping her in inappropriate conversations. Desiree felt like her head was filled with clouds and her mind was freer than it had been in weeks. She looked at Efe and she envied him, he seemed like he felt this way on a normal day even without the marijuana. They had been talking for over an hour now and it was clear his life was the drug. She knew him through Temi back in university. She remembered him being quiet and a little weird but she had liked him anyway. He was such a sweet guy and they always had something to talk about. Now he literally emitted confidence and clearly embraced his weirdness, and most importantly he looked happy, “Are you?” she had to know.

“Am I what?”

“Happy?”

He laughed as his expression looked a little confused then he seemed to think about it before looking her dead in the eye when he replied, “Yes, I am very happy,”

She didn’t know whether it was because of the drugs in her system but she felt like she heard those words in my soul. He was happy; of course, he was happy, he was doing what made him happy. He was happy with his life. She wished she knew how that felt. 

“What about—”

“There you are,” Temi said, suddenly popping his head into their little haven. 

 They were sitting on the balcony of Efe’s room hidden securely in a small space at the back of the building, completely hidden from the wedding party downstairs. She was surprised that Temi found them. “How did you find us?” 

“Do you think this is his first time smoking here?” Temi said, squeezing himself on the bench between them. He took the blunt from Desiree, put his lips on it and took a long drag.

“I needed that, Efe my mum said something about borrowing your car, she’s with your keys?” As he spoke the smoke came out of all his visible holes, nose, mouth and she could swear she saw some come out of his ears.

“What?” Efe jumped up, “Guy, why didn’t you try to stop her?” he said as he ran out to his room and rushed to the door.

Desire laughed, “He has more in his car, doesn’t he?”

Temi just laughed. He took a last drag and dropped the tiny roll up on the ashtray on the ground.

“He has changed,” she said after a quiet moment.

“Yeah, a little but he was always like this, to be honest,”

“He’s really happy,”

“Who wouldn’t if they got to travel the world like that?”

“True but there’s no girl in his life?”

“Why? Are you interested?” She laughed and pushed him, “No there’s no woman,” he said looking at her pointedly.

“Oh okay…” she picked the fading blunt and tried to relight it with the lighter Efe left behind, suddenly her head shot up, “No…”

Temi laughed, “Took you a minute,”

“Ohh wow…”

“No one else knows so you can’t say anything.”

“I won’t” then she giggled “You owe me money, you know,”

“What?”

“Yeah, I bet you remember?”

“Ohhh you know what… babe I do… that was ages ago. You called it, sha,” he looked at her seemingly impressed. 

Babe, ugh. 

She should have felt reminiscent about the fact he just called her “babe” like he used to. But it ticked her off a bit. She could be a random girl on the street and he would call her “babe”. She wondered if he called Tola “babe”, and if so whether she found it just as irritating. She shrugged, “It was a lucky guess honestly but I wondered why he liked girls more as friends than as girlfriends,”

“I think he’s bi but…” he shrugged, “I don’t ask questions,”

“I liked him as a friend for you, I can’t understand your friendship Jide but I always felt Efe could dilute his influence,”

Temi laughed, “I didn’t know you hated Jide,”

“Hate is a strong word, I just disagreed with his personality,” She disagreed with the way he completely embarrassed his girlfriend back at uni by flirting with every other girl at school. He’s not so friendly academic rival was Temi. And how he always had some gossip about everyone. Jide was not to be trusted but Temi never saw that. Still doesn’t, apparently since the guy is one of his groomsmen.

She looked at him “Why are you here? You’re missing your brunch,” She asked, deciding to change the topic.

“It’s killing me, man, I’m so tired, this whole wedding is taking so much out of me. I think I might spend my entire honeymoon asleep,”

“It can’t be easy, I guess,”

“It’s not; Tola wants everything to be perfect. Do you know that thing about bridezilla? It’s real,” He did look tired; he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t changed much since university; he was still so calm and easygoing. He was also still such a pushover. Tola seemed like she had a very demanding personality, she could see her ordering him around for the rest of his life. Desiree felt a little bad for him.

“Why don’t you tell her you’re tired, you mostly have a free day tomorrow tell her you want to rest,”

“Are you joking? Tola would probably kick me out of the wedding if I said that,” he laughed but she didn’t join him.

“You guys are very different, aren’t you?”

“Very, but I guess that’s what makes us work so well,” he replied confidently.

Desire couldn’t agree with that, in her experience being different could cause a lot of problems. But she didn’t tell him that, instead she said “Well, that’s good,”

He took in a breath, “How have you been?” 

“I’m doing alright,” That all she could say other than her life was currently in tatters, “Some of us are yet to find the one like other people,” She said and gave him a friendly shove. 

“Are you enjoying the party?”

“Yeah, it’s all nice, different,” No need to mention yesterday’s dramatics and her almost exit.

“Well Tola has a flair for this kind of thing, she’s an event planner. So her wedding has to be carnival, hence the whole four day wedding weekend thing but she made sure everything was convenient for everyone,”

She would give her that, the accommodations and other perks were more decent than she expected. “I… I want to apologize for this morning; I must have read the itinerary wrong. I’m still so embarrassed. I’m sure Tola hates me now,” Walking into the party in the wrong outfit was a memory that was going to haunt her for a long time. It took everything in her not to run back out. 

“No, of course, she doesn’t hate you, she thought it was funny,”

Desire put her head in her hands and groaned, “Somehow that does not make me feel better,”

Temi laughed, then she laughed. And they just laughed together for a while. She missed this, the ease at which she felt with him, it’s been a long time since she just felt comfortable with a guy.

“Just give her my apology, please. I don’t want her to think I did that intentionally,”

“I will,”

She looked at him, “I’m happy for you, I really am,”

“Thank you,” He said and he grabbed her into a hug. He held her tight for a few seconds, it lasted longer than she expected, it made her feel weird so she pulled away, “Temi I—“

“Wait, what time is it?” he said abruptly. He started patting down his white brocade probably in search of his phone and completely oblivious to the watch on his hand.

Desire picked up her purse on the other side of her on the bench, reached in to get out her phone. It took a minute for the blur in her eyes to clear so she could see her screen clearly, “It’s four-thirty,”

Temi jumped up, “I have to go, we have to be at oba’s palace by 6, I’m sure Tola is already looking for me,” 

They stumbled their way out of the balcony and out of the hotel room laughing and teasing when any one of them tripped. 

“Shhhhhhh….” Desire said, when she spotted someone coming on the corridor, it was Mfon one of the servers from the engagement. Desire adjusted her clothes to seem less suspicious and Temi did the same. She smiled at him and made her way to her room.

***

“There you are!

John jumped at the sound, almost dropping his plate and the big slice of cake on it, he hadn’t heard her come up behind him. He needed to ask her how she moved around so stealthy, she was like a ninja. 

“You’re already hiding again,” she said, then climbed onto the counter beside him to sit.

 She was right. He was hiding, most of the food was prepared and served outside so the kitchen was deserted, making it the perfect hiding spot, “No, I just came in here to take a call…” Well, the latter was true, he did get a call but after it  he decided to just stay.

“You wouldn’t be hiding from Bola, would you?” She didn’t look at him when she asked but he could feel her antennas up. She took his plate from him and started eating the cake on it with her fingers. It seemed like an attempt to make her look more casual or maybe she was trying to make him feel tense by taking away his prop.

“No, of course not,” At least he didn’t think so, at least he tried. He tried to talk to Bola but after the whole Desiree incident, their conversation had slowly turned to drought. He brought up a few topics and she gave him some feedback but a few words were all either of them could manage before they started staring at their plates again. He couldn’t go back out there.

Bamidele nodded her head but it was clear she wasn’t convinced, “So I came to your room last night…”

“Ohh…”

“Yes, I knocked for a whole thirty minutes, John. To find out this morning that you were busy entertaining Temi’s ex in the lounge. Tola was livid when she found out,” She sounded calm but he could sense an edge in her tone. 

“We were just talking,” He shouldn’t have to defend himself but he did feel a little guilty for leading her on.

“Hmmm… Are you coming with us to see the Oba?”

“Uhh, I have a headache so I don’t think so,”

Her eyes softened at him. She looked at him and used her finger to wipe off some icing from the corner of his lips then she licked the icing off her finger. 

“Bamidele I—“

“Ohh sorry, I didn’t interrupt anything,” 

One of Temi’s groomsmen walked in, Jide the married one. He smiled at them like he knew what was going on. John wanted to correct him but he was worried that that might only make him look guiltier. “No worries, I was just leaving,” he said and briskly walked out of the kitchen. It was way past brunch time and the party was finally wrapping up so he didn’t have to bump into too many people. He was going to his room, he really was but he didn’t realize when his legs decided to change the route. He was standing in front of the door before he realized what he was doing. He raised his hand to knock then changed his mind and turned to leave bumping right into the person he came to see.

“John!” she let out in an excited squeal, she reached up and hugged him. 

“Hi,” he said breathily and held on gently. He was surprised by her reaction but it definitely made him feel good.

She let go of him and looked up, “I missed you,”

His face scrunched up in confusion, “Did you? It looked like you were having a lot of fun with Temi’s friend,” 

“Who? Efe? No joor, Efe is…” She kept quiet suddenly like she didn’t know how to finish the sentence.

He happily obliged, “Short?” He said snarkily.

She nodded slowly like she barely heard him then repeated, “Yeah short,” 

“Did you really miss me?” he asked with a smile, hoping for another hug.

“Yeah, but I know you didn’t miss me, too busy having fun with BBB,” she whispered the last bit. 

He looked at her quietly for a moment, no expression on his face.

“Bbb,” she said a little louder this time, assuming he didn’t hear her. He heard her but he was waiting for her to explain.

“Who is BBB?” He finally spoke.

“Big busty Bola, I didn’t know you guys were together,” she interlaced her fingers emphatically and showed him what she meant by “together”.

He let out a sudden bark of laughter, “Did you just make that up?”

“No that’s her nickname, from uni,”

“Ohh wow…” Desiree knew just how to shock him in the best way possible, he barked out more laughter.

“Well the second B wasn’t technically busty, it was another kind of B,”

This made him laugh even harder, at this point he could barely breathe.

She laughed with him for a moment, then suddenly sobered up, “Ohhh I shouldn’t have said that… I shouldn’t have told you that,” she covered her mouth “I wasn’t trying to make fun of her… or… or maybe I was… ohh I’m such a horrible person…” she said with a muffled voice.

John put a hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her down, “It’s okay… it’s okay… I already forgot you said anything,”

“Maybe I should go and apologize,” 

 “Desire you know she didn’t hear you, right? And I promise I would never say anything,” taking a step closer to stare at her more intently “Are you ok?” Her eyes were red and she was acting a little weird. Well, weirder than usual.

“Yes, I think so, or do I look sick?” she started touching her neck.

John was still staring at her and suddenly his eyes widened “You’re high!”

Her face was a picture of absolute shock, “Who told you? How did you know?”

He just smiled and shook his head from side to side, “How did you… never mind. You are a puzzle, do you know that?”

Desire didn’t reply, because her stomach decided to choose that exact moment to let out a loud growl. “I am also hungry,” She said apologetically as she rubbed her belly to try to calm it, “I didn’t eat anything at the brunch,”

“What do you want to eat?” he asked amused.

“Honestly, I think I am craving swallow right now,”

“I think I can arrange that,” he stretched his hand palm up, in an invitation for hers. She hesitated but only for a moment. He wrapped his securely around hers, turned around and started pulling her with him.

 “People keep dragging me to secret places today, should I be worried,”

“Don’t worry; we’re just going to the courtside. I think mummy Risi should still have her set up…”

Desire stopped and tugged at her hand, “No I can’t go back out there,”

He turned, “No one’s out there if that’s what you’re worried about, they’ve all gone to a party at the Oba’s palace,”

“Everyone?” she asked sceptically.

“Well anyone that didn’t go is probably in their room, brunch ended a while ago,”

“Why didn’t you go?”

He turned and started pulling her with him again, “Because of you,” he said so quietly, not sure if she heard.

This was the second time he got to watch her eat and he liked to watch her do it, he felt like it gave him some insight into the kind of person she was. The way she started with slow intentional bites then forgot herself the more she enjoyed and took larger, more animated ones. She gave off herself in doses but it was the part that she was saving that he wanted to see most. “You know without me at this party you would have died of starvation by now,”

She giggled and looked up from her bowl of amala for the first time, “I think someone may have asked the caterers not to feed me, they never take my order,”

“How about I bring breakfast to your room tomorrow?”

“Ohh eager to enter my room are we?”

He laughs, “It’s innocent I promise, I’m just fulfilling a need to feed you,”

“Yeah, that does sound very innocent and not at all weird,”

“I think so,”

 She laughed with some food in her mouth, she noticed him watching and grabbed a napkin to wipe off the invisible soup that had stained the corners of her mouth. Then she used it to cover her mouth as she started chewing a lot slower. He wanted to pull her hand down but he decided that would be too forward, 

“So…uhh… the bride, Tola… she’s uhh intense,”

He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering where she was going with that.

“The party is something,”

“Ohh yeah, she is a real fan of this kind of thing,”

“So how do you guys know each other? You and Tola? You guys seemed pretty close today,” 

“We were neighbours a long time ago, we weren’t close…” he didn’t know why he felt the need to add that so he added, “Our mums were though… close I mean… yeah but that was a long time ago,”

“Ohh so your mum’s here at the wedding?”

“Uhhh…no…she couldn’t make it… she’s uhh… she’s dead,”

She looked surprised at that, he didn’t know why he felt nervous about telling her, this was something he had come to terms with a very long time ago. He had told many people and felt nothing but a slight twinge in his chest but now he felt more of a clutch. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. He shrugged, she looked at him and seemed to read his uneasiness. She looked like she was about to say more but the sudden blast of her ringtone stopped her. She looked at it and declined.

“Who’s that?” he asked, he tried to sound lackadaisical, he didn’t want her to think he was a busybody.

“My friend, she’s been calling non-stop since yesterday,”

“Why don’t you want to talk to her?”

She smiled but she still looked tense, “Long story… so uhh… what do you do?”

“Ohh… uhh… I’m a photographer,” he stammered, surprised by her abrupt change of topic.

“Ohh I haven’t seen you with a camera,”

“Well I’m on holiday,” That was true and the fact that no one asked him to bring it.

“Is it your dream job?”

He snorted “I think you’re the first person to ever ask me that, people are more inclined to ask if it pays well,” he thought about it for a moment before saying “Well it wasn’t what I wanted to do as a child but I couldn’t picture myself doing anything else, I love the work,”

She smiled, “Okay, so…” she looked at him then her face turned straight as ever “Does it pay well?”

He laughed so loud the caterers packing up a few feet away turned to look at them, she laughed too but with a lot less vigour.

“Yeah, it does,”

“You know when I was growing up adults always seemed so depressed to me, especially with their jobs, no one was doing what they dreamed of doing or even what they studied. So I promised myself when I was like nine years old maybe ten, I would do only what makes me happy, all I had to do was figure out what that was,”

He looked at her intently, “Did you?”

“No,”

  Her face closed up with that ‘no’ and he knew he was shut out and he felt the desperate need to get back in.

“So how do you and Temi know each other?”

“He’s my ex—“ she grabbed her mouth and giggled.

“Your ex?”

“No… not exactly, we were together but we never actually dated.” She said with air quotes.

“Huh…”

“What’s huh?”

“I just don’t see it, you and him together,”

That made her laugh, she pushed her plate aside and rested her elbows on the table as she leaned forward, “What does that mean? Okay, who do you see me with?”

“I don’t know… Temi just seems a little… tame,”

“That’s my type.” She said matter of factly.

“Really?”

“Yeah, oya what’s your type?”

“I don’t have one,”

“You do,”

“What?”

“Everyone has a type whether they know it or not. There’s something they look for in every person they date. Give me your phone, show me your exes,”

“You want to call my exes?”

She laughs “No, show me their IGs and I’ll show you your type,”

He took out his phone and he showed her Angela first, his girlfriend from university, the only one he still spoke to. She just nodded her head quietly. Then he showed her Amaka, they dated for a while during his time in Canada for his masters. Again she nodded. He saved the best for last, Dami, his last girlfriend. He felt nervous when he gave her the phone this time. 

She turned her head to the side when she looked through the pictures, “I know her.” She said suddenly. His heart skipped a beat. So she did know! “I know your type of girl.” It calmed again. She didn’t recognize her; he didn’t know why he was relieved.

“What’s my type?”

“Miss Very Put Together,”

That made him laugh, “And what does that mean?”

“You know, those girls who always wear designer clothes, perfect hair and perfect make up. The ones that you want to believe are doing runs but actually have great jobs and great lives.”

He was silent for a moment, “You’ve thought that through,”

“Yeah, I’ve had time…”

“So what’s your type,”

“Non-committers,”

“Wow… okay…”

“Tell me about animation,” she said, trying to change the topic again. He let her.

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