THE EX FACTOR #5
As
I walked out of my car towards The Step Inn, a lot of things ran through my
mind. Since the day he called and we spoke on phone, Dave has not picked up my
call, neither called me for reasons best known to him. All he did this morning
was reply the text I sent, a few days ago that we should meet here. I wondered
how f*cked up my friend was. At least that was what he told me himself on phone
some days ago.
I
entered the pub, looked around, located him and walked towards the table to
confirm if it was what I was thinking that we’ll be discussing. I just hope
not.
“Howfar
guy?... Why you no even call or return person missed calls. Na so normal person
dey behave?... Na wa for you oh!” I was giving Dave a piece of my mind as I made
for the seat opposite him.
He
looked at me with the most expressionless face I’ve ever seen him wear, didn’t
say anything, snatched his glass from the table and gulped the whole drink
down.
I
knew there was trouble.
“Hey
bro” He said after a while of either thinking of how to start or allowing the
drink to chill in his belly. He said them like they were his last word.
For
a second I thought Dave was trying to gain “Drunkard’s Courage”. I smiled
inside ‘cos I can’t outside.
“What’s
happening?” I replied
Just
then, another member of our clique, Mike A.K.A ‘Mickey’ pronounced ‘maikee’
came out from nowhere, and sat down.
“Whatta
Guan Man. What’s cropping and popping” he said smiling like he just finished a
mischievous act.
I
almost jumped out of my seat in shock except I realized he came out from the
rest room and had been at the bar even before me. All my annoyance had not made
me notice the wallet and the phone on the third seat of the four seats table.
“Hey…
Mickey. What’s good bro?”
Mickey
was the same age as Dave, he spent his early years in Jamaica with his Mum
before they moved to Nigeria. His English had stints of patwah and he often
used that as an additional bait for the ladies, then he was always the jovial
one. His comedy skills blossomed, anytime we had a female in the ‘Circle’ (We
called it circle. Means in our midst)
“What’s
wrong with your brother here?... His grandpa just passed?” I asked
“Man,
this nigga must tell you himself whatta guan. Me can’t guess. Anti’levo magical
skills either”
I
guessed Mickey meant he had no magical skills either, if by any means I’m
right. So we sat and focused on Dave who had been so anonymous, I was starting
to picture him spiraling down the soup pot.
“Will you put this on your forum? You
know I am not scared of the spotlight. Gotta run now before madam gives me
query letter” I could remember him saying the other day.
“Whatever happens next week, you’ll
be the first to know”
Finally
Dave found and his voice and started narrating what he promised I’ll be the
first to know, while we sat attentively ‘cos like the comprehension secondary
school lessons, we would be asked to talk based on the story we just heard.
------------------
As Dave Narrated --------------------
Dave
paid ‘my taxi’ service to pick June up at MMA and drop her at her hotel, where
he promised to check on her later but due to scarcity of genuine excuse to
ghost away from ‘Madam Titi’, he for some days was yet to meet up his end of
the deal.
Guys
will be guys anytime any day and an excuse came up. Dave completed the fifteen
minutes’ drive in ten and after briefly looking here and there, gave himself
the ‘all clear’ sign and made for room 221. That was around 7PM.
Dave
knocked but his third knock only pushed open the almost unlocked door. He entered,
looked around, heard water rush sounds in the bathroom and showed himself to a
seat. He seemed fairly relaxed but his heart was beating like crazy.
“what exactly am I doing?... what if someone
saw me on my way up here?...Or maybe on my out later on. I need to leave ’cos
if Titi gets to know about this, I’m finished!... Oh Lord!... Don’t let the
devil coarse me into using my own hand to scatter my happy, quiet and peaceful
rela… WHAT THE….?”
Dave’s
jaw loosed from its fitting as June stepped out of the shower in just her bra
and panties, with a small towel wrapped around her head like an awkward looking
head gear. June’s curves and physique were worth Dangote’s fortune and all
those bare skin and the smile to embellish it broke out a plague of memories in
Dave’s supposedly desolated memory lane.
Exactly
then was when he remembered how he used to propose modeling to June and even
almost compelled her but she always insisted it just wasn’t her thing and more
discouraging is the way the modeling system and agency is being run in the country,
where sponsors and agents sometimes demand sex from clients for their promotion
and publicity and in return see the used innocent girls ‘move up the food chain’
“How
did you get in? Mr. James Bond”
At
that point was when Dave realized the door had been intentionally left to open
but to seem closed ‘cos no one was going to knock in that time frame, except two
people. One- room service (if he/she was called upon) Two- Him, the only
expected visitor.
“Now I see!” he thought to himself at the
realization of the cool planning June had set up… Almost like in some novels you
read or in the movies.
“You’re
thinking of a lie to tell right?... Save it. I left the door open. Just like
back then. Gotcha!” she said as she swayed to the giant dressing table
crouching like it was caving in from the weight of the magnificent mirror
placed on it, switched on the light bulbs around the mirror and continued her
normal after shower things like she was oblivious of the fact that there was
someone else in the room.
“Or
have you forgotten?” She asked, still looking at the mirror like she was
talking to her reflection.
Forgotten?...
How can he forget?... He couldn’t dare forget how June left the door of her and
her roommates’ room open for him on three different occasions. Those days were ‘drunk
days’ he always said whenever discussions gave way for a throwback.
He
had sneaked in, made out with June and sneaked out. They both gave themselves the
coded name “The Sne…...”
“The
Sneaky Humpers” June cut in like she had been the audience to his thoughts all
along.
Dave
laughed like a fool and June joined too, rotating her neck to a hundred degrees
to capture the funny moment.
“What
the hell was that?... Sneaky Humpers. That name was your brain child June. And you
know that”
“Liar!...
Stop it Dave, I don’t like it. It was your idea”
“I
only said, lets get a code name… I never came up with any… Remember?”
“Ok.
Ok… It was my idea and it was just a flash thought. You were the one that
stamped it as our code name. Now if you lie, a dog will appear from nowhere and
lick your balls, right this minute”
They
laughed like kids until all of a sudden, June stopped and made a straight face.
At this time, she was already sitting with her back to the mirror.
“What
is it June?”
June
stood up from the rotating backless chair she was sitting on and sat on the
edge of the king size bed, just a few feet away from where Dave was sitting.
Dave
felt ‘that’ stupid nudge in his pants.
“I
miss you Dee” She said, looking straight into his eyes.
She
only called him Dee when they are in private and most times in a cuddling
position. Although she had attempted calling him that in public, it sounded
publicly unacceptable in the modern world and he had made her promise never to
call his name as “Dee” in public. Sometimes, friends laughed at him and the embarrassment
was topping up daily. Some friends had even started calling him “Dee” (with a
different pronunciation though)
“I
miss you too” Dave replied with the most sober tone he could put up
“I
can’t believe I’m sitting here with you around, making me laugh like old times.
Still like a dream”
“But
it’s not”
“I
wanna ask you a question…” and without pausing for any reply whatsoever, she
continued “…If you really did love me back then, why couldn’t you wait for me
like I did for you?”
Dave
was stunned like he had just been hit on the head with a rock. No answer would
go through and get a green light. Nothing could be said as a tangible
explanation and the only bliss he could find refuge in was the vocal restrain
he had when he tried saying something he didn’t even know exactly what it was.
“So it was all my fault!... I gave up on her
while she hoped and waited for me. Arggh!... Damn! Too bad!... Just too bad”
Dave
felt so bad and guilty not just because he thought he gave up on June but
because he felt he sucked at the timing for reconnection. Guilt was written all
over his face and the goose bumps all over his skin gave it some additional
decoration.
“I
really don’t know what to say J. I’m so sorry”
“No
apologies needed… You’re a guy and I understand. Most times in a relationship,
females are always putting too much into it than is necessarily needed.
“I
don’t think that’s true. Really”
“Don’t
form modesty on me Dee, I won’t buy it and you know that. I don’t even feel
like I’ve wasted all these years, shoving and chasing away suitors just because
I know one day, we would reconnect and…”
Her
voice was starting to choke up.
Dave
didn’t know what to say or do. He was like a stranger stuck in the world of
sarcasm where everything probably meant the direct opposite or something else.
“Do
you still have the tiniest flinch of feeling for me Dee?”
Dave
nodded.
Before
Dave’s nodding exercise could be completed, June had unhooked her bra and it
slid down her body like a stripper on a pole.
“Then
come show me”.
Mature Minds Talk.
THE EX FACTOR is a weekly publication from the MMT JOURNALS and is scheduled for publishing every Saturday by 9PM.
It is always good to stay away from an ex . we always think we can control it but we r human. So from experience as far away as possible .
ReplyDeleteI can't agree with you more MJ... But some Exes are destined to come back. We shouldn't try to manipulate fate though.
DeleteStay in touch for the next series of episodes, every saturday by 9pm.
Thanks