Le Voyage_7

Part 1     Part 2    Part 3     Part 4     Part 5     Part 6

I watched her go up the stairs and realised I was already half in love with her. I turned to leave, wondering for the umpteenth time how a great day had turned out this way.

            “You alright Love?” Nan said from behind me.

            “Sorry we woke you up.” I said, feeling even worse than I already did.

            “I’ll put the kettle on and you can tell me what’s bothering you.” She said heading to the kitchen. I sighed and went after her resignedly.

            “Nan, you don’t have to…”

            “It’s Francesca, isn’t it?” It was more of a statement than a question. I ran a hand through my hair in defeat.

            “I messed it all up.” I said staring dejectedly at my feet.

            “I’ll be the judge of that Love. You start at the beginning and take your time.” She said bustling around the kitchen. I just stood there watching her without really seeing her, suddenly feeling very tired, like I had the weight of the world on my slumped shoulders. Nan motioned to me to sit at the kitchen table when she was done and I did so resignedly.

            “I had a dream.” I said cupping the warm mug in my hands. I stared into the brown liquid, thinking vaguely that Nan hadn’t added milk. Frankie doesn’t have any milk.

“It was one of them. I knew it was.” I heard Nan take a sip of her tea but she said nothing, giving me space to pull my thoughts together.

            “I saw her, long before she came here, before we even knew she existed!” I looked up at Nan then, wondering if she would understand, wondering if she would think I was losing my marbles like I’d thought I was.

            “The first time was a little over a year ago, after Grandpa died. I’ve had it several times since then, and each time it was always exactly the same.”

I wondered what Nan would think of that sort of seeming obsession with someone I hadn’t even known. I’d had dreams in the past and usually, they were about trivial things, like being able to tell when Mum would come home with surprise cup-cakes for me and Amanda or about the trip to Florida mum and dad were planning for the summer I was seven. Then it became big stuff like dreaming Aunt Marie was going to have a baby before she even told Nan and mum she was pregnant. I’d come to accept it, even if I didn’t really understand it. I’d learned to live with it, especially in the times when I didn’t like the things I saw, like the time I'd dreamed Grandpa died.

I told Nan about the dream and how spooked I’d been when Frankie showed up here. Nan had always been the one person I talked to about it and she always listened to me, no matter how silly or unrealistic I thought the dream was. She was the one person who really seemed to understand, right from the cupcakes up until Grandpa walking through the door that wasn’t. I also told her about how badly I’d handled things this time around.

            “I don’t know what I was thinking, heck, I wasn’t even thinking at all! I just went with the moment, now I can’t even imagine what she thinks of me!”

Del was right, I really was a big idiot!

“Well, Darling, you know your gift comes with great responsibility.” She said when I finished my little long story.

            “Huh?!”

Nan had said that to me several times over the years but I failed to see how it fit in with my current predicament.

            “It takes a great deal of discipline to patiently wait for a future you have already seen.” She continued, ignoring me. “You were given Sight for a reason William, and it definitely isn’t so you’ll barge head first into the seen before it is ready.”

She got up to make a fresh pot of tea when I failed to proffer a reply to her words.

            “Life is a journey, Love.” She continued over her shoulders. “It requires a process to get from one stage of the journey to the other.”

            “But…she was…”

            “She said she wanted to run with your dreams, didn’t she?” Nan asked, changing tracks again. I mentally shook myself, trying to catch up.

            “Well, yeah, she said something along those lines.” I replied.

            “Then take the time to show them to her!” Nan said earnestly coming round to take my hand. “She said you were her best friend, not just an acquaintance of a few months!”

My mate of heart and soul, my brother…

            “You need to earn the rights to that title. It isn’t something you lay claims to just because you had a dream!”

            “I’ve ruined everything.” I said looking across the table at her. “I lost it all.”

            “There might still be hope yet, but you have to let it happen in its own time.” Nan said giving my hand a squeeze.

  

                                                *                                              *                                              *                                              *

              “Okay, what’s going through your head?” Ama asked after I’d told her the whole story.

            “Dunno…I’m just…”

            “What are you beating yourself up over this time?”

            “I’m just wondering if I came across as that kinda girl!”

            “As what kinda girl?!” she asked pointedly.

I threw my hands up in frustration. “Dunno, the sort of girl a guy makes a move on in two minutes!”

            “Wha…”

            “It makes me feel, how do I put it? Easy!”

            “Okay, stop it this minute!”

            “At first I was shocked. Then I was livid! Now I’m just tired, I want to crawl into a hole and hide.”

            “Francesca, you listen to me!” she said sternly and I had no choice, I had to do just that. “Get all that nonsense out of your head!”

For some reason, I had the urgent need to cry.

            “What if I sent out the wrong message? What with the whole silly Mark Petersburg thing!”

            “Sweetie, don’t do this!”

            “I feel like such an idiot!”

            “Don’t make this thing what it isn’t.”

            “It’s almost been a week and he hasn’t been here, not even to see Nan. Even I know a brush-off when I see one, I’m not that dumb!”

            “Well, if he’s avoiding you, that’s because he probably feels bad about the whole thing, like he should!”

            “I dunno, I just wish I could…”

Just then, there was a knock on my door. We both frowned and looked in the general direction of the door.

            “Who’s it?!” Ama asked in a dramatic whisper.

            “I have no idea! I’m not psychic!”

            “Well answer!” she retorted.

Yes ma’am! Sometimes I wondered why I put up with her bullying.

There was another knock on the door, louder this time.

            “Frankie?” Well, talk of the devil!

            “Go on then! I’ll call you later.” She said finally ending the skype call.

I took a deep breath and opened the door.

“Hi!” I said, feigning a nonchalance I was far from feeling.

            “I come bearing gifts!” He said holding up two bottles of milk. I couldn’t help it, I smiled and it eased some of the tension I was feeling.

            “Come on in, I’ll make us some coffee.” I said and he returned my smile.

            “Frankie,” He said, hesitating in the doorway. “I just want to say sorry about last week.”

            “No, I …”

            “Sorry I acted like a jerk. I want you to know that I respect you way too much to intentionally do anything to insult you and that your friendship means a lot to me.”

            “And your friendship means a lot to me too! I just hope I didn’t come across the wrong way or…”

            “No you didn’t. I got ahead of myself and I’m sorry. Can we just put it behind us, start over?”

I smiled. “I would love that very much.”

            “Great! My name is William Harding. It’s my pleasure meeting you!” he said offering his hand.

            “I’m Francesca, but everyone calls me Chesca.” I replied taking his proffered hand.

            “Hmmnnn, I think Frankie suits you better.” he said and I laughed.

            “That’s a boy’s name!”

            “Says who?"

            “Chesca’s just fine, or Chezza like Bells says or plain old Francesca!”

            “Nope, Frankie it is!”

            “Whatever! Are you still up for the coffee?”

            “It’s a bit late for coffee, I’ll be up all night.”

            “Cheerios then?!”

            “Haha!” He said sarcastically. “By the way, I told Bells the full story about the Cheerios.”

            “No you didn’t!” I gasped.

            “Yup, and I bet by now, she’s told the others.”

“NOOOO!!!!”

“Expect never to hear the last of it.”

            “I’m so going to kill you for that!”

He had the audacity to laugh at my threat and I wanted so much to throttle him!

            “Hey,” he said when his laughter subsided. “Friends?”

I smiled, heaving a contended sigh. “Yeah, friends.”

Le Voyage_6

Part 1         Part 2            Part 3       Part 4          Part 5    
    
When it was time for us to leave, we split up into the three available cars. Bells’ car was in the shop and she'd hitched a ride in with Raj that afternoon. However, Raj was going over to his sister’s on the other side of town, so it made sense that she would travel with Liam and me since her apartment was on our way. Thank God for little mercies, at least the awkward moment I was dreading would be prolonged for a bit longer. We all said our goodbyes in the parking lot and split up. Still feeling numb, I sat with Bells in Liam’s car and watched him walk Del to Matt’s car. He shut the door of the passenger seat after she got in and propped his arm against it while they talked for a few minutes. I wanted so much to simply sink into the seat and disappear from sight. I wanted to plant my fist in his face. I wanted to talk some sense into him. Scratch that. Make that give him a really nasty piece of my mind!  I wanted to rewind the day a couple of hours back and re-write the script. I wanted to put the squashed marshmallow back together.

Finally, he straightened up and watched them drive out of the parking lot and then came back to the car. Bells chatted all the way to her apartment. If she noticed that neither one of us was paying her much attention, she didn’t seem to mind. She waved goodbye to us, calling out to Liam that she would see him in Church the next day. We drove in silence to the house and we could as well have been in separate universes. Who would have thought that once upon a time, I would have given an arm and a leg just to sit in the same car with this man and that my therapy for when I’m feeling blue or sad was a Mark-Petersburg-marathon?! Talk about life being ironic.

             “Frankie, we need to talk.” He said when I made to get out of the car. I stopped without turning to look at him.

             “Yeah.” I said simply. If he was hoping to get some help from me, he could think again.

             “I think I owe you an apology.” He said from behind me. I turned in the seat to stare out the windshield, arms crossed and waited.

             “I shouldn’t have kissed you, at least not now, I wasn’t thinking…”

            “What do you mean not now?” I interrupted, turning to glare at him.

             “I know I should have given you time…”

             “Whao, hold up! What on earth are you on about?!”

            “I know that…”

             “What about Adele?!” I blurted out.

             “What?!”

             “Well she…you guys…what the hell is going on?!”

He gave me that look that said I was bonkers and laughed awkwardly.

             “You thought Del and I..”

             “Well?”

             “No!”

             “But…”

             “No! She’s one of my best friends, always has been, but we’ve always just been friends!”

             “You guys seem to have this…” my hands flailed about “…thing!”

             “Thing?! What are you talking about?!”

            “I don’t know, you’re always going on and on about her and tonight you painted such a cosy little picture!”

             “What?!” he looked horrified. “You actually think I would…I was telling her what an idiot I’d been kissing you and…”

             “Oh my God, you what?!”
Could it get any worse?

             “She gave me an earful and asked me to stop acting like a silly kid, you call that cosy?!”

             “I…why on earth would you tell her?!”

             “Because she’s my best friend and well, the others would have given me a tougher time!”

I honestly had no idea what he was going on about and I couldn’t be bothered. I just wanted this very awful night to come to an end. I felt like a total idiot for every reason in the world!

             “Frankie, I …did I come across as that kind of guy?” he asked. He looked so crushed and I wanted to slap myself silly for making him feel that way.

             “No! I …” I shook my head helplessly. “…I read the situation all wrong…I’m so sorry.”

             “No, I’m the one who should do the apologizing.” He said. “I guess I’m the one who read things all wrong.”

Talk about an awkward situation. I wondered how to set things right, repair the damage and go back to being friends. At least, to being Grand-Landlord and Tenant.

             “Liam, I like you an awful lot. You’re a really great guy and you’ve been a good friend these last couple of months and, I can’t believe I’m telling you this, but I had this massive crush on you!” He smiled ruefully at me. “But…I don’t…I…”

            “I know.” He said quietly. “And I understand.”

            “I…I’m sorry…”

            “It’s okay.” He said.

             “I just…I don’t want things to be awkward between us and…I…”

             “Yeah, I know.”

We sat in silence for a moment, both lost in our thoughts.

             “I should go in.” I said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

             “I’ll walk you in.” He replied and we got out of the car.

Oh God, please just let this day end...

Le Voyage_5

Part 1        Part 2        Part 3        Part 4

For the next four hours or so, I forgot all about being broke or being a shrewd business woman and was initiated into the clan. That’s the only description I could come up with, The clan. The five of them had grown up together and had known each other right from kindergarten. Through the years, they’d stuck together even when they had all gone off to different universities and lived in different cities. Matt had gone off to McGill, Bella to Toronto and Raj all the way to Houston while Liam and Adele had stayed behind in Edmonton. After Uni, they had all found their way back to Edmonton and the clan had been re-united.

You couldn’t have found a more interesting group of people and watching them all evening was a pleasurable experience. I couldn’t find any two people in that group that were of similar characters yet each person seemed to compliment the others in just the right places. It was like having pieces of a very complicated puzzle with no two pieces similar, yet each one fitting nicely in place to create a well, very colourful picture! I liked each one of them instantly, from the very eccentric Bella, to cool, calm and collected Adele. Matt was the heart of the clan, witty, sweet and unflappable. Raj was the voice of reason, the grown-up who kept everyone in line. At least he tried to. He was such an English man, all prim and proper and polite. It was a shock to know he’d never been to England, he would have fit in so well.

After the show, we headed to Café Sorrentino and of course Raj held the door open for the ladies to go in first. He was so adorable it was hard to take him seriously sometimes and he reminded me so much of Timmy Patel. Inside we were lucky to snag a table just big enough to fit us all in and Matt brought an extra chair over from another table and squeezed it in.

            “What’s everyone having?” Matt asked.

             “Ladies?” of course Raj asked the ladies first.

            “Can’t make up my mind yet.” Adele said. “I’ll come with you.”

             “Bells?” Matt asked.

            “The usual.” She said and made her way towards the rest rooms. “And a muffin.” She called out above the noise.

             “Lemon and ginger tea please.” I said.

             “Just a coffee for me.” Liam said looking at me across the tiny round table and I wanted to disappear from sight! “With milk please!”

             “Come on, give me a break!” I hissed immediately the others were out of ear-shot.

             “What?” He asked with false innocence.

             “They’ll think I’m a dolt! What a great first impression!”

             “Of course not, they love you!”

             “Pretty please, don’t ever tell anyone about the Cheerios!” I implored.

             “Come on, they’ll think it’s really cute.”

             “Serious, promise you’ll never bring it up!”

            “Bring what up?” Bells asked taking the seat beside me.

             “Nothing!” I said much too quickly, shooting Liam a warning look.

             “Just something that…”

             “You promised!” I hissed slapping his hand across the table.

            “No I didn’t!”

             “Hmmnnn, interesting.” Bells said, leaning in to get the gist. “What’s our Chezza been up to?”

             “So one day, Frankie invites me up for coffee.” Liam started and I covered my face in embarrassment. I’m going to kill him, Mark Petersburg or not!

Then Bells’ phone rang. Who would have thought, saved by the bell, both puns intended!

            “Hold that thought.” she said getting up. “Be right back.” With that she made her way towards the entrance to answer the call outside.

             “Please, please, please don’t tell them, I feel so embarrassed already!”

             “Hey, don’t be.” he said squeezing my hand. “We can invite them all over for breakfast, get through the Cheerios quickly and get rid of the evidence!”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed out loud at that.

             “Yeah right! We’ll feed them Cheerios without milk.” I said.

             “Or sugar!” He added.

We both dissolved in laughter.

             “Thank you.” I said when our laughter subsided.

He smiled warmly at me. “What for?” He asked.

It was my turn to squeeze his hand. “For everything. Sharing your wonderful friends with me, helping me fit in, for a great night…” I trailed off and smiled.

He smiled back at me, and then he leaned forward slightly and kissed me. When he pulled back from me, I just stared at him. I was speechless and even if my life had depended on it, I wouldn’t have been able to say a single word.

             “I wasn’t sure you guys wanted crisps or not.” Adele said from behind me and I practically jumped out of my skin. I had totally forgotten all about the others, and everything else for that matter.

 Oh God, what just happened?!

            “You alright?” she asked and I tore my eyes away from him and forced a smile at her.

            “Yes, I’m fine!” I only just kissed your Boyfriend, everything’s peachy!

            “I am so stuffed, I’m sure I won’t get even one drop of my smoothie in!” She continued seemingly oblivious to the charged atmosphere at the table. Here we were, hands still clasped, both of us still leaning slightly towards each other, and she still went on chatting like the sky was blue and the birds were singing! Ha! She came around and dropped the tray she was carrying on the table and resumed her seat between us. Liam was forced to scuttle his seat back to make room for her and only then did he let go of my hand. Matt,  Raj and Bella  followed soon after and the conversation started up around the table.

             “…it was the courteous thing to do!”

             “I was carrying half a dozen drinks, it was physically impossible to hold the door for her!”

             “Chezza, don’t you just love our Raj?”

I laughed and to me it sounded loud and ridiculous, more like cackling.

Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump. Yeah, that was me.

             “We totally should go bungee jumping next.”

             “Seriously?!”

             “Or abseiling.”

             “Where do you get your crazy ideas from?”

             “Come on, don’t be such a kill joy!”

             “Opera.”

             “Say what?!”

             “Or a West-end Musical…”

For the rest of the night, I talked too much, laughed uproariously, told dumb jokes, I couldn’t seem to stop. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I wondered how I was managing all that because underneath it all, my mind was totally and stupidly blank.

Liam was the only quiet one at the table and I could feel his gaze on me like laser beams but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. Oh dear God, what just happened?!!!

My Portrait Of You

The shrill sound of my phone roused me from a deep, dreamless sleep. For a moment, I felt dazed and disoriented and couldn't for the life of me figure out where I was or why. My head felt heavy and woozy and I imagined this was how an over-ripe water melon felt. I reached for the phone, or at least attempted to. The dull ache in my neck and my rubbery arms confirmed my suspicions that I'd fallen asleep at my desk.

"Hello!" I croaked into the phone just as the person at the other end rang off. In that split moment before the line went dead, I thought I'd caught the sound of a voice. I didn't know if it had all been my imagination or the ripe fruit waiting to burst out of my head, but I couldn't help feeling that if only I'd been a fraction of a second earlier, I would have just caught the voice and somewhere just out of reach of my subconscious was the speaker's identity. I was going to return the call but the caller had withheld the number. Just great!

I got up from my desk feeling stiff in the clothes I'd had on yesterday. I decided to take a bath and get on with the day even though it was just a few minutes shy of 4 am but of course there was no running water yet again. Knowing it was still too early for the meruwa to be pushing their water charts about, I resigned myself to starting the day with the sickly sweet smell of stale sweat. I pushed the windows open all the way and the netting too, ignoring the mosquitoes that immediately swarmed around my head, their love songs buzzing in my ears. I pulled myself up onto the window seat and stared down at the streets of Igbosere. In the darkness, it all looked peaceful, beautiful even. It was hard to believe that in just a couple of hours, these same streets would be transformed into the chaotic entity the world thought it knew. At that moment, it was all quite, shrouded in the seeming solemnity that bellies the madness that is Lagos. It brought back memories of another morning like this one, me, up well before dawn and having absolute no idea what the day would bring: another dull day of lectures and papers to hand in, or news that would change your life forever. Somewhere in the darkness, someone started to belt out some drunken tune, fracturing the serene picture. I sighed. So much for my little daydream, or rather dawn-dream. My drunk companion seemed to be weaving his way towards my building because his voice started to get loud enough for me to hear. Or should I say her. I really am not sure but what I'd taken as a drunk's voice actually turned out to be probably the most hauntingly beautiful sound I've ever heard. I had no idea what song it was, I couldn't even make out the words but the voice was soothing and for a few seconds, I was able to forget everything, past and present, and I let it wrap me up in its cocoon. As slowly as it had drawn close to me, it faded into the pre-dawn gloom and the world was silent again for a moment or two before a bus conductor's voice shattered it. Lagos had come to life.

When I finally got my act together and set out for work, I felt a tad better. At least, my neck didn’t ache so bad if I was mindful not to move it and I’d managed to cover up the mosquito bites on my arms with a long sleeved shirt despite the temperature being somewhere in the forties. Just the way random and totally unrelated thoughts can sometimes interfere with your thought process, I remembered the sun beating down fiercely on me that Wednesday morning a million years ago and how numb and ethereal I’d felt. While waiting at the bus stop, my phone rang and the call that woke me up came to mind. I fished the phone out of my bag, my fingers starting to tingle, not with pins and needles this time but with anticipation, you know, that feeling you get when you’re so sure you’re close to unravelling some mystery. My bus rocked up just then and I made a dash for it along with what seemed like half of Lagos. I snagged a seat by the window and hit the green button desperately hoping I wasn’t too late again this time.

            “Hello!” I gasped as the woman who’d wrestled her way onto the bus after me squashed me into the side of the bus.

            “Hey, you there?!” And just like that, my bubble burst and I felt the crushing weight of disappointment even though I’d really had no idea what I’d been hoping for.

            “Mr Ahmed?!” I said as the very generously proportioned woman beside me forced what little air I had left in my lungs out.

            “Are you on your way in yet?” He asked.

            “Yes…” I choked.

            “Something’s come up on site. You need to head there now.”

            “What? Why?! I’ve got a meeting with…”

            “I’ll take care of the meeting. Head straight to site and sort out whatever the issue is.” He replied curtly.

            “But…”

The line went dead and it was all I could do not to scream in frustration. In all fairness, I really didn’t have any air left in my lungs for a scream, but a girl is allowed her theatrics right? Trust my colleague-from-hell to pull rank on me and dump me in the deep end. Never mind that the only “rank” he had on me was a six month head start at the company and maybe six odd years in age. That was his style and I didn’t expect any better from him, but still, it  made me spitting mad that he always made me do all the dirty work and he took all the credit. I imagined my generously proportioned neighbour wrapping her beefy hands around his scrawny neck and giving him a good shake!

Typical of Lagos weather, the temperature that had been threatening to boil us all alive less than twenty minutes before, dropped suddenly and it actually started to rain. I sighed in resignation. On top of everything else, I was going to get drenched as well. I heaved my biggest poor-me-everything-is-so-unfair sigh and stared out the window absently as the bus crawled through rush-hour traffic. Across the road from me were two little kids, no more than about three or four years old. They had probably slipped out of home when their mum wasn’t looking, and they ran out into the rain with their arms flung out and screaming in glee. I watched them jump and splash in rain puddles like it was the very best thing in the entire world. One of them raised his face to the sky like he wanted to kiss the rain and I could see the sheer delight on his little face. I could almost feel each individual rain drop hit his face, feel the exciting shock of cold water-balls on soft skin, feel the rivulets they formed as they charted their course down his face, slipping into the cracks between his eyelids, streaming down the slopes of his cheeks, into the hollows of his ears, falling onto his little pink tongue. I felt suspended in time even as the boy disappeared from my line of sight and in that moment, I forgot all about my anger and frustration and self-pity and the fight went out of me. There really is nothing as humbling as a three year old raining on your pity party, pun intended, and that gave me quite a bit to chew on.

At my stop, I got off the bus using my hand bag as a make-shift umbrella. Literarily two seconds later, a jeep zoomed by and covered me from head to toe in muddy rain water. That definitely wiped every last image of magical rain drops from my mind! I gasped in shock and disbelief and then quickly spat out as some of the filthy water got in my mouth. Then another vehicle passed by and I got a second, more thorough dousing. I had absolutely no idea whether to laugh or cry or scream or tear my hair out. If there had been anything child-like about me right then, it definitely had nothing to do with the simplicity and innocence I’d seen no more than ten minutes earlier, I desperately wanted to stamp my feet and throw a mighty tantrum! I angrily wiped the muddy water from my face, gritting my teeth, and it was then that I saw it. Just pushing its way out of the dark, angry clouds was the faint outline of a rainbow. I stood there on the side of the road, shivering and dripping from head to toe like a drowned chicken, staring in wonder at the rainbow and all I could think was that life had never felt as beautiful as it did right then. 

Looking back now on the events of today, I realize it doesn’t always matter how bleak and dreary life might seem. All it takes is a voice at the other end of the line or a beautiful song at dawn, dancing in the rain or a rainbow after a storm to bring out the beauty and to turn those shades of grey into splashes of vibrant colours. And that was how you lived, in full colour, no matter what. You always saw the cup as full, regardless of what filled it, whether it was air,  water, a little bit of both, or even coke (I remember you always did love coke!) and that is how I remember you, always seeing the silver lining, not just the storm. Love you babes, still miss you like crazy…

Le Voyage_4

Part 1        Part 2       Part 3

             "Gotta run Babes!" I said stealing a peek at the clock at the bottom of my screen. I’d been skyping with Ama for the better part of two hours and as much as I missed her, it was time to hit the books.

            “Where are you running off to?” she asked wiggling her eyebrows at me. “ Hot date?”

             “I wish!”

             “Come on Chale, gimme gist!”

             "Got course work to finish up."

            "Don’t be such a geek." she retorted. "Which one is course work again? Are you not supposed to be creating a robot or finding a cure for cancer or something?"

            "Err, news flash, I'm still just a student and I've got 90 credits to make up for."

            "You're such a bore! You've been there barely 3 months and you're already spending all your time studying. No wonder that big fat pimple is getting fatter and fatter!”

            "What? Is it bigger than it was yesterday?!" I asked patting my face frantically.

            “Perks of being a boring geek." she retorted.

I scrambled off my bed where I'd been skyping with her and went to the dresser to examine my face in the mirror.

            "Shouldn't you be asleep?" I asked. "It’s almost 2 am over there." the bloody thing did look bigger!

            "Whatever! So, what's new with your sexy landlord?" she asked. Again.

            “What?” I returned to my laptop, still poking and prodding at the pimple.

            “Your sexy landlord! And stop pinching it, you’ll just get an ugly spot”

            "He's not my landlord!" I said for about the millionth time that evening.

            "Irrelevant. At least get a picture!"

            "And I haven't even seen him since..."

            "Since when?!" she pounced when I trailed off.

            "You know what? I really have work to do and I have to go.”

            "You start talking now Chesca or I’ll…."

            "Love you Ama, talk to you later." I said.

            “Francesca!” she exclaimed sternly and through the thousands of miles separating us and hp’s Gorilla capacitive touch screen, I could still feel the glare of that look!

            “Ughhhhhhhhhh! Okay, don’t bite my head off!”

            “Now spill!”

I sighed in resignation. I could as well just get the whole thing off my chest. She wouldn’t let me have any peace until I told her anyway!

                      *                                 *                                   *                                       *

            "Hey guys, this is Frankie!" I said when we met up with the others that Saturday afternoon.

            "This is Matt, Rajesh, Bells and Adele."

            "Nice to finally meet you!" Adele said hugging and air-kissing her. “You can call me Del.”

            “It’s actually Bella, but never mind him!” Bells popped in, taking her turn with the hugs and air-kissing. “We've heard so much about you!"

The guys just stood and stared at them awkwardly. Girls.

            "Pleased to meet you guys too!" she said.

            "We should hang out, just we girls." Bells was saying. "You know, properly welcome you to Edmonton, show you all the nice spots.”

            “Yes, we totally should!” Adele added.

Matt cleared his throat. “Ladies, are we gonna see the movie or what?”

            “Don't be such a kill joy!” Bells chided him.

            “What are we seeing?” Adele asked.

            “Where are you from?” Raj managed to add.

            “Come on! Let the girl breathe! What's with the 50 questions?” Bells had assumed the mother-hen role. Classic!

            “What...?!” Raj spluttered. Poor dude!

            “Girlfriend, ignore the guys. They like to think that...”

Bells linked her arm with Frankie's and dragged her off with Adele on her other side. I smiled, happy that my friends had taken to her instantly.

                      *                                  *                                  *                                    *  

             “Okay, what was so bad about him introducing you to his friends?” Ama asked. “They sound like pretty nice people to me.”

             “Of course they are!” I exclaimed.

             “So what was the problem then?”

             “It wasn’t anything to do with them, it was…”

             “Girl, you are supposed to be the smart one, but right now you’re  not making any sense!”

I sighed. “I don’t really know what happened, how a perfect day out with lovely friends turned into a marshmallow situation!”

Ama gasped dramatically. “Marshmallow?!”

Marshmallow was Ama-gibberish for a really messy and awkward situation.

             “Which one of them squashed the marshmallow?” she asked. If I hadn’t been so upset, I would have told her not to be such a drama queen.

            “Was it Matt or Raj?” she asked.

I sighed again.

             “Okay, this is what happened…”