Chapter Sixteen

KELECHI'S POV

"What is taking him so long?" I grumbled before my stomach did. I was dying of hunger. I did not know how long I had waited in the car. But, it felt like a million years! Didn't he say he would use his charms to get the food quickly? Or has his charms suddenly evaporated? 

  Just as my patience was running thin, Ben was suddenly in front of the car with two takeaways in both his hands. I could not wait till he entered the car. I jumped out of the car and grabbed one of the takeaways from his hands.

  "The bread..."

   "What bread?" I asked confused. 

   "Can't you see the nylon I'm holding?" 

    "Ohh!" In my haste to take my food, I had conveniently missed the nylon he was holding. I reached for it with my other hand and opened it. There was two agege bread. 

   "You can have one of them." He entered the car. Relaxing in his seat, he wasted no time eating. I followed suit. 

   We were hungry. None of us lifted our heads till we were done eating. "Hmmm!" I wasn't sure if it was the hunger, but the food was delicious. Maybe, Ben was right. Ewa Agoyin was very delicious. 

   "Told you, you'd like it!" Hearing me hum in approval as I ate, Ben could not resist saying his ' I told you so ' speech. 

   "Blah blah blah" I could not let him have the last word.

"I'm so glad I bought Ewa Agoyin. It's so delicious. Do you think we could cook it at home?" At this point Ben was a certified fan of Ewa Agoyin. While was just half way through my food, He had already finished his food and was eyeing mine.

"Go and ask mama that." I humphed before laughing. We both knew mama would not agree to it. She wasn't a fan of Ewa Agoyin.

"I will convince her. I have my charms, have you forgotten?" He had his usual smug smile on his face, like he knew he could get anything he wanted.

"Trust me, Ben. You never let me forget." I said calmly. I wouldn't let him be the reason I didn't do justice to my food.

He chuckled. And once again I'm forced to remember what made him "charming". His rich bass voice effortlessly escaped his lips. It stirred something in my stomach. It was hunger, I assure you.

I could not help looking at him. Unlike his usual serious demeanour, he looked really carefree. His soft hair did not help matters. The rush of air that came in through the the as he started driving made it fall on the side of his face.

Then what you would probably see only in movies happened. His eyes caught mine staring at him.

Acting like nothing had happened must be my specialty. I suddenly found the rear view mirror interesting.

"I'm really hoping you still know our way back home." He smiled. Hopefully, he was not laughing internally about what just happened.

"Of course, I know the way. I live in Lagos. I don't think there is anywhere in Lagos I'd get lost in." I was a typical Lagos babe. I enjoyed hanging out, having fun, partying. Basically anything that made me feel free. So, it was a given I knew the best lounge in the area and my way back home.

"That reminds me, whose car is this anyway. I have not seen it before. " Come to think of it, we had left home without using any car in the garage. I had not notice it before when Ben had tried to catch up to me with a car. I had assumed it belonged to our family. But looking at a it now, I noticed it didn't look like anything we owned.

"Oh, that. Remember our neighbour's son, Timothy?" He glanced at me for a moment. Like what he said already explained how he got the car. "I can't believe you don't remember him. The guy that had a crush on you when we were in primary school. Don't you remember?"

"Ohh. Timo. What about him?"

"He lent me this car. "

"Wow, I didn't know he was that rich. " It took me a while to understand something. "Wait o. Did you pay him for it."

"Of course, I did. He rented it out to me for 20 pounds. It's a bit much, right?" He glanced at me as he asked.

"He shouldn't have charged you in the first place. Are we not friends? And it's not like the car was filled with fuel. We still had to drop by the filling station yesterday. Gosh!" I kept ranting. That was no way to welcome a friend you haven't seen in a long time.

"Use the lane on your left!" I screamed. He looked at me confused.

"Change lane, idiot!" Pointing at it, I yelled again. "We are going to miss it!"

"Ohh!" He finally changed lanes . "Chill. We could always go back if we missed it."

"You. Don't. Understand. Idiot!" I hit him on his arm as I spoke every word.

"You need to chill"

Pointing a finger at him, I yelled "This is Nigeria! It is not someplace in UK. This is a one way road. Once you miss it, you would have to go down to ikorodu garage before you can turn around!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. You don't have to scream your head off. Relax."

I don't know why this isn't a common knowledge. Telling a woman to relax or calm down when she's definitely not in the mood doesn't work. It has the opposite effect instead.

"This is how you'll be driving and get us lost. Just so you know, I don't really know my way around ikorodu garage¹. If you had missed that lane, that would be the end."

"I thought you said you couldn't get lost in any part of Lagos. "

"You can't count ikorodu garage as part of Lagos."

"It is part of Lagos."

"It's not. It's like a boundary between Lagos and Ogun State²."

Ben literally risked our safety by releasing one of his hands on the steering wheel so he could face palm. "I think you've forgotten. Shagamu³ is the boundary between Lagos and Ogun state."

"That's not true. Shagamu is in Ogun state. You know what? I will ask Google, since you don't believe me."

"Look! Google agrees with me." I showed him what I found.

"I can't really see what you're showing me. I'm driving, remember?"

Excuses excuses...

***

I thought I would be prepared for whatever punishment mama would give to us when we got back. Nothing could have prepared me for that, in fact. Later that day, I wished I did not step out of the house the day before.