20. CINEMA DATE

Yvonne woke up as early as 6. She prepared breakfast before waking everyone up and went to each room to pack their dirty clothes for laundry.

After the day's chore, She and her mom left for the eatery while Jude and Cammy went out to the park since it was Saturday.

Yvonne's mom prepared the meals for sale while Yvonne went to buy foodstuffs, both for use at home and the eatery.

She came back from the market after an hour, helped her mom till afternoon, and went home to prepare for her date with Samuel.

When she got home, she went straight to the kitchen, eat and set an alarm before taking a nap. Waking up, she checked her time and saw that she had just an hour to get ready, She took her bath and dress up with light makeup.

She wore blue fitted jeans and a black baggy top that covers her butt and ended on her mid-thighs.

Sam called her up, on clue as to if he knew she was done, to meet him outside her gate. They took a cab to the cinema.

In the cab, Yvonne noticed Samz has been glancing at her from time to time.

Finally looking at her properly, "You look beautiful, girlfriend." Staring intensely at her.

"Thanks." She looked away from him to avoid his eyes. "You don't look bad yourself."

"Thanks, babe." He winks at her.

Samuel Simon has a brown eyeball, short and curled eyelashes, messy blonde hair, and red lips. He's friendly and jovial.

He is every girls' crush, mostly, at work but he chooses to keep them as his friends, not his girlfriend. He believes if the girl is one of his colleagues, she would want all attentions which he can't give and would cause distractions to his work, so he dates girls outside work.

Getting to their destination, He opened the cab door for her, she came down and they both walked into the cinema.

Getting to the popcorn seller, Samz looked at Yvonne, "Big sized or small sized?"

She looked at him confused, "What?"

He pointed at popcorn, "Big or small?"

"Oh, the small one Samz."

He bought two big-sized packs of popcorn, Yvonne wanted to protest but kept shut, seeing the glare Samz was giving her.

Yvonne had to pretend, she was watching the movie because Samz's eyes never left her face. "Aren't you watching the movie anymore?"

"I am but you are more beautiful and more watchable than the movie." She blushed and looked away, sighing.

The movie lasted for 2 hours, They walked out of the cinema, laughing and talking, Yvonne was still eating her popcorn.

"You are a slow eater, girlfriend."

"Nope, it's too much. You bought the big one, not the small one I said you should buy." Looking at him accusingly.

"Mine was bigger than yours. Assuming you had chosen the big size, I would have bought the small one." He shrugged.

"Seriously... At least am fatter than you are."

Samz laughs, "Yea... I can see that..."

"Are we going home?" Yvonne asked Samz.

"Let's go to the restaurant down the next street." He points in the direction, "It's still a bit early girlfriend. Or what do you think?"

"Okay let's go." While they were walking, she gave him her popcorn, "I don't want the popcorn again." He collected it from her and ate it.

They kept talking to not feel bored when Yvonne brought up a conversation. "I want to ask something."

"What's it?" He looked at her attentively.

"I just want to know, that's all."

"Yeah... Go on." He urged her to talk.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

"I have," he said nonchalantly.

Surprised, "You have? What's her name?"

He laughed, "Her name is Yvonne. Why would I have another when I have you?" He stopped when he noticed she looked serious.

"Am serious here Samz. Ria told me most of your relationships don't last long."

Shakes his head negatively, "It does last long."

"You lie. You complain about every girl either she eats irritatingly or noisy or she talks too much or she does this or that."

"Am in love with someone who has no flaws, she's perfect in her way."

"Does she know?"

"I have shown in all ways that I can think of but no good result."

"Huh... Well, the next option is to go ahead and express yourself to her."

"She would accept me? For real?"

"I believe so." Yvonne stooped talking and faced front to cross the road when Samz held her back.

She turned to ask him why but immediately she turned, he dragged her close to him, right at the middle of the road.

He held her waist, she gasped and looked into his eyes in surprise.

Looking into her eyes, "What if it's you am in love with?

She looked at him speechless and shocked.

Noticed she looked speechless and quiet, "What if?" He winked at her.

Whispering, "Me? How's that possible?"

"I love you, Yvonne." Looking a bit serious.

"Huh? Samuel!" She waved her hand in front of his face thinking he wasn't in his right state of mind.

A look of disappointment flashed in his eyes and it was gone the second it came as if she imagined it...

He flinched... released her and walked away forcing a laugh out, "I got you." He avoided her eyes.

Yvonne shook her head and followed him, "Samuel?"

"Am just joking, Yvonne." He walked faster to avoid the discussion, she got the message and followed him from behind in awkward silence.

Samuel couldn't muster the courage to tell her about his true feelings. The look of confusion and anger was the only thing he could see, not LOVE which he thought he would see and now he couldn't ruin their friendship because of his feelings.

In the restaurant, he avoided her eyes like a plague and responded with monotone words.

"When did you think Ria would come home?" Trying to ease the tension.

"8:30 pm."

"You wait till that time to eat dinner every day."

"No."

"Are you okay, Samz?"

"Yes."

"You..." He interrupted her. "Please Yvonne am not in the mood to talk please." She nodded and kept shut, looking and waiting for their orders.

They ate dinner in silence and retired to their home with a tension between them. Sam dropped her off in front of her gate, pecked her forehead, and left without a goodnight.

She entered, greeted her family, and bid them goodnight. She went straight to her room, locked her door, and went to take a shower.

She tried to forget what happened earlier but couldn't, "He looked serious when he asked the questions like he was waiting for an answer." She thought sighing. "He flinched and released me, suddenly, he started laughing but neither his smiles nor his laughter reached his eyes." Yvonne kept thinking till she slept off...