One Hundred And Twelve

It wasn't until I got to my room and saw Uche's room light still on that it occurred to me that to go back to my mum, I would have to leave Uche.

I felt my heart sink deep into my stomach as beads of sweat formed over my forehead. I swallowed. I saw his lights go off and my phone dinged almost immediately.

Tears in my eyes, I opened his text.

UCHE: At least, reply to my text babe. I really am sorry.

I bit my lips and held my breath for a short time before typing out what I had in mind.

ME: Have u ever thought about what it'd be like if we broke up?

My heart throbbed against my chest as I watched the space under his name show typing... for a while and stop. Then it resumed again. And then he decided to call.

"You really that mad about what I said?" Was his first question after I picked up his call.

"I'm not mad. I'm just..."

"I'll never say shit like that again, okay? You want me to swear on it?"

"This is not about that?" A sob escaped my throat and made him go silent for some seconds.

"You crying?" He asked even though he could tell.

I sniffed, "No."

"Julie..."

"Just answer what I asked, will you?"

"No, I'm not gonna answer that."

"Uche, come on."

"Why on earth would you ask me that? You tryna break up with me?"

"..." Silence. I couldn't answer his question now. Was I trying to break up with him? I closed my eyes and sighed."Nevermind. Just forget I asked."

"Julie, talk to me. What's going on?"

"..."

"Julie?"

"Yeah?"

"You're making me worried now." I could hear the concern in his voice and felt horrible for the thoughts I had before asking him what I had done.

"I was just wondering to myself; what if broke up? What will our lives be like? Will you forget me? Will I..."

"Julie," He cut me short and I could hear his heavy breathing through the phone."Why would you be thinking about that? It's almost midnight."

"Nighttime is the perfect time to overthink, you told me that remember? Especially at midnight."

"Yeah, for me. I don't want you doing the overthinking, that's my thing. Just be you, just be carefree Julie who doesn't give a fuck. Please? I'm afraid you'd dump me if you start to overthink things."

"..." I sucked air into my lungs slowly and exhaled shakily.

"Julie, can you hear me?" He asked after he hadn't heard a thing from me in a while.

"Yeah, I can." I tried to hide that there were tears in my eyes again and I was about to sob.

"I don't know, maybe I don't say this enough but I lo...I like you a lot, Julie. I like you so much, that I often wonder if it's okay to do that. If you dump me, I don't know what I'd do with my time after that."

"You know when you asked me out and I said yes, I really thought to myself; there's surely an 80% chance of you breaking up with me because you are like up there in school, and I was so low...and I thought again, I'd be laughed at if you ever got tired of me and dump me, but then I went 'fuck it', it'll be worth it."

"So you...you still like me as much as I do you, why are we talking about breaking up?" Uche's question came through and I just got my lip hard.

"Because things happen, Uche." I released my lower lips from my teeth. The silence that came after my words was a bit dreadful so I decided to add;

"We're in our final year of high school. Our team won the scholarship to go to any higher institution of our choice. We might leave each other soon."

"Till then," I heard him say."Till the time comes. We'll find a way then."

"But it's not very far now, is it? All we have is a few months left."

***

Morning.

"Good morning, aunt." I greeted her when I saw her heaping pancakes for me and her son. I could just tell she woke up early for some work and decided to make this.

"You sleep well?" She asked as she returned to the kitchen.

"Not really. I guess I'm just anxious about my mum's call." I replied.

"Is Nick not awake and ready yet?" 

"I don't know. I didn't check." I answered and just immediately after, Nick's room door opened. He jogged down the stairs and went straight to the kitchen and kissed his mum on the cheek.

"Morning Mum," He greeted before grabbing a fork and joining me at the dining table.

"How did you sleep?" She asked while drying her hands.

"Good. Will you leave before us?" He asked and I saw her nod before reaching for her coat and handbag.

"You and Julie can figure out what to eat when you return from school. I'll be back early, so don't bother about dinner. I might get us Chinese on my way back."

"Did you finally get promoted?" He asked her but she sighed.

"No. But soon, I hope. Maybe in two weeks, we'll see. Take care of yourselves, I'm off." With that, she left and then it was just me and Nick.

A few minutes later.

"Come on, Julie! We're fucking late already!" Nick yelled while I searched for the assignment he had reminded me that we had to submit.

"Found it!" I yelled back joyfully while trodding down the stairs. I walked the door and he shut it after me, locking it after.

I turned around to lead the way and saw Uche standing in our yard, his hands in his pockets and the morning breeze playing with his curly hair. He smiled at me, but I didn't smile back, I just rushed to him and hugged him.

He soon freed his hands from his pockets to wound them around me."I'm sorry," I muttered into his chest."I'm sorry I've been so much since yesterday." 

"You guys? Can you do this another time? We're very late if you two haven't noticed." Nick complained and I laughed, then sniffed after because I almost cried.

I wanted to stop hugging Uche but he didn't let me go, "Hold on, let me hug you more." He said and smelled my hair. I bit my lip as I smiled at Nick staring at us in disgust.

"You know what, I'm going. See y'all later." Nick left and I heard Uche laugh for the first time since yesterday.

"Finally, he's gone," Uche said and kissed me on my forehead."I've been meaning to be alone with you."