She pulled at the shoulders of the top she had on.
She felt uncomfortable…awkward in fact. ‘Did it show?’ she wondered halfheartedly…her mind more on what was to come…what she’d been putting off but knew she’d have to deal with eventually…well…”eventually” was NOW…or at least any minute now.
She was oblivious to the looks she was getting…she’d been steadily sipping her water (of course with the lemon slices…you canNOT forget the lemon slices!) …her throat felt so dry though…’Nerves’ she thought to herself ‘definitely nerves’
Almost every eye in the place watched Chioma raise her water glass to her lips to take another sip…which after a couple of seconds turned into a long drink…her eyes shut so she didn’t see the men lean forward almost imperceptibly as her head tilted back slowly as the water went down, exposing her smooth elegant neck …she stopped halfway, putting her glass down, the pink wet tip of her tongue coming out to catch the lingering drops of water at the left side of her mouth.
The lady at the table to the left poked her date in the arm to get him to put his eyes back in his head, eyeing him dirtily as she picked up her fork to keep eating her fried rice.
That got Chioma’s attention and she almost choked on the last of the water in her mouth at the thought that Mr-table-on-the-left had just earned himself a possibly EXPENSIVE placatory trip to The Palms ‘well O.Y.O perv’ she snorted under her breath.
Her mood descended again as the nerves returned…how…when…what was she supposed to say to him eh? She bit her lip worriedly.
She’d chosen this restaurant because they made his favourite soup, Ofe Onugbu, very well with the extra soft okporoko…just the way he liked it…ENOUGH dried fish! Yeah, this was a good idea…one or 2 beers would mean he would be nice and mellow. She’d never met a Yoruba boy that liked Onugbu soup like Tunde. She shook her head.
How would she start?
‘Emmm Tunde, umm you know we’ve been cool for a while now right?’
Or
‘Tunde…you’re very special to me…that’s why I didn’t want to do this over the phone’ hmmm…he’d see that one coming a mile off.
She uncrossed her legs absentmindedly and all the men in the restaurant, that had been watching this bosomy petite fresh café au lait skinned lady, held their breath as she recrossed her supple smooth legs so that her skirt rode up by another 8th of an inch. Yes, Mr-aristo-in-the-corner sitting with Miss-34”Brazilian hair was counting.
Chioma had no clue.
As she took a deep breath, her chest moved eye-catchingly and Mr-fish-pepper-soup-and-stout by the door choked a little bit.
She picked up her blackberry.
“PING”
D “T, where you @?”
She watched her phone, almost willing the message to change status…
Then.
T-Money is typing a message
D “be there in 5”
D “u ordered?”
D “want my nosh ready and waiting”
Sweet Chixxx is typing a message
D “dude. K like seriously. r u TREKKING here??”
T-Money is typing a message
D “Kiss My Ass”
Sweet Chixxx is typing a message
D “Ode”
T-Money is typing a message
D “don’t cream your panties. Jst drivin in now. c u in a bit”
Chioma snorted and put her phone down.
The butterflies in her lower belly decided to scatter at that moment. It was real…it was about to go down.
Ewo.
She knew when he walked in without even looking up.
The air in the room changed somewhat...became more…electric.
She looked up to see Tunde walk across the restaurant to the table somewhat in the corner that she’d chosen…to give them some measure of privacy.
Gosh he looked good though she thought eyeing him up as he got closer.
Dark skinned…broad enough to hint at some rugby somewhere in his past…his suit jacket hugged his shoulders and chest enough to fit without straining to look too tight.
He had on a peach shirt that looked extra yummy against his dark skin, his rust green tie accentuating it perfectly….as he got real close she noticed his suit was actually chocolate…yeah…he looked like chocolate.
The famous pink tip of her tongue came out again to wet her lips as her gaze travelled downwards…oh my word….she thought…he’s so….
“hey sweetcheeks” he flashed his white teeth in his dark face “wey my nosh?”
“I resemble waitress?? See trouble” she side eyed him
“sharrap joo and hug your man” he teased as he took her hand and pulled her up from her seat and took her in his arms “how u doin babygirl”
Chioma was in 4inch heels but she still had to stretch a little…well, being “petite” she was kinda used to it…”I’m gooooooood” she purred as she snuggled into his warmth…wafting of A&F ‘Fierce’…she wanted to climb into his shirt with him and curl up there for a minute…mmmmm…but she remembered where she was especially when she started to feel his hands creeping down towards her….
“Tunde!”
He chuckled “well a man can only restrain himself so much when confronted with that” he gestured at what had 70% of the restaurant openly gawking at her as he took off his jacket “abeg put this on the back of your seat” she took it from him and did so as she laughed
“whatEVER. Its my inheritance!” She said sitting down, smoothing her skirt as she did
Tunde gagged on the drink of water he was taking “Inheritance ke?? O ti o! this one is PROPER heirloom”
They laughed together.
“Wey my nosh ooooo!” he asked as he rolled up his sleeves and almost as if the waiters heard him, the food came.
They settled down to eat, talking about the day they had both had up until lunch. Possible meetings, deals made…funny incidents and because they worked in the same industry they caught up on what was new as they usually did.
Tunde had his first beer.
They moved on to more risqué topics.
Who was sleeping with whom and what they stood to gain from their dalliance. Chioma filled him in on the juicy scandal that was making the rounds in her company about the E.D’s wife who was shagging one of the team leads. A much younger man no less! In fact she was all set to fly him to Paris for a romantic getaway.
“Choi! Dis tin wey suppose be under-g don waka go everywhere now” Tunde shook his head “I sure say na the guy dey make mouth”
“Before nko, guys! Una too dey yan” Chioma scoffed as she reached over to steal a piece of stock fish from his plate.
“Ah-ahn! See this woman o! You dey find trouble!” Tunde ‘mean mugged’ her…she looked at him unimpressed “you don’t scare me. Ooh I’m shaking!” she mocked
He looked at her slyly “I remember you were, just this weekend…you could barely walk to your car”
She blushed furiously “oh…my…I didn’t see that coming…this guy…stop it joo” she gulped some water quickly.
Tunde half smiled at her with a strange look on his face and raised his hand to signal the waiter to bring his 2nd beer.
‘How do I start this?’ Chioma thought knowing the time had come to say it…t’was now or never.
“Em…” she cleared her throat “Tunde…I have something to tell you” she picked up a tissue and started to fold it over and over
He raised one eyebrow “oh? Must be serious…for your O.C.D to show up” he nodded towards the growing pile of neatly folded tissues in front of her “Ki lo n sele?” he asked as he leaned back
Chioma put her hands in her lap, suddenly really nervous “we’ve been good friends for a while now right? I mean, we’ve had an awesome time 7months together right? Right?”
Tunde looked amused “‘Been’? ‘Had’? Is it over?”
Chioma wrung her hands “I’m getting married” she blurted.
Tunde stopped smiling.
