Dangerous Love - Episode 3

 

The chattering of submachine guns boomed from the sub-woofer of our home theatre speakers.

 I stared languidly at the soldiers in the action movie I was watching shoot volleys of bullets at each other and as usual the protagonist always managed to evade the enemies’ bullet.

My phone chirped. It was a message from my best friend, Rita asking as to my whereabouts.

I told her I was at home and she said was on her way to discuss something important.

Knowing Rita very well . I knew what ever she was coming to discuss was going to be tinged with mischief.

Rita was not just my best friend she was a sister I never had. Will never have.

Since I have lost my mother to the cold hands of death.

Rita is the only daughter of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Omole.  Her father was the Managing Director of a bank and her mother was a business woman who travelled overseas to purchase goods for her wealthy customers.

She was currently in Dubai to restock her goods supply. Her father was in Abuja for a meeting and had left her to the care of the housekeeper and since her brothers were in private higher institutions.

Rita had the ample opportunity to frolic as she liked since the geriatric house keeper could barely keep her on leash.

Rita was more than a friend also because she had been an invaluable friend when my mother was admitted to Oncology Unit of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

She was my buoy during those trying times she substituted as my mother figure and took care of me when as I was losing it and becoming suicidal.

I remembered the day she caught me trying to ingest twenty pills of valium.

She had broken down and cried with me for hours soothing me and reminding me of the childhood promises we made to each other to always remain best friends forever.

When my mother eventually died a year ago she stood by my side and rendered much needed help and comfort.

I met Rita in school Bright Scholars Comprehensive School. Junior Secondary School class one to be exact.

She was the new girl in class and had been a corpulent girl at that time and was the brunt of jokes and teasing from the whole class.

The day that our friendship was to officially solidify was the day David, a very mischievous and troublesome boy in my class drew an obscene caricature of her on the board and scribbled a short deprecating quip as to the effect of her robust stature

My classmates laughed at her as she tried to wipe off the board that her hands couldn’t reach since the drawing was drawn by a dogonyaro (David is very tall so we gave him the moniker which actually means a Neem tree but figuratively means a tall person)

I was angry at them for making fun of her and went to report to our class teacher who flogged the whole class for the fat shaming and also spent the next thirty minutes educating us on why it was bad to tease other students and finally our class teacher

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/dangerous-love

. Mrs Abudu made us promise we will never do that again.

Fat chance of that.

They still continued to tease her but it was on the sly.

“Why don’t you always report them when they trouble you?” I asked in the cafeteria during the break period that same day.

I was surprised she allowed the insults and teasing to go on for that long and not even report them to the school authorities.

“I don’t want to be a tattletale” she said and smiled at me.

“Thanks for the rescue though”

“No problem, Mother Theresa defender of human race to the rescue” I said pantomiming a soldier marching to war.

Then she laughed.

A rich and hearty laughter. I could clearly see she was happy to have found a friend in the class she must have considered the denizen of obnoxious people.

“My name is Rita Omole” she said, stretching her hand for a handshake.

Even I, had to admit her hands looked like meatloaf.

“My name is Su…” she did not allow me finish

“Peace Omokri. Your dad is an engineer and your mom owns a large supermarket.” She said giggling.

To say I was surprised is an understatement.

I was astonished.

I think she must have noticed my confusion because she quickly added.

“I’m not a stalker or anything I just heard our classmates talking. That’s all, not like I have any friends to speak with .. or gossip or….”she continued rambling incoherently.

It was then I realized how alienated and lonely she must have been that she was able to assimilate   such meaningless information.

I laughed to ease the tension I could see was already building up.

Rita was retreating, she was becoming unsure if I I would want to be her friend. If she had not slipped up by revealing the info she had gleaned about me from my blabbermouth classmates.

I hushed her by telling her everything was okay.

Although it was not as it was super creepy.

“Can we be friends”?  I asked her.

She beamed brightly and replied. “Of course”

But that was seven years ago when we were still embroiled in the task of finishing secondary school with good grades.

Now we both were encumbered with the task of securing admission into higher institution.

She had chosen a private university and would be resuming by October and me by personal choice wanted to go to a public university. I had a restricted life from childbirth and didn’t want to continue in such highly regimented milieu again.

The tintinnabulation of the doorbell announced the arrival of Rita. She did not even wait to be ushered in. She barged right in.

To Rita the doorbell was only a formality.

This also spoke of our closeness, a relationship that developed from one girl with messiah complex assisting another with introversion that now transcended to a relationship between both parents.

Well, parent on my part.

I felt a sense of betrayal awash me.

Rita was my best friend but there was a limit to my openness to her.

She did not know about THE SECRET.

 Anytime I remember that, I feel bad. Rita did not keep any secrets from me. She always told me very esoteric stuff about herself.

I’m sorry Rita.

“Babe how far?” she chirruped as  she plopped into our leather cushion chair.

I smiled and accessed my friend in short black sequined dress. Rita has transformed from her amebic and corpulent physique into a voluptuous lady.

This made her one of the most sought after girl in the school before we graduated and she had rode the wave of popularity till we took the final bow from secondary school.

“Babe, its party time” she stopped short and whispered “Is daddy at home?”

I just smiled and assured her no one was listening to her.

My dad at home? 

At eleven ‘o’clock in the morning?

That is the joke of the century.

“My friend is throwing a birthday party and I was wondering if you will please accompany me there I promise we’ll be back before six” she asked pleadingly.

“Please……..”

I pretended to not be thrilled by the idea.

“Rita I’m sorry I ……..will go and have fun with you!”

She screamed.                    

“………..but on a condition that I will be back before six”

“Of course dear, now let’s get you dressed up” she said gleefully.  

Oh boy.