Chapter 10 THE DATE

EVE

Have you ever woken up with your heart pounding, thunder roaring in your ears, and the sound of blood flowing powerfully through your veins?

No, I'm not a vampire.

Adrenaline . . .

That's all it is.

Something exciting is sure to happen to me today. I can feel it.

The ping from my phone alerts me to a text. Two more pings follow, making me wonder who they could be from.

I reach across the bedside table for my phone. When I scroll through it, the messages elicit different types of feelings in me - Excitement, curiousity and revulsion ---- exactly in that order.

7.00am - Hi princess, get ready, we're going on a date this morning. 9am sharp! - Segun.

7.15am - Hi bestie of life! Hope you're okay? Hope Segun got you home safe and sound? I get gist for you. Will call later to update you.

7.30am - I'm going to sue you, bitch! You and that super - hero wannabe are going down!!! - Dee.

When I see the last text, I grimace. Asshole!!! Good riddance to bad rubbish. He got what he deserved. Sue me? I'd love to see you try, I fume to myself as I roll to the other side of my bed trying to get comfortable.

I wonder what happened when we left the wedding venue yesterday. My mind rehashes the events and it only brings back memories of my time with Batman.

Why does Batman think he can order me around, telling me we're going on a date? Deep down inside, I'm excited. I stifle a yawn as I settle down to snooze for a bit. Minutes later, I'm asleep. When next I awake with a start, it's almost 9am.

I jump out of bed and rush into the bathroom. Hold on! Why am I rushing?

Men should do the waiting, while women take their time to get ready.

I slow my movements as I decide to take a leisurely bath instead. I wash my hair first and have a warm bath. When I'm done, I sit in my towel while I straighten my hair.

Ebere calls me the queen of natural hair. That's me, I dont use chemicals on my hair trying to straighten it, I prefer to do so temporarily. When I look at the end results of the straightening, it falls to my shoulders in a light curtain.

I decide to wear a plain tee shirt with an inscription on it that reads - Taken! I slip on some jean shorts to finish the look, leaving a good part of my laps and legs on display. On my feet, I wear flip - flops.

I don't have it in me to play dress - up this morning. I mean it's just breakfast, not much of a big deal, so I go with a no make - up face, just a touch of lip gloss and I'm ready. I'm still considering packing my hair in a tight knot or leaving it down, when I get a call from an unknown number.

I answer it tentatively. "Hello!"

"Princess!" His deep voice fills my ear, sending spiky thrills racing up and down my spine. My mind flashes to yesterday; his hands all over me, me moaning, him breathing hard and spasming under my touch. I force myself back to the present when I feel myself going hot and sweaty.

"Ready for our date?" He enquires, oblivious of my emotional turmoil.

"I'd call it an order, more like. Don't I get to have a say?" I ask.

"Well!" he starts. "I figured I'd agree on your behalf, seeing I didn't want you to turn it down. "He finishes, chuckling.

I wouldn't turn it down for the world, I silently say, but out aloud, I say. "Hmm! How ingenious of you."

"I'm in front of your house." For some reason he sounds pleased with himself.

I cut the call without giving him a reply. Spying my black face cap lying on a chair, I decide to wear it. Slinging my hand bag across one shoulder, I give myself a last look in the mirror and leave my room. As I walk down the stairs, I text my mum informing her I'm going out for breakfast with a friend.

Can I even call him a friend?

I don't know. I guess I can qualify him as that. I honestly don't know where all this is headed.

I walk silently down the stairs, suddenly wondering how yesterday's events panned out. What exactly happened to Dee? The text he sent this morning raised a red flag in my mind.

What is he going to try to do?

As I let myself out of the house, I see Batman standing in front of his car, legs crossed at the ankle.

When he sees me, a small smile plays out on his face and his eyes sweep my frame from top to bottom. As I walk slowly to meet him, he pushes away from the car and begins to walk towards me, meeting me half way and closing the distance between us.

"Princess!" He breathes, taking my hands in his. "You look . . . " I wait for his words to land, but they never come, instead he does another sweep of my body with his eyes.

He lingers more on my exposed laps, the intensity in his eyes instantly making me feel hot and cold simultaneously.

He moves closer to me, his eyes honing in on my lips, but just then, my stomach rumbles loudly and he steps back with a smile. "Someone's hungry."

I return his smile with a sheepish one of mine as we walk towards his car.

* * *

The ride is fraught with silence, only punctuated by Biggie small's bass voice spitting out death threats from the radio.

Honestly I can't imagine how anyone would want to listen to this crap, most especially on a Sunday morning when people are getting spiritual with God.

I steal glances at him.

Alright enough of this!

I reduce the volume of the music, at the point where Biggie smalls begins to shoot some imaginary opponent, the sound of gun shots making me flinch.

"Princess," he starts, a warning note in his voice. "That was the best part."

I shake my head at the absurdity of it. Best part, my foot!

"So what happened yesterday with D...?” I'm not able to bring myself to mention his name. "Did you get any news?" I turn to look at him.

He sighs, taking one hand off the steering and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, Dipo, that's my friend by the way, the one you were dancing with." He looks at me briefly before turning his attention back to the road.

He sounds jealous, hmm! He's silent for some seconds, as if waiting for me to say something. When I don't, he continues talking. "He called a doctor friend of his that lives around that area. Luckily he was home and came on time, right when the bastard was almost blacking out from loss of blood."

I wince at the harsh tone of his words. "I feel guilty about all of this. I still think we shouldn't have left him and run off the way we did."

He glances at me again, then puts of the music altogether.

"Tell me! Who is he to you?"

He packs the car suddenly on the side of the road and turns to me. He begins to drum his fingers on the steering wheel. There's a tense set to his jaw, one that wasn't there a few seconds ago.

"I . . . he . . . I." I feel reluctant in divulging the truth.

"Please don't tell me he's your boyfriend?" He looks at me incredulously.

I don't miss the absence of the use of princess when he asked the question. "Ex!" I spit out, correcting him immediately.

It's suddenly important he knows I'm single and free to mingle.

"I see." He says knowingly.

"What do you see?" I turn to him, my eyes narrowing.

"Nothing." Then after a brief silence. "Well I was just wondering how you could have dated that excuse of a man."

My ire rises as I reply him. "You do know that when a man's intentions are not good, he masks his true colours, right? Take you for instance," I point at him. "I don't know what you want from me." I finish with a shrug.

He says nothing, just starts up the car and we are on the move again. That's odd! I expected him to joke around or say something corny, but he was absolutely mum.

He eventually pulls into the front of a bungalow that looks suspiciously familiar.

There's a large inscription on the building that reads; BOWL - N - SPOON. He comes down from the car and so do I. He's still silent and I don't try to break it either.

He opens the door for me just as I'm about to enter, putting his hand at the small of my back. As we get inside, I see familiar chairs and tables but the setting seems different.

Transparent containers filled with different types of brightly - coloured cereals, sit on the counter.

As we move forward, I make out colourful bowls sitting directly in front of each container and I'm able to read the tags on each of them. There are marshmallow, coconut chips, chocolate hazelnut and many others, amounting to about twenty, same number as the cereal.

Batman joins me at the counter and turns to me quizzically. "These are different types of cereals with any topping of your choice. It's a cereal bar."

"Hold on! This is the same place you brought me to when we left the club, right?' I’m surprised at the change.

"Yup! Surprise! You like?" He's looking at me enquiringly, waiting for a reply.

"Judging by the taste of the coffee here, I'm quite sure I'm going to enjoy the cereal and the different toppings." I reply, smiling up at him.

As if on cue, Tina appears in front of us from behind the counter. She's all smiles as she sets eyes on Batman. She turns round and hugs him.

When she see's me, her smile is coy. "Hello, sweetheart, you're back here again. That's good to know, seems my boy is getting serious with you, finally!"

I avoid looking at Batman. Instead, I study the names of the tags on each cereal container.

"It's a really nice place you've got here, though I didn't see these when I came here the first time." I wave towards the cereal containers.

"Yes, sweetheart, what I have here is a double arrangement; cereal bar by day, restaurant by night. Its hard work, let me tell you, but my boy here has helped me a lot by getting capable staff that work hard and so much more that I can't mention because he won't like it."

She looks fondly at Batman. He's obviously uncomfortable with so much praises levelled at him. He smiles but it looks forced.

We take our seats at the bar on two of the high stools and Tina begins to point out the different types of cereal. "This is Frosted flakes, and here we have corn pops, cocoa pops, happy hippo and oh, I just know you'll love this one, its called The nutty professor, it's delicious without being overtly so."

She gets one of her staff to put a bowl and spoon in front of me. The bowl has the inscription - Bowl -n- Spoon, splayed on it. Some cereal is poured into the bowl from one of the containers. When I look at it closely, I notice it looks suspiciously like a naked professor with a graduation cap shaped into a cereal nugget. As it's being poured, I catch a whiff of citrus, banana and vanilla flavor all mixed into one.

I sprinkle some coconut chips toppings on it and raise the spoon to my lips with the intention of tasting it, but Tina shrieks.

"Hold on! She brings a gallon, shakes it and pours some milk into my bowl of cereal and I watch as the naked professors swirl round and round in the bowl, blending into each other in a mix of colours. "Now you can taste it." She moves away and goes to stand beside Batman and the two of them stand watching me.

"Go on, princess." Batman coaxes.

I tentatively lift the spoon to my mouth and . . . at first I only taste the coconut flavoured topping, then as I swirl it round my tongue, I begin to experience the different flavours one at a time, starting with the vanilla; the banana comes next, and lastly the citrus. The three flavours suddenly fuse into an explosive taste, melting onto my tongue.

It's indescribably heavenly!

It's like nothing I've ever tasted. I close my eyes and moan, still experiencing the taste on my tongue long after I've swallowed it.

When I open my eyes, Tina is smiling at me triumphantly, as if to say - I told you so.

Batman is staring at me like I'm his next meal. He's gotten that same intensity in his eyes, the way he gets before he kisses me, I've come to realise it. I know that if Tina wasn't standing watching me, he'd definitely go for it.

I guess she senses the tension in the air, because she walks off and leaves us staring at each other.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks abruptly.

"What! Here?" I whisper, looking around. There are quite a number of people at the counter, slurping off their cereal.

"Yes, princess, or would you rather we go somewhere private?" He teases a smile on his face. I realize the folly of my question. "I'd like to experience the taste of the cereal from your lips." He finishes, leaning close now.

When he puts it that way, how can I say no?

A part of my brain shouts out to stop me, but I'm past caring at this point. I lean towards him and our lips glide over each other tentatively, slowly, then the pace picks up, as he dives his tongue inside my mouth. He's the one who moans and then abruptly stops. I see him adjusting in his seat and I smile knowingly.

Tina clears her throat noisily across the counter and I catch a hint of a smile, right before she busies herself issuing orders to her staff. I'm terribly embarrassed she caught us kissing. I begin mindlessly shovelling cereal into my mouth, not once looking up.

My phone rings, cutting me off from my daze and I bring it out of my bag, glad for the distraction. Before I'm able to pick the call, it rings off, but starts again almost immediately.

Ebere's name flashes across the screen and I immediately answer it.

"Hi!" Her boisterous voice fills my ear loudly; making me put the phone slightly away from my ear. "I'm guessing you're with Segun?" She continues, oblivious of my action.

"Um, yeah. How did you k...."

"Doesn't matter." She cuts me off brusquely. "What matters is that you step away from him right now, without saying a word. I need to talk to you immediately."

There's something urgent in her tone, it brooks no nonsense.

I say nothing to Batman as I wordlessly get up from the stool and walk away.

"Okay! He's not within ear shot. Now tell me, what's this all about and what's with all the secrecy?" I feel my forehead knotting in a frown.

"Babe . . . Segun is a fuck boy!" She says without further preamble.

"What, now?" I ask incredulously.

"Dipo, his friend, the one we met at the wedding, told me indirectly." She states.

I'm suddenly speechless, trying to make some sense of it all.

"Can't you see him, girl? He's eye candy and he knows it. He's a pussy - player. He sleeps with girls and dumps them when he gets bored. I actually know one of his many girls and you've even met her." She finishes.

I'm more confused now than before. "I haven't the foggiest idea of what you're talking about, Ebere." She's clearly off her rockers.

Why do I even care? Okay, I care, maybe a little bit too much at this point in time.

"I want you to do this. When we finish with this call, go back to him and act normal, but distracted. Drum your fingers on the table for emphasis. After thirty minutes, look at the time and tell him something just came up, that you're sorry, but you have to leave."

"But . . . why would I want -----"

" . . . to do that." She finishes for me. "Yes, I know. I wouldn't want to tear myself away from him either if I were in your shoes, but just do it. This is the first step in snagging his attention. It may not seem so, but trust me when I say you'll understand later. When you finally manage to leave him, get a taxi and come meet me at Ikeja shopping mall."

I'm silent at this point and she says nothing, obviously waiting for me to process it all.

"I don't know, Ebere, this whole thing seems strange."

"Babes . . ." She begins. "Remember Dee and how he did all he could to get into your pants but you didn't acquiesce?" She doesn't wait for me to reply, just continues speaking. "Well then, Segun is on a whole different level. He's super skilled at this, and you will NOT be able to resist him. So I suggest you put on your big girl pants and do as I tell you."

At the mention of Dee's name, my thoughts scramble about and I try to piece them together, but I'm still not able to understand anything, but Ebere has loads of experience, I'd better listen to her. "Okay, I'll do it." I reply, sighing heavily.

"One more thing, Eve." She pauses for emphasis. "Don't let him touch you as you leave." And she cuts the call abruptly.

This is absolute claptrap!

I walk back to the counter in a daze. I see Batman spooning cereal into his mouth. At my approach, he looks up and his brown lips curl at the edges in a smile.

Damn! He's gorgeous.

I hop unto the stool, suddenly loosing interest in the heavenly bowl of cereal before me. I push it away and unknowingly tap my fingers on the table, Ebere's words weighing heavily on my mind.

"Something wrong?" His voice is dangerously close to my ear. I flinch, drawing back from him.

He frowns, marring his handsome feautures. I notice a slight cleft in-between his bottom lip that I didn't know was there. This adds to his overall attractiveness and I struggle to snatch my eyes away from his lips. When I do so, I sit up straight in the stool realising he's still waiting for my reply.

"I... I... "I give up trying to explain myself and smile up at him instead. That seems to do, because he goes back to eating his cereal.

I check my phone which still lingers in my hand. It's only been five minutes since Ebere and I talked. Twenty five more minutes to go.

Time seems to be dragging. I unknowingly tap my fingers on the table once more, looking around in the process.

More people stream in through the door like bees to honey. Women come in; struggling to keep their noisy children in check, while their husband's eyes stray, probably trying to distance themselves from the responsibility of helping to quieten them.

Batman suddenly stops eating and pushes his bowl away. "You seem distracted." He wipes his lips with the paper serviette in front of him and I suddenly wish I were the paper serviette.

"I'm fine!" I reply too brightly. He says nothing, but stares at me, a speculative look in his eyes.

He tries to make small talk thereafter, and I listen half - heartedly, silently willing the time to fly by so I can go meet up with Ebere for explanations.

When I can't take it anymore, I suddenly blurt out. "I've got to go. Something just came up." I grab my hand bag sitting on the edge of the counter and make for the door like the hounds of hell are after me.

I'm very sure I must look like a mad hatter, running off the way I'm doing.

I make sure I walk far away from the cereal bar before I hail a taxi that will take me to the shopping mall. Batman doesn't try to follow me; he's probably in shock, wondering what the hell just happened.

Yeah well, that makes two of us!

I eventually flag down a taxi and some time later, I'm sitting with Ebere, a big tub of ice - cream in between us.

She's been weaving this elaborate story of how Dee was rushed to the hospital and how awful he looked with blood dripping unto his suit and his white shirt totally stained red. It all sounds very gory.

"So wait! You saw it all?" I ask unbelievably.

"Girl, I tell you I was there live and direct. He was put in Dipo's friend's car and he looked like a freak show."

"He sent me a text this morning." I say abruptly, showing her the text on my phone.

Ebere drops her spoon into the tub of ice cream hurriedly and grabs my phone, smearing it with some ice cream. I cringe in distaste at her sloppiness. Her mouth is shaped into an o as she looks at the text.

"Hmm! This guy no well o! (This guy is crazy). Wetin this one mean now? (What's the meaning of this?) Is this supposed to be a threat?" She asks to one in particular. She stays quiet for some time after giving me back my phone, the ice cream forgotten. "You need to be careful. That guy is a maniac. He kept calling your name over and over again."

"Wait! Why?" I shout, eliciting strange looks from people nearby. I immediately mouth sorry to a woman who is trying to put her baby to sleep. She has no right bringing him to a noisy joint in the first place. I look at her sourly.

"I honestly don't know, just be careful. Don't pick his calls, not even if he kneels down from here to third mainland bridge asking for your forgiveness." She finishes, giving me back my phone, smear and all.

I struggle to put Dee away from my mind, remembering the reason she called me here. "So... What's this about Batman being a fuck boy?"

She looks confused at first but it clears when she finds out I'm talking about Segun. "You call him Batman?" A small smile plays on her lips.

"Long story for another day." I shrug and fall silent, waiting for her to continue talking. She takes the cue and begins speaking.

"Do you remember when we met Fiku, my colleague and this other girl at the boutique when we were shopping for what to wear to the wedding?"

"No, I don't think I do." Can she just get to the point already. How is Batman a fuck boy, I silently ask.

"Na wa for you o, why you dey forget like this? (Why do you forget things easily?). That babe na. The one wey look you like sey you be shit. Shey you remember now?"

Just great!

Her description triggers my memory instantly, leaving a bitter taste, like gall in my mouth.

I nod grimly.

"Ehen! Her name is Chioma and Segun is fucking her."