I turned to look at Ifeanyi thinking about his suspicious offer.
"And why your room?"
"It's actually neat if that's what you're thinking about," he said already climbing up the stairs. I wasn't actually feeling tired anymore but I just followed him.
He got to his room before I could and when I eventually got there he wasn't in the room. Assuming he was just using the bathroom, I sat on his bed feeling a bit guilty that my mere sitting on it would ruin the perfectly arranged bed.
I waited for him for quite a while before eventually dozing off. It didn't feel as if I had slept for too long when I was startled out of the dreamless sleep I was having.
I opened my eyes and found Ifeanyi lying next to me. I shifted back initially surprised not falling out of the bed only by sheer luck.
"You're awake?" He asked the kind of question I usually didn't answer but for his sake I just nodded. I didn't feel exactly comfortable lying on the same bed he was. A part of me wanted to actually stay but there was this part that wanted nothing more than to spring up from the bed and bolt out of the door.
"What's the time?" I asked looking around the room, my eyes purposely fixed on the door.
Just walk like ten steps girl and you're free!
"It's just a few minutes to ten. We have barely been here for fifteen minutes," he said and I nodded feeling a bit more tensed.
Figure a way to get the fuck out of here!
I fell silent for quite a while before finally finding my voice.
"Can..." My sentence was left unfinished when Ifeanyi pressed his lips against mine. I felt weakened, paused, shocked maybe or just too slow to react for a second.
Once I got back to normal I broke the kiss. I sat up leaning against one of the many pillows. I sat silently for a while before I heard Ifeanyi's voice.
"Is anything wrong?"
"No, no. I'm fine. I mean there's nothing wrong. It's just that..." I stopped my sentence midway pursing my lips.
"We aren't actually dating and I..."
"Yeah. You never really gave me an answer when I asked you out," Ifeanyi said.
"Yeah, I didn't give you an answer back then although I should have. I did have an answer in mind then which is still the answer I have now and unfortunately... It's a no I guess. The whole thing with Chiamaka is just too much to handle and we weren't even dating imagine what would happen if..."
"You're saying no because you're scared of Chiamaka?"
"No, that's not the reason. It's just that I would kinda be I dunno proving her right I guess. She said I stole her boyfriend after all and I would only be making her statement true which would make me seem like the villain and..."
"Since when did you start caring about what others thought?"
"I don't... It's just that..."
"You don't want to date me?" Ifeanyi asked and I held the urge to scream.
"Can you just stop interrupting me for a minute? The only reason I don't want to date you is because it would probably end on its own in less than six months because we are both going seperate ways. I know that probably seems like a long time but it would actually end quicker than it started and it's gonna be hard to just leave everything behind. I already don't like relationships. I don't want to do something that might make me hate it even more. I'm scared of getting too attached and I don't want to get hurt again okay?" I said in one breath.
"You know I won't hurt you right? And again, you've been hurt before?" He asked his eyes full of concern.
"I don't actually know that you won't but just forget this," I said standing up. Realizing that I was still in his house and definitely needed his help to get home, I added, "I know you won't hurt me but I really think I am better off alone. You can't hurt me doesn't mean I won't do the same. So let's just not enter into a relationship, not now, maybe sometime later, maybe. But I need sometime to know what I am doing."
I felt like a total jerk as the words left my mouth. I felt even worse when he hugged me. Like how could I be such a bitch.
"It's okay. Not a problem at all," he said while hugging me. "I really don't know what might be going on with you but I really hope you get over everything."
I was on the brim of shedding tears. Why couldn't he just tell me I was a fucking bitch and ask me to leave?! We both soon left his room. I stared on absentmindedly as Alesscia kept on talking about how much she loved Silver Dafe and how Ubaro should have introduced the both of them earlier.
Ifeanyi contributed every once in a while and I was practically the only one who said absolutely nothing. I think Alesscia noticed that my silence was not really normal this time around but didn't show it as she kept thanking Ubaro.
I think she even asked him out jokingly although she did mention it a couple of times for me to have actually picked it up. I swear I would have thought she was serious if I didn't already know her well enough.
I was still lost in thoughts when I was nudged by someone. I stared at Alesscia only then becoming present.
"Isn't that right?" She asked.
"Yeah, yeah. The thing you were talking about..."
"You meeting Silver. I am sure she would love you," Ubaro said on behalf of Alesscia.
"Yeah, I am pretty sure she would love you, like a hundred percent positive. You might even be the next face of the magazine. You really do fit a model," Alesscia said grinning.
"No. I don't think it works that way. But I can meet her. I don't think that would be a problem," I said.
"Then go."
"What?"
"Go. Go see her. You don't expect her to come here do you?" Alesscia asked.
"But..." I was interrupted by voices indicating that people were headed for the living room where we were. I turned around in time to see two ladies who looked like they were in their early twenties.
One of them was exceptionally pretty and looked younger than the other one. The other didn't look bad and that was just it. She wasn't ugly, she wasn't too pretty either but she did look really classy.
"She is even here sef," Alesscia said. When they reached where we were, Ubaro introduced his sister, Silver, as the less pretty of the two ladies while the other girl was Ifeanyi's sister who went by the name Emerald. She seemed to really really like me and it just made me feel worse than I already did.
Silver was giving a kind of negative vibes until she heard I was Ami Tara's daughter thanks to Alesscia's loud mouth. She seemed to take a sudden liking to me immediately, it was almost surprising.
After a couple more awkward minutes (which seemed to have only been awkward for me) and a few curt replies, I announced that I was leaving.
"Why don't you stay a bit more?" Emerald asked.
"I would but that would definitely get me in trouble at school. I have been in a lot of trouble recently I don't think I want to get into anymore. So sorry I couldn't stay long enough," I said.
"No need to apologize," she said with a smile.
"So who's gonna drop you off?" Silver asked.
"Ubaro," I said the same time Emerald said Ifeanyi. Silver laughed a little.
"You'd prefer Ubaro to drop you?" She asked.
"Not really. Am okay with anyone. I was just thinking that Ubaro is probably a more careful driver than Ifeanyi but Ifeanyi can still drop me."
After endless goodbyes and a hug from Emerald, I and Ifeanyi left accompanied by the same Alesscia that said she wouldn't return to school. Ubaro also came along with us. He ended up driving with Alesscia staying in the passenger seat while I and Ifeanyi stayed at the back.
The drive back to school was relatively silent. I immediately fled out of the car as soon as it was parked probably shocking those left in there.
"Alya!" I heard Alesscia's voice calling out. I stopped waiting for her to catch up to me.
"Why have you been acting so strangely since you left Ifeanyi's room?"
"I haven't been acting strangely. It's in your head," I said.
"You definitely have been acting strange. I mean even if you guys fucked..."
"We didn't," I said interrupting her. "And you should really mind what you say though."
"What? Aren't you guys like dating or something?"
"We aren't dating."
"Then you guys should. You said he asked you out before why don't you..."
"I won't do anything you suggest so don't even waste your voice," I said.
"You are really acting weird. You're behaving like you are going through the break up phase or... Hold on, did he break up with you?" She almost yelled the last part.
"Again, we aren't dating," I said feeling bored of the pointless conversation we were having.
"Did Ifeanyi do something?" She asked. I was already getting annoyed by her continuous questioning.
"No he didn't. Can you please stop these questions. I don't want to date him and that's it."
"Why don't you want to date him because I really think you should," she said.
"I just don't okay?" I said letting my annoyance present itself in my voice this time around. In reality I didn't even have the answer to that question.