A new friend

As soon as we were left alone in the dining to clear the table and do dishes, l seized the opportunity and wanted to get it all out. Jo-Anne, being the queen of gossip that she was, would have normally jumped at the opportunity to hear the story. To my surprise, she stopped me and told me to hold my horses a little while, until we got to the sacred room, specifically designed for surch conversations-her bedroom. Wow! Talk about being childish. I understood though, we had always made it a point not to talk about everything, anywhere. Whenever we had some hot gossip that we wanted to ponder on, we would always find a quiet secluded place, sit down, sip on our drinks and imitate Devious Maids and talk about whatever or whoever was the theme of the day. As such, we continued making small talk and doing the dishes. I must say, it was a shitload of them, considering the meals we had just had. Also, in all the times I had known Jo-Anne's younger brother, I knew he could never bring himself to finish a single meal without making at least five plates dirty. Somehow he always found a reason to justify why he couldn't manage to eat from a single plate like the rest of us, so thanks to him, here we were. I liked him though, in fact, l liked all of Jo-Anne's family members. They had kind people, had never treated me anything short of kind and like their own family. They had said they admired how hard working l was and they respected me for being able to to take care of my siblings and business and balance school at the same time. They say all that says a lot about the kind of person that I am, and they wanted their child hanging around my like. They described me as strong, courageous, hardworking and determined. "Hey, don't you dare forget to mention that in your curriculum vitae, it would be a shame if you left such fine details out), Jo-Anne's dad had said. I was just there thinking, my friend was really lucky to have such a normal, kindhearted family. I almost missed the feeling myself until I remembered we were far from being a normal family ourselves, even with our parents around. For starters, we hardly ever had dinner together as our parents would have long left to go have fun, way before it was dinner time. I looked at my friend as we were packing the dishes away and realized just how beautiful she was. Long, curly hair that fell down in waves and a very much pointy nose, unlike mine. Her cheekbones were very well defined, giving her a sophisticated look. Unlike me, she wasn't curvy at all. Her body was that of a model, straight, tall and slim. We would sometimes role play and she would pose as an air hostess or model, because her body allowed for such roles. She was actually the total opposite of me in terms of looks, but we were both beautifully unique. When we finally got done and the kitchen was as it was supposed to be, we went upstairs, brushed our teeth, washed our faces and changed into pyjamas. There was ice-cream and popcorn, serving as snacks that we would eat away as we watched our movie and talked. We sat cross-legged on the bed, facing each other and that is when I narrated to Anne what happened. I didn't leave out anything, but she laughed when I mentioned that I had been scared shitless when the guy walked toward me.

"You moron!", she exclaimed, "you are so naive and blind you can't even see something good even when it's standing right before you".

We joked about it and agreed that if this 'something' was good and meant for me, then fate would see to it that I get it. Jo-Anne even suggested that I come back the following day for another sleep over and maybe we could 'bump' into each other again. For a moment there, I almost considered it but I thought, nah, that could never be me. It would take the suspense and excitement away and make it too easy for the guy to access me. On top of that, such a move was going to make me look desperate and cheap and l wasn't about to do that to myself.

"... And besides, it's too dangerous you!"I said as I threw a pillow at my friend.

When Jo-Anne finally ran out of her ridiculous suggestions as to how I could get to be friends with the guy, we moved on to the next agenda of the night, our all time favorite teenage movie, *To all the boys l ever loved-PS: I still love you*. The second part was now out and that's the one we were going for. I was excited beyond expression because the first part had been dope. We watched it quitely and we were fully focused because, well, no one would ever want to miss a thing, as far as that film goes, you wouldn't want to miss even the batting of Lara's eyelashes. We ate our dessert- chocolate flavored ice-cream until we finished watching the movie. I must say, part 2 was a show-stopper, big ups to the producers. We had had a great time, no one could argue that. We continued talking about other things, anything but the strange guy from the street. It was quite refreshing talking about other things, we even played our popular word game, trying to prove who was the genius between us. We measured that by comparing the number of words one would have managed to find after some stipulated amount of time. I loved these kind of games, word games, chess, the kind of games that challenged one to focus, long and hard. I loved them also because they helped one to think better, no way anyone can be fond of the games and not be a strategic deep thinker. When we were finally tired, we decided to sleep, we had enjoyed each other's company very much, and it was really late. It was a new day, 1AM, the whole house was now quiet except for the left wing which was occupied by us. Morning came and we bathed, then went downstairs for breakfast, thank goodness it was a Sunday morning otherwise l wouldn't have managed to get home fast enough to help my brothers prepare for school. After breakfast I said my goodbyes to the whole family, thanked them from deepest part of my heart for inviting me over and welcoming me with open arms. I made sure I emphasize how much of a wonderful time I had. Yesterday had been incredible. Jo-Anne walked me out and took me half way. We hugged and went our separate directions as l rushed home. Before I could even make it into the house, I could hear my brothers playing loudly at Mrs Fletcher's. I smiled to myself and went straight to Mrs Fletcher's place to let her know l was back, safe and sound. I thanked her once again for taking care of the guys on my behalf, l really owed her my life. She was far too kind. I took my brothers back to the house and life went back to normal. Monday, Tuesday went by without anything happening that can said to be out of the ordinary. On Wednesday though, Jo-Anne came literally flying through the door, her eyes were beaming and l knew that whatever she was about to say would be good news. I was just getting home myself, coming from my place of business and was about to start making dinner. She barely greeted me and went straight to telling me that the strange guy from that night was looking for me.

"Say whaaaaattttt!?", I practically screamed.

"l'm not shitting you okay!", she shot back.

"Listen to me, that guy came to my house and said he was looking for me.., he.."

"stop right there" I interjected her, my voice paralyzing hers. "No way he did that, he doesn't even know your name or where you live, so yess you are shitting me".

She sighed,

"can  you calm and give me a chance to explain myself. I am saying Mike is down the road, waiting for you. If you think l'm lying why don't you go outside and find out for yourself."

I could tell her temper was rising and from the look in her eyes, she probably wasn't joking. I was confused though, l mean, how could he have done that? He didn't even know Anne's name. And now this?

" Do you want me to explain to you exactly what happened or would you rather hear it from Mike?"

She saw the shocked look l had and said

"yeah, that's right, his name's Mike.Now are you ready to drag your ass outside... ... and go talk to him or you wanna keep the poor guy waiting? ", she asked.

I was too surprised and at the same time eager to find out exactly what had transpired so l stood up and started making my way towards the road. Anne caught up with me and filled me in. Apparently, Mike had waited that day and saw exactly which house I had gotten into. Since l had told him I was going to a sleepover at my friend's place, he assumed the friend would be at least my age or thereabouts. So Wednesday, he pulls up at Jo-Anne's place and asks for a girl who could be in her teens, saying he is a representative of a privately owned company which deals with women empowerment hence their starting point was this one- with teenagers so they could get into adulthood with an empowered mindset. As soon as Anne heard who the guy was really after, she ran back to her house and told them she had to come to my place and get me registered for the program also. According to Anne, they had used his breath takingly beautiful car to come this side. She just hadn't allowed him to come exactly to the house l lived in because she didn't fully trust the guy yet. When we rounded the corner, his car came into sight. I must say, it looked even more beautiful during the day than it did at night. As we were walking towards it, I started feeling under dressed. Like his car was just that awesome. I started thinking 'why the hell did l not hop into the shower first, that way l would have at least changed outfits but hey, it was a little late for that now. As he stepped out of the car, his perfume greeted me first, way before his lips even parted.

"Maria, its good to see you again, l was hoping l could formally introduce myself to you in daylight. My name is Mike- Michael Smith", he smiled and extended his hand.

I was dazzled by his looks, he was just too handsome and hot for words. I took his hand, it was soft, like a new born's. I could already feel my knees begin to buckle and I didn't hold on to his hand any longer than necessary. Gracefully, I managed to remain still and look him straight in the eye.

"Hie Mike" I went, "I would have loved to introduce myself also, but as l gather, you already know my name and God knows what else" I shot Anne the look.

"Ohh l'm sorry if l invaded your privacy, but I was just trying to figure out if he meant the person l was thinking he meant. Also, seeing as you two seem to be getting along well, I guess my job here is done. I'll be on my way. I hope my my friend doesn't end up dead somewhere in a ditch, or declared missing". This time she's the one who gave Mike a deadly cold eye. He smiled and thanked her for coming with me, then also assured her that I would get back home in one piece. As Anne made her way to her place, Mike asked if we could get inside his car and talk there, since that would give us a little privacy. I turned down the offer again and told him l was comfortable right where we were.

Without wasting much time, he told me that he really meant it when he said he wanted us to be friends, that's why he came looking for me cause he felt we would make the best of friends. With my permission, he would really like for us to get to know each other better- that is why he was here. I told him l was good with that and we shook hands as a way of signing and cementing our verbal contract.

"In as much as l would like for us to start getting to know each other better right now, l'm afraid l have to get back to the house, l was about to start making dinner when Anne came", l spoke softly.

Mike suggested if it would be fine by me, we go to a restaurant and he buys whatever my family would like to have for dinner. That sounded like a reasonable request, and I sure wasn't going to pass on a chance to take a break from making dinner. So l okayed the suggestion and he got the door and ushered me in.

Wow! Just wow...