4. A little white lie.

Amara.

"Hell to the fuck no!" I bit back a smile once I heard my cousin's voice as she burst the door to my room open. "don't give me that 'I fell in love with James McKenna' bullshit, I am not buying it." She plumped onto my bed with her legs crossed before her and captured my wrists, "now, give me the answers I need."

I chuckled, slowly pulling my hands out of her grip. "Sweetheart, you know you have to ask the questions for me to give you answers."

"Oh, really?" She asked with a raised brow and I nodded. "What the fuck is going on? You and James McKenna? Girl, I'd rather believe the pigs developed wings. Come on, tell me. What happened?"

"I fell in love with James McKenna." I said in a small voice, my smile brighter than the sun. 

She smacked my hand lightly, "bitch, you know that ain't true." She rolled her eyes when I raised my brows at her, "oh, come on, your Mom isn't here. Allow me, please." 

"Fair point." I said with a nod.

"Now answer my question." She advanced to the center of the bed and grabbed the packet of chips I was lazily munching on.

"I told you, I fell in love with him and," I slowly dragged my bottom lip between my teeth. "It happened that he also fell in love with me so we decided to date and see where it goes."

Ife, my cousin, a beautiful lady with ever sparkling brown eyes stared at me, her eyes widened, jaw hitting the ground and her hand suspended mid-air with a chip in-between her fingers.

She was surprised, shocked maybe. I didn't expect her to totally believe my lie because I too was finding myself a bit difficult to come to terms with it but, I couldn't also tell her the truth. Not when I was five words away from going back to Vincent or any other man at all.

"When did we start lying to each other?" The disappointment and hurt were very evident in her voice. But I faked a gasp, my face only bearing the sign of my truly hurt heart. I didn't mean to lie to her. Ife has been my best friend even before I started teething. She was a year older than me, yet she carried me along as though I was her twin sister.

"Ifeoluwa, why would you say that?" She threw back the chip into the packet and rested her back against the headboard and crossed her arms against her chest. 

"So you're not lying?" She asked and I shook my head. If only I could tell her that I was lying, that James and I aren't really together, I would. Without missing any detail.

I intentionally called her full name because I never did unless the situation was serious. I was lying to my best friend and sister, I was looking her in the eyes and I was lying to her.

"I don't have any reason to."

"So how did it happen? Because I know the both of us hate the idea of relationships and marriages and though I might be considering it, you swore you'd have nothing to do with it."

"Until I met James." I mirrored her position and faced her. "You remember the party I told you my parents dragged me to? The party where I met Vincent?" She nodded, "I also met James that night. It wasn't supposed to happen but somehow, I don't know how we started talking, then we shared a few drinks. When I was leaving he gave me his card and told me to call him if I wanted to, two days later, I did and one thing led to another and here we are."

She blew out a rush of air, "so you're telling me you and James are really a thing?" I bit my lower lip and slowly nodded. "Wow, that's... that's- why didn't you tell me?"

I shrugged, "I was scared I guess. I thought you'd fell betrayed that after saving 'fuck love' I still went behind your back and fell in love."

"Oh, you dumb little idiot." She patted my head gently and I glared at her. "I have nothing against you but, James? Honey, are you sure?"

"No, Ife, don't give me that 'he's way older than you' talk."

"He's way older than you. You're just twenty-two and he's like….old?"

"He's thirty-three." I whisper-shouted.

Her eyes softened and she left my hair and picked up the packet of chips, munching on them slowly as we embraced the silence. "Are you sure?" She asked after a few minutes. 

"Yes, Ife. More than ever." She nodded a small smile coming to rest on her face.

"It's just I'm worried-"

I took her hands in mine and squeezed. "You don't have to be. James and I are great, Okay?"

"Fine." She nodded. 

A few seconds of silence passed allowing us to soak in the atmosphere that clouded us; me with the fact that I just lied to my best friend and Ife, a new discovery that may not be settling well with her -even though she pretended it was.

Just as the next second came, Ife filled me in on the recent developments in her life. I tried to get her to talk about her cooking classes but she brushed the topic off immediately I brought it up. I had a hunch she was hiding something but, I just couldn't bring myself to question her about it when I wasn't being totally honest myself.

After two more hours, she declared her stay over. I saw her off to the door, promising to call her soon. Once she was gone, I went to Keith and had dinner with him once we were done, I bid him and Jessie good night and retired to my room.

I let out a yawn as I made my way to my bathroom to brush and wash up before retiring for the night. A few minutes later, I was done and ready for bed in my pyjamas. I plopped down on my bed, tired and ready to drift off to dream land but my fingers itched to draw something before sleeping.

Grunting, I sat up and pulled out the drawer in my bedside table to see the card James gave me in the morning staring up at me. I had almost forgotten he asked me to call. 

Picking the card, I brought it up close to have a closer look at it. It was a very thin card with a dark background and subtle shades of silver and gold with a logo of a lion holding a rose in its mouth.

Very ironic. And somehow, it wasn't very surprising of James. How typical.

Sighing, I unplugged my phone from where I plugged it to charge, punched in his number and sent him a text. 

ME: Hey, Daddy.  

Letting the card fall back into the drawer, I laid back down on the bed with my stomach facing the ceiling and my phone against my face as I waited for his response.