FIVE

Julie woke up to the sound of her mum’s solemn voice saying: “I’ve brought you breakfast my Angel.”

 

When Lucy, Julie’s mum, saw how her daughter’s head nestled in sleep in her pillow.

How sweetly and snugly she had met her sleeping, she envied her. She had barely enjoyed a peaceful sleep since her husband’s betrayal. 

Looking at her still, she knew her daughter had the peace she lacked. Because only the contented in heart could sleep like that.

Julie opened her mouth in a large yawn.

“Good morning mum.” Julie’s words sounded unclear as a result of the yawn.

Kissing her on the forehead, Lucy dropped Julie’s breakfast on the stool by her bedside.

“You seem to be enjoying your mid-semester break?”

“Sure, I’m.” Julie got down stretching her limbs as she subsequently put her hands in akimbo.

“And you look happier than you were in the past one month. Tell me the secret. You are seeing someone I guess.”

Her mum gave her the ‘don’t deny the truth’ look.

Julie smiled amusingly, and then she took the tray containing fried plantain chips, fried eggs and the milky tea specially prepared for her.

“Mum, you know it’s very difficult lately to just trust these guys with your heart.”

Julie spoke with the line of her jaws firm.

“Not everyone is like your dad. There are definitely good guys out there.”

“Like Dave. But I broke his heart. I really wish I feel the same about him. Now we don’t even speak to each other anymore like we used to, and it’s funny how we attend lectures in the same hall every day.”

Julie drew in her breath.

They both didn’t speak for a minute as Lucy only ran her fingers in her daughter’s head, combing the curls back from her forehead as the daughter still ate her food.

 

“But mum how comes you are so good at reading my moods and gestures?”

Lucy proudly rolled her eyes and shook her head from side to side in affirmation.

“So, I was not lying by the way.”

Julie chuckled.

“We are not yet an item, but mum trust me he is hot.”

Julie snapped her fingers as she said the word: ‘hot’.

“Being hot is not all. He has to value a woman and know how to communicate his feelings effectively. He has to know how to appreciate you and drive you off your feet without you even realising. He has to be able to defend you and stand up for you in bad times.”

Lucy’s voice sounded more like her bitter past, especially with her husband. It was enough cues for Julie who dropped the ceramic cup on the tray as she rested her hands in her mum’s.

“Mum, you just said not everyone is like my dad, remember?”

Julie looked at her mum inquisitively. Lucy only smiled uneasily.

“Fine. So, does he feel the same about you? Did he ask you on a date? How hot is he? Why are you so happy about him? Please don’t spare me any details. Pour it out.”

For a moment, her mum was beginning to sound like Nancy. She then removed her hands from her mum’s and then bending her head low, she replied.

“Mum, he’s the football star of the school team. He’s so much loved by the whole school. And believe me mum, he’s very cute. He reminds me of Justin Bieber, except for the fact I don’t know if he has a nice voice like him.” 

Stretching her hands to the other side of the bed where her phone was, she swiped it open and showed her Tom’s pictures. As Lucy tried to swipe for more of the pictures, Julie snatched the phone from her mum’s hands.

“Mum with the way you’re admiring this guy, I hope you don’t get him before I do.”

Lucy hit her playfully with the pillow.

“You aren’t serious. He is cute though.”

Lucy reassessed Tom’s picture in her head. His slim, tall stature with a cute face was a replica of guys she had flings with in the past, before she settled for her ex-husband, a pot-bellied mogul, who only left her shattered. 

Sometimes she wondered why she hadn’t settled for a slim guy, but she only smirked as she knew the outer appearance had nothing to do with how the heart operates in love.

Looking at her face with a sense of relief in the mirror hanged on the wall, she felt possible happiness for herself. Perhaps for her daughter, as all she could see was her old self, trying to mask her pain in another’s joy. 

“So how do you intend making your intentions known to him?” she added mockingly.

“Nancy says she would help out. She has bad histories of broken relationships, but mum trust me. She can run an online dating app; a very good expert at arranging blind dates.”

Lucy smiled apprehensively.

Emptying the last contents of the drink into her mouth, she raised her right hand in a shrug.

“I plan on inviting him for my poetry slam. And after I must have spoilt him with some well written words meant for him, he would not be able to resist me.” 

Standing up to cat-walk, she continued.

“And in Taylor Swift’s tone I’d goad him on: ‘Romeo take me to somewhere we could be alone. I’d be waiting; all there’s left to do is run. You’d be the Prince and I’ll be the Princess. It’s a love story, baby just say yes’.”

Lucy shook her head with a smile.

“You must be going nuts. Just like Romeo and Juliet.”

“You can say that again.”

They both laughed.

Julie now squatted in front of her mum and buried in her head on her laps. Lucy resumed playing with her daughter’s curls.

“That’s how first love can be my dear. You don’t feel like falling in love with another. You’d always wish they’re the ones you end up with. Because you’re so sincere with them, you pour out all your emotions for them. You sacrifice your all and then when you’re sunk in, you get drowned so deep with no one to resuscitate you.”  

Julie adjusted herself, sat on the floor with her back leaned against her mum’s lap.

“Then mum, how can we fight for the one we truly love, especially when the other person’s feelings towards us change?”

“My dear, love is like gambling. Sometimes the sure odds are the ones that disappoint the most. But don’t be discouraged baby, you’ve lots of potentials any responsible guy would want in a woman. So take the risk. You never can tell, he might just be the one created for you. You gotta act fast, before some other lady does.”

Julie cleaved to her mum in a hug. 

A beep on Julie’s phone then revived her mum’s consciousness.

“Please what’s the time?”

“It’s 10:15 am.”

“Oops!” Lucy widened her eyes.

“I gotta run to the boutique. See you later.”

She kissed Julie on her forehead before moving out of the room with the tray on both hands as she left. 

***

The sun had gone down, leaving only a dark-grey world with a last touch of flamingo on the western skyline. Julie was looking through her curtains as she had barely rehearsed for her upcoming contest. She closed her curtains and stood by her mirror side.

Taking her phone in her hands, she recited the wordings with her face looking into the mirror as she spoke and demonstrated with her hands. 

She paused when her phone buzzed. It was Nancy. She bit her lip and closed her eyes before picking up the call.  

“Hey Nancy, what’s up?”

“I’m okay. How’s your break so far?”

“A bit bored. Was trying to master my performance before you called.”

“Oh that. I’m sure you’re planning to drive someone nuts.” 

“Not like you make it sound though. I just hope he’s as lovely as his looks. And I was wondering, what if he has a girlfriend?”

“I thought about that too. But you could overtake who ever it’s and become his rightful Miss.”

“So how about you? Have your eyes on any guy yet?”

Nancy dragged her no reply. It was as though she was waiting for the question to be asked.

 

Julie asked the question with a sardonic humour in her voice. Nancy she knew had a lot of bitter relationships that scared her of being in a relationship anytime soon. Yet she wondered why Nancy had been so persuasive about her being in a relationship, even though she was not really buying the idea.

“Okay then. Sorry you called at a wrong time. I need to perfect these lines before next week. I don’t want to invite people only to fumble before them.”

Julie spoke in a forced nice tone.

“I totally understand. I pray you come out top, and get the heart of the famous footballer in campus.”

Nancy couldn’t stop being sarcastic. Julie only laughed faintly. She was just anxious to resume practice. Without much awareness to Nancy, she whispered “goodnight” and ended the call.

Returning to her written piece, all the energy with which she had garnered to practice had vanished. She wished she had not picked the call.

With the loss of interest, she only threw herself across the bed, with her head buried in her arms and her mind wishing for a perfect time to continue.