Chapter 5 Part 2

‘What to wear, what to wear’ I couldn’t find anything as I rummaged through my wardrobe. I had tried on several outfits, but I wasn’t feeling them and there was a huge pile of clothes on the floor.

The D-'night' had arrived. After a week of trying to get back into the rhythm of work, it was finally time for me and the girls to let our hair down and party like it was 1999. My parents were pretty easy going when it came to people staying over so all the girls came over to get ready. Ose and Obi would be sleeping over and both Mimi and Tife lived in Lekki, not too far away, so would go home together.

I couldn’t help staring at Mimi’s outfit. She was wearing a short colourful sheath dress with green heels.
‘Mimi, please don't stand within a 20 mile radius of me with this outfit you are wearing’ I jokingly told her, 'Or maybe its not so bad seeing as you will be able to light my way in the dark.'
‘I don’t know why I have so many haters’ she muttered to herself as she applied her mascara.
‘You look like the rainbow’ Obi joined in, ‘Maybe I can find a pot of gold!’ She started searching under Mimi’s dress making her squeal.
‘You guys need to get over my exquisite dress sense. Add some colour to your life.’
‘When did you become Virgin Cola’s walking advert’ Ose asked, giggling. She was dressed in black cropped leggings and a red v-neck tunic.
‘So where are we going’ I asked, trying to change the subject before Mimi got upset. She had a short fuse and I wasn’t willing to experience it.
‘We should call around and find out what’s happening.’
‘Jen from hell called. She said there was a party at Six degrees north.’
‘We go there ALL the time.’ Mimi said rolling her eyes.
‘Well we can go somewhere else first, then as the saying goes...’ she raised her hands up in the air like a conductor
‘All roads lead to Bacchus’ we chimed in falsetto.
You guys we have 30 minutes or popsie will give us a lecture about driving around late. And Obi you definitely are not walking out of my house in that hoochie mama top. The neckline was low and revealed her cleavage.
‘I have my jacket with me for just that’.
Tife was the conservative one of the lot. She had on jeans and a cute tee that said…I’m bringing sexy back.

I finally settled with the first outfit I had tried on, a cute short black and white print Ankara dress by yours truly.
‘Madam Virgin Cola, what color should I accessorize with?’
‘Yellow’ she replied, pleased with herself.
‘We will be the rainbow sisters’

We set out at 10pm. My mum and dad were downstairs watching the News and we all had to go past them one by one like we were in a parade.
‘You all look really nice’ my mum said, inspecting each one of our outfits ‘and what lovely colours Mimi, just like the rainbow.’ I knew my mums seriousness was a lie. She was just being silly but Tife didn’t know that.
‘Inspector gadget’ I whispered to Ose.
My dad never made any comments about what we wore out. I think most times he found them quite strange.
‘Stay in one venue, don’t drive around at night’
‘Yes daddy’, ‘Yes sir’, we replied, knowing that was impossible.

We decided to go to Newscafe first. Contrary to the name, it was really a bar at the Palms shopping mall in Lekki. The weather in Lagos is hot and humid all year round so it was nice outside in the evenings. We decided against one of the tables indoors since it looked crowded. As usual Mimi rushed of to say hi to a group of people she knew, she knew everyone. Tife went in to say hi to Ray while Ose, Obi and I took a table and ordered some drinks. We were strategically positioned and could see everyone who arrived or left the building.

After discussing the wedding for a bit, and mingling for a little while, Ose and I started getting bored, so we decided to play our Mula rating game, but to spice it up, Obi would choose a guy and would then secretly rate his Mulaliciousness based on the 1 to 10 scale then Ose and I would write our numbers down and whoever was further away from Obi’s number would have to have a shot. Obi hated drinking, so she was the designated driver for the night. Our first victim was just leaving. Ose and I studied him and tried to guess what Obi’s number would be. He wasn’t bad looking, average height. I wrote down 5.
‘Obi, reveal the scores’ I said in a show host's voice. She had written 4, I showed her my number and Ose did a victory dance while we ordered some shots. I downed my vodka and we kept playing. By the time we were half way I couldn’t even guess anymore. All we did was giggle if the guy was overly mulalicious and we were getting so far off Obi’s guesses. Ose had a permanent smile on her face and was giggling stupidly for no apparent reason. Tife and Mimi had joined us by then and were enjoying themselves immensely. They joined in the game too and were a little bit merry by the time we were ready to leave. It had gotten late and there were only a few people around.
‘Lets go where all roads lead. I feel like dancing’ I said, smiling stupidly
‘Yes lets’ Ose said ‘Lets, lets, lets’
‘Oh boy’ Obi said, ‘You guys are clowns, can’t even hold your own!’ She said, as we drove on to Bacchus.

There where lots of familiar faces at the lounge. I was trying to act like I wasn’t tipsy while saying hi to everyone. I gave up trying to look for a potential mate after scanning the room, I hadn’t seen anyone interesting and most of the others, I already knew. A friend of ours bought a round of drinks and I nursed mine, only taking a sip now and then. We had so much fun dancing…frankly, at that point, it wouldn’t have taken much for us to have fun. We were all a bit on the merry side and even Obi caught the dancing fever. I realised I needed the bathroom after all the drinks, so I left the group and made my way through the crowd. On my way back I tripped over some idiot who had for some reason bent over on the floor. I fell and twisted my ankle on my yellow heels. He was trying to apologise and help me up, while I was thinking of what best to do to regain my dignity.
‘I’m so sorry’ he said again, and his voice sounded so familiar.
I looked up and it was none other than Sexy Tade looking Mulaliciously ZERO. I became a bit flustered and tried to respond but my brain was already slow from the alcohol so I just kind of giggled. But suddenly I felt the most intense pain in my ankle and then burst into tears! He looked dumbfounded. I couldn’t believe it myself really. The combination from the shock of falling, to the humiliation to the pain must have done it.

‘Maybe you need some air, we should go out for a second’
I agreed because it seemed like a good idea and the music was starting to give me a headache so I hobbled out with him. We sat on the trunk of his car parked a little way from the entrance of the club and the whole time we walked there he must have apologized a billion times.

‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t even see you there’
‘If you apologise one more time, I might have to hit you or something. Seriously I’m okay now.’
‘So nothing hurts’ he asked
‘Just my ankle but its feels better’
‘Let me see’ his fingers grazed my leg just as I slapped his hand really hard.
I could see he was blushing ‘I’m sorry, that was inappropriate, I wasn’t really thinking’.
What a stud! That was all I was thinking. I knew the alcohol had made me less inhibited. There was no way I would be sitting on a stranger’s car under normal circumstances.
‘It’s okay.’ I said then I sat up with a sudden start as I remembered crazy Jen
‘Shouldn’t we go back in? Your girlfriend will be worried and my friends too.
‘My girlfriend?’ he looked confused.
‘Yes, your girlfriend...Jen’, I said slowly in case I was being incoherent.
‘Oh, she’s not my girlfriend. We are family friends’
‘Well I don’t think she knows the distinction because she implied that you were dating’
He lay back on the back window looking very relaxed. He was exuding sex appeal. Father almighty!
'What are you doing?'
‘You need to relax a little. Let your ankle rest for a bit’ he said patting the vacant space beside him.
I knew right then that he was a seasoned Casanova but I gave in and lay beside him.
‘Tell me something’
‘What’ I asked turning towards him. I couldn’t even believe I was being bold enough to flirt with the devil.
‘Anything..about yourself, your dreams, hobbies..anything’. So I told him about me, Zena my ambitions, what I liked and didn’t like. Alcohol made me very chatty. After a while, I realized I was talking too much so I asked him the same question
‘I think you are sexy’ he said looking at me with smoky eyes.
It would have been corny at any other time but it wasn’t.
Then he leaned over and kissed me slowly. I didn’t want him to stop… I had forgotten that I was out in public, I had somehow transcended to a place where there was only the two of us…until I heard a shrill shout.
‘Bitch!’