Short Story
You Know I Want This
Trapped between breadcrumbing & a situationship
“I took off that school tie thing. No one can tell I was wearing my school uniform.”
“You worry too much.”
He beckons his head to our other colleague.
“See? We are both in full school uniform. The bouncers at the entrance allowed us in even though they saw us like this. Chill bro, your face reveals your age.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Look around, a few waiters are in their school uniforms. They know today it’s Youth day.”
“Look
Three stools next to us get occupied by a group of three girls. We all glance at them.
“Damn bro, you see that?”
“Yeah man…damn, they fine bro.”
The other colleague holds my shoulder.
“There’s three of them and three of us. What do you think?”
“No way man, I ain’t going there alone. You go first.”
“Ok, I’ll pull one aside and leave two for you guys.”
“Wait man, let’s go together. You know this dude ain’t been to clubs that much. So, let’s make it easier for him, see?”
They go to the girls. As they said, one girl stays behind. I fiddle my fingers on my empty can and look at her. She looks at me with a giggle and returns to her phone. My heart skips a beat.
I say to myself mentally: if I don’t go there, some dude here might c!#kblock me. You know what, I won’t die. If she rejects me, I’ll move on.
I get up to brush my arm’s sleeve even if it’s clean and head to her.
“Hi, what’s up?”
She keeps pressing her phone.
I clear my throat. She faces me. Then I sit down on the stool next to her, put my elbow on the table, and cross my legs.
“It always happens like this. I meet an attractive girl. We conversate and hang out and she never calls back. I hope you’ll be different.”
She covers her mouth and smiles.
“Where did you find those lines?”
“I watch a lot of crime thriller movies. I could show you one, but it’s still early for us to watch together, you see?”
She smiles thinning her lips.
“So, what brings you here?”
“I knocked off early today and came here with my colleagues to pass time. I didn’t know I would find a person with such excellent beauty.”
She puts her elbow on the table and rests her chin on her palm.
“What do you want really?”
“Do you want honesty?”
She nods.
“I want you. They say, love, at first sight, doesn’t exist. I don’t know how to explain these feelings. Maybe you can help me here.”
She smiles.
“I’m sorry I can’t.”
“Let me give you my numbers.”
She hands me her phone and I save my contact. I hear her friends talking amongst each other as they come in our direction.
“That’s Karabo, as in Ka-ra-bo.”
She giggles.
“Hao, come on, that’s an easy name.”
“Yours?”
“Kananelo. My friends call me Nelo.”
I open my arms.
“Hug?”
We hug and I wave her goodbye.
Two weeks passed with ease. She never called or texted me. I guess the baby girl was playing after all.
Normal life continues as usual. Work. Sleep. Work. Sleep, for straight five days. After we knock off, my colleagues’ group of friends came to where we work and invited us to a new joint in town. Since we wanted to get some steam off, we went with their flow.
We find few people. Good music, nice strobe lights, and good vibes. Everyone is talking about their weekend plans. Nelo doesn’t want to get out of my mind. They ask me about my broodiness. I tell them I’m tired.
I join some of them on the dance floor. To hide my whack dance moves, I opt for easy ones that a lot of people do. No one will see I can’t dance.
We sit down to order cold drinks. Some of my colleagues woo girls. Now I don’t feel like it. Two random girls sit next to me. We conversate without innuendos. They’re not into me, just kind. I play along and time starts to pass effortlessly. Out of the bathroom passage, Nelo appears. She comes in my direction, with the smile I last saw her with. The girls turn out to be her friends.
Nelo sits next to me with her elbow on the headrest, hand on her cheek and legs crossed facing me. She makes excuses for not getting in touch. We conversated until I forgot about the past two weeks' thing.
Now her friends start to kiss in front of us. I gawk at them unsure of what to say and look back at Nelo. She comes closer to me and pulls my nape to kiss me. I indulge in the sensual french kiss.
She gets up and pulls my hand until I’m on my feet. A naughty smile and eye beckon are enough to know that I’ve to follow her. Now we’re in a closed toilet cubicle. Our bodies touch with heavy breathing. She takes out a condom from her bra pouch and hands it to me.
The deed begins.
After we’re done, she sits on my lap and pulls out my phone from my trouser pocket.
“Here are my numbers. You can call or Whatsapp me, anytime.”
Well, most of our hangouts would turn into hookups. Nudes, late-night calls, good morning texts — everything any normal couple would do, we did it all. Calling herself a 21st-century young woman, she never liked labels.
She kept on subtly avoiding my questions about what our relationship is. There’s also that one guy that called me on a private number. He shouted at me to leave her alone — that wasn’t enough for me to leave her. Like every red flag, I let it slide.
Nine months passed, and I saw the party reels that she never told me about. Her warm smile somehow has a way of making me oblivious to avoiding straight answers. My mind seems to stop working at that time.
“You know I want this. I want us to be an item. Please Nelo, I desperately need to know where I stand with you. Please be straight with me this time.”
“Wait.”
She closes her bedroom door and walks to me. Our eyes locked, and she kisses me and takes my hands to her butt. Like a fool, I follow her command.
Two months passed. Now her phone number stopped working. She left her student residence. Word says that she went back to her heritage ground. They all keep telling me she went to visit her aunt. I guess even her close friends didn’t know her too well.
Even on all social media platforms, she ghosted me and stopped social interaction.
Just like that, she was gone.
I blamed myself for pressurizing her on what we could’ve been.
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Copyright © Mbhango Lefoka
