Chapter 18 - Young Lovers.

Oliver

I was awoken by the sound of my phone ringing for the third time, or so I thought it was. I ignored the first two times I heard it ring. My ringtone has never been so annoying. Although I didn't have much people calling me, this was exactly why I always put my phone on silence right before I go to sleep.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I drew in breath sharply through gritted teeth. I wasn't ready to wake up yet. I instantly regretted that action because the cold air attacked my sensitive gums, making me feel like I had a spoon full of ice cream in my mouth. I was getting a brain freeze just from breathing.

I moaned out of pain, rolling over to my side to pick my phone from my bedside table. It had already completed this ring, so I missed this call as well. Rubbing my eyes, trying to fully wake myself, I sat up on my bed.

The thick dark curtains of my room kept the morning light that dared to free my room from its dark prison out. My room remained just the way I liked it, aphotic. I'm pretty sure photosynthesis was impossible in my room in this current state.

I snickered, inaudibly.

Honestly, I wasn't even sure if it was morning or not so I turned on my phone screen and my eyes automatically landed on the time. 8:42am. It was still too early to wake up on a Sunday. It took almost all of my discipline and home training to not cuss at whoever called me just before another call came in.

Mum

Holy shit!

I started panicking the second it all registered in my still hazy, sleepy head. I hadn't returned her calls since yesterday and I definitely still had sleep in my voice. She will be able to tell I didn't even try to go to church today.

Speeding to my fridge, I gulped down a whole bottle of water. Clearing my throat, then picking the call before it could ring out completely.

"Mum," my voice sounded like a croak.

Jesus who knew gulping down a whole bottle of water would turn me into a frog so quickly.

I cleared my throat and tried again.

"Good morning mum," I greeted, sounding a lot clearer now.

"Good morning darling. How was your night?"

"It was uhh, it was good yeah. Short but good."

"Short? Why short, did you sleep late?"

"Nope, no. As a matter of fact I didn't." I rubbed my eyes a little more with my free hand. "I don't know, I guess I'm just extra tired from school work." I released the yawn I imprisoned in my lungs.

"Oh, don't stress yourself out hun. Attend to school work but also have fun."

I giggled.

"Fun," I mimicked the way she said it. She said it like I could just have fun by staring at the lecturers or my fellow students.

"Yes fun. You know, that thing you're so bad at having without Jessica around." She mocked me from the other end of the phone.

I gasped at what she said.

"No that's not true!" I argued.

"That's so true," she laughed, sounding all satisfied with herself.

Her and Jess had this mother-daughter bond I tried to sever, but to no avail. It appeared to be even stronger than the mother-son bond we shared.

In Jessica's dreams.

I just loved how much they loved to talk and share girl things with each other, but I hated whenever they joined forces to tease me.

It was infuriating.

"I called you severally yesterday, but you didn't pick any of them." She complained, sounding motherly and worried.

I loved my mum so much, but sometimes she was simply overprotective of me. We'd also reached this level of trust, but I still couldn't bring myself to tell her about my bi-sexual tendencies, or the possibility of me being gay.

The time just wasn't right. I needed to be sure before saying anything to her.

I groaned and rubbed my eyes, walking back to my bed and sitting at the edge. I was completely awake now.

"I'm sorry mum, I was going to return your call yesterday but it was already too late. I assumed you'd be sleeping by then, didn't want to disturb."

"But you're disturbing me for a car." I heard her giggle at the other end of the call.

"Okay, no. That's different." I argued.

"How different is it?"

"It's a pressing need, so the difference is the urgent nature of it." I explained

"Well you not picking up my calls was also quite serious. I got scared."

I sighed. She keeps reinforcing my theory of her being so overprotective of me.

"I'm sorry, won't happen again. I promise."

"At least leave a text if you're busy. Okay?"

"Sure mum."

"Jess is there now, you can start socializing."

Her breathing was a bit heavy and cluttered. I could also hear the sound of things clattering in the background. She was probably getting ready for church, and here I was. Still in my PJs.

"I was already socialising before she came. As a matter of fact, she's going to make me lose my sane friends and introduce me to her insane ones."

My mum chuckled.

"That would be great, asylums are running empty these days."

She doesn't mean that, I told myself. There's no way she would send her son to an asylum even if he runs mad. She might, because then she won't have to buy me that car anymore. Not gonna happen woman.

I pulled my phone away from my ear so I could yawn again. Sleep had fully left my eyes now though.

"Huh? What did you say." I asked because she'd said something I didn't catch.

"I asked if you're feeding well."

"Yeah, yes, pretty much. I've lost some weight, but that's not due to starvation. It's all thanks to school stress, anxiety and too many assignments. These professors, I just can't handle their numerous assignments." I summed everything up for her.

"That's exactly why you've to eat healthy, you don't even have any weight to lose in the first place. Don't let this get you down."

I rolled my eyes, of course I've extra flesh to spare. I'm not that skinny.

"Sure mum, I won't."

"Balanced diet, okay?"

"Balanced diet. Got it."

My mum sounded like her typical self. She was all about vegetables and food that actually helps you grow healthy.

And fruits.

"Take fruits too."

I saw that coming.

"Just stock your fridge with a lot of fruits. They help with the stress."

"Sure thing mum."

"Please refrain from filling your system with chocolates."

"Chocolates pfft, no. Who needs those, I'm eating healthy just like you said." I laughed nervously.

I'm such a terrible liar, she knows me. My mum has tried so much to reduce my love for chocolate but our bond only grew stronger. She has given up on that venture.

I'm sure she rolled her eyes after hearing my terrible lie.

"Just eat good food and reduce your chocolate intake." She spoke hastily. "Okay hun, we'll talk later. Your dad's waiting for me downstairs, we're going to church."

"And you're still putting the lady's finishing touch?" I joked.

"Why yes, actually. I am." She giggled.

"Which car is dad driving to church this time?" I asked, rolling my eyes at my dad.

He was so predictable, it was obvious he didn't really like going to church. He just went to flaunt his multiple cars and meet up with his rich friends who also go to church for the same purpose.

"What do you mean?" She asked trying to sound innocent.

I rolled my eyes at what she said. To put simply my dad was wealthy, we were only getting the basic needs of life from him. We weren't living as extravagantly as he was. He had houses in different states and countries he's been to for work. He also had more than two, three cars. Not for once did I ask him for a car though, if he was gonna get me one, I wanted it to be as a gift. Not because his son asked him for a car.

It's not like he has been around long enough to know his son's needs anyway.

"Ugh come on mum, we both know the main reason why dad goes to church whenever he comes back to Jega." I chuckled, which caused her to let go of the laughter she was trying to hide.

Despite my sour relationship with my dad, we never had any quarrels of any sort, not yet at least. I had my mum, I loved my mum. She was both a father and a mother to me.

"I-I don't know, I guess the Prius? He's being modest today." She answered with laughter in her voice.

"Oh that's new." I gasped.

"I know. Okay I've to be going now. I love you darling."

"I love you too." I replied just before she hung up.

Falling back on my bed, I inhaled deeply and let it all out from my mouth. The talk I just had with my mum seemed to have chased the sleep away from my eyes. She did not ask if I was going to church, Jess got lucky.

I was fully awake now. Getting up from my bed, I walked over to the window and pushed the curtain aside, freeing my room from its dark prison. My schedule was completely empty today, I had nothing planned. Then I thought about yesterday.

Jessica almost got into a word fight on her first day, that's not a surprise. I had lunch with Mason, and I promised to text him once I got home. And I totally did not!

I rushed over to my phone and opened it, going straight to Mason's chat bar. There was no message from him. He must be so pissed at me, how the hell could I forget.

Me
I'm really sorry I got home yesterday.

Of course he knows I got home yesterday. I'm such an idiot.

Me
I forgot to text you. I'm sorry.

Rather tell the truth than sound like an idiot. After I sent that, I felt I'd done justice to that. At least for now, until I see what his reply looks like.

I got into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I didn't have morning breath, I just craved that minty fresh feeling. Going back to my bed and hiding myself under layers of blanket, I binged over eight intense episodes of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress while snacking on chocolates. I was halfway through the ninth one when a slight knock was placed on my door.

Freeing myself from my blanket sandwich, I got down and attended to the door. It was Yadiri and a sleepy Jess behind her, rubbing her eyes.

We spent the rest of the day in my room. They made brunch and eventually dinner with whatever was left in my fridge, I had to visit the supermarket soon. Jess was here now so it wasn't much of a worry to me, she could just drive me. Or maybe even shop for me.

You wish.

I loved spending time with these girls. I started getting a lot more comfortable around Yadiri, she had a lot of stories to tell about her highschool back in Nigeria. She really caught my heart when she told us about the one time she played the role of a relationship counselor for two closeted boys who were totally gay for each other, but didn't know how to make it work.

She said everything worked out fine at the end. She still stays in touch with them through social media. Our interest grew even more with every new story she told. We laughed and made jokes here and there.

The very day every student despised was upon me me now. It was Monday. After a well spent Saturday and a very cozy Sunday, I had to go through with Monday. I had classes to attend, assignments to submit, and there was always the possibility of getting more assignments.

A smile worked it's way across my face when I remembered Shirley and Kevin were faced with the same predicament. We could cry and complain to each other, maybe just Shirley and I. Kevin seemed to really like school.

Shocker.

Jessica drove us to school; her in the driver's seat, Yadiri in the passenger's seat, and me at the back. Listening to them ramble on about girl problems that, quite frankly, I took interest in.

Oops, don't blame me.

I didn't mind staying at the back. In fact I loved that I did, I could see their faces as they analyzed jocks and seniors while driving to the school's parking lot.

"Okay," Jess sighed while turning off the car, "here we are."

"Indeed." Yadiri responded, peeking out of the window like she was scared to leave the car.

I giggled at her. At the both of them actually. I could tell Jess was trying to not freak out, while Yadiri was already freaking out and really needed help. There was no hiding it.

"Okay, you two need to chill." I chuckled, "it's—"

"Don't you dare say 'take a chill pill'." Jess attacked me before I could finish.

I laughed this time, she was obviously worked up. Judging from the way she cut me off, I could tell she didn't need a pep talk from anyone, and I totally understood her. Pep talks only makes it seem more perilous than it looks.

"I wasn't gonna say that. But really…" I paused as she sent me the stink eye, "just chill." I finished.

"I'm chill." She huffed.

"I'm not, I'm far from chill guys." Yadiri confessed, smiling nervously at some guy who just waved at her.

"That's the first step: being truthful to oneself." I laughed.

"Stop talking like you're two years ahead of us. You're just two weeks ahead, okay?" Jess closed all the car windows and we got down from the car.

"See you later then?" I directed my question to the both of them.

"Yes. Hopefully." Yadiri replied, scanning the school.

"Don't worry Yadi. You'll be fine." Jess sighed and looked at the crowd of students ahead of her, "we'll both be fine."

"Definitely." I giggled. "When do you finish for the day?" I asked Jess which made her frown.

"We all have three lectures on Mondays, dummy. Same time, different courses." She informed me.

"Just us freshmen?" Yadiri asked.

"Mhmm," she hummed, "Olly has been here for two weeks and he doesn't know that."

"Don't attack me," I protested, "I've only two friends in my department."

"God I hope I've good looking, young, male lecturers." Jess sighed, "so I can learn and understand more." She looked up to the sky, sending her far-out prayer to God.

"That would be like telling me: 'here get an A in this course'." Yadiri seconded her.

I widened my eyes at her.

"Not you too!" I frowned at her.

"What?" She chuckled, "if he's cute and young, you'll listen to him. If he's old and not attractive, meh not so much." She explained with her hands.

We continued walking together, Jess and Yadiri ranked guys on the way. There was this unfortunate guy Jess gave a 0.02 out of 10, but Yadiri did him a favour and took it up to 0.2. she's so kind, I would've given him a 1.

"I'm gonna head to the bookstore to get some textbooks during that two hour break we have after the first lecture. So we'll meet at the car by, let's say four?" Jess suggested when we'd gotten to the point where we had to go our different ways.

"Sure," I agreed.

"See you loves by four then. I should be heading that way towards the theatres," Yadiri pointed ahead, unsure of the way. "Right?" She turned and asked us, worry written all over her face. She sounded so tensed.

She was the only one among the three of us in the art faculty.

"I think so, you'll just get lost. That's the worst that can happen." I teased.

"Don't listen to him. You'll be fine babe." Jess assured her, but it sounded more like she was assuring herself of her own safety.

The look on their faces was priceless. They were gonna be fine, I giggled as I made my way to first period.

***

Shirley, Kevin and I were seated at a table in one of the many cafeterias on campus. We'd gone through with our first lecture of the day, Chris sat with us. Chris sat with Shirley to be precise. It was the one course we shared on Mondays.

They both spent the entire lecture writing notes to each other and giggling like love birds. I swear, I admired those two. Chris asked me to put in good words about him to Shirley, it wasn't necessary. I could tell Shirley already liked him but I was glad to help.

"So will you let us see the back of your notebook or not?" I directed the question to Shirley, wiggling my brows at her.

She clicked her tongue and shook her head from side to side.

"Tsk tsk tsk. No Oliver, I will not." She stated firmly but I could tell she was already starting to blush.

I pouted and attempted puppy dog eyes on her. It appears the effect of my puppy dog eyes wasn't strong enough, it had never gotten me anything I wanted. I still had my eyes, no one had tried to pluck them out of their sockets, so I'll just keep on trying.

Kevin cooed, his eyes were in a book but he was also listening in on our conversation. He was such a great multitasker.

"Look how lovestruck she is." He beamed at her, happiness radiated from his smile. it was like a reflection of how she truly felt inside.

"Tell me about it, they're such a perfect match." I supported Kevin, who hummed and nodded his head. Placing his book on the table.

"Just like cheese in a bowl," he replied.

I quickly turned my head in his direction, scrunching my entire face in confusion at what he just said.

"Excuse me what? What's that?" I chuckled.

"Cheese in a bowl?" He muffled his laughter.

"Yeah, what is cheese in a bowl?"

"I don't even know," he laughed, "I just think cheese would fit so perfectly in a bowl, and they fit perfectly together. Hence the simile." He explained, demonstrating with his hands. Trying to create a cheese in a bowl scenario.

"Oh," I nodded dramatically like I understood what he just said. "So who's the cheese and who's the bowl?" I asked him with a serious tone and a fake straight face.

"Hmm," stroking his chin, he faked a straight face as well and proceeded to explain. "I think Shirley is the cheese and Chris is the bowl, because the bowl is carrying and protecting the cheese." He mimicked one of our middle aged professors.

I tried my best to hold in my laughter and keep my serious face on, as we both continued to pretend like this was a serious discussion.

"Don't you think Shirley should be the bowl, given that the cheese is in the bowl." I replied, putting more stress on the word. Creating emphasis and making my point clear.

Kevin widened his eyes at me and almost laughed out, but he hid it behind a cough then frowned and continued.

"O-oh, oh my god. I see what you did there." He replied, stroking his chin and nodding his head.

"Yes, yes you do." I replied.

We continued to exchange stupid facts about Shirley and Chris with straight faces, like Shirley wasn't even there. She was mute until we stopped and looked at her. He eyes were set at us, and she looked like she was about to explode.

"You bloody wankers." She hissed through gritted teeth, "it's official I made bad friends." She stated dismissively like her mind couldn't be changed. We were both bad friends and that was it.

We couldn't hold back our laughter anymore, I and Kevin both started laughing at the same time. Shirley gave in as well.

She said something in between her laughter but we didn't quite catch it so when we stopped laughing I asked her to repeat herself.

"What did you say?" I asked

"Huh? What did I say?" She feigned ignorance.

"Yes you, you said something." I frowned.

"I think I have an idea of what she said." Kevin smiled mischievously.

"Oh piss off Kev." She shut him up.

"Well?" I asked after about a minute of waiting for her to repeat herself.

"He asked me out." She slowly sipped from her cup and looked at us from the top of her eyes.

We had our mouths hung open from the news. It took us over a minute before we could voice a complete word.

"What?!" We chorused

Then the questions came flying in. We kept overlapping each other until we finally came to an agreement to let me talk first

"You can't just drop the bomb and leave it that way. How, where, when did he do it?" I rushed through my sentence, with so much excitement in my voice.

"Well he asked m—" Shirley started, but Kevin interrupted her before she could finish one sentence.

"Hope you said yes." He asked leaning in closer on the table.

Shirley drew a deep breath through her gritted teeth. "Goodness, chill. One question at a time." She corrected.

I opened my mouth to talk but she held her index finger up in my face, shutting me up.

"And if you interrupt me one more time." She squinted her eyes at me.

I puckered my lips and made a zipping motion, throwing the key away.

She tried to answer our questions but she couldn't even remember them, so I tried to break it all down for her.

"You said yes, right?"

She waved her index finger in the air, saying no.

"It doesn't work that way, Olly. I can't just say yes. I've to make him wait."

"Aren't you waiting too long? When did he ask you?" Kevin asked the exact same question I had in mind.

"Yesterday," she answered, "he promised to take me to ice haven on Thursday. I'll say yes then."

"So your answer is yes?" I asked.

"Of course my answer is yes. I really like him." She shrugged.

"He promised to take you to an ice cream place? Wow big first moves."  Kevin leaned back in his chair and drank from his cup.

I can bet anything that the smile on our faces were genuine, I'm sure mine was. I was honestly so happy for her. In just three weeks her time of a lifetime university experience had already kicked off. To top it all, her first love was a potential true love.

We just sat there at our table talking and refilling our juice cups for another hour. Denberg truly was comfortable and the cafeteria was cheap, and also had quality. We left the cafeteria in time to make it to our last two lectures of the day.

They went by successfully, I was particularly happy for the fact that we were not given another assignment. We already had four assignments, three were from the same lecturer and they were due sometime this week.

After the last lecture, we packed our things and said hi to few other of our course mates before leaving the lecture hall. We were surprisingly content with our little circle and had no intentions of expanding it.

We walked together and discussed about school work, and how we were gonna finish our assignments at the library tomorrow.

The way to the parking lot was different from the route we usually followed, so we didn't walk together for too long before I had to leave them to join Jess and Yadiri by the car.

"Umm I'm going to the parking lot." I stopped and pointed in the direction of the turn I was to take.

"Dude, you've a car now?" Kevin asked, his voice rising with excitement.

I scoffed.

"I wish. No. I'm meeting up with a friend, we're going back together. We stay in the same dorm." I replied, bursting Kevin's bubbles.

"Oh." He voiced his disappointment.

"You've a girlfriend in your dorm who's driving you around now?" Shirley asked, arching an eyebrow at me.

I couldn't believe that even after Shirley witnessed what happened with Casper, she still thought I was straight. It felt like a good thing for me, but if our friendship was to last, I'll have to tell her about my bi-sexual tendencies sometime.

"Not a girlfriend, she's my best friend." I corrected.

"How come we are just hearing about her?" She frowned at me.

"Her department is part of the other half of the science faculty that resumed today."

She made an 'O' shape with her mouth.

"You must be very happy then." She nudged my arm.

"Happy? I'm delighted!" I squealed, "you should meet her," I offered, "she's lovely. She has an African roommate who's just as lovely." I finished.

There was a sudden cold gust of wind that seemed to attack just me, because I was the only one who shivered. Kevin laughed at my vulnerability to the cold.

"Yes, I sure will. Moreover, I'll be coming over to your dorm quite often in the nearest future." Shirley said with a smirk.

Kevin and I exchanged knowing looks, we knew exactly what she was talking about.

"To see your boyfriend." Kevin completed her statement for her.

"Oh shut up, I wasn't specific." She smacked his arm gently.

"Mhmm, you don't need to be. We know exactly what you're talking about." Kevin teased, apparently he wasn't done teasing her today. "What about me? I want to come visit too." He said, pouting at me.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure to invite you sometime this century," I joked.

"Not fair! That's not fair!" He called out behind me as I'd already started to walk away.

"Bye guys." I turned and waved at them before we parted ways completely.

They were gonna board a campus shuttle bus to get to the school dormitories. I made my way to the parking lot to meet up with the girls. Almost every Monday had an awful package for me, I hoped to not run into anyone who might ruin my day.

I just wanted chocolate and a hot shower.

_
AN: Another chapter! Stick with me, so much is about to happen. You're not ready!

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