This chapter is dedicated to diding1. And OlajideKhifayah

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Enjoy

Kpaaa!!

The slap was loud, louder than she'd ever thought a slap could be. To make matters worse, the DJ had just stopped playing music and so everywhere was quiet and the noise had gathered unnecessary attention.

"What the heck is wrong with you?!!" She barely swore and looking at a confused Pedro with his hands on his cheek and eyes filled with something she couldn't decipher made her more furious.

She paused when she noticed that everyone was staring at her, even the workers were watching.

"I..I am..."

And she ran off.

The mansion was big, so big that it has numerous doors on each side of the wall. She was grateful when she pushed one of the doors leading to a balcony.

Should she cry, scream, laugh or remain angry, she didn't know. She looked at her slightly swollen lips in the window. Great! He just had to ruin her lipstick.

After calming herself for some seconds, she thought of what to do next. She couldn't return to the party now, even if the party seemed to be back on, by the loud music that had resumed blaring from the hall.

Neither could she go home, damn she couldn't even find her way home. Anita's brother was her only ride home. Speaking of Anita, she wondered where her friends were and if Anita had also witnessed what had transpired, she had a bad feeling about everything.

She felt regrets flooding her head. What was she doing at a stranger's house by 7:32pm? Why did she allow Amanda convince her to go against her own will? Perhaps she should have stayed at home. By now she could have been chilling in the parlour watching Nickelodeon if she got tired of reading.

What has she done? Only God knows what Pedro would do on Monday. She was going to be the talk of school next week.

Plus exams were starting on Monday.

"God!" She groaned aloud squeezing her fists so tight that her growing nails pricked her palms.

"Are you okay?" Someone spoke, she turned back sharply and to her greatest surprise, Damien was there.

She replaced her look of shock with a small frown and hissed lowly. "Yes"

"I saw you running out of the hall..." He started unfazed by her harsh response.

"How did you find me?"

"Searched around a bit, plus you left the door open" he said and she turned to the door she'd left ajar, silently cursing herself for being so careless.

"Oh okay" she said turning back to face the sky after choosing not to spare him another glance.

"I'm sorry about that" he spoke a few seconds later, she jerked up slightly wondering why he was still there.

"About what?"

Damien raised a brow. "What happened in there... "

No reply.

"What he did was stupid and probably disrespectful, you don't deserve that",

She scoffed. "Yeah, just like I didn't deserve being played by you, but you guys are such good friends aren't you"

Her voice was low and it sounded more like her murmuring to herself, but she knew he heard her and indeed, he did.

He frowned and for a moment considered walking away, but she was right, it was his fault that their friendship got ruined, she couldn't be blamed for such remarks.

He rubbed the back of his neck thinking of what to say next, talking to her was a lot harder. He'd plan things to say, only for them to disappear suddenly.

"Erm... should we..do you want us to go back inside?"

She looked at him weirdly. What did he mean by "we", he could go if he wanted, she was perfectly fine being there all by herself.

"No I'm fine, you can go in if you want"

Lies! Her conscience screamed at her and she wanted to scream at it to shut up. Too bad her ego was too big.

He didn't seem surprised by her response so he offered another suggestion.

"Okay, well if you want to stay outside,  come hang out in the porch at the back, there's a small shed there and barbeque if that's what you like"

She considered his tempting offer but was discouraged by the prospects of more social interactions. The last thing she wanted right then was to be around more people.

"No thanks I'm fine"

"Alright then you ca.."

"Can you just leave me alone!?...." she snapped, her face was drained of energy and her eyes stung with tears. "I just want to go home." she added with a sob.

Damien looked at her sad and tired expression, willing to do anything to take it away.

"I can take you home" he blurted.

Her eyes snapped up immediately, searching for any evidence that he was joking, but he seemed taken aback by his suggestion as well and so she asked. "How?"

"I..I brought a car.. I mean, I drove here, I can drive you back home" he stuttered, doing his best to ignore the voices that were screaming at him to drop the foolish idea.

"For real?" Ifechi asked still in disbelief.

What are you doing D? His subconscious yelled.

"Yeah"

Her common sense told her it was risky. After all he was no more than a stranger and even if they were classmates, she shouldn't be trusting a hormonal teenager– who was by all means capable of doing something harmful to her, to take her home safely by almost 8pm"

"I live quite far from this place, are you sure you want to drive me all the way back to my house?"

Say no, you dumbass!

"Sure"

She blinked twice and tore her eyes away from him, her heart now beating twice as fast as she racked her brain for what to do next.

"Well, I.." she sighed remembering that her belongings were still in the party.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I left my things there, I can't go back in there so I don't know how I'll get it"

"I can get them for you"

She looked surprised again, but then raised a brow. "How will you know where to find it?"

Damien smiled. "Trust me I will"

And he did. It was barely up to five minutes when he came out holding her small black purse and her phone.

"Thank you so much" she found herself saying as she rummaged through the contents of her black purse to see if everything was intact. Not that she thought he'd take anything- after all, she didn't have much to begin with. But she needed to be sure she wasn't leaving anything behind.

"Sure, is there anything else?" He asked.

"No, it's complete, thanks" she said. She wanted to ask him how he knew where to find her things but decided it was useless as he led the way to the parking lot where his ride was.

She stood in shock when he opened the doors to a blue RangeRover. She slipped into the passenger's seat careful not to stain the leather seats with her 'unworthiness'.

Maddo.

If things were normal between them, she would have teased him about being an ajebota. How many 18 year olds drove such big cars?

"It's my dad's, he just let me borrow it for tonight" Damien said as if reading the question in her mind.

She nodded quietly putting on the seat belts and clutched her bag to her stomach while he started the ignition.

The drive was silent and Ifechi could hear the sound of the music becoming softer as they went farther away from the house. She faced the window, scared to look at him for fear of letting him see her emotions.

He noticed her uneasiness and tried to lighten the mood by switching on the radio, but Ifechi didn't flinch to the sound, her face was still glued to the side as she admired the beautiful houses that they passed while leaving the estate.

Asides from the occasional directions she gave him, there was no other interaction between them. Just when she was about to relax and close her eyes a little, he said quietly.

"I miss you."

She snapped her eyes open and looked at him. His eyes were fixed on the road, but she could tell from the tension in his grip on the steering wheel, that he was just as nervous as she was. She wanted to say something, but her lips felt too heavy.

"I really do" he said and she felt her eyes water up but forced herself to stay put and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Me too"

He tore his eyes away from the road to look at her, amazed. She gave him a small smile, surprised at herself for saying such as well.

"I really wish things could go back to the way they were"

"Ifechi" he called out her name when she wasn't responding.

She gazed into his beautiful eyes.

"I'm sorry, I swear if I could go back in time, I'd do things a lot differently"

She could only nod in reply.

"I want you to know that it's totally fine if you don't want anything to do with me ever again, I totally deserve it. What I did was foolish and stupid and you have every right to be mad......" His eyes shifted from the road to her as he spoke.

"....I just hope I don't lose you as a friend because you're such an amazing person Ifechi... you're sweet and kind and elegant and so smart and I'll be damn lying if I said you weren't gorgeous..."

Then why don't you date me?

"...I really really want us to be friends again"

Just Friends.

Her heart sank. She bit her lips and stared down at her interlocked fingers, she'd tell him to turn off the AC if she had the guts but she knew the goosebumps wasn't as a result of the air conditioning.

He still didn't like her.

"Do you forgive me?"

He asked when she still hadn't said anything. Ifechi didn't want that moment to come very fast, their reconciliation she meant. She wanted to stay angrier at him for longer, maybe even till graduation while at the same time experience that friendship and closeness they once had. Now that he had apologized openly, it would be hard to, because then she'd be acting foolishly if she were to hold a grudge against him after he'd tried to reconcile.

Swallowing her pride wasn't the easiest thing for her to do, but she did it anyway by pushed down the lump in her throat before letting out a croaked "Yes"

Damien stopped the car briefly and she glanced at him weirdly to ask why he'd stopped but he simply turned to her, a glint in his eye.

"You forgive me?" He said with a mixture of surprise and relief.

She rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling lighter, so that was why he was acting so dramatic. "Duhh, I don't have a choice, plus you've said sorry, I can't stay mad at you forever" she tried her best not to let the pain in her heart show.

His face lit up.

"Uhm..well, yeah erm..happy birthday in arrears, I'm so sorry I couldn't wish you sooner, just found out from Dami this evening that Thursday was your birthday"

Ifechi shook her head. "It's fine, a lot of people didn't know"

They got back to being silent.

"Well I hope there's still cake for me?" Damien joked and Ifechi chortled at his lame attempt of easing the awkward silence.

"Sure" she answered dryly. "I can bring it on Monday if you want" she added turning to face him when guilt had begun to eat her up.

Damien's lips twitched into a small smile. "Of course, I'd like that"

She nodded briefly and looked away.

The streets were a lot darker now save for the street lights which thankfully gave a lot of light to night walkers. Ifechi motioned for him to stop at a road to her street, a few metres away from where she'd been picked that evening.

"Are you sure it's okay for you to drop here?" He asked as she undid her seatbelt.

"Yes"

He looked around the half deserted area. "I can drop you in front of your gate yunno"

"No it's okay, I don't want to stress you, you've already done so much for me..."

"I don't mind.."

"It's fine!" She said, breathing out when she'd realised how high her voice was. "I'm sorry, I just...nevermind, thank you" she said and opened the door but he held her hand before she could step down.

"At least let me walk you home"

She wanted to object but he had slipped off his seat belt and turned the ignition off fast so she kept mute.

They walked down the scanty road together. She didn't object when he took her hand in his and held her while they walked.

Ifechi kept her head low away from the stares of the few people around . They were probably wondering what such a boy was doing in their neighborhood. She hoped no one would recognise her in the faint darkness. She could see Mama Judy, the provisions trader, sleeping on a chair in front of her shop. She let out a sigh of relief when they passed quietly and the woman didn't budge. Mama Judy was a cheerful woman, but sometimes she could be nosy.

She turned to face Damien when they were few houses away from hers.

"Is this it?" He said pointing to one of the big gates on the street. She shook her head smiling.

"No, a couple steps away but it's fine, I can go from here"

He looked skeptical.

"It's fine, I'm not a baby. Now go"

He hummed "Okay, take care"

"Thank you." She said again, this time from deep down her heart. She was grateful to him, for sacrificing his time and leaving the party all just to bring her home. He even took the risk of leaving his girlfriend. She wondered what Aliyah would say or do if she found out that her boyfriend had played the knight in shining armour for another girl.

He smiled genuinely "you're welcome"

"Ifechi" She made to leave but he grabbed her hands again causing her to turn.

"Yes?"

He gave her a heartwarming smile. "I'm so glad we are friends again"

She smiled back. "Me too"

You ask, I deliver...

They have finally reconciled 💆🤗

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Quick question: what's your fav reply to "hope my cake is available?"

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