The Nyarko siblings were, of course, surprised to see me. But not as surprised as I was to find out their Mother owned this little place. Once again they were an influence on my thoughts about Ghana, and I wasn't sure what to make of it.

While Jesse explained to his Mum that I was a friend of his and Alana's classmate, she told me to call her Auntie Abena, and that I was welcome to go over to their home for some tea one day. "I'm happy to know these weasels have a friend with manners." She chuckled, causing both Alana and Jesse to give her annoyed looks.

I, however, was slightly distracted by the muscular figure of Jesse's that seemed to refuse to keep to itself beneath his grey jumper. I'd been so used to seeing him in a large wooly jacket, so hadn't ever seen his figure until now. I gulped.

"I gotta go. Ma, I'm heading to Tiwa's place now." Alana said hurriedly, "I finished sorting out everything in the back."

Auntie Abena nodded, and Alana gave me a swift head nod in acknowledgement, before briskly walking out the shop door. "In an angelic mood as always," Jesse muttered, sourly, before turning to me with a smile. "Well. I didn't expect to see you here, Jem. You looking for something?"

"Uh...no-" I fumbled, looking around me so that I didn't have to look up at him. "Just came to see what you were selling."

He folded his arms, and looked at the Kente cloth behind me. "You like kente, huh?"

"Um, yeah. I guess I do."

"That's a nice one you're looking at there. It'll look good on you." He said this with a smirk, and a bunch of butterflies erupted in my stomach. "Ma makes some good dresses out of these."

I felt a smile tug at my lips. He thought I'd look nice in kente. Those were the only words I needed to make my day. Just then, I was snapped out of my dreamy state when my phone began to ring from my pocket. Mentally groaning, and giving Jesse an apologetic smile, I took it out, glancing at the caller ID.

TEDDY BEAR

Him and Beatrice were probably wondering where I was, since I would've been back from therapy by now. I tapped the answer button. "Hey, sorry. I got caught up in something."

"When will you be back?"

"Soon." I glanced at the time on my phone. It was starting to get late. I frowned. I guess I should put the Jesse time on pause for now. "I'm on my way back now."

"M'kay. Well, me and Bea are gonna raid your kitchen 'til you get back, so laters."

"What? How did you even get in the house?"

"Susanne's home early, and said we could help ourselves. You should've been early too, otherwise we wouldn't be eating without you."

"No, stop! Ugh, I'm coming now." I hang up, muttering a string of insults, before shoving my phone back into my pocket. I gave Jesse an apologetic look. "Um, I'm really sorry, but I have to go," I turned to Auntie Abena. "Auntie. It was nice meeting you. I'll come back again soon."

"Alright, dear. Jesse, why don't you walk your friend home?"

"Are you sure you can close everything up by yourself?"

"Boy, did I not raise you to be a gentleman?"

Jesse sighed. "Alright. Let me get my coat."

After Jesse got ready, I followed him to the glass door of the shop, but then stopped for a moment. I turned back to auntie Abena who was giving us a warm smile. "By the way, auntie. I just wanted to say...I'm Abena too."

Auntie Abena's face lit up and she laughed. "Ah, that's lovely! Thank you for telling me, my little twin. I'll see you soon! Greet your parents for me."

"I will." I beamed before walking out the door. Me and Jesse walked in silence for a few seconds before I finally decided to initiate a conversation. "I really like your Ma," I said to him, softly, "She's great."

"Yeah...I guess she is," Jesse laughed softly, rubbing the back of his head. "She's a fireball, though. In case you ever wonder where Al gets her sharp tongue from, you know where to look."

"She seems really sweet, though." I replied. I knew Auntie Gifty was the stern but sweet type too-but what about Ma? Was she like that? "But I can tell she has a strictness about her. I like it, though."

"Well, you know Mums. The sweetest button when guests are around but when it's just us..." He glanced behind him, but seeing nobody following us, he whispered, "She's something else. But don't ever tell her I said that."

I forced a smile. "Yeah...Mums are like that..." I trailed off quietly. We were almost at the end of the street now, and had just passed the mental health centre.

"You know...this is kinda crazy." Jesse said to me, and I looked up at him curiously, my smile becoming genuine now that I was studying his soft features. He looked down at me, and raised an eyebrow. "You checking me out?"

There was an obvious tease in his voice, but I could feel myself going tomato red, and felt my heart racing. I quickly looked away from him with a sheepish laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. Anyway...you were saying something. What's crazy?"

"Us walking together right now." Jesse replied, "Back when I was in school, I never thought I'd get a chance to talk to you."

My eyebrows knitted together, as I laughed. "What? What does that mean?"

"Umm...well, I noticed you for a while, and you just seemed really quiet and stuff. I always wanted to approach you, but I was pretty shy back then so I didn't have the guts to."

I blinked in surprise, and bit the inside of my lip. Jesse had seriously wanted to talk to me all this time. And I never knew. But the very fact that he'd wanted to get my attention made my insides tingle. "I never knew..." I started, "But that was really sweet."

"Oh, uh," He looked away from me, seemingly flustered. "But I'm definitely glad we can talk now."

"Yeah...But, I don't really understand how you managed to pick me out of the crowd. I thought I was doing my best to blend in with everyone."

"Um...." Jesse took a breath, "Okay. This sounds weird now, but I guess it was because I found you quite pretty. And you just seemed more chill than most of the people I know."

My eyes widened. "Pretty? Really?" I pulled my hood over my head, tugging it down low over my forehead.

"Yeah," He laughed nervously.

"Thank you," I practically whispered. "People don't really tell me that." Hey, I was just as body-conscious as the next fifteen year old, but I didn't see myself as having any particular features that made me stand out among others. To be honest, I was quite boringly normal looking.

"But apparently you don't really talk to people anyway," Jesse pointed out, "So how will they tell you?"

"Oh, wait. You have a point," I tapped my chin, thinking of a response. Should I compliment him back or say something to change the subject to avoid further embarrassment? "Um...has anyone ever told you you're really tall?" Well. I guess I'd end up saying something stupid either way.

"Yeah, of course." Jesse pointed his fingers towards him, "Have you not seen this? I turn every nosey head. My friends all call me a telephone pole."

I laughed. "Really? How tall are you?"

"6'3."

I gasped. "What? You're 6'3? How?" I stopped walking and faced him, and he gave me a sort of amused grin. "That's seriously tall."

Jesse shrugged. "Yeah. Come on, let's keep walking. You don't want to get home after dark." He continued walking ahead, placing his hands into his large jacket pockets, and I followed quickly after him, and walked closer by his side. We were so close to each other...

"Jem..." Jesse exclaimed. "Can I call you that?"

"Sure!"

"Um...can I ask you something? It's probably going to make things extremely awkward." Jesse averted his eyes from me, looking straight ahead. "And I don't want you to get the wrong idea."

"Okay..." I said slowly.

"When I get my next break from college, do you wanna...go out, sometime? Maybe to get some lunch or something?"

I stopped walking, my heartbeat quickening it's pace. "Like a date?"

"What? Pfft, no! Just as friends. To...like, hang out. Chat more. Y'know...um. Yeah."

I laughed. "Wow. You're nervous?"

"No. I'm not. Just asking." He quickened his walking pace, and I struggled to keep up with him, with his legs being much longer than mine.

"Slow down!" I jogged up to him. "I'd love to go with you. I really love spending time with you..." I caught myself, and mentally slapped my brain. Jesse smiled down at me. His face seemed to glow with such a cheery light everytime he gave that award winning smile. It was also incredibly infectious. "D-don't smile at me like that."

"What? Why?"

"Because! Just please don't, okay?"

"Oh, look who's nervous now?" He teased.

"Shut up, I'm not nervous."

"Well okay. Whatever you want." The smug look didn't leave his face. We'd finally reached my street, and Jesse had stopped his rather panicked and speedy walk, and had slowed down now. "I like spending time with you, too." He said to me. We continued chatting the rest of the way, and I found myself feeling more and more relaxed the longer I spoke to him. That's why I wasn't too keen on having to say goodbye to him when we arrived outside my house.

"This is me." I gestured to my house. "Thanks for walking me home."

"Can I tell you another embarrassing thing about me?"

"Okay. What's this one, now?" I folded my arms, amused.

"I tried to follow you home once."

"What?"

"Yeah. Like a lil' stalker. I never followed through with it though."

I burst out laughing at that. "Are you joking? Why would you do that?" I asked him between giggles.

"I know, I was a little weirdo! I just wanted really badly to talk to you that day. But I didn't want to look weird or get arrested so I decided against it last minute. Now, I'm standing right in front of your house, chatting away with you," He flashed another smile, "It's definitely better to follow someone with their consent. I learnt that much."

I shook my head. "How are you even telling me all this, if it's so embarrassing for you?"

"Hmm, I guess because I can feel like I can tell you anything now that we know each other. Which is weird, right, because we didn't meet too long ago? I tend to do weird things a lot. You'll find that out about me." Jesse said to me.

"Well, I like weird." I gave him a pointed look. "That's what I'm used to anyway, so weird yourself out..." I trailed off as I cringed. Weird yourself out? What kind of phrase was that?

He gave me a lopsided smile. "Did I tell you that I still think you're pretty cute?" My mouth fell open, as I struggled to find my words. Jesse laughed with a shake of his head, and then started to walk backwards and away from me. "I'll see you around, Jem."

I waved at him, the shyness returning. "Bye."