Yemisi did as she was bade and as Chris stretched his hand to collect it, he saw the plastic sprig of mistletoe that Lola had glued to his headboard last Christmas, and he became so suffused with guilt that his member became flaccid almost immediately.<\/p>\n
Noticing the drawn look on his face, Yemisi asked \u201cChris, what\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry Missie\u201d, Chris said calling her the endearing name he had given to her when they were dating, \u201cI can\u2019t do it. I can\u2019t cheat on my girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBaby, baby, you can\u2019t stop now.\u201d Yemisi said her breathing labored.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry Missie. But I really can\u2019t. I\u2019m really sorry. But I can\u2019t.\u201d Chris replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust once baby. No one will ever find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYemisi please. Let\u2019s just go back to the living room and forget this happened. Please.\u201d Chris heard himself saying; and as the words were leaving his mouth, he couldn\u2019t believe he was actually capable of turning a willing female down and more so, his very own old flame. One he had actually promised to wait for so they could get married.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow. This is a whole new side of you I\u2019d never seen before.\u201d Yemisi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so sorry for leading you on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raising her hand with her palm and all her fingers straightened facing him, she said \u201cEnough. I understand. Can I have some privacy while I get dressed?\u201d Yemisi said.<\/p>\n
Chris opened his mouth as if to say something then bit back the words, keeping silent.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes I get the hypocrisy too. But I need some privacy to get dressed.\u201d Yemisi said, pronouncing \u2018pree-vay-see\u2019. It seemed as if her little anger mixed with a touch of disappointment, a dab of shattered expectation and a tablespoonful of her almost sexual fulfilment brought out the accent she had been trying to mask all day with her Nigerian intonations in its true colors and full glory.<\/p>\n
Chris egressed from the room to give her the privacy she seemed to suddenly crave and went straight to the kitchen to find himself some water to drink to calm his fraying nerves. The cold water from the bottle in the refrigerator did little to calm him. He reached for the trusty bottle of Vodka he always kept on the kitchen countertop. Pouring himself a glass, he downed it in one easy gulp. Feeling the burn down his throat and the almost immediate cooling effect that the burn from the alcohol leaves in its wake, his frayed nerves cooled as he began to feel the rush from the alcohol.<\/p>\n
Feeling better, he walked over to the living room and laid down on the only piece of sitting furniture and then turned on the television. Absent-mindedly flipping the channels, patiently waiting for Yemisi to make her way to the living room.<\/p>\n
It took quite a while before Yemisi came back out to the living room. From the looks of it she had touched up her make-up and was back to her stunning self \u2013 to the untrained eye. In Chris\u2019 eyes however, she her eyes seemed slightly puffy, like someone who had been crying and was trying her utmost best to conceal it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMissie, what\u2019s wrong?\u201d Chris asked the moment she came to the living room and announced she was taking her leave.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing\u201d, was the curt reply.<\/p>\n
\u201cMissie, please talk to me\u201d, Chris cajoled.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing. I\u2019m leaving.\u201d Yemisi said, making her way to the door.<\/p>\n
Racing after her and grabbing her by the waist before she gets to the door, he said \u201cI\u2019m sorry Missie. Please don\u2019t leave here angry at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chuckling drily, she said \u201cYou think I\u2019m mad at you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah\u201d, Chris replied.<\/p>\n
Sighing she said, \u201cI\u2019m not mad at you. I\u2019m just wondering why I\u2019m good enough for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMissie, please don\u2019t be like that\u201d, Chris said \u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of things that that would lead to. I just don\u2019t wanna complicate things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now I\u2019m a complication?\u201d Yemisi asked, her eyes welling up with tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cMissie please I need you to understand. It\u2019s not you. I just gotta be faithful to her. I\u2019d rather break up with her and hurt her once and for all than cheat on her again\u201d, Chris said exasperated and as the words left his mouth, he immediately regretted allowing himself to slip so easily.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain?\u201d Yemisi asked and for the first time since she had come out of the room, her eyes were twinkling and sparkling like they normally did. The dour and somber look she had was gradually being replaed by one of wonder and fascination.<\/p>\n
Chris sighed and shrugged and then said \u201cit was just once with one of her friends and we were so stoned out of our freaking minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scoffing, Yemisi said \u201cAs if that\u2019s an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know it isn\u2019t, but that\u2019s the long and short of it.\u201d Chris replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. That\u2019s just the short of it. I want to hear the long of it. Besides, I still find it hard to believe you<\/i> got so drunk \u2013 or is it stoned that you called it \u2013 that you went and slept with someone else. You that\u2019s the ultimate control freak\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can I say? People change. But it really is a long story and I don\u2019t even know where to begin\u201d, Chris said, refusing to talk about his recently fleeting fidelity with her and trying to discourage her from pulling a story he didn\u2019t want to tell from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cStart anywhere\u201d, Yemisi prompted and then settled into the sofa, making a show as if to tell him that she was not going anywhere without hearing the rest of the story and that she was not having any of his antics to make her forget about the story.<\/p>\n
Reluctantly, Chris began telling the story. He started from the time he had helped Camille back to her hostel, how she had laid bare her feelings for him and how he had gently rebuffed her without appearing rude or uncaring. He then went on to tell her how he and Camille had gone on to start preparations for Lola\u2019s birthday party and how the planning had led them to having the last planning discussion in that very apartment and how it had been too late for two girls and one in an already inebriated state to wander the streets and about how he had been the perfect gentleman and offered that they stay there that night and most importantly, that he had no sinister thoughts in his mind because they were there.<\/p>\n
Yemisi kept listening as Chris told her about the games that led to everything. Chris told her how the whole shebang had started off so harmless and full of fun. He then proceeded to tell her about how the fun had escalated when the inhibitor suppressants had been introduced and how common sense had been giving a timeout and how he had found himself hours later in bed with two naked young ladies and how he had gotten them a cab to convey them back to their hostel and how it had been a close call because Lola was on her way to his place and how everything had blown up in their faces at Lola\u2019s birthday party and how everything led to the present.<\/p>\n
Chris had forgotten how good a listener Yemisi could be. She was silent for the most part when he was telling the story and only interrupted him to ask for clarifications. She also made all the correct gestures like nod her head intermittently also making some sounds to prompted him to go on. When he was done telling the story, he had expected judgment from her and to his utmost surprise all she had said was \u201cshit happens\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re coming with me to that wedding. Figure out whatever you\u2019d tell your girlfriend<\/i>.\u201d Yemisi said as she got up to leave, ever direct.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes ma\u2019am\u201d Chris replied, thankful that the heavy emotional cloud seemed to have lifted. Going for the wedding was the least that he could do.<\/p>\n
Walking her to the door and down the street so he could hail her a cab, they said their goodbyes and promised to call each other and Yemisi reminded him to not forget the wedding. When the cab driver drove off, he started heading back to his apartment.<\/p>\n
As soon as he got to the gate of his apartment building, his phone rang.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello.\u201d He answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey you. How are you?\u201d The person on the phone said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m almost home\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood. I\u2019m on my way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yemisi did as she was bade and as Chris stretched his hand to collect it, he saw the plastic sprig of mistletoe that Lola had glued to his headboard last Christmas, and he became so suffused with guilt that his member became flaccid almost immediately. Noticing the drawn look on his face, Yemisi asked \u201cChris, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1654],"tags":[959,1062,1822,2291,2294,178,2289,2197,1655,585,2227,161,1678,2293,2292,2290,2173],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-following-chris","tag-thisboyperforms","tag-africa","tag-african-short-stories","tag-blog-stories","tag-conscience","tag-deolu-bubble","tag-episode-18","tag-ex-girlfriend","tag-following-chris-2","tag-lagos","tag-lagos-web-stories","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian-short-stories","tag-old-flame","tag-stories-on-blogs","tag-written-by-thisboyperforms","tag-yemisi"],"yoast_head":"\n