A Sauce Down the Pole

Chapter 23

'We don't quit, we finish. One more kilometer than we're done.'

She decided to run 10 km in midday, to release the alcohol in her system. She stopped the moment her phone notified her she had reached her target distance; her legs were trembling, and she could hardly feel them. She sat at the nearest bench to catch her breath and check the time she took to finish her run, she noticed she had a text and opened it carelessly.

"Akwande: Wow these are strong words MaNkosi. Please enlight me of my wrongdoing,"

Her eyes popped open when she realized she had sent the message to the wrong person when she was drunk. She even forgot her chest was closing up because of the run and her mind was racing, thinking of how to approach the matter.

"Peace: I'm sorry it's a wrong text.", she simply texted hoping that he would take that and drop it all.

"Akwande: I find it hard to believe, all these hours you did not realize you sent the text to the wrong person?" 

She walked to her Residence while listening to some music and trying to cool some heat.

'Of course, he was not going to let go.'

"Peace: I don't know what you want me to say because this is my truth.", she typed out then left her phone on the bed and went to shower.

She decided to go do her hair, it has been a while and if Antonio had a problem with it, he was going to eat it. She made an appointment with her hairdresser, and she wanted to do dark orange braids. She texted in This Happened, "Peace: anyone free? I need company, I'm going to do my hair.", asked.

"Zana: Finally! Unfortunately, I'm busy and I was not going to spend my entire day watching you braiding.

Mandy: Just go sweetheart, we will be waiting to see your new hair.

Ntando: Yoh Peace braiding takes hours, who would sit there and watch you braid?"

She was just testing the waters; she knew they were not going to accompany her, so she decided to go alone.

'If they want to see my hair, they will have to come to my room I'm not going to anyone's room after braiding.'

She went to her appointment and showed the hairdresser the style she wanted. It took her 4 hours to finish, the lady was fast, and since she was close to the mall she decided to pop in and buy a few kinds of stuff. "I almost did not recognize you", Peace was startled by a voice behind her, "Are you following me?", she asked. He laughed, "My life is not that boring" "What are you doing here", Peace asked not in the mood for small talks.

After exchanging a few harsh words, Akwande and Peace started talking about general stuff like, are you also experiencing load-shedding in your area or was it also windy yesterday? "People will think we are a serious couple the way we are so compatible", Peace rolled her eyes. "Your hairstyle suits you", she blushed, Akwande noticed and was satisfied with how she was responding. 

They walked towards the exit while Akwande pushed the trolley that had their stuff, "This exit is far from where I parked, let's take the elevator" "It is close to the bus stop, let me grab my stuff you will take the trolley", he blocked her hand from taking her paper bags from the trolley, "No, we are riding together. I want you to tell me what this man did to you that had you cursing at 5 am and doing your hair the same day."

'Now that you say it.'

"This is not about anyone, I was tired of weaves, and I was drunk at that time.", they were now walking towards the Akwande's car, Peace was not going to reject a free ride. He loaded the paper bags into the car boot, "Here", he gave her the snack bar, "I want to hear all of it, so you will need the energy.", he said trying to justify his good gesture. "Ow, you got me a snack bar. Thank you, now I'm convinced you really think about me a lot", she teased, "Whatever, what did they do to you?" Peace was trying to avoid talking about her experience, but Akwande was persistent, "I really do not want to talk about it, but it has nothing to do with a boyfriend or any romantic relationship.", she clarified. 

"I am so convinced it was your ex but if you say so I will take your word", he said taking a turn that was not going to Peace's place. "Where are you going?" "Home lets hang out at my house", she shifted to face him, "You should have asked me", Peace said looking at him in disbelieve, "I am asking you now" "I don't want to hang out with you, please take me to my place", she said folding her arms and facing the road. He let out a little laugh, "What's funny?" "You are a little cute when you make that face".

'Is he throwing a pickup line on me?'

They arrived at his home and the house was empty. They set out a little picnic in the garden and sat there watching the sunset. "Let me go change these pants, they are hot", he left while Peace was indulging in a fruit salad. He returned and they spoke about families and how they were raised, their childhood was so different. She would talk a lot and he would make jokes about some of the things she had told him. They lay on their backs watching the clouds and would say what they were shaped like, "That one looks like your hair", she said pointing at the cloud, "No, it does not".

He rolled and laid on his stomach and got close to her, "You are more fun when you're sober", he smiled at her. She tilted her head to look at him, "I'm fun either way, and you make it sounds like I'm always drunk?", she scrunched her face, "You are aggressive when you drunk", he said his face a little serious this time. "Because you provoke me", she answered, a little bit offended.

The moment they'd been waiting for arrived, the sun was setting causing their skin to glow orange. They set up close to each other as they watched the sun changing from shades of yellow to orange, "This view is beautiful", Peace said looking very amazed, "Mine is more beautiful", Peace had been caught up in the sunset that she did not realize Akwande was looking at her.

The sky started to darken; it was time to leave. When Peace was preparing to leave, he held her hand, "I have one last request", he said making Peace a little nervous. "Sure", she was unsure, he moved before she could stand making her even more nervous. "Truth or Dare"

'Hell no!'

She tried to get up, "No, that's the game for when you are drinking with a group of people", he held her down, "You agreed, there's no turning back". She thought for a second, she did not know what truth he desperately wanted to ask but was afraid it was going to be a hard question, so she decided, "Dare". She felt his two right fingers move on top of her knees where he was holding her to keep her steady.

"Kiss me."