"I will come to get you at 8:30" "No, send the location I will uber myself", he did not want to argue with her because she was going to end up cancelling on him.
Peace spotted Akwande who was sitting on a cute corner of the restaurant that had a beautiful view, she walked towards him avoiding eye contact. "Good morning", she said grabbing a chair, "Let me get that for you", he said helping her sit then went to his chair. "Good morning, how're you? You look beautiful", he said this time looking and her eyes, "Thank you", she quickly replied nonchalantly, she was becoming shy. They placed their order, and he went on asking about how she was doing, and she would give straight answers without reciprocating the questions.
As their food arrived, she finally got to the reason they were there, "Enough with the small talk, what exactly did you want to talk about?", she asked taking a bite of her food. "Firstly, I apologize for going behind your back about coming clean to Tazz, I initially did not see any problem, but I understand your anger, I am sorry." "It's okay", she said because she had passed that. "Thank you, now with that out of the way, I wanted to explain the situation between Tazz, Maddy, and me. Tazz had met Maddy before we met, he told me how much he liked her and that he was going to ask her out. Maddy had just moved to the neighbourhood, he invited her to our party, and that's when I met her. We instantly clicked and spend most of our time at the party together talking", Peace was uncomfortable hearing him talking about how their relationship started.
"He noticed, called me to the side and confronted me. I was drunk at that time I told him I also like her so we should let the best man win", Peace almost choked on her coffee, "WTF!" "I know I regret it.", she realized he was not the man she thought he was. "To cut it short, he told me I should have her he was not going to fight me. Later, when Maddy and I had started dating, we spoke about it and we passed that, I am surprised he brought it up." Peace who had been quiet finally spoke, "You did him dirty, that's not how you treat a friend. He feels betrayed again and he's like "I'm not even surprised anymore", and it hurts me that you think all of this is okay" "I never said it was okay" "Your face says it for you", he seemed not to understand what he did wrong,
"I value friendships so much and I think Tazz is treated unfairly in this friendship, he has to pull back for you to get your way. I do not think you told him about us out of honesty, you wanted him to leave me so that you can get your way." Akwande was ashamed because she was partially telling the truth, he knew how serious he was about her, and he wanted him to stop. "I am going to be fully honest with you, I am many things but this, I will not continue with this, I know when it started, we were both not prepared but I know what I want now, and it is not this. Go be with Maddy and do right with her and Tazz. I want you to think if it was going to be okay if he did the same to you, twice." "I did not mean it this time; I did not even know he liked you like that until it was too late. You are right we should cut ties for good this time, I just wanted to explain myself and apologize in person". They both did not speak for a second.
They then spoke about general stuff and their conversation took a turn to be awkward. He wanted to say something, but he would pull back. "I should leave", she said getting ready to go, "Let me take you home" "No!", she replied way faster, "I do not want to be in the same car with you", she said with her eyes closed., hoping he would understand.
'Or this would be an endless cycle.'
"Yeah! Yeah! I get you", she stood up and walked to the door without looking back.
In the afternoon, she received a text from Tazz, requesting a meet-up. She knew it was about her conversation with Akwande, and she agreed. They were going to meet at her place, and he brought takeaways, "I'm surprised you brought food", she said as they sat to eat. "I remembered how much you love eating in general", they both laughed, "I am sorry I rejected your hug yesterday", she looked down, "It's fine". "No, it is not, I should not have embarrassed you like that", Peace noticed how she would say it was fine to Akwande and he would continue with life, but Tazz took accountability for his actions, "I accept your apology", she said. She realized that he was a good man, and he did not deserve the treatment he received, "I also apologize for stringing you along, knowing that I had a situation with your friend, you did not deserve that", he smiled, "Apology accepted", they shook hands and laughed at their gesture.
"Xavier came to my house earlier today, and we had a serious conversation, I knew you guys spoke", she remained quiet, "He finally apologized for the first time, and he looked genuine, I never saw him like that. He explained he had not realized how shitty of a friend he was. I want to personally thank you for that, not only for getting me the apology I've been longing for but for doing what I could not do as a friend, to be brutally honest.", she nodded.
"I am sorry you went through all that hurt, I am hoping you will be able to stand up for yourself next time" "Most definitely, I am a big man now", they both laughed. Peace felt like she had found a good friend in him, "So, tell me how are y'all making it work, you a side chick?'", he caught her by surprise, "I ended whatever was happening, it never got to that point, everything happened unexpectedly but I do not want to see him again", she said more to herself than Tazz, and continued eating. "OH! That said, I thought we could be friends you're cool.", she offered a smile, "Thank you", she looked at him for a bit, "Do you still love her?", he had never been asked that, "It's not the same as it was before, she knew I liked her clearly, she did not. There were times I wished I could tell her but being around them turned that into a friendship and love. There are times I imagine how we would have turned out, but I have accepted that and moved on." Peace accepted his full honesty.
They sat for a while and joked about many things in life general, they had strong chemistry going on. After some time, he left, and Peace felt relieved that she had fixed the life problems she only had exams to worry about.
YOU ARE READING
A Sauce Down the Pole
Random"5,4,3,2, 1..Over", Peace counted sliding down the pole she's been dancing on for 30 minutes. She walked out of the stage and immediately took off the heels that were burning her feet the moment she reached backstage. "Dan", she greeted the giant ma...
