Fishing For A Kiss

CHAPTER TWO: TRUTH OR DARE

       Great woke up late the next morning feeling quite rested and a bit fulfilled; the first thing he did — besides stretching out, of course, — was he found and turned on his phone to find an unread, 'Hw far,' waiting for him in his WhatsApp.
       'I'm good oo, you?' he sent back immediately. Then he thought of something a bit more interesting than the usual, 'How was your night' and, 'Hope you slept well,' which would surely result In a simple, 'Fine,' or, 'Kk,' and he came up with, 'I was starting to fear that I fucked up.'
       Smiling at the text he'd manage to concoct, he tapped the send icon, then jumped down from his top bunk.
       "Guy, how far na," Paschal, who was watching Naruto on his bed, said to Him. "What are we planning to eat this morning like this?"
       "Guy, I have no idea," Great told him. "Wasn't it the Bible that said, why don't you be like the birds, that they don't sow, reap, or gather into barns, yet our heavenly father feeds them — it's our heavenly father that'll feed us today."
       Paschal chuckled at that, then said, "So, what's up na, via you and that girl levels."
       "Nna. . . I don't know yet, but I just whatsapped her sha, so it's to see how it ends up."
       "Oya na. Let us just be watching."
       "Yea," Great said. "For now let me go and brush my teeth — Peter, where'd you keep your toothpaste?"
       "The thing's in my bag," Peter told him, not taking his eyes off his system.
Great met the text, "Who's this, please," waiting for him when he was done brushing.
       "Oh, God. . ." he sighed. '👆We met yesterday,' he then sent as a reply to the 'It's Great,' he'd sent the previous night. 'I escorted you to your poor lodge for a rich girl 😏.'
       "Ohhh! Great! I'm so sorry," she then sent after a moment, before adding, '😅😅,' as a reply to 'I escorted you to your poor lodge for a rich girl 😏,' and  'Hw?' as a reply to, 'I was starting to fear that I fucked up.'
       Great's lips curled into a private smile. 'I don't know,' he then sent. 'I wanted to chat you up, but for some reason I was like, it'd be better to chat you up when it's really late (so I picked 10pm). The 10pm finally came around, and when I came online you were off so I was like 'fuck! She's probably already asleep.'
       'Oh,' she sent. 'I was just really tired last night. Hw abt you; hw was your night.'
       'Well, I enjoyed walking with you yesterday. So much so that it translated into a sleep with a smile on my face 🙂.'
'🙈🙈🙈.'
       '😅. You think you and I can hang out today?'
       'That'd be nice,' she sent. 'But I'll be a bit busy today — maybe tomorrow."
'Allright. Hope you enjoy your day,' Great sent back, feeling almost as if he'd dodged a bullet as he hadn't really thought through what hanging out with a girl — especially one you wanted anything but a platonic relationship with — would entail when he'd asked.
       He was working on a novel he'd been working on for the past year much later in the day when he received a call from her; "Bless, hi," he said after he'd answered the call and had his phone pressed against his ear. "How's your day going?"
       "Really well," she said, sounding a bit hesitant. "Great, listen, I just finished everything I'm doing and I'm ready to start going home so I— ehm. . . I said let me call you so you can escort me — that's if you're free ooo."
       "I am," Great said after a moment.    "Where are you like this?"
       "I'm around zenith bank."
       "How far," Great said, pulling her into the quick hug she'd offered.
       "I'm fine," she told him. "How about you?"
       "My brain is paining me like this," he said, starting along the road.
       "Really?" she asked, chuckling at his choice of words. "Why?"
       "I've just been trying to get my books timeline in order for the past two hours," he told her. "It's funny oo, but you'll think there's nothing as unimportant to the plot as the main characters birthday till you realise it's what's controlling the timeline of the entire book."
       "You're a writer?" she asked, looking intrigued.
       "Ehm. . ." Great breathed to give himself time to mull the question over.   "I wouldn't actually say I'm a writer," he said finally, "cause — like. . . I don't like writing at all; it's too stressful. The thing's just that I have this story in my head and I feel it won't be fair if I don't suffer to let it out into the world — if that makes any sense."
       "It makes it sound like you're a writer," she said, cheekily.
       "Touchè," Great allowed, nodding.   "The main thing right now is that I need a bit of fun — why don't we play a game as we walk," he suggested then, just as he'd planned.
       "Which game?" she asked.
       "Truth or dare."
       "I knew that was what you were going to say," she said, chuckling. "Why do you guys love that game so much?"
"It's not that I like the game," Great told her. "It's just so both of us can feel free while we gist."
       "All right na," she then said. "Should I go first or do you want to?"
       "Ladies first," Great said, bowing comically.
       "All right," she said to start, "truth or dare?" — "Truth," Great decided to start with — "Do you usually just make friends at random?"
       "Nope," Great said, shaking his head.   "Never ever, ever never ever — did I say never?"
       "You're hilarious," she said, chuckling at that. "But, is that the truth or—"
       "It is," Great said. "I'm actually an introverted person."
       "Then, how come you seemed very confident when you approached me?"
       "I don't know," Great said. "I think — wait!" he realised just then. "It's my turn."
       "Fine," she said, smiling. "Your turn."
       "T or D," — "Truth," she said —    "Lemme start with something easy; how old are you?"
       "I'll turn nineteen in june," she said.  "How about you—? Assuming you'll pick truth."
       "Yea, twenty-one in may. T or D?" — "Truth," she picked again — "What's something you don't like about yourself?"
       "You mean physically or. . .?"
       "Just yourself as a person," Great explained. "Whether it's physical, in your personality or — just anything about you."
       "Okay," she said, nodding to show she now got what he meant. "There're a lot, but the main thing I hate is that I'm a very shy person."
       "Really?" Great said, intrigued.
       "I swear," she told him. "You would've pitied me if you saw the way I was gingering and bullying myself just to call you."
       "Awwn," Great said with a very girlish voice as he touched his heart for effect. "I'm so flattered. Your turn?" —  "Truth or dare?" she asked — "Dare," Great said, deciding to spice things up a bit.
       "Oh, God!" she complained just then, swatting his shoulder.
       "What's wrong," he asked, grabbing his shoulder and feigning as if she'd broken it and he was now in pain.
       "I don't have the mind to dare you to do any interesting dare," she told him.   "Plus you have mind ooo," she added immediately. "We're on the road; what if I dare you to scream something embarrassing."
       "That's not a problem na," Great said, smiling mischievously. "Is that the dare?"
       "What — no!" she said immediately. "If you scream besides me and people turn to look I'll just Bury myself right now."
       Great chuckled at that. "Should I change it to truth?"
       "No— no, leave it," she said. "I dare you to. . . You see that girl in front? The one with the purple hair attachment?"
       "Yea?" Great said, slow to get where she was going with this.
       "I dare you to walk up to her and tell her you really Like her hair, that it makes her pretty," she said. "The main thing is, try to get her number."
       "That's all?" Great asked, raising a brow.
       "Ehm. . . Yes," she decided, smiling triumphantly.
       "Hmm. . . Okay," Great said, starting to move as he just didn't feel that was that much of a challenge. "Just gimme five minutes."
       But, he'd merely taken three steps when Blessing broke; "Wait— wait!" she called, "I've changed my mind; just leave it."
       "Hmm," Great wondered, stopping for a second so she could catch up. "This one you're backing out of your own dare?"
       "I just realised how dumb it is that I asked you out to escort me only to make you escort someone else," she said.   "Besides, you said you never make friends at random."
       "You're the one who dared me to meet her, remember?" Great said, choosing to ignore the accusatory note in her tone as he could understand why it would make her upset. "Besides," he then said to cheer her up, "I might be an introverted person but, seeing as I approached you, I can probably approach even Kylie Jenner."
       "You're mad!" she exclaimed, hiding her blush by swatting him on the shoulder.
       "T or D?" he then asked, grinning as he couldn't help it.
       "Truth."
       "What's the worst thing your shyness has made you lose?"
       "Hmm. . . When I was in primary five, there was this senator that came to our school," she started. "When the man was talking to us during assembly he said he'll sponsor anyone who can correctly translate one Latin statement — I think it was 'quid. . . Quid fieri potest, si credis, throughout secondary school."
       "Lemme guess," Great said. "You knew the answer?"
       "Yea," she told him. "But I was too shy to answer so I told one girl to say it was 'anything can be done if you believe,'"
       "Wow," Great breathed, shaking his head. "Did the man keep his promise?"
"Yea, he gave her parents the cheque," she said. "You should have seen the way my mother went mad when I told her I was the one who told the girl the answer."
       "Nna. . ." Great breathed as if analysing the whole thing. "Wow."
       "Truth or dare?" — "Truth," — "Alright, what's your own answer to your question?"
       "Hmm. . ." Great breathed, thinking of the answer. "There're times," he started finally, "when I come late for some lectures — especially the ones in lecture halls that don't have back doors — only to abandon said lecture because I find it really difficult to walk into a class when I feel all eyes on me."
       "Wow. . ." Blessing breathed, as if she'd really just been rendered speechless.
       "T or D?" he asked her then. "What's one disturbing fact I should know about you?" he then asked after she chose truth.
       "Uhm. . . I usually have bad mood swings," she said.
       "Really?" Great said as they moved past the front gate and turned towards the lanes to her lodge. "You don't look like that kind of person."
       "It's not by looks na," she said. "I don't even know why I'm like that, but I'm just like that. Your turn, truth or dare?" — "T," — "Okay — ehm. . . What's the last thing you searched for on your phone?"
       "The last thing I searched on my phone," Great repeated slowly to give himself time to decide if telling her was the right decision or not. "Best truth or dares to ask girls," he said finally.
       "Really?!" she said, bursting into laughter.
       "What can I say," he said. "I really wanted you to have fun with me — how I'm I doing; on a scale of one to ten?"
       "I'll say you're a solid eight," she told him.
       "Just eight?!" He said, feigning disappointment.
       "Eight is high na," she said, still laughing.
       "Anyhow sha," he said dully, "I'll take it. How about you; what's the last thing you searched online?"
       "I just searched whether they've started production for the batman sequel," she said. "Truth or dare?" —   "Truth," — "What's your biggest regret?"
       "Hmm. . . You understand about bet?" he asked to start. "As in football betting — bet9ja, sportybet, that kind of thing?"
       "Yea," she said.
       "Okay, so there was this one time when I booked a game to win three million naira," he went on. "I think there was about twenty-eight games in the slip; eight on Friday, ten on Saturday, and ten on Sunday. The main thing is that when all the games had entered, remaining just three, I had a cash out option of five hundred thousand."
       "Wow," she breathed immediately. "Did you cash out?"
       "Everyone was telling me to cash out, that five hundred thousand is half a million and all that," Great explained.  "But — I don't know, I just wanted to go all out."
       "Did the bet later enter?"
       "No, one of the last three cut it," he told her. "Real Madrid vs atletico Madrid, they played out a goalless draw."
       "But why didn't you cash out," she asked.
       "I've told you," he said. "I'd rather achieve all or nothing. T or d?" —  "Truth," she said after a moment — "If you had the power to erase a moment from your life which moment would you erase?"
       "Oh God," Blessing breathed, shaking her head as if a terrible memory had come to her. "I advice you to change your question," she told him, "cause if I tell you you'll be the one who wants to erase it from their life."
"You're only making me more intrigued," he told her.
       "Oya na," she said. "You asked — so there was this night when I woke up to go and ease myself in the bathroom," she started. "It was really dark na, so when I was coming back I was touching the wall to guide myself back to my room. When I finally got there na, I pushed the door open and realised, to my horror, that the room I'd opened wasn't mine."
       "Who's room was it?" he asked immediately.
       "My parents," she told him. "And they were trying to make babies —"
       "Oh God!" Great exclaimed, covering his mouth as he did. "Oh my god — like. . . God forbid — did they see you?"
       "No-ooo," she  said. "The way I rushed away ehh! I swear that's like the worst moment of my life."
       "That's just. . . At least you now know which moment I'd erase from my life if I could."
       She chuckled at that. "I told you," she then said. "Anyway, T or D?" — "T," Great said — " "Ehm. . .  What should I ask. . . Okay — Have you ever fallen in love at first sight?"
       "Yea," Great said, then he thought about it for a moment and said, "I'm not sure it counts as love at first sight sha."
       "Why?"
       "Well, it's like. . . I already knew the girl — you get? Like we weren't friends but she's in my department so I used to see her around. But one time, during one of our first semester exams, they sent everyone out of the exam hall so they could arrange us how they wanted to arrange us. As we were outside na, I was talking to one of my guys when I noticed her some steps away; she took of her glasses to clean just then and I was just like, 'Wow; this girl is actually really beautiful —"
       "Really?"
       "I swear," Great said. "For me that was the first time I'd ever seen her — like really seen her."
       "Wow," Blessing then breathed. "So what's up you and her —? At the present, I mean."
       "See you trying to get two questions in," Great said, chuckling. "T or D," —  "T," she grumbled "Would you raise your kids the way your parents raised you — and why?"
       "Wow," she wondered after a moment. "I don't even know how to tackle — did you also get this one from the Internet?"
       Great shook his head. "It's just. . . You said your mom went mad when she found out about the Latin scholarship stuff, and now you're a really shy person who has mood swings; it's surely cause of how you were raised na, so, would you raise your kids the way your parents raised you — and why?"
       "Hmm. . ." she breathed. "Ehm. . . No."
       "Okay," Great said. "Just the 'why' part remaining."
       "I don't really know — It's just. . . Like my mother, I'm not saying she's not a very good mother most times ooo, but sometimes she's just unrecognisable. . . The kind of things she can say ehh — I just don't know how to put it," she told him. "Plus I don't like how I'm shy, and it's their fault," — "How?" Great asked — "First of all they sent me to an all girls boarding school, and going out when I'm at home isn't tolerated at all."
       "I get you," Great told her honestly, but he really didn't feel like diving into the topic so he just said, "I chose truth."
"Okay," she said in a tone which showed she understood how he felt. "How many girls have you dated since your year one?"
       "None," Great said, not feeling nearly as uncomfortable or as embarrassed as he thought he'd be saying it.
       "None," she repeated. "How?"
       "Didn't I already tell you I fell in love at first sight?"
       "Then that's one."
       Great shook his head.
        "Wait oo! You didn't date that girl — what's her name even?" — "Victory," Great said — "Why?"
        "I don' know," Great told her. "At first, in year one, it was cause I was afraid of rejection, then we entered year two and we became really good friends so I didn't want to ruin the friendship, then. . . you know when you and everyone knows this particular person — and she's the most intelligent person in our department — has a very bright future and said person is really working towards it?" Blessing gave a nod so he went on, "By the end of our year three first semester I got too many carry-overs na, so I just felt I didn't want to pull anyone down with me."
       "Wow," Blessing breathed. "That's just so. . . You know what I think — I think all your reason are valid but that there're also excuses you give yourself to not face your fears."
       "See your mouth," Great said, chuckling at that. "I'm sure you're quite the expert on all types of fears and facing them."
       "Touché," she said, giving a smile. "But why did you start getting carry-overs?"
       "I don' know — I guess I just fell out of love with school around that time, plus that was when I started really devoting time to writing my book."
       "Okay," she said. "This book must be special — what's it about?"
       "It's about this — madam it's your turn," he realised immediately causing her to start chuckling. "Truth or dare?"
       "Oya na," she said, trying to get her chuckling under control. "I. . . I want to chose dare, but I'm afraid of what you'll dare me to do."
       "You should be," Great told her, smiling mischievously. "The website I checked gave me lots of very interesting and slightly embarrassing dares."
       "You're just trying to make me fear," she said, looking daring. "Infact I chose dare — no, no," she panicked immediately, flashing her palms as she noticed the huge smile his lips were morphing into. "I chose truth — I chose truth."
       "Fear-fear," Great teased.
       "Yes," she said, smiling like someone who'd managed to save themselves from certain death. "Leave me and my fear — you want me to chose dare so you'll end me."
       Great chuckled at that. "Oya na," he then said. "Have you ever fallen in love or had a crush on someone? If so, who was it and how did it go?"
She raised a brow. "Isn't this like four questions in one?"
       "The ones you've been asking till now were what —? Madam answer the question."
       She grumbled something under her breath then said, "Oya na. I've never been in love but I've crushed on some guys before — and, you should be able to guess how they all went na."
"So you took your secrets to your grave," — "Exactly," she said — "What's the furthest you've gone with any boy — I mean sexually."
       "Guess," she told him.
       "A kiss?"
       "I wish," she said immediately, sounding as if she was sulking. "Hug — if you can count that."
       Great couldn't help but laugh at that. 
       "How about you she asked?"
       "Ehm. . . Head," Great said.
       "Head?" she asked, looking quite perplexed. "What's — ooo!" she breathed, swatting his shoulder as she said, "You're a bad boy ooo."
       "Don't reason it oo," Great told her.    "It was really long ago."
       "So how many kisses?" she then asked.
       "None," Great said honestly.
       "You're lying," Blessing told him immediately. "How come you've given a girl head but you haven't kissed anyone?"
       "Oh God," Great groaned. "I was really small then; like around thirteen or fourteen," he explained, "while the girl was probably around nineteen or twenty."
       Blessing raised a brow at this. "So she raped you," she deduced.
       "Are you crazy?!" he said, bursting into laughter. "What are you saying; you can't rape a boy, can you?" — "Of course you can," she said — "And, besides, it had nothing to do with force; I've never regretted it for one second."
       "Hmm. . . Okay ooo," she said, as if deciding to let the topic be. "What's your biggest turn on?" she then asked.
       "Personality-wise or. . .?"
       "Physically."
       "Oh," he breathed. "Lips," — "Lips?" — "Yea," he confirmed. "Pink and plump lips, like yours, turn me on."
She blushed.
       "Truth or dare," he then asked as they came under the shadow of the gigantic apartment building that was Esquire lodge.
       "Truth," — "What's the biggest risk you've ever taken?" — "Ehm. . . I don't know," she said after sometime. "But I personally feel it's calling you out," —    "Hmm," Great breathed — "How about you?" she asked.
       "It's the way I got the money to buy this my phone," he told her. "It's a bit long so I'll tell you some other time. Truth or dare?"
       "Dare," she dared, taking hin aback.     "I won't take it back," she said to his raised brow.
       "Oya na, no problem," he said. "I dare you to —"
       "Abeg take it easy with me ooo," she said just then.
       "Allright," Great smiled, deciding to change what he had in mind. "I dare you to shout 'I love Great,'" he told her as he took out his phone and unlocked  it, "while I video you with my phone."
       "Jesus," she said, laughing. "That one is even worse than what I thought you'd dare me to do," — "What did you —" —   "Just leave it," she said. "Let me shout the shout."
       "I'm still waiting ooo," Great urged after sometime, staring at her in his phone.
       "It's not easy na," she complained.     "What if someone sees me?"
       "Someone seeing you is actually what inspired the dare," Great said, giving a little chuckle — "If you like don't hurry up before someone actually shows face."
       "Oya na," she said, then she closed her eyes, mouthed one two three, and screamed, "I LOVE GREAT!"
Something about the whole thing had Great laughing like the joker the next second, even as she was hitting his shoulder for revenge.
       "Oya na, you think you're smart — your turn; truth or dare?"
       "Which kind of truth or dare," Great said, still chuckling. "Can't you see we've reached your lodge?"
       "You're not going to stay for sometime?" she asked, looking suddenly crestfallen.
       "I'd love to," Great told her. "But atleti will soon start playing Getafe and I want to catch the match."
       "Allright na," she gave after sometime. "Another time."
       "Of corse," he said, turning to start back the way they'd come; he'd barely taken three steps when she called,     "Truth or dare?"
       "Hmm?" Great asked, turning.
       "Just answer," she told him.
       "Hmm. . ." he breathed, studying her carefully; it was obvious she wanted him to pick dare, but it seemed and felt more like she wanted to dare herself, and not him, so, taking a deep breath, he said, "Dare."
       "Okay," she breathed, taking a step towards him. "I— um. . . I dare you to. . . I dare you to — um. . . I— infact just forget it."
       "What's wrong?" Great asked, his voice quite soft.
       "Just forget it," she said, sounding a bit angry and frustrated. "Bye bye — another time."