"Guy, you fuck better fuck up," Peter said, slowly shaking his head with both eyes closed as if Great had just given the most terrible news.
"What do you mean by fuck up," Great argued. "I'm telling you that things went well —"
"Went which kind well!" Peter interrupted urgently. "Paschal, are you hearing this guy?!"
"What's up?" Paschal asked, pausing what he was watching and taking the earpieces from his ears as he looked up.
"Omo," Peter started, "Great played truth or dare with that girl ooo," — "How did he now fuck up?" Paschal asked — "The guy didn't dare her to kiss him?"
Paschal seemed taken aback the next second. "Is it true?" he asked Great after a moment, the look on his face showing he was hoping it wasn't.
"Ehm. . ." Great started, carefully selecting the words he'd speak next. "I actually thought about it," he said finally, "but I didn't want to make her feel as if —"
"Make her feel as if what!" Peter cut in. "Don't you know that girls like boys that know how to take charge —? That's been your problem since year one; you like to be a nice guy!"
"Guy, calm down," Great told him. "What if I asked and she didn't agree?"
"Then let he fuck off na," Peter said. "After all, there're many fishes in the sea — besides, that girl looks as if she really likes you so I can bet that she would've let you. And she was even giving you a good signal!"
"Guy, I know," Great told him, "but I didn't want to rush anything."
"Just look at this guy ooo! You fucked up but you're here saying you didn't want to rush anything as if you think you're in America!"
"Guy, Peter, calm down," Paschal said then. "He fucked today up, but the game's still on — have you chated her up since you came back?"
"She's sent me all those "thanks for walking me home texts,'" Great said. "I viewed it but haven't replied."
"Make sense," Paschal said, nodding softly as if evaluating the situation. "Since Monday's Valentine's day you should text her this night, tell her you guys should meet up tomorrow, then you'll use tommorow to foreshadow how monday will be."
Great chuckled along with Peter at that. "But what will we now do?" he then asked. "Cause I can't come and be playing truth or dare with her again."
"You guys can watch a movie together na," Paschal said.
"Which movie?"
"Truth or dare," Peter suggested.
"I thought I just told you guys that I don't want to play truth or —"
"Oga, It's a movie I have in my phone," Peter said. "Horror movie."
"Okay," Great said, nodding. "But, what if she's like most girls who don't like horror movie?"
"It's as if you haven't heard anything we've told you about taking charge, right?!" Peter told him. "You're the one inviting her and you're inviting her out to watch the truth or dare with you, it's fine if she doesn't want to. But no way she won't want to especially as it fits with the truth or dare you guys just played — shey you're the one who's always saying a film's bad if it doesn't foreshadow the ending."
"Hmm. . ." Great breathed.
"And it even makes sense that it's a horror movie," Paschal then said, "cause she'll get scared and get close to you so you'll cuddle her — you'll show her that she's with you and there's nothing to fear when she's with you."
"Hmm. . ." Great breathed again, nodding his head as he was liking the idea. "Make sense," he then said as if to himself. "Make sense — you guys actually have small sense ooo!"
"Just look at this guy ooo," Peter exclaimed as Paschal chuckled. "Me hanging my hook doesn't mean I've forgotten how to fish ooo! Or you haven't heard that Eminem song where they were singing kings never die?!"
"Mad man," Great said, laughing.
'Bless, hi,' he texted her later that night. 'You're awake?'
'Yea,' she sent back after a moment. 'What's up?'
'You'll be free tomorrow?' he asked. 'There's this movie I just got from a friend and I'd like to watch it with you.'
'What's the name of the movie?'
'Truth or dare.'
'🤨,' she sent back. 'Truth or dare? As in you're asking me to choose or is it the movie's name?'
'😅,' Great sent as he chuckled silently. 'It's the movie's name ooo.'
'Wow, movie's dey this world ooo.'
'You've seen it na. So will you be free?'
'I'll try and make time in the evening,' she sent.
'Make sense,' Great sent back. 'Allright na, till then.'
He then leaned out of his bed so he could see Peter and Paschal in the lower bunks as he announced, "I've chated the girl up ooo."
"Sharp guy," Paschal said as Peter asked, "What did she say?"
"That she'll try and make time in the evening," he replied.
"Make sense," Peter then said as Paschal said, "hope you'll watch the movie before then."
"Ahh! That's even true," Peter agreed, "You should watch the film before you watch it with her."
Great raised a brow. "Why on earth will I watch it before then," he said, "especially when the whole point is for me and her to experience something new together."
"Guy, that's your problem right there," Peter complained. "Everything for you is a romance movie — this world isn't a film ooo!"
"Guy," Paschal then said, "the whole point is for you to catch the fish — nothing concern new experience. You're supposed to watch the film before hand so nothing will take you by surprise."
Peter chuckled just then. "It's a horror movie na," he started explaining to their raised brows. "Better watch it beforehand so you'll be the one comforting her when she gets scared instead of it being the other way round."
Great chuckled along with Paschal at that.
"No problem, I'll watch it," Great then said. "But it's tommorow morning thinz; it's sleep that's on my mind for once this match finish."
"How many is atleti even playing," Paschal asked him.
"Nna. . ." he sighed as he opened his chrome app to keep streaming the match. "Them and Getafe are playing three-three as second-half is about to start."
"Atleti have gradually been turning stupid ooo," Paschal said. "Them that used twenty-one clean-sheets to win laliga that year now want to be conceding three goals to ordinary getafe in just first half."
"You've seen it," Great said, turning his focus to the match. But he received a WhatsApp notification just then; a '😕,' emoji from Blessing. He opened the app immediately and sent, 'What's wrong?'
'Which one is till then,' she sent. 'Let's chat now na.'
"Hmm. . ." Great breathed to himself as he typed and sent, 'I get you, but I'm watching that match I told you I wanted to watch, and the scoreline is crazy right now."
"Hmm," she sent back after a moment. "Allright."
"Fuck up!" Great sighed under his breath, but he felt making a u-turn now would be an even bigger fuck up, so he just went back to chrome to keep watching the match.
Great found time the next day after morning mass to watch the movie; it's plot revolved around a group of friends who, in their search for fun in Mexico, were tricked into an abandoned church, by a guy, Carter, and into playing truth or dare.
The friends, after arriving back home, are soon convinced by a couple of deaths of friends — as they just wouldn't believe Olivia, the main character, who seemed a bit crazy trying to convince them — that the game was still on and possessed by a demon who'd kill any of them who would refuse to keep playing, tell the truth when asked or carry out a double dare.
Tension begins to run high as deeper rules about the game — such as the fact that their turns comes quicker with each death or that a dare was compulsory after two truths, as coined by the set of friends who'd originally and unintentionally unleashed the demon — are revealed which tests the already strained bond between the friends and forces them to desperately seek out the help of a nun who is rumored to have survived a similar predicament.
Looking back at the movie, Great thought a lot of it's aspects — like the opening scene where Giselle burnt a woman which set the tone for the movie, the tension between the three main characters (Olivia, her best friend Markie and Markie's boyfriend, Lucas, who made up a love triangle even though it wasn't really explored), the scene where Olivia forced Markie to break her hand to save Markie's life, the mirror scene with Penelope where she was forced to pick dare (even though he felt her being able to complete her dare which was to walk along the eaves of the house while completely drunk coupled with the fact that she died a useless death barely three minutes later was trash), the scene with the old nun (even though he thought her story had some holes in it), the reveal of Markie's father trying to rape Olivia when she was little and committing suicide afterwards because she couldn't forgive him which was Olivia's secret selfish reason for always being selfless by risking her life in choosing dare (even though this was retarded as she should've known she could still be dared to tell Markie the secret), and the stakes of choosing dare, which was that you'd be condemning someone else to a dare, which was in itself a trick — were really nice and enjoyable.
While some other aspects — such as how a lot of the deaths were a bit lacking in creativity and how he could tell, as if for a fact, which characters would survive at the end; how Markie could have a problem which was cheating on her boyfriend, Lucas, even though they were both, as the movie would have it's audience believe, in love with each other; the fact that the rules implied by or hidden behind the ones stated at the beginning, you die if you refuse to do the dare, tell the truth or play, just somehow changed at the end as the demon could now just dare them to kill each other which made him wonder why he hadn't just led with that; them not explaining how to end the curse to Carter which would've saved them a lot of trouble at the end; the reasoning for Lucas choosing dare, as Carter was performing the ritual, which was that he wanted to protect both Olivia and Markie which would've been nice if not for the fact that it was absolute trash as choosing truth would've given them enough time to seal the demon, and the final scene where Olivia did something he felt was completely out of character by trapping many people online, who weren't in the church with them as the movie had earlier stressed was a requirement, into the game to save she and Markie; the gay character which now seemed, for some reason, a requirement in all recent American movies; — were really annoying and frustrating.
But, all in all and despite it's flaws, Great thought the movie would be a really fun watch — especially for people who hadn't watched a lot of horror movies and, as a result, weren't familiar with certain tropes, knew when to expect a jump scare, or had their bar set high. He could only hope Blessing could be grouped among this set of people; if she could his only problem would be acting as if everything was as new to him as it was to her — that and the fact that she just wouldn't pick his fucking calls!
He'd given her the first missed call by five, before going to take his bath, which he then followed up with back to back calls by six which she still didn't answer even though he'd let each one ring all the way through as he got dressed to leave the hostel and go on a stroll as he waited for her to call back.
But seven came along without a callback from her and he was starting to get a little angry; he tried telling himself that it was probably just because she just wasn't with her phone but there just was no way this wasn't because she'd thought he'd chosen to watch a match over chatting with her the previous night — like. . . did she expect him to leave a live match to chat with her just after escorting her to her lodge?!
"A-ah?!" Peter wondered as Great stepped back into the room. "What happened?"
"That girl girl is crazy," Great said as he took off his clothes. "She isn't picking my calls."
"How?" Paschal asked.
"Which one is 'How?'" Great said, feeling the anger in himself. "The girl told me she'll try to make time for me and her to watch the truth or dare, now I've been calling her since five o'clock — but she doesn't want to pick."
"Hmm. . ." Paschal breathed. "But you shouldn't be getting angry; what if she's not with her phone."
"I'll bet the girl's with her phone," Peter reasoned. "Cause no way a person — especially girls — would stay more than two hours without checking their phone at least once."
"It's not like that ooo," Paschal argued. "What if she plugged her phone at —"
"Oga, she's with her phone!" Great insisted. "She's probably just angry that I refused to chat with her last—"
"Wait ooo," Peter said. "I don't get; how'll she be angry that you didn't chat with her?"
"Nnaa. . ." Great sighed as he took out his phone to show them the chat.
"Omo — yee!" Peter exclaimed after he was done reading, letting Paschal have the phone to himself. "This girl is really crazy oooo — so she want's you to leave match you're watching to chat with her?!"
"You've seen it," Great said just as Paschal said, "But you actually fucked up ooo."
"Are you mad?!" Great and Peter said at the same time. "How did I fuck up?"
"You should have just told her you were busy," Paschal explained. "Like that, she would've just reasoned that what you were doing was very important and you just didn't have time, but as you specifically named football as the reason she'd be angry cause, in her mind at least, she should be more important to you then football — or the match in question at least."
"All these ones you're saying is just big english," Peter complained as Great silently pondered Paschal's take on the matter. "What me I know," Peter went on, "is that it's only a simp that'll leave match he's watching because he wants to chat rubbish with a girl — Great?!" he asked just then. "Are you a simp?!!"
"No sir!" Great gave back in the same tone before starting to chuckle.
"Both of you are mad," Paschal decided as he offered back the phone. "So, what will you now do like this?"
"Do I look like I know?" Great said, taking back his phone.
"You like the girl?"
"She's okay," was all Great said.
"Which one is, 'she's okay?'"
"Oga, 'she's okay,' means I like her; she's fine and me and her vibe well."
"Then you should send her a message na," Paschal said, "Just —"
"What do I want to say in the message?"
"Oga, I don't know — aren't you the writer here? Figure the thing out."
"All right then, thanks sha." Great said, turning his attention to his phone and opening the WhatsApp app. 'Bless, what's up with you,' he then sent after a moment, referencing her, 'I'll try and make time in the evening,' chat. 'It's like, if you don't want to hang with me you can just say so, instead of letting me ring your phone as if I'm some obsessed fool."
'I'm really sorry,' she sent back in the morning.
He left the chat unread, coming back to it when he'd taken his bath and was done preparing for lectures. He'd only started typing back a reply when he decided to call; she picked after the second ring.
"Bless, how far," he said, making sure to keep his voice level. "Good morning."
"Yea, good morning," she gave back, her voice a bit nervy. "Great, listen, I'm really sorry for not picking your calls yesterday, I was just really angry."
"Really angry," he repeated as if to himself. "Why."
"See," she started nervously, "I was angry because. . . because. . . Well, it's like — I've never really liked anyone before, and I really like you, and I thought you — like. . . I thought you liked me back—"
"I do," Great's lips let out the next second and without his permission.
"Then why did you snub me when I told you I wanted to chat with you?" she argued immediately.
"Oh God," Great sighed, slapping his forehead with his free hand. "Bless, listen," he then said, "I didn't snub you, I was watching a match and — you know what? Let's just forget about that. Today's valentines day; let's do something together."
"Allright," she said. "What?"
"I don't know," Great gave back, shrugging his lips. "Maybe we can watch the truth or dare movie."
"Allright," she said. "Make sense."
"Nice, when should I call you?"
"After lectures," she told him. "Maybe, around after-six."
"Allright," Great said, smiling to himself. "I'll call around after-six."
But he was the one who received her call by some minutes after six; "Bless, hi, how was your day?" he asked as he was a bit nervous about going straight to the point.
"Fine," she told him, sounding like someone who was about to apologise for something the next second. "Great, listen," she then said, causing him to feel a tightness in his chest that very second, "I'm in our department to meet our H.O.D concerning that my missing scripts case, so like. . . I wanted to ask if we could meet around nine instead."
"Of course," Great gave back after a moment, releasing a breath he wasn't sure he'd been holding. "And good luck with the stuff."
"Thank you so much," she said immediately, sounding suddenly giddy. "I could kiss you right now."
"Save it for when we're face to face," Great said, also suddenly feeling giddy. "Till then, bye."
"Allright," she said, and he could feel the blush on her cheeks. "Bye."
It was only after he'd cut the call that Great realised what he'd said; it dulled his mood instantly, not because it wasn't a really smart or nice to say or because he now regretted saying it — this was, infact, the opposite as the thought and image of him kissing her had dominated his mind throughout the day — but because he knew he wouldn't have had the moral to say it if he'd consciously thought it up, talk less of kissing her if the were face to face
"Oh, God. . ." he sighed; even if he somehow summoned the moral to try to kiss her — and he felt confident she wouldn't, at the very least, slap him — he knew he would be no good unless, of course, being a good kisser was somehow a genetic trait which didn't discriminate between those who'd never kissed anyone before and those who'd had a lot of practice.
Yes, kissing her today was, probably, not compulsory, but they would be meeting around nine and he had to be back in the hostel before ten which was when the hostel potters locked the hostel gates which meant there was no time to watch any movie and this left him —
"God," he sighed again; he thought for quite sometime about what they'd do or talk about during the mere thirty minutes they might have to spend together and he just couldn't see them not having a conversation about how they felt for each other; this, coupled with the fact that today was valentines day, meant that ending with a kiss had never been more required or in demand.
He sighed yet again, then he opened his chrome and typed in, 'How to kiss a girl.' He read a few more similar articles, then went over to YouTube to watch some videos on the subject; a couple of videos later and he still wasn't confident he knew how to initiate or kiss the kiss, but he was confident time had run out for him; it was ten minutes to nine.
He left YouTube just then to open his call app and was really surprised when he found he didn't feel the slightest hesitation before he dialled her number.
"The number you're trying to call is currently switched off. Please try again later," his phone announced the next second. His brain, for some reason, was taking too long to understand what this meant so he tried again; the understanding came to him the exact moment the phone began to repeat the announcement and he had the sudden sensation to fling it at the ground.
He grinded his teeth to control his anger, tapped his power button, layed back on his bed and then placed the phone on his chest before closing his eyes; he just suddenly felt too weak to think about anything at the moment.
"Guy!"
"What," Great groaned to Peter who'd been shaking him awake. "Can't you see that I'm sleeping?"
"You're mad," Peter said, giving him one more harsher shake for good measure. "Just see as you kept your phone anyhow and started sleeping; shey you want someone to steal it through this window?"
"Oh God," Great sighed, realising how grave an error that was. "Thanks, guy," he then said, taking the phone. "Where's Paschal at like this?"
"He went to his girl lodge — what of you? What's up with you and that your girl?"
"We were supposed to meet this night, but her phone's switched off."
"Hmm. . ." Peter breathed. "Check to see whether she's called you back na."
"Hmmm," Great sighed, unlocking his phone to see the missed call notification from her besides the time; 9:45
"She called back?"
"Yea," Great said, sitting up to call back.
"Great — like. . . What happened na?" Blessing said, sounding very upset. "I've been calling you for the last hour."
"I called you by nine," Great gave back, not really registering that she said she'd been calling him for the last hour, "but your phone was switched off."
"Yea; my battery died so I removed my sim and put it in my small phone."
"Hmm. . ." Great breathed after a moment.
"Can we still meet this night?" she asked, sounding hopeful.
Great released a heavy breath. "I wish," he then said, not really feeling it. "But they lock the hostel gate by ten, so. . ."
"Allright," she gave after a moment. "Goodnight."
"Yea, sleep tight. Let's just meet tomorrow."
But she'd already cut the call.
Great took his phone from his ear, then went straight to his call log to check what she meant by she'd been calling him for the last — he froze; fourteen missed calls!
"Oh God," he breathed, an epiphany he couldn't quite comprehend coming to him as he jumped down before he knew it.
"Guy," Peter asked, "where are you going?"
"I'm coming," Great told him. "I just have to see this girl this night."
"Shey you know that they'll soon close the gate."
"That one is not my concern," he said, dialling Blessing's number as he rushed out of the room.
"Bless," he said urgently into the phone as she picked up. "I'm so so sorry, I swear I was sleeping; I just checked and I saw the missed calls — I'm really sorry.
"Bless?" He asked after a moment as she hadn't responded.
"I'm here," she said finally, her voice the permission he needed to hear to start breathing again. "I thought you were lying the first time; maybe you were still angry about yesterday."
"I'm not," he said. "I was just — where're you right now?"
"Let's just meet tomorrow," she told him. "It's already late like this — and won't they lock you outside?"
"I —"
"Mister man," one of the hostel potters, who was sitting on the stone bench just after the gate, called as Great rushed past him, "I hope you know we're closing the gate in the next ten minutes?!"
"Bless listen," Great went on, ignoring the man, "I don't care, I just need to see you right now — where are you?
"I'm at back-gate," she said after a sigh. "I was just about to enter a Keke, but lemme meet you in front of the cafeteria in like two minutes."
"Oh God, thank you," Great said, cutting the call and slowing down as the cafeteria was just before him, opposite the volleyball court.
He'd barely had a minute to gather his thoughts when she emerged from the shadows; "Hi," he said as the worry in him morphed into a smile he couldn't help.
"Hi," she gave back, then she swatted his shoulder harshly.
"Aww," Great said, feigning pain as he grabbed his shoulder. "What was that for?"
"You fell asleep when you knew we were suppose to meet," she said, looking as if it'd really hurt her.
"I'm so sorry about that," he told her, taking a step closer and snaking his arms around her waist to pull her till her body was softly pressed against his and their faces were mere inches apart; she didn't seem, in anyway, uncomfortable with this — quite the opposite actually; she seemed as if she was exactly where she belonged with her arms now wrapped around his neck. "The worst part is that, if I'd been a bit more patient we would've had, at least, an hour to spend together, but —"
"Right now you really have to start going back," she told him softly, "before the lock you outside."
"If I go back now what's the point of me coming out in the first place?"
"Do I know?" she said, giving a little chuckle. "Shey I told you that we should meet tomorrow."
"I'm fine with now," he told her, staring and falling into her hazel eyes. "I'm fine with now because I'm with you and. . . being with you makes me feel confident, free, happy. . . Being with you makes me. . . You know what I spent that last hour doing before I called you?"
"What?" she asked, her voice barely louder that a wisper.
"I. . ." he tried, trying to keep his breathing under control. "I was searching online for tips on how to kiss a girl."
"Really?" she said, giving a soft chuckle. "Don't you know you're not supposed to tell me that; what if I think you're a dweeb?"
"You could think that," Great told her, still struggling with his breath, "but, at least, you know that kissing you has been dominating my mind for sometime now, but I was so nervous, thinking about it, because I didn't think I'd be able to give you the experience you —"
But she'd leaned in and grabbed his lower lip between both of hers just then, turning off his vision for a moment — but leaving him seeing a confused rainbow — as she sucked on it for a moment, before slowly pushing it back out with her tongue and through the tight gate that was her teeth; the soft pain travelled along with sparks of electricity, through his nerves, to every part of his body, leaving every atom of himself instantly addicted and begging for more.
"I'm sorry," she breathed as she let him go. "I know you're suppose to have the first move."
Feeling her soft breath, Great raised a brow.
"What?" she said, smiling mischievously. "I also have a phone to—"
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey guys, we've come to the end of this short story, but don't be too distraught because I'd soonbe adding others like 'THE SCHOOL FEES HIEST' and the actual sequel to fishing for a kiss 'FISHING FOR SOMETHING MORE' to the series; 'the paraphrased adventures of Great Asonze'.
In the meantime I'd really appreciate it if you guys took the time, despite the stress, to head over to amazon and give the book a review as it'd really go a long way in helping my career.
Here's the link;
Check this out! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLNWLQY9?ref_=cm_sw_r_mwn_dp_EG90CD33R10DZS6S421W
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Fishing For A Kiss
Teen FictionGreat, who's in his final year in the university, has decided he must get his first kiss before valentine's day - which is just three days away!
