Night Like That (rewritten)

thirteen

Other than Chastity, Ivy's favourite person was Pendo. This was because of many things. For one, she was her sister and while this did not really promise anything, in Ivy's life, her first best friend was her sister and she was sure that was she to die in a foreign country, Pendo would do right about anything to get her back. For another, Pendo was so cool you could not help but just like her. She was so cool that she walked in slow-motion when you looked closely enough. It was as though time and physics itself could not allow her to be like everyone else. 

So Ivy loved her because she was what she aspired to be. 

Pendo was sat in the middle of her room. It looked like she did, black and messy. Her clothes were streawn everywhere, suitcase wide open and the doors to her wardrobe swinging to a slow stop. Her shoulders looked like they wanted to finish a huff, but her kholed eyes and stern lips did not want to oblidge them. Much like their mother, Pendo was not one to accept defeat, and huffing would be a form of acceptance of defeat.

Ivy made her way gingerly to her bed, seating on it and staring at her older sister. Every time she was in her room or any of her space, really, she felt like a child again. Like the first time Pendo had called her cool enough to hang out in her room. It was the first time she believed she could have a kind of likeness to her hero, and so every time, a part of her hoped she would call her cool again. 

"Out with it," Pendo prompted, not sparing her a look as she kept on reaching for clothes in her suitcase and throwing it here and there.

"Well," Ivy said, wanting to be short enough to swing her legs, "what happened there?"

"What do you mean?"

She meant a lot of things. There were a lot of things she wanted answered. She wanted to know why she had gone off that fast. They fought all the time, but even that one felt new. She also wanted to know what happened in Nakuru. Pendo had always gone on and on about the place. She was happy. She had finally found her place. Why would she leave her place? The other? Well, her bakery. For as long as Ivy could remember, Pendo had always wanted a bakery. She had wanted it so bad she had quit medical school in favour of pastry school. This had led to their mother not talking to her for a year. Ivy had thought it was for the purpose of pulling on the strings of guilt out of her daughter and forcing her back to medical school but much like her, her daughter could not be manipulated by petty tricks. In the end, she won, and she graduated first out of her pastry school. Only it had not worked out how she'd wanted, and this resulted in her asking for help two years earlier. 

"Nakuru. What happened there?" Ivy gathered that would be the best place to start because then it would force Pendo to answer everything without needing any sort of prompting from her. 

Pendo shrugged. "Whatever happens in every town. A girl, a bakery, and a fight."

"Mmh." Ivy was not sure what to say to that. What could she? If she pushed, she was sure her sister was going to take her frustrations out on her. 

"You know," Pendo went on, unprompted, "I was doing fine. Great, even. If I stuck to my business plan, I would have taken over the place, but no. I decided to be nice, and now nice has taken me back to hell, and I don't even know if I can blame her at this point. It was mostly my fault for even entertaining her in the first place."

Ivy could not imagine Pendo being nice. Nice was not something she did. "And where is she?"

"Back in fuck ass Nakuru and goodriddance, mind. I don't know what I ever saw in the place. It's just red fertile soil and too much happiness with questionable meat. I should have stayed here and created my bakery. I would have been at the head of the game. Now I think fucking Giddy is doing far better than me. Urgh! That mother fucker! Why did I have to remember him? Ivy," she finally turned to look at her sister, "don't be like me and go on chasing skirts at the peak of your career, you hear? Be selfish. You don't need the drama."

Ivy was not sure what to say to that. She was already entrenched in skirt drama. It was worse because it was entrenchment with her best friend. If she said that, she was sure Pendo was not going to call her cool anytime soon. 

Pendo narrowed her eyes, "i know i told you to, but you didn't do it again, did you?" she asked in a suspicious tone.

"Do what?" Ivy broke eye contact, reaching for a graphic t-shirt to fold. She was going to avoid eye contact because she knew she would break all the quicker if she looked at her sister. She seldom ever lied to her, but she knew how to hold out the truth for as long as possible. The longest time had been thirty seconds, and she had been looking to break that record. 

"God, you fucked her again, didn't you? That's why you are here today." Pendo moved from the ground and settled on the bed. "Wow, I mean, good for you but, aren't you going to break your heart all over again?"

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked defensively. 

"Well, you've been pinning after her for as long as I can remember and every time she was with someone new, you would come crying to me. Now, she's chosen you but from her track record, she is going to leave you soon as she gets bored."

"No she won't." Her voice had taken a cold tone. Chastity would never do that to her. Above everything else, she was her friend first. Just a small little shag festival was not going to destroy that streak. 

Pendo raised her hands in surrender. "I am not fighting you, you know. Just saying things you've said before and putting together observations. Look," she pushed her shoulder. That was the extent of physical touch her sister would ever share with her, "I am not saying that it's a bad thing to go on fucking your friend. In fact, power to you. I just think that doing all this with the person you have been in love with for as long as you can remember, without any sort of plan, would lead to bad things. Maybe you'll lose your best friend."

"No I won't," Ivy answered quickly but even she knew what her sister was saying was true. The things she was doing with Chastity were going to catch up and she was the one who was probably going to suffer the most for it. "Maybe it will," she finally said. Her eyes pricked with tears. "I don't even know what to do because, well, stuff happened and now we are not talking and I don't want to go home just yet but it's also awkward as hell staying here so I am thinking I should go back there and solve that one. I don't know if I can handle your mum right now."

"You mean your mum."

Ivy giggled, the tears receeding. "I mean Dr Ototi. PhD."

"Never forget the PhD."

"Never."

Pendo did something miraculous and touched the back of her hand.