LONG DISTANCE SITUATION-SHIP

GENESIS

'I told you about him... 'I was saying to Ibinabo as we walked towards the gym. We had just crossed Putney Road; the other half of my attention was spent admiring our surroundings as we chattered on.

'Was he the one you met on X?"

'Yes, the one I was telling you followed me and liked almost all my pictures'

Ibinabo rolled her eyes. 'Babe, that is what people do on social media; you know, they follow each other, like each other's shit; nothing is surprising about that.'

'I know, anyways, I liked his picture and he liked mine. Also, I have been kind of, almost, just maybe sort of stalking him' I confessed, smiling rather foolishly.

'You hoe!' Ibinabo exclaimed jokingly. 'What is his name?'

"MK?" I replied, uncertain

'What type of name is MK?"

'Well, on X his name is MK, Muhammad Kabir maybe?' I offered, shrugging.

'Okay, then Masha Allah, sister,' Ibinabo said, laughing.

We were almost at Morrison's on Almond Road. Getting there, we had a few more minutes until we got to the gym. Tucking my hand deeper into my coat pocket, I shivered slightly. Leicester was chilly at this time of the year.

'So, you know how everyone is talking about shooting your shot this December, yeah? I think I am going to go for it,' I declared.

'Uhm... Go for what?'

'I'm going to slide into his D.M.' I declared,

"Ooohh, your eye is doing that thing!" She was looking at me skeptically.

"What thing?" I was laughing now.

"That thing you do when you've made up your mind. Why don't you give it a re-think?"

'I am telling you I haven't been able to get him out of my mind since he followed me a few months ago. If it works out, Masha Allah, I have found my husband; if it doesn't then, oops, 'I said, trying to convince her, or maybe I was convincing myself?

Ibinabo was silent now. We crossed the road at Morrison's and were now walking in front of Nando's, the rich smell of grilled chicken in the air. Soon enough we would be on the A426, Aylestone Road.

'Are you sure you don't want to wait and give this a rethink?' Ibinabo asked. She was more rational than I was, especially when it came to situations like this.

I hadn't always been a spontaneous person, but I discovered a few years ago that I had started to change in this aspect. On a few occasions, I'd do something out of character,

'Throwing caution to the wind,' Ibinabo would say.

I guess that was what spontaneity meant. The problem, more often than not, was that I wouldn't think these things through, and I would end up with nerves in my throat.

If I'm being entirely truthful, things didn't go bad as a result of my bravery; it just put me in situations my extremely introverted self would ordinarily not be in. I didn't believe in love. I typically roll my eyes at love stories. However, attraction and logic were things I could work with. Love was cheesy, tacky, and complicated, especially when done without logic because it make sense. If it didn't "make sense," I believed it was time to wake up. I am what you would perhaps call an overly rational or logical person. I think with my head first, and if my heart isn't in line, I do what my head says either way. All that to say, I am a young, curious twenty something-year-old.

I've always found men attractive, and you would sometimes catch me and Ibinabo saying, 'That brother looks so, Masha Allah.' Now, would I talk to them? No. Would I look at them for more than a second? No. Would I remember them after that moment? 70% not. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about MK, who was a total spec, by the way, tall, dark-skinned, fit, beard gang, and an overall ten out of ten, and the devil knew this too, because why else couldn't I stop thinking about him? It's been three months since he'd followed me.

Ibinabo, on the other hand, is my polar opposite.

Where I was hotheaded and had a more dive-in approach, she was calmer with a serving of a test-the-waters approach. I was opinionated and didn't care what people thought; she was more political and usually the one to stop a fight from ensuing.

'I think you should think about this,' she continued. 'Girl, you can't just put your head in one time; test the waters first, and wouldn't you even feel embarrassed to slide into his D.M.?' She asked, amused at my new-found courage.

We were walking on Walnut Street now, and I could see the gym ahead of us.

'I mean, you have a point. If I do end up doing this and he turns me down, man, I would feel so embarrassed. I would so block him and delete my account. 'On the other hand, imagine it works. Guess who would be my "Main of Honor?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows in excitement.

"You get it, main, not maid, because you are my main girl..." She looked at me deadpan as if she didn't get the joke. One second, two, and three...and then we burst out laughing, her forever supporting my delusions.

We investigated this house on Walnut Street occasionally when we passed; it was so beautifully decorated and had a cozy vibe to it with the curtains always wide open. At different times, we've been tempted to knock and tell the owner we liked their house, but what would they think about two black girls admitting that they have been looking in? And if something went missing, no doubt, our deportable, international student selves would be the first to be questioned.

Moving along, we were almost at the flat, and as we approached, we got ready to admire it cleverly by only allowing ourselves a glance in—not more than a few seconds, as that was all we needed. Upon reaching, we noticed the newly added pillows, a fluffy rug, and a beautifully decorated white Christmas tree, which looked breathtaking with the rest of the decor.

We continued on our way, now approaching Sizzling Candy, another interesting place on our gym journey because it was a restaurant that never opened during the day. And so far on the nights we've passed by, there had been but a handful of people in there. It looked like a scene out of an Italian mafia movie.

At the thought of food, my stomach growled loudly.

'Hey, we are supposed to be planning our fit life; get your stomach in line.'

'I am so not motivated for gym.' I confessed

'You know, we could turn back right now; we don't need to go in, and to be fair, we did walk 30 minutes; I bet we've burned enough calories.'

'Girl, we are at the gym,' Ibinabo said just as we started walking by the gym glass. I turned my head in time to lock eyes with a girl on the treadmill; clearly, she had been working out for a while. Her grey shirt was soaked with sweat, and she had a determined look on her face. I was suddenly reminded of my unhealthy pre-workout snack.

'Sure,' I said to her. 'I think the 30 minutes would cancel my pre-workout snack, and then we could exercise for a while.'

'I am pretty sure it doesn't work that way,' she said, laughing.

We punched in our gym code and went into the locker room. It was usually almost empty around this time, so walking in and finding out we were among the few was not surprising. Remembering the first time we came to the gym, I smiled. It had taken us a week after signing up to step foot inside.

Every time we'd decided to come, we would check our dashboard online, and on seeing the number of people in the gym physically, we would go right back to doing what we were doing before that 'bright idea'. The thought that 100+ people were at the gym scared the hell out of me. I mean, think about it: 200 pairs of eyes staring at you while you make a fool of yourself while simultaneously trying not to pull something. Now we didn't care because we'd come to realize, as successful members of the gym rat association, no one in the gym gives a shit about you. They literarily do not care.

We had such a great workout, did 15 minutes of cardio, and after finding out there was a class coming up, we joined the cycling class and did our sets afterward. I cultivated the habit of going to the gym when I was angry or stressed, and Lord knows that was often. I loved the feeling of running and the soreness in my body after a great workout.

''I think I am just going to do it'. I repeated, taking a seat on the bench in the gym locker room and going on X with my phone. I pulled up a picture of him and handed my phone to her.

'Oh yes, girl! We're entering this DM,' she said after seeing his picture.

'Just be careful though,' she added, for good measure.