,,A THIRD TIME.

Chapter Two

It's 8:30am and I'm just waking up. I like to eat first but I can't find the keys to my locker. I decide to logon to my whatsapp to see if I have any messages. I do,From Bruno infact. It reads "so, now you know me, do you still want to talk? "
I can be really obtuse sometimes. I reply "No",thinking what he meant is if I'm still gonna be talking rudely as I did before meeting him. I remember telling him I was done chatting with him because he was annoying. I thought he asked if I still wanna talk about not liking his annoyance. Stupid,right? Illogical in fact. He texts "Why? "
And I now understand that he asked if I'm still going to talk to him now that I know he's my colleague's cousin. In order not to make obvious my stupidity, I reply"nothing". I'm sure he's confused.
Since I can't find my keys, my tooth brush and paste are in a bowl in my bucket under the bunk, I pull it out and brush my teeth,wash my face and put on a vintage crop shirt. It's rumpled but that's not my business. I wear a short skirt, get one of my roommates' plate so I can buy food outside. I'm bra-less and people are staring. It really isn't my business, I don't like bras. They make me very uncomfortable. After buying food, I go to Beulah's  hostel and we leave for the common room and she's enjoying some stupid Indian movie on Zee World, thank God there's food to eat and Bruno to chat with. I like him because he gets on my nerves. He's always correcting every "bad English " I type.  It's bad according to him, he says an educated girl should type in full and not slang. I ignore him but I stand corrected. Anthony has already told me this before, it isn't cool for a girl to type in slang. He makes fun of the fact that I don't know how to type good English. He doesn't know that Beulah is with me, he asks her how I feel about him attacking me and my English. We both laugh. I really like him and for some reasons, I'm beginning to connect with Beulah. I head back to my room determined to find my key so I can wash my clothes and change up after bathing.
    In the evening, I'm chilling with Anthony. We're taking a walk around the school and it's cold so he gives me his sweater. As we're heading back to the hostel, Bruno calls me. He's in school to take Beulah home, she's sort of sick. That's surprising because she looked fine in the morning. He asks to See Me before he leaves and I agree. I feel bad that I have to ask Anthony to wait for me to meet another guy. We're not dating but he likes me and keeps hoping I remove him from the friend zone soon.
Bruno parks in front of my faculty. The plan is working without effort. I walk up to him hoping to shake hands with him but he hugs me instead. We don't say much as he looks at me in a way I don't understand. I shrug out of the feeling and we bid goodbye. I've not dated in a while and I don't want to. My ideology about dating is commitment,but I'm not desperate for it. If it comes, good. If it doesn't, no biggy. Regardless, I'm not in for flings. If it's nothing serious, it's nothing at all. But Bruno is a young graduate who wouldn't want anything serious so my plan is to build a personality that makes people talk more about me, my plan is to find a dude who drives a cool car so I can show off. No feelings attached.
But why does he look at me the way he does? He's done that twice and I'm lost every time our eyes meet. When he leaves, Anthony reminds me of one evening we were strolling in school and Bruno drove in. He remembers this because of Bruno's car. Anthony is into cars,he doesn't drive any but his dad has tons. I remember Bruno driving in and parking in front of  Beulah's hostel. When I saw him that night, he was as cute as he is now. But I could only wish I had him. I remember telling Anthony that he's (Bruno) very handsome but Anthony told me he's driving his dad or mom's car so I shouldn't be attracted to him, I guess he said that to prevent me from liking another person when he was yet to get a shot.
He must have kept the image of Bruno's car in his mind because apparently, he still doesn't like him.
     I don't know if I'm being too sensitive  but the fact that I saw and admired someone in a car three weeks ago,he started chatting with me two weeks ago and I didn't even realise It's the same person and a day ago, I met him... Makes me feel something. Something that is different from my plans.
     In the night, I'm chatting with Bruno and he asks me if I like him but I don't like the fact that he's going there. This is because when people get to know my feelings, they try to take advantage of me, that's why I'm a loner. A happy one. I don't want people getting free with me and complicating my life in the process. I like my distance. But Bruno is different. The fact that he's even able to ask if I like him means I'm beginning to lose guard. He's getting too close and I'm not even noticing.
"I don't know" I reply.
He asks to call me and I say no so he tries to act indifferent or scare me and make me feel like I'm the lucky one. "don't give me attitude,if you want me to stop talking to you, I can do that. " He says. But I'm not about to fall for that, I'm not about to feel inferior so I reply  him in my own annoying way "You're the one who's giving me attitude and I'd like you to know that it doesn't prick me in anyway".
I can't see him but I know he's shocked. He acts angry and says "goodnight". I reply  with a smiley"😊" to confirm that I'm really not pricked by his attitude. Seven minutes later he asks if he could call me, again. I tell him "no" but he calls me anyway. For some stupid reason, I'm happy and I'm smiling but before I'm able to pick up, he hangs up. I text him, "when you asked to call me, I didn't think you meant a flash." But for real,did he really just flash  me?
He replies "are you high, I called you, you didn't pick up".
The nerves of this nigga, did he just disrespect me? He's really getting to me now. I remember Beulah telling me he's the last of three kids. Last kids are spoilt kids but this brat is not about to disrespect  me. I keep my calm and reply like I'm not pissed "Did you just call me high? Lol".
He calls back. This time I'm opportune to pick up. He doesn't even let me speak. He asks "why are you giving me attitude, don't you know I'm too big for these games? " I like him. He's not big I know, but he thinks big of himself. Nothing attracts me more to a person than that. Maturity. "I'm not in secondary school anymore" he adds.
"I'm not giving you attitude,it's your voice. It scares me" I tell him. But really though, his voice scares me. The first and last time he called to tell me he was in my school to pick his cousin, all I could say was "ok" because I'd never heard someone project his voice the way he did.
He laughs and tells me " that's what I like. I like that my voice intimidates you, so when you plan on insulting me, you think twice ".
  I'm getting used to the sound of his voice, he's so free with me. He even speaks our local dialect. Could this guy get any interesting?
I'm listening to his voice right now and I'm thinking of seeing him again. He's talking and I'm not even listening. All I'm hearing is his voice, not his words. I don't hear anything again and I'm back from my reverie. I look at my phone to see if he already said goodbye and hung up without me knowing. I realise that it's my battery. It's dead. Crap. I bought the silly phone some months ago, fairly used. There's light and I charge it but I don't put it on.  Thank God for the stupid phone. What am I doing?  I need  to get my head in the game. I climb my bunk and cover my face with my blanket. I'm off to sleep with a smile from nowhere.