"I know it's not easy to meet someone nice.
Everybody wants to but no one seems good enough for anyone - and the less willing you are to compromise, the more alone you find yourself."
All Gigi wants from life is to get through her work day with...
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We're just sad clowns, tamed and scripted, I've come too far, I'm coming home, I wanna go back To when I was young.
- BIG BANG, Loser (kpoplyrics.net)
Can you die from awkwardness?
Because that's what I felt like doing when Akudo had to elbow Derin aside just to get Etomi's tall frame in the flat.
She paused when our eyes met, looked delighted then pounced on me.
As she squeezed me tightly, squealing my name (had she forgotten I was here?), I caught a whiff of vodka on her breath.
"Hahaha" I laughed nervously, "I see you started without us, Akudo! Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Hell no," Akudo pulled away still grinning, "Keep it for the office, can't you see I'm celebrating? It's Etomi! Look!"
I looked again and Etomi was watching Akudo with an amused half smile. It was somehow amazing to me that his mouth still did that slight quirk at the side thing. Then Derin cleared his throat and I snapped back to the matter on ground. Where was I? Ah, yes. Mortification and dread.
"Why is everyone just standing around? Derin made us barbecue, lets eat!" Akudo beamed.
"Gigi and I already ate," Derin said with a distinctly sour tone. "If you and - your guest - are hungry, Patience can warm something for you."
Akudo frowned, "But Derin, I said I was coming, couldn't you guys have waited?"
"We did." Derin said heavily.
"Um..." Etomi spoke up for the first time, his voice was deeper than I remembered it, a man's voice now, "I'm actually not here to stay. Akudo and I met up for drinks because I'm traveling tomorrow," he glanced between the couple who were failing to pretend not to glare at each other, "I just drove her home to make sure she was ok...?" he petered off when Derin turned to look at him with open dislike, "my Uber is already at your gate..."
"But you'll be back in a few months, right?" Akudo said in a cutesy voice and I gaped at her because up until then I had seen my friend as a hardened gangster with a bad but endlessly entertaining mouth.
Etomi glanced again at Derin who was looking increasingly more agitated, "...Yes?"
"So allow us to see you off properly!" Akudo insisted while I watched them like film, "I told you this Merlot isn't going to drink itself!"
"Akudo, I really have to go - "
"Kudo, I think you've heard the man, he has to go," Derin cut in then re-opened the front door that he was still standing beside and gave Etomi a pointed look, "unless you want some ribs to go, bruh?"
