Too Good to Be Real

Chapter 38

Asher: You're not back yet? :(
Miss you so much, can't wait to see you again <3.

It was six in the morning and Oma was reading through her messages. Asher had sent her the most. In fact, only Asher amongst all her friends had sent her any messages at all since she'd gone home. She couldn't really blame them, she hadn't sent any of them any messages either.

She heard footsteps coming to her door and by habit, she hid her phone under her pillow and covered herself, pretending to be asleep. The door opened and she shut her eyes even more, wondering why she was even pretending to sleep. A few seconds later, just when she was sure Nia had left, she felt a slap on her cheek and sprang up, screaming.

"Are you now ready to go to school?" Nia asked with a smug look on her face.

"Why did you slap me? You could have just tapped me to wake up!"

"I don't tap people whose eyelids are shaking wildly, whose legs are vibrating and who sleep with their phone on all through the night. You can't even pretend to sleep. Better dress up before I become serious with you."

Oma groaned and made faces behind Nia's back as she walked out of her room. What a bad start to her morning.
She brushed her teeth, showered and dressed up, taking only the bag she'd come home with. Nia drove her to the bus station and bade her goodbye there. Normally, when others sent their children off to school, they usually gave them lengthy and repeated advice, but not Nia. The least she could ever say was "bye".

In the bus, Oma plugged her earphones in and chatted happily with Asher. She apologized for not returning the day before and he in turn said it killed him not to spend the night with her. She laughed at his silly replies although they actually made her blush on the inside.
Her music was interrupted by a call. A call from Obi.
Shit!

"Hey..." She began, hoping for the best.

"Hi. Where are you? You didn't pick my calls yesterday." He rushed accusingly and Oma facepalmed herself.

"I'm on the bus. On my way to school. I'm so sorry. Something happened and I wanted to tell you but..."
Obi's soft laughter interrupted her.

"It's okay. I'll take Nathi again. I just wanted to know if you still wanted to come. Take care." He said.

"Wait, what?"

"What's wrong?"

"You took Nathi?"

"Yes...you advised me to take her." He drawled slowly, wondering why she sounded like that.

"Oh."

"Yeah. She was really excited I asked her and it turned out really fun. She's been talking about today's own so I decided to tell you not to bother yourself if you didn't want to come. I know you don't really like photography. When you get back, make sure you give me a call, okay?. Bye." He said and the line went dead.

She kept staring at her blank phone suddenly feeling sour. Something about that whole story didn't appeal to her. Since when was Nathi so excited to go out with anyone on a weekend. She couldn't even come to classes on time!
A lot of things were running through her mind. Was this a ruse by Obi to make her feel what she missed. Or worse, did this mean they were hooking up!

Her phone beeped again, indicating a new text message and she didn't even bother to look at it. She knew it was Asher. She didn't feel like talking to him anymore. She didn't feel like talking to anyone anymore. She put her phone on airplane mode again, leaving only the music and shut her eyes.

Their closeness wasn't the only thing that bothered her, but how much it seemed to bothered her.

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