A Stranger I Met ✔

7

I turned sharply to glare at the person smoking, when I saw her leaning on the wall, eyes closed, smoking.

I was shocked because I never thought someone like her would smoke. I was yet to recover from the shock when she opened her eyes.

She was startled at first but regained her composure as she glared at me. She must think I was stalking her. I had to say something before she raised an alarm.

"I. . .I'm . . .I'm. . ." Oh God! Not again.

"I'm. . .I'm. . .so. . .so. . ."

She shook her head and gave me an ugly look. She began to use her fingers to communicate with me.

Great! She thinks I'm deaf and dumb. The fact that she thought I was deaf and dumb annoyed me.

"I'm not dumb." I snapped quickly. I was surprised at how fast my words came out. Why couldn't I say something before. "N. . . nei. . .neither am I deaf."

She raised her eyebrow at her and continued to smoke.

"I'm Daniel." I began slowly, afraid that I'd stutter. The fact that I stutter whenever I was with her baffled me. I was known for my smooth speeches. I never stammered but here I was, stuttering.

"I'm a friend of this party's host." I lied. I felt she would give me more of her attention if she thought I knew the host of the party.

"And who's the host?" She asked to my surprise.

"Mmm. . ." I had forgotten the name of the guy. Was it Mathew or Messiah? Matthias? Oh God!

"Maxwell." I finally said. "I'm a friend of Maxwell." She wouldn't know the name of the party host, would she?

She smiled and I caught a glimpse of her tongue ring. She then blew smoke at my direction. The smoke choked me and I began to cough. She threw the cigarette on the ground and stamped it with her feet.

"The host of this party is Martins." She blurted out and began to walk into the building. I pinched myself hard as I followed her into the house.

While we walked, she received pats, hugs and pecks from various people both male and female; they all knew her. Many of them threw weird glances at me especially the guys.

"Yea sure. Those that are not close to him call him Martins but we, his guys, call him Maxwell. That's his second name."  I tried to cover up.

"Oh yeah? The name you gave him right? Because I know this party host and he doesn't answer Maxwell. His full name is Oluwatobi Martins Adeyemi." She replied and my jaw dropped. I had created another wrong impression: a  liar.

"Where are you going to?" I tried to change the topic.

"To get a drink." She replied as we walked to the bartender. She took a bottle of rum and sat on a chair beside the bartender.

The bartender winked at her and she smiled. That was when it dawned on me that she was a party freak for she knew virtually everyone.

"Aren't you drinking?" She asked.

"Mmmm. Not in the mood. Maybe later." I had already created lot of bad impression. I didn't want her to think I was prissy.

She looked at me knowingly. "Or you don't drink?"

A young guy with dreadlocks walked to her and flung his arms around her shoulder. She looked up and smiled into the guy's face. "Boniface!"

"Vero of Gad!  How are you na?"

"I'm soft." She replied while the guy turned his gaze from her and stared at me like he had seen a frog and my heart began to thud violently in my chest.

For a second, I thought the guy would drag me by the neck and throw me to the floor for he was muscular. I wondered how she made such friends.

"I'll see you later then." The guy gave me one last glance before walking away. I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Sorry about that." She looked at me.

"So, as I was saying, you don't drink, right?"

"Of course I do. I just_"

"Take some shot then." She offered. I tried to protest but she cut me off, "Please?"

I stared into her beautiful eye balls which were brownish in colour. She wore light makeup and she looked extremely  beautiful.

"Okay. One shot." It wouldn't be a bad idea to take just one shot, right?

The moment the liquid got into my mouth, I felt a burn in my throat and chest. I opened my mouth and tried to fan air into my mouth. I brought my tongue out while trying to ease the burn I felt.

She was laughing at me. Laughing really hard. I was glad I was able to make her laugh this hard but then I needed to cool off my burning throat.

"I'll go and get some water." I stood up smiling at her.

"Water would make it worst." She said amid laughter.

Great! I thought. "Stop laughing at me jor." I said playfully.

"I can't." She continued to laugh.

"Why are you even laughing? It isn't funny."

"Oh yeah? You needed to see your face." She mimicked the way I acted when I drank from the bottle  and we both burst into laughter.

I could still feel the burn in my throat. "How do you drink that? My throat is literally on fire."

"I'm used to it. The burn is now familiar. In fact, that's the fun in it. You should have another drink."

"No." I shook my head.

"Yes." She smiled at me.

I could easily say no but I just didn't. There was something about her; I just couldn't say no to her.

So, I took the bottle from her and took a huge drink. She clapped and cheered me on. I still felt the burn in my chest but I shrugged it away.

I smiled brightly at her and watched as she took another shot from the bottle. I noticed her eyes closed each time she drank from the bottle.

She took some more shot from the bottle, then suddenly she stood up and ruffled her hair.

"I have to get going." She said to me.

"Why? So fast?" I was alarmed. I never thought she would leave this quickly. I wanted to spend the rest of the night with her. What was I to do when she wasn't here? I came here for her.