Swapped

seventeen

                                ~adamma~

"Aren't you going to eat?" Frank says, gesturing at my plate of noodles. My plate of noodles that I have only been able to take just two bites out of.

"No, I don't like it." I reply without as much as a second thought.

"Really?" He asks with a small snicker. "What's wrong with it?"

"It's bland and soft. You can have it if you want." I offer.

"Oh." He exchanges a look with his sister who had been busy feeding her son from her plate of noodles.

"Shouldn't you have added some other spices or something?" I ask her, using my fork to turn the noodles a little.

When I get no response, I look up from my food to see both siblings with the same expression on their faces. Only that I can't quite read their expressions.

"It's almost three o'clock. We should leave now." Frank says, breaking the small silence.

I nod and rise from the small dining table we were gathered.

When we get outside, Frank closes the door behind us.

"You-" My tummy rumbles loudly, interrupting whatever Frank is about to say. Heat rushes up my neck as I feel utterly embarrassed.

"Was that your tummy?" He asks and I feel even more embarrassed. "We should get you something to eat." He says with a deep chuckle.

I follow behind him and he reaches into his pocket, pulling put a two hundred naira note.

"Do you have any money on you?" He asks.

I shake my head sideways. Mrs Helen had given me only a hundred naira this morning. I used it to buy donoughts.

He sighs. "Okay. That means we'd have to trek."

We pass the spot where the three gossips had been gathered. It is now empty. The only signs they had been here are the three chairs here.

Something they had said earlier tugs at me and before I can help myself I ask, "How old is your sister?"

"She's- wait, why are you asking?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious."

"Oh, she's- I think, she's going to be twenty-two this year." He says, looking thoughtful.

"You're not sure of your own sister's age?" I ask with all seriousness but he laughs like I just cracked a joke.

"It's not that I'm not sure. You'll not understand sha." He says with a smile that I find myself admiring.

"You have a really nice smile." I compliment. His smile widens and he turns to look at me.

"I know, babe."

A foreign flutter takes place in my tummy.

Babe? Okay.

"You were meant to say, thank you." I say, trying to distract myself from whatever feeling that was.

"Thank you's are for compliments. You, however, stated a fact." He says with so much cockiness, a laugh finds it way out of me.

"Oh really?" I ask, still laughing.

"Yeah, really."

                            ~Frank~

The so melodious sound of Kene's laughter rings in my ears, urging me to continue making dumb jokes.