Float

hi ollie

You sat rigid in the car, clenching your butt cheeks and hardly breathing.

Ogoni was typing away on her phone, stopping to laugh softly or send a voice message. "Don't be a fool, that's not what I meant."

You buzzed with every syllable she spoke. Her voice sounded like R&B. Sleep with your ex and smoke weed type of R&B.

After hesitating for a full five minutes you asked, "Did you ever go to the UK?" noticing the slight lilt in her voice.

She turned to you and in that instant you wanted to throw yourself out of the car. Her dark eyes looked menacing.

"Yeah I lived there til I was five." She said.

Thank God I thought she was about to slap me.

You breathed a sigh of relief, "Where?"

"Ireland."

You tried asking her more questions but she either gave you short replies or said, "Hm?" and didn't answer at all.

Fed up, you turned to the window. You were surprised with yourself because you hadn't gotten upset and smacked the phone out of her hands.

You leaned your head against the cool glass and watched the cars go by. You pulled out your phone from your pocket and switched it on.

Your thumb hovered over Instagram. You hadn't been posted anything in three years and you haven't been active in six months. Six months is a lot of time to forget about someone on the internet.

You checked your follower count: 658. You hummed in surprise, it did drop from two thousand, eight hundred or so but 658 was a lot for someone who doesn't post, doesn't follow back, doesn't comment and a bunch of other things you deemed as bullshit.

You were following five hundred people; celebrities, influencers, friends and some people who followed you first. You decided to go on an unfollowing spree, unfollowing everyone you did recognize and hadn't posted in more than a month. 

You scrolled through, careful not to like anyone's pictures. You were still scared of doing it. You saw old classmates and you recognized some.

How could you not, these were your ride or die's. Which was funny seeing as none if these girls had reached out to you, all except for one. A sweet little Hausa girl. You couldn't remember her name and her username wasn't giving any hints. Her most recent post which was a few hours old, was her on a balcony overlooking what must be the clear blue waters of Mykonos. She was in a turquoise swimsuit and her caption was something cheesy about loving yourself.

You debated whether or not to message her. You remember being nice to a fault, always tagging along with your group and cleaning up the messes the other girls created. You sent her a hi and switched off your phone. The rest of the ride was in silence.

It was 7:40 when the Ogoni got down from the car. You had only stumbled out of the car, eyes sore from sleep, when the driver yelled, "Madam come down now!"

Ogoni was by the entrance to the restaurant when she said, "Zida come on." You swallowed a curse and silently walked towards her. 

The atmosphere smelled like money, not just any money.

Lagos money.

Unfortunately, all the tables where filled. You huffed, surveying the area. "Seems like we'd have to go to the balcony." you said to Ogoni.

"Oh no don't worry just hold on." She murmured. It was looking she was looking for something.

Your patience was running out and most importantly you were hungry. Before you could voice your irritation Ogoni waved at someone and pulled you in the direction she waved.