The Waiting Game

chapter fourteen

“Iremidayo Lawal, it’s been a long while since I saw your middle of the night texts.” Ire’s old professor was a tall, skinny white man with slicked back black hair. Despite the sweltering sun, he was dressed to the nines in a suit and a candy cane patterned tie at his neck.

He shook hands with Ire and he finally looked at Amina and Tope, he didn’t look surprised by their presence and offered an equally warm smile at them. Amina’s own lips stretched in a smile that she didn’t feel.

“Please, sit.” The professor gestured to the plastic seats. “I’ll have to speak to the barman to order your drinks. Do you want anything specific?”

They were at the Staff Club, it was a wide compound with its gates only open to staff members of  the Lagos State University. The club was a glorified restaurant and hangout spot but the buildings in the compound looked like a normal classroom, painted the usual brown and cream, they’d gotten seats near the balcony and Amina was pleasantly surprised by the row of hibiscus flowers that decorated the area. Strangely, the staff club was one of the two places on campus that she’d never been in. She hadn’t been missing much, it seemed.

“Just water,” Tope answered. Ire murmured the same thing.

“A beer.”

All eyes to turned to her.

“What? I’m legal.” Amina argued. “And you’re not my lecturer.”

Ire’s eyes didn’t quite meet hers – he still thought she wanted to kill him. Good.

“I don’t think you’re allowed to drink on campus, Amina.” Tope chided gently.

Ire’s professor was still waiting patiently. “Fine, I’ll have water.”

“Alright, excuse me.” The older man said and walked to the bar.

There was a tension filled silence among the three of them, from the corner of her eyes, she saw Ire toy with a loose thread from the table cover clothe.

“Okay, why do you look like you want to kill somebody?  And why does Ire look like he’s afraid that he’s the somebody?” Tope asked, she didn’t sound concerned, just curious.

“I always look like I want to kill somebody. Dressed to kill, remember?” Amina answered with saccharine sweetness.

Ire rubbed a hand over his face. “I said something stupid.” He said.

Tope didn’t blink. “You’re dead then.”

A laugh startled out of Amina. She wanted to say something but the professor returned with three chilled bottles of water on a serving tray. Tope reached for her bottle but Amina didn’t, she hadn’t wanted anything to drink in the first place, she’d just wanted to shock Ire with her suggestion. He’d turned out to be one of those people. There were two types of people Amina met; people who immediately liked her, thought she was badass and wanted to be friends. The second type was people like Ire – people who judged her.

He didn’t think she was badass or cool and neither did he find her sexy. He saw all the bad things she did and it disgusted him, he was religious and couldn’t comprehend how somebody who was supposed to share the faith with him went against everything said faith stood for.

The comment about her being a murderer was a truth and she’d long made her peace with it. Ire had managed to make it sound like her whole personality. She might as well make him think she was a drunk too.

“So,” The professor started when he sat. “You said you wanted to pick my brain.”

Tope shared a look with Amina, she also wasn’t onboard with sharing with details about a murder investigation that was supposed to top secret with a man that neither of them knew much about. Tope had run a last minute background check on him and he seemed as ordinary as ordinary could be; no affiliations with known secret societies. Amina wasn’t pacified though, Orion had enemies everywhere.