The Waiting Game

chapter sixteen

“Someone took the lesson on keeping your enemies close a little too strictly.” Amina said sourly when she entered the office. Joshua was not surprised to see that she was dressed to the nines; pink dress with a dipping v line and a thigh high slit. She was wearing a wavy red wig that matched the red of her lips. Her glove clad hands rested on each hip, silently chiding.

Joshua whistled low, his eyes sweeping her form from head to the very tall heels she wore. He paused in the motion of pouring himself a drink of scotch.

“Amina Khalid, you pull off Jessica Rabbit better than Jessica Rabbit.”

He could tell that his compliment warmed her by the way she puffed up her chest and made a show of striking a pose. Sadly, she was not easily deterred as he hoped. Amina sashayed to the front of the bar, briefly, her eyes flickered to the TV screen on the wall, displaying footage from the club downstairs – the party was yet to start but a few people were starting to arrive.

Joshua had no choice but to give Amina her laurels, he’d arrived at the club an hour ago and through the back door but he’d been watching security footage for the past hour and Amina had outdone herself this time; multicolored neon lights spelt his name and balloons hung everywhere, there was also the seven tiered cake that she’d ordered from his favorite bakery all the way from California. There were also the waiters and bar staff dressed as vampires – his favorite mythological creature. Did he mention that his twenty second birthday party was Halloween themed? Didn’t people kill for the slightest excuse to dress as a slutty anything?

He was all too glad to slather all the praise on Amina for pulling this off but from the serious look on her face, he knew that it would have to wait.

“Since when did you start dating Ninah Adam? Last time we spoke, she was neatly filed under the enemy category.” Amina said. “I leave you for a couple of hours and you’re the trending news on campus. Zainab’s current blog post is blowing up.” She held up her phone.

Joshua frowned. “Which Zainab?” He knew several Zainabs.

“Assistant Head of Communications at Orion, she also runs the most popular blog on campus and this evening, she ran an exclusive scoop about how you’re off the market now. There’s a picture and you two sure look cozy.” Joshua squinted at the screen, blinking several times to adjust his eyes to the high brightness of Amina’s phone; the lights in here were dim.

There was indeed a picture of Joshua and Ninah, with a jolt, Joshua realized that the picture had been taken while they’d been walking, captured perfectly the moment Joshua took her hand in his – just before he kissed it. He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed at the skill of photographer or to be wary that people were still interested in his life. Popularity was always a good thing but it also meant there was going to be an audience when he tripped.

“Anything to say for yourself?” Amina asked. Joshua felt a flicker of irritation, he hated when she acted she was the manager to a rebellious pop star.

“Uche was flirting with me.” Now that he said it, he sounded stupid.

Realization dawned on Amina’s face, “Oh -- is that why you called me, to play the role of your possessive girlfriend?”

Joshua nodded. “Uche is too popular to make angry, she’s the vice president of the National Association of Law Students, LASU Chapter. The last thing I need is some campus gossip rag talking bad about me because I didn’t flirt back.”

Amina was silent for a few seconds; it was hard to tell what she was thinking. “Publicly, you have a new girlfriend and she’s your first since you and Nina broke up. People are going to take interest, Joshua; this isn’t going to be a onetime appearance.”