The Waiting Game

chapter twenty one

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*****

“I didn’t hear you clearly the first time, say it again this time – nice and slow,” Firepemi said, his voice rich with barely restrained laughter. Unfortunately, the worst part about Joshua knowing Firepemi since they were young was that he didn’t find Joshua the least bit terrifying. Most people would cover at the sight of Joshua’s glower but Firepemi Kingston was laughing and pointing.

“Your infallible plan to infiltrate the Council is to seduce a nineteen year old.” Fire said after he’d recovered from laughing, he looked like he might burst into another bout of laughter.

“By all means, if you’ve got some other genius plan, I’d like to hear it.” Joshua growled.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a virgin?” Fire said, apparently not done with the jokes. He gave a snort, “How are you going to seduce her?”

Joshua continued to glare at his former friend, arms crossed and leaning against the balcony overlooking the arena, the two of them were the only ones left. The meeting with the Council had come to an end a few minutes ago and the said Council had made their equally dramatic exit out of the amphitheatre, leaving chaos in their wake. They’d reaffirmed that Evaluation would commence in weeks – Joshua had felt Ahmed Giwa’s eyes on him during the announcement, hell, more than half of the eyes on the fifth tier were watching Joshua. It seemed like a general opinion that he would fail Evaluation and he’d heard it enough times that he wasn’t pissed off by the reminder anymore.

But Joshua hadn’t been focused on the gazes awaiting his reaction, he’d been watching Ninah Adam. He could still hardly believe it, that a new recruit would end up on the Council and even though their methods were slightly unconventional – he didn’t believe that she was on there through fair play. He was almost a ninety percent sure that Ahmed Giwa had planted here there. For the first time, Joshua hadn’t ignored the pang of hurt that hit him when he remembered Amina. He would even admit that he missed her; he missed bantering with her and he missed her calculated input.

Maybe he was so desperate for companionship that he’d shared his discovery with Firepemi and subsequently, his plan.

“You can ask Nina about my being a virgin,” Joshua drawled, he watched with satisfaction as Fire’s face darkened with fury and laughed.

“That’s not funny.” Fire snapped. He didn’t like to think of the very brief months when Nina and Joshua’s relationship had been very much real, she was the first girl Joshua slept with. They later called off things but by then, it was too late, their parents were already invested in the idea of their families merging together and becoming the most influential in the country. So they’d kept up the ruse of their relationship even while Nina started to date Fire.

Joshua waved a vague hand around, “And neither is any of this.”

Fire was silent and Joshua thought he might be contemplative but all hopes of Firepemi being reasonable were dashed to pieces the moment he opened his mouth. “But really, I used to think you were a virgin, or asexual.” Fire paused as if considering something important. “Even gay, I don’t judge.”

Joshua sighed heavily and cursed Fire to hell. “You’re still thinking of me having sex, aren’t you?”

Fire nodded. “It’s the ADD, hyper fixating on something. And ugh, you’ll forever be five and playing with Barbies in my mind.”

“It was one time.” Joshua deadpanned.

“Now I’m thinking of Barbies,” Fire admitted.

Joshua pushed himself off the relaxed position and stood upright. “Firepemi, you’re useless to me.” Maybe he really needed to grovel to Amina, he might have if he didn’t already know that she wouldn’t go back on her word. She was like that, stubborn to a fault.