I Did Not Want To Fall For You

10: Flirting

"A month later, he drops the letter on my locker confirming our break up. They're closer now, very close." She spat bitterly, "and he just pretends like I don't exist, like we didn't have something special together."
"You gave him your virginity!?" Kamsi exclaimed, flabbergasted.
"What? No! Never!" Kehinde shouted, "I meant feelings, emotions, deep emotions." She explained quickly, embarrassed.
"Oh" Kamsi smiled slyly, "just making sure."
Kehinde smacked her arm, "I can give you the list if you want." She stated.
"And when I see them, I'll be like "the ones with the lost virginity. O hopeless generation"." Kanso demonstrated with her arms, the both of them laughing.
"Let him go." She advised after they quieted down.
Kehinde looked at her.
"Let Taiwo go."
Kehinde turned her head away, her eyes sad.
"You know I detest those three words too. People use it a lot, even move on, like it's so easy to give up someone you love or care so much about and go on with your life like they don't exist or matter to you."
"It'll be hard" she continued, "but just let the anger and pain go. Get better, you're you and you're strong with or without him."
Kehinde sniffed, quickly wiping the tears that rolled down her face.
"And he's still the same," She said quietly, "still the same Taiwo. That's what makes it worse. He didn't change into a bad person or start behaving differently. He's still the same."
They sat in silence, swinging their legs in conformity.
Sports ended, students passed by looking at them with curious eyes, dinner time came but they sat still; thinking, mending, healing.
★
It was Friday, the labor time and Kamsi chose to spend the time in class, reading instead of aimlessly chatting with Jamilah, Ifeoma, and co as usual. She just decided to take her reading for Jamb seriously, to test her abilities. She hadn't told her parents yet, she certainly could not tell them that a boy paid for her and she wasn't a fan of lying so she was stuck with not informing them at all.
She flipped through the pages of her Chemistry textbook, starting to solve another question when she heard footsteps outside her class. She was alone in her class but other classes had few occupants in it. She looked, seeing Kaito and Danielle talking and walking to his class beside hers. They soon entered his class and she sighed in relief, thanking God they didn't look into the classroom.
A few minutes later, already deep in her reading, Kaito walked in, note and pen in hand. She forced herself not to groan in disappointment. He plopped down on Sarah's seat.
"Hey," He greeted, moving her textbook to the middle of the two lockers, "I saw you when I passed."
"I was hoping you wouldn't." She replied, continuing to solve the problem she was working on.
He raised a brow, "Why?"
She shrugged. He stayed still for a few seconds before turning his attention to what she was doing.
"You'll have to explain that to me, please. I'm finding it difficult to understand the topic." He pleaded.
"Okay." She started to talk again but paused, dropping her pen, "aren't you supposed to be doing something?"
"Danielle's in charge of everything today."
"And your whip?" She asked with a slight smirk, causing him to break into a full-blown smile.
"Also on a break."
"Do you use that stuff?" She asked curiously.
"Have you seen me use it?"
She thought hard, "I don't know."
"I've used it," He admitted cheekily, "a good number of times."
"Innocent children." She pouted with a shake of her head.
He laughed, "yeah, really innocent."
"I like your dimple," She complimented, staring at him, "they're really deep."
"Everybody likes it."
"Shut up," She laughed, "you were supposed to say thank you."
"There's something called breaking the rules."
"You should know since you break them every time."
"I can't help it."
"Especially when you're supposed to enforce it."
"Are you scolding me?"
"Call it what you like." She smiled, glancing out the window.
His body was turned to the side, facing her so that he gave her his full attention. It made her uncomfortable; his looking directly into her eyes. She was never comfortable with eye contact, with friends, or even with her family. It always made her feel... weird.
"But you break the rules too." He reminded her.
"I do but you're worse."
"Wow." He smiled, not looking the least bit offended. His stares weren't uncomfortable now, she noticed; In fact, she didn't mind now.
"But it's nice." She added.
"Nice?"
"It adds to your coolness."
"I'm cool?"
"I like cool guys."
"You like me?" His eyes were wide.
"And Daniel and Michael and Nonso and Taiwo and Caleb and Onyebuchi and a few others."
"Oh." He smiled sheepishly.
They stared at each other.
"You have nice eyes." He spoke up first.
"You don't have to compliment me because I did you." She said with a wry smile.
"I mean it" He refuted, inching closer as if to look closely into her eyes. She sat still, blinking.
"You have a way of looking at people and your eyes... they're cute," He paused, "they make you look cute."
She blushed, smiling widely, "Well thanks. Nice way to flatter a girl."
Her eyes drifted down.
"Why are your lips kind of pink?" She blurted out.
He blinked, "Huh?"
"Why are some people's lips pink and others are not?"
"Yours are pink."
"No."
"They are."
"It's the inner part. Mine are dark, yours are lighter."
"I'm light-skinned."
"Doesn't mean."
"How did we end up discussing each other's lips?" He suddenly asked, amused.
"Because I tend to notice stupid things?"
He smiled lightly then broke into a full-blown smile. She giggled.
"Your lips are small." He said still smiling.
She wrinkled her nose and said, "Yours are on the average side."
They burst out laughing, she clutching her stomach.
She pushed his face away, "Stop looking at me." She laughed.
"You were the one who commented on my innocent mouth." He bit his lip to control his laughter.
"As I said..." She paused, catching her breath, "I tend to notice stupid things."
She shifted on her seat unconsciously, facing him as he did her.
"You said you hoped I wouldn't see you." He reminded her of her words from earlier.
"So?"
"But you said you like me" He raised a hand before she could speak, "like Nonso and co, I know. I thought you'd want to see people you like."
"Not every time. There's something called privacy." She answered with a shrug.
"Privacy?" He raised a brow.
"Yeah, privacy."
"So I'm intruding?" He leaned closer as if challenging her.
"At first. I don't mind now."
He paused, leaning back, watching her.
"You know," he said after a moment, "if someone else is listening in on our conversation, they'd say we are flirting."
"Flirting?" She furrowed her brows. Flirting? She didn't even know how to flirt. She had never flirted with a boy before.
"Why do you say that?" She asked.
"We talked about each other's lips, I called you cute, you said you like me and you don't mind my company." He pointed out.
"Does that classify as flirting? Friends don't mind each other's company." She argued.
"Friends also flirt. Are we friends?" He asked hesitantly.
"I don't know. We're getting there since you're insisting on being my reading partner. I don't even know how to flirt." She leaned her elbows on the locker and chair respectively.
"But you're terribly good at it."
"How do you know when someone is flirting?" She asked curiously.
"I just know."
She squinted her eyes, searching.
"So you've agreed to be my reading partner?" He asked, clearing his throat, looking away then back at her.
"No. Why do you bother?"
"I like your personality. You seem like a good friend."
"Seem. Don't judge a book by its cover."
"I'm reading the book already."
"And the book is good?"
"I reserve my comment."
"Okay." She shrugged.
"I've seen the way you interact with your friends. You're honest and slyly blunt, even with me."
"You're blunt too, I've noticed."
"You make me blunt."
"So you're blunt because I'm blunt?"
He nodded.
"So if I'm evasive, you'll also be evasive?"
He thought hard for a few seconds.
"Depends." Was his singular answer.
"So you're a chameleon." She nodded.
His eyes widened, "A chameleon? Why?"
"You react based on how people treat you."
"No. That's not... what?" He stuttered, "I'm myself with everyone."
"You just said you're blunt because I'm blunt."
"Well yeah... I mean," He cleared his throat, searching for the right words, "I said you make me blunt which means I'm getting blunt because of you; that is, you're influencing me, adding that to my attributes. If you weren't blunt, you wouldn't have influenced me, that was what I meant, you know... I mean, you understand, right?"
She smirked, "How's that for blunt?"