Fortitude

2-Fake

Ujana ni moshi: ukenda, hauji.  
(Youth is like smoke: once it goes, it does not come back.)

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Raziya

"This is the last one before the owner catches us," said Blue Bird as she snapped the last photo of me next to the emerald green Audi A8. The sun had set but there was still enough light from the lamp hanging over it illuminating the beautiful colour on it.

"You know for a 24 year old, you're such a child," she continued as I skipped to her to see the millions of photos I forced her to take. I always had this obsession with Audis and I had told myself on coutless occasions that I would one day build a mansion and fill my garage with them. Seeing the exact one I'd always wanted, parked right before our eyes, my inner child chose not to miss the golden opportunity.

I'd known Lily for about two weeks. We met on my first day at work at my dream design firm, Keja. The first thing I noticed about her was her striking blue hair which matched her loud personality. Hence the nickname Blue Bird. Being light skinned and about 5'6 with a blue messy bun towering over everyone, she wasn't hard to miss. She was there as a graphic designer and I as an interior designer. We just clicked and I had somehow convinced her to come to a church event with me. She also always had a large diamond ring on her ring finger at all times. I thought she was engaged or something but I needed to know her a bit more to get into asking such questions.

My phone rang and heat rushed through my cheeks as I saw the name on the caller ID.

"Jab red heart emoji and clown face emoji, classic, " laughed out Blue Bird as I frantically tried taking my phone away from her grasp. She sped off and I followed her then hopelessly watched her answer it. I stopped running and stood still to face palm myself.

This won't end well.

She walked back to me with a wry smile as she listened to Jabari on the other end of the line. I honestly didn't want to know what they were talking about.

"Mmmh... okay... okay... I will... oh here she is," handing over the phone to me with a grin.
I rolled my eyes and placed the phone on my ear as she stood there clearly not intending to give me any privacy.

Sighing, "Hey what's up?"

"What time did you say the youth thing started?"

"What youth thing?"

"The one you've been rambling about all week long."

"Oh... uhm 7, why?"

"Save me a seat. Later Raz."

What. Just. Happened.

"Hellooooo, you look like you saw a ghost," said Blue Bird as she waved a hand in front of my frozen face. Snapping her fingers in my ears she continued, "You're gonna have to give me more than wide eyes."

Shaking my head back to sanity, "Jabari is willingly coming to church."

"Your imaginary boyfriend? What exactly is going on between the two of you?"

"We're just friends, I've told you this before, right?"

"Yeah, just starting to believe it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"