ᴅᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ

25

Your presence is critical,
Movin' my soul,
Yeah you spiritual,
Like everybody else invisible.

__

Chimdi stepped into the green and white blocks of the school's pavilion, looking all comfortable and classy on a black T-shirt and yellow flowered short. A crown of neatly packed bun sat on her head, making her rock the classy but cute look.

True to his words, TJ was waiting for her.

She took in his young built frame, fit into a comfortable grey sweat pants and grey vest, which accentuated his moderatly taut muscles. She stared shamelessly, eyes scanning his drool worthy features.

She'd never paid attention to his built and neither did she acknowledge moderate muscles and nicely ripped abdomen that reflected on the snug vest, dark orbs that reminded her of a dark tunnel, marauded by touches.

The smirk on his face was enough to get her back to sane land.

"Easy sunshine, there is enough of me to go around." He teased with a wink.

And when she reached where he stood observing her, she gave him a swat on the head.

He yelped, grabbing his head, "Damn woman! Must you be violent!!"

She shrugged. "You asked for this one,"  she looked around the empty pavilion. "Why did you bring me here?"

He flashed her his gravity defying grin, one that set her heart on flutter mode.  "This isn't the right place," he reached for her hand. "Come, walk with me."

Chimdi narrowed her eyes at him, before withdrawing her hand.  "Is this where I start screaming for help and praying to every existing God to spare my life?"

Sighing out in mock exasperation, he glared at her, taking her hand into his. "Now don't be ridiculous, stop making me feel like the bad guy here."

"Don't expect me to go anywhere with you without knowing my destination, Kodiri. That's why the word volition was made." She argued, and again took back her hand.

TJ sighed, fingers massaging his forehead. The once playful going in her eye was suddenly missing.

He was certain she was all playful and free seconds ago. How she could change her attitude from warm to cold had him baffled. Few hours ago, he was relieved they'd really stepped into the comfort zone, they'd gone from swapping stories to sharing them, now, it felt like they were back to zero.

He dropped the backpack hoisted on his shoulder and cautiously, he rested his hands on her shoulder, fighting the urge to massage the hunched blades.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, staring pensively at her coffee brown orbs.

Chimdi snorted. "Why the hell should I?"

"Because I'm your friend, and friends trust each other." He answered, a bushy brow up.

Chimdi rolled her eyes, the perfect act to mask what she felt at the moment, he'd never actually put a tag to what they were. To her knowledge, they'd gone from frenemies to something more.

Hell, she'd never spent time chatting with Jiki the way she did with TJ and neither did conversations with Elo turn into a blush fest.

Not wanting to bother on the topic, she nodded, trying so hard to avoid his bump igniting stare and the same time, getting her pry game strong.

"So can we go?" TJ asked, once she put on a friendly smile.

He was threading on a thin line at the moment. To him, Chimdi was as unpredictable as the July rain and a faulty manual time bomb.