Repetition Compulsion

29.

Sera was a little worried about Nahi's response to everything, especially the smoking and the fake smiles and happiness, yet she didn't bring it up. She figured Nahi was already going through enough without her questioning her unhealthy and downright inappropriate coping mechanisms. Besides, she figured that calling Nahi out on her coping mechanisms would probably make her a hypocrite.

So instead of forcing Nahi to sit down and process all her emotions, or to at least properly talk about everything that was going on, Sera took off her shoes, then she squeezed her body next to Nahi's in the bathtub.

"Distract me", Nahi said, whilst rolling her blunt. "Tell me what happened on your big date last night."

"I already told you what happened."

"No you didn't", she stated firmly. "You just told me about how AB asked you out again...I wanna know the events leading up to that."

Nahi called Abimbola "AB", as she couldn't pronounce his name. According to her, her tongue quite frankly just refused to roll that way, and she didn't want to butcher his name. 

She must have noticed how Sera was looking at her because just then, she sat up and firmly said. "Hey...stop it...none of that tonight."

"I'm sorry", Sera started to say. "I just think-"

"Distract me", she repeated, interrupting Sera, and as she said that, she lit up the blunt, and exhaled the smoke skillfully whilst staring focusedly at the ceiling. She really seemed to be trying hard to escape her reality. So Sera figured Nahi was already going through a lot and had come back home for peace from all the madness that was going on in her life. And so, with that thought, Sera decided to be a good friend for once. She decided she would be Nahi's peace...well at least for that night anyway. So, in an attempt to humor her, Sera told Nahi everything that had happened the previous night, from the incident with Troy, up until the call she had received that morning.

During Sera's little story-time, all Nahi did was listen, inhale and exhale. When Sera finally finished talking, Nahi looked back up at Sera, squinted a little, pulled in her cheeks, took another puff, and then passed the blunt to Sera.

"Here", she said. "You look like you need this more than I do."

Impossible.

Nonetheless, Sera grabbed the blunt from her hand and inhaled deeply, mostly just to humor Nahi, though it did seem to be helping with her own anxious thoughts.

Nahi watched her, a satisfied look on her face, before she said "Was that any good? That drag you just pulled...was it any good?"

"Uhm...I guess?", she replied hesitantly, because she wasn't sure where Nahi was planning on taking this whole situation. Her unusual calmness was startling.

"Okay good", Nahi said, extending her hand to help Sera up. "Now get up and follow me."

Sera took her hand and followed Nahi just as she had been instructed, even though she had no idea what was going on or where she was being taken.

"Where are we going?", Sera finally asked, as they made their way towards the kitchen.

"To Troy's house", Nahi said calmly. "That mother-fucker needs to be taught a lesson. He really thinks he's the shit, doesn't he?"

"What?"

"Don't 'what' me", Nahi replied irritably, whilst reaching for a crate of eggs from the fridge. "I am going to Troy Gabriels' house with or without your help or consent. I know guys like Troy Gabriels...they won't stop messing with you until you shut things down. I'm gonna go shut things down for you Sera. I'm gonna shut it all down with this crate of eggs."

"Well what are you gonna do with the eggs?"

"You'll see", she smiled deviously.

"Nahi...think about what you are doing...you are about to egg a law student. I'm pretty sure that's illegal in some country. He's gonna hit us with a lawsuit neither one of us can get out of." Sera said trying to speak some sense into her friend's mind, even though she could clearly see that Nahi had already made up her mind. In all her years of friendship with Nahi, Sera had learnt that once Nahi had set her mind to something, then there was no stopping her. Still, she couldn't help but try.

"illegal?!", Nahi shouted with an intense passion and determination Sera hadn't seen or heard from her in a long time. " Okay, baby, I see you're a little lost, so I'll give you a crash course on what is considered to be illegal in this country. 'illegal' ", she said, whilst making air quotes "is keeping someone hostage in a relationship for 7 months, and then stalking them in a bathroom stall once they finally manage to escape. 'illegal' is whatever the fuck he did to you in that house for SEVEN WHOLE MONTHS. I don't even know what it is that he did to you—and to be quite frank, I don't think I wanna know. But what I do know is that whatever he did was illegal. No offense, Sera, but he kind of has you all the way fucked up. It's almost like he...broke you." By this time, Nahi's veins were popping with anger, so it was a miracle really how she managed to calm down enough to say the next part. "What he did was illegal, Sera. We are just gonna do the bare minimum damage."

Sera knew better. She knew this was not about Troy at all. She knew Nahi was projecting her life issues onto her, using the Troy situation. But then again, she also knew she couldn't stop her. If she was being completely honest with herself, she didn't think she even wanted to stop her. So, she didn't. Instead, she held on to her blunt, and then followed Nahi as she made her way out the door.