Chapter Seventy-Seven – We Meet Again

As soon as the guests had pulled out of the house, Lara proceeded to gather her things to head back to campus.

“Leaving so soon?” her father asked in a familial voice. Lara didn’t make eye contact. “Yes, I want to settle for the semester” she said. As she spoke, she inched towards the door to call the driver.

“Your father and I didn’t know you were into business now. That’s good” her mother said.

Lara stopped in her tracks. She wasn’t expecting that.

“Thank you” she said, smiling.

“You did well today. Keep it up” her father added.

The whole drive back to school, Lara was on cloud nine. Her parents had complimented her and learned something about her. This was good. This was very good. Who knew that her father’s political ambitions would be the thing to unify them?

*

Boateng met an excited Lara who chirped on and on about how perfect the evening had gone. He was glad to hear it. The two chatted as he escorted her back to her room.

“Is Araba around” he finally asked, as they drew closer to the room. Lara nodded.

Boateng paused. “She’s still not talking to me so I’m not sure I can escort you in.”

“Yeah, I know. If it makes you feel any better, she’s not getting any pleasure from ignoring you. She’s just really hurt. What you did was shitty but I’ve already told you that.”

“Yeah, you have. I should go.”

As he turned around to leave, Lara was in contemplation. “Boateng” she called. He turned around. “Why don’t you come anyway. She can’t avoid you forever.”

I had on some Moses Bliss praise songs as I chopped up my sausages to add to my egg and bread. I was so engrossed in beating the egg and dancing that I didn’t turn around when Lara came in, so I didn’t notice that Boateng was behind her.

“How did it go” I called without turning still. It must have been a sight for the two of them, standing there watching me gyrate while I beat an egg.

“Um, Araba. Boateng is here to see you” Lara said. I froze with the spatula in hand. I took of my headphones and turned around swiftly to find Boateng standing there, looking tall and handsome. Damn you Lara.

I had two options. One was to be a hard girl and tell him to piss off and the other was to just hug him and tell him I’d missed him. I tried to find the middle ground somewhere. Which incidentally happened to be just standing there. It’s those damn neurons.

“Hey” he said.

After I didn’t respond, Lara thought it might be a good time for her to chime in.

“I met Boateng on my way up and I thought it’d be nice if he came in” she said.

“I didn’t see you all Christmas and so I thought it’d be good to accept the invitation and wish you a happy new year. You look nice” he said.

A lot of thoughting going around, I see. Maybe I should do some thoughting of my own and fling myself of the balcony to escape the agony of my mind right now.

“Thank you and same to you” I said.

My quick response left him fumbling for words. I turned around to go back to my cooking and so he quickly added “I hope we can see more of each other this semester”.

Thank God my back was turned.

“Okay” I said with the straightest possible voice.

He stood there awkwardly fidgeting, undecided about what to do or say next. Lara was not any help just standing there.

“Alright then. I’ll see you later” he said. He gave a look of “I tried” to Lara before heading out. I refused to turn around till I heard the door close.

I glared at Lara. “Why would you do that?” I asked, furiously. Lara refused to be fazed by my anger.

“Because the two of you are going to have to talk eventually. Better sooner rather than later.”

I just glared at her before pouring my egg mix into the hot oil.

*

Carl checked himself out in the mirror one last time before heading out. He wasn’t a huge fan of interviews and the like. He preferred the tag of a mysterious artist but his management informed him that if he wanted to move from opening shows for others to headlining his own shows, he needed to be more out in the public. Besides, it was from practice with local interviews that he could be better prepared for international ones.

He closed the door behind him and trudged down the stairs. He was going to appear on the Night Show with Amanda. Amanda was a hardcore entertainment journalist who interviewed anybody that was somebody in the entertainment industry. Really, it was an honor for Carl to have been going.

His nerves were all over the place as the production team helped him set up his microphone.

“Don’t worry Carl. Relax. Unless you have anything to hide this interview should be a sweet walk in the park.”

Carl gulped. Did he have any secrets? Well, yes and no. Obviously, he had things that he didn’t want anyone else to know. Other than that, he wasn’t guilty of any travesty that might upend his career so maybe he could relax. Right?

It definitely made it easier knowing the interview wasn’t live. Everything went by smoother than he could have imagined.

Amanda asked the last question. “So, Carl, now let me ask you the question that all the women are dying to know. Are you single or do you have a special woman in your life?”

Carl laughed. “Yes, I am presently single. Very single.”

“Wow. I find that hard to believe. You are telling me there’s no important woman? But has there been one at a point in time?”

“Oh yes. I really liked this girl but unfortunately things didn’t work out for us and she also had to move away. Since then, I have been riding solo.”

Amanda nodded with a smile and began to close out the show. Carl smiled contentedly to himself. He’d actually survived the interview without saying anything dumb or so he thought.