Uche poked his head through his bathroom door."Hey babe?"
"Yeah?" I covered my phone's earpiece to answer him.
"Nick's downstairs. Should I tell him you're here? Or find a way to get him to leave?"
I bit my lip and tapped my feet while contemplating. I didn't have the mental energy to deal with Nick, but I also wanted Uche to start getting acquainted to spending time with his friends again instead of me.
"I don't mind him being here," I answered and didn't hear him for a while till he went:
"You sure?"
"Yeah, just don't let him up here. I'm still naked."
"Okay." His voice became dull. He did want a different answer when he asked if to make an excuse to make Nick leave.
When he left, I checked the screen of my phone and saw that my mum had ended the call after she didn't hear me for a while. I decided to dial her number again.
"Hey mum," I greeted her when she picked on the first ring of the call. I could tell she was probably sitting and waiting for me to call back.
"Dear...you don't have to come if you don't want to. I can't find someone..."
"I'll come back home," I interrupted her and embraced the silence that came immediately after.
"You will?" She asked, a bit of joy in her voice."You know you can just stay longer with your aunt till you graduate. She mentioned how she didn't mind it and..."
"Yeah," I swallowed."I don't like it here," I lied.
"Oh. Do you want me to be the one to come pick you up? Or do you want your aunt to drive you back to the city?"
"When?" I pinched my eyebrows aimlessly as I waited for an answer.
"Whenever you're ready. But you know it'll be easier if you register for your preliminary exams earlier over here and get done with the process of it."
"Mmn," I agreed."Come pick me." I answered her question from before.
"Okay. Think of it and text me a date between Tuesday next week and Friday. Good?"
"I'll check. Bye." I told her before ending the call.
*****
I got out of the bathroom and scanned the room for my clothes. Uche had already fixed his bed and kept the clothes that were everywhere elsewhere.
I texted him to know where he left my clothes and he replied almost immediately. I had just fitted my shorts on when he joined me in the room from downstairs.
He just came by and leaned against the wall near where I stood, watching me zip up my shorts.
"Where's Nick?" I asked him.
"Downstairs." He answered and decided to come help me with the zipper I was struggling with.
"Thanks," I let go of it so he could take care of it.
"Yeah," he just said."You good?" He looked up after it was done and I nodded satisfactorily about my shorts."No, not your short. You. You okay?"
I lifted my eyes to his. He was watching, waiting for me to say something. But I couldn't lie. Not to him, he'd catch me so easily. It was safer not saying anything than lying. It started to dawn on me what my decision with my mum meant.
I felt guilty. It felt like my heart was falling to my stomach. He was still watching with his beautiful brown eyes.
"I knew it, something was wrong." I heard him say to himself when I didn't answer but I just chuckled to hide my thoughts from him.
I took my top to wear over my tube bra but it smelt a lot like heat. Bad heat. I groaned and turned to him.
"I can't wear it, it's bad." I pouted, hoping I could get him to believe I was fine.
"Hold on," he stretched his arms over my head to bring a shirt from his wardrobe."Can you wear this?" He held up a black shirt so I just took it.
"Did you shower?" He asked while I put on his shirt but I just shook my head.
"I'll do that when go to my room," I successfully buttoned up the shirt and went to stand in front of the mirror to see how I looked.
"Wait, you're leaving?"
"I am," I brushed all my hair back with my hands before looking back at him.
"Why? Nick?"
"No. I've got stuff to do..."
"But you said you didn't have any plans for the rest of the day...and now Nick is here, you're leaving..."
"It's not like that..."
"Then what?"
"It's my mum!" I blurted out."It's my mum, okay? She needs me." I sniffed, guilt washing over me.
"Oh," his eyes got soft when he saw the tears that were forming in my eyes."Come here," he pulled me in for a hug, and it helped for some seconds till I remembered that I had to tell him.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, my face still buried in his chest.
"Don't be," I heard him."What'd she say? Your mum?" He figured out it was her I spoke to in the bathroom.
"Nothing," I stopped our hug and sniffed, doing my best to avoid his eyes."I should go..."
"Julie..." He stopped me and lifted my chin to face him; to face those beautiful brown eyes I was avoiding.
I pushed his hand away, "Stop." I told him."I'm leaving." I just wanted to go back to my room and be alone at this point.
"Yeah, Casey already told me." I heard him say when I was about to turn his door knob.
"What?" I turned back to him, trying to make sense of what he just said, and then, out of nowhere, it made sense. Casey told him I was planning to leave for the city.
Shit.
"What did Casey tell you? What did she say? Do you already know?" I came back to him with questions, and he scratched his hair into a mess while trying not to answer them.
"Uche," I got frustrated when he wasn't saying anything.
"I know about your mum, and how she needs you back in the city..." He started and my heart stopped. He knew.
"I was gonna tell you..." I needed to let him know.
"I know, I just..." He paused."I just don't like how you push me away whenever you think of it."
"I'm sorry," I said even though I expected he'd react more than he was. He was still calm despite knowing I was planning to leave without letting him know.
Casey. That...I told her not to let him know.
"I've been waiting for when you'll tell me just so I could tell you that I didn't mind waiting till you got back before registering for the exams and processing the whole scholarship stuff..."
Huh? That was my first thought at the things he was saying but then another thought hit me. He didn't know the full thing, probably. Now, I needed to talk to Casey. I needed to know what she told him how much she did, and even why she told him in the first place.
"Uche..."
"Or I can apply to a uni in the city side, then you can stay with your mum permanently and we'll just go there together..."
"No, the universities there are shitty," I explained while keeping in mind that he didn't know going to the city was planned as permanent from the beginning.
"Okay then, maybe I'll..."
"Look, Uche. I haven't...I haven't decided yet," I lied while looking out his window, worried he'd catch on to my lie."I haven't decided if I'll go yet. I'm supposed to call my mum back and let her know the decision. We can talk about this when I decide, for now, I just want to shower and go to bed. My head feels heavy."
"Oh." He sighed in relief."Okay."