Chapter 2

Anna busied herself in the kitchen, microwaving and dishing the food out onto plates, and this led Justin to get lost in his thoughts.

‘She thinks I’m over her?’ he wondered.

‘How is that even possible for her to think that? Because I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve anymore?’ He sighed. Anna was the one who’d made it clear they would never date, and he didn’t want to lose her as a friend, so he suppressed his feelings. Now she was acting all surprised that he’d done what she wanted.

‘Women are confusing,’ he concluded, deciding to ask his friends for advice when they met up later that day.

Anna wobbled into the living room, balancing two plates on her palms.

He scooted over to make room for her, and she plopped down beside him.

“I actually wanted Heather to take the TV because my mom was going to give me her old set, but then it broke, so I’m glad she didn’t,” she said, handing him the plate.

He took it with appreciation, and they dug in. Anna fiddled with her phone till she finally connected her VouTube account to it, and they started to watch a series, both of them dropping comments when they saw it fit.

They stayed like this long after they were done eating, swapping the movie for pleasant small talk until their peace was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the doorbell.

Justin got up to answer the door, but Anna pulled him back down. 

“No!” she hurriedly whispered. “I’m not expecting anyone, so if we ignore them. They should go away.”

He raised an eyebrow in obvious disagreement but then shrugged. It was her house, after all.

The knocking continued for a bit, then lessened until it eventually stopped. It sounded like whoever was there was leaving.

Anna looked at Justin with a triumphant expression. ‘I told you so,’ it seemed to be saying.

Suddenly, her phone started to ring, and the banging started up again. Justin rolled his eyes at her shocked expression and got up to answer the door. It was Becky, Anna’s younger sister.

She growled a greeting at Justin, swung her bag on the floor, and made a beeline toward Anna.

“Why do you never open the door on time?” she whined, pulling at Anna’s hair.

“Because I don’t like people!” Anna replied, struggling to get away from Becky’s manicured nails.

She broke free and ran to stand behind a bemused Justin. 

“What are you even doing here? Don’t you have college to be in or something?!”

Becky was eighteen years old, fresh out of high school, and on her way to the start of her sparkling career—so she always said.

“I haven’t resumed yet. You and Heather do this every time I visit–” she paused, looking around the room for the first time. “Where is Aunty Ther, by the way?”

“Didn’t she tell you to stop calling her that? And Heather moved out some hours ago. No, I’m not telling you her new address. She deserves peace and quiet, and you bring none of that,” Anna replied, finally stepping out from behind Justin’s shadow.

Becky sighed. “I could always just ask Ian, you know? He’s literally Zac’s nephew.”

Last year, Ian was her classmate and love interest for about a month before she decided she didn’t need to be tied down by a crush at her young age. They agreed to stay friends and occasionally hung out like they used to.

Anna paled, and Becky laughed as she plopped down onto the couch. Heather was much more fun to tease than Anna, but she would have to do.

Anna and Justin resumed the series they’d been watching at Becky’s request.

It was another hour before he had to go, and when it was up, Anna walked him to her door. “Have fun tonight,” she said. “Just don’t do anything I would do.”

He laughed, and Anna cringed, remembering the night when she had gotten so drunk she’d blurted out a secret of Heather’s right in front of her supervisee at the time—Zac.

It did help move their relationship along, in retrospect, but it was still an embarrassing event for her. The next day she’d gotten alcohol poisoning, which made it even worse. Heather called it karma.

Justin brushed some strands of her hair behind her ear. Anna had constantly messy hair, except when she was going out. At home, she just couldn’t be bothered. Not like Heather, whose hair had to be perfect even when it was just the two of them at home. The girl had jars and bottles of edge control and hair styling gel in her room, and Anna couldn’t understand it. Then again, that was afro, and this was straight hair. They were different.

“I’d have more fun if you were coming along, but this will have to do,” Justin said as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. Anna sighed in contentment. He was always doing this right from the time they were colleagues. She’d found it weird at first but now found comfort in it.

“Get going before I drag you back in here,” Anna laughed, pushing him away.

She waved and closed the door and went to join Becky on the couch.

“What’re you doing here anyway?” she wondered, poking her sister so she could make room for her.

Becky moved over reluctantly and sharply responded. “Stop poking me, you dummy. And Mom said to come see you because, if left to your own devices, you would forget you had family in the first place. Her words, not mine. She also said you should come for a visit some time soon, and when are you getting married? Among other things.”

Anna facepalmed. 

‘Why did I even ask?’ she thought.

They watched the films in comfortable silence, and Anna hoped Justin was having more fun than she was at the moment.

Meanwhile, Justin was being bombarded with questions from his friends. They’d met up at Shiny Dehvel—a bar often frequented by young adults and teenagers. He was the last to arrive. Seated at the table already was Zac, who was glued to his phone texting Heather, Tate—a friendly man with a shaved head and a killer body, Derrick and Ethel—everyone’s favorite couple, Michealangelo—except everyone just called him M or Mikey, and a high school friend of Zac’s—Llyod.

Their group used to consist of one more member, David, but he stopped hanging out with them after a nasty prank he pulled on Heather backfired, and she retaliated with force. He ran off with his tail between his legs, and they never welcomed him back into the fold. In their opinion, good riddance to bad rubbish.

Justin blinked, setting down the drinks he’d gotten up to get. 

“What? I didn’t get that. Can y’all please talk one at a time?”

They ignored this plea, of course, shouting question after question, statement after statement, everyone trying to be louder than the other.

“Soooo, you still like Anna? Even though she rejected you?”

“Don’t say it like that, Derrick! It’s not a bad thing! He’s really brave holding on to hope like that.”

“But do you know why she doesn’t want to date? Could it be anything like The Heather Case ?”

Zac lifted his head from his phone. “Hey, don’t treat Heather and I’s story like some mystery case experiment,” he chuckled.

Justin shrugged. “You have to admit. It was one helluva crazy case.”

Heather had previously had an aversion to men because of her bad experiences. Although she liked Zac, she shot him down multiple times in order to protect her heart. It had taken Zac months to break her walls down.

“But I doubt that’s the case with Anna. Unlike Heather, who had an aversion to anything that had to do with men in her age group, Anna doesn’t mind men. She doesn’t mind physical intimacy. All she has a problem with is the romantic aspect of it.” He sighed, downing his drink. “Would you believe she thinks I’m over her? How impossible is that? I interact with her almost every day. How on earth could I ever stop? Sometimes I just want to bundle her up and run away,” he muttered, putting his head in his palms.

“Damn. Now that’s whipped,” Lloyd said, stating the obvious. “You should ask Zac for clues since this was him about a year ago, and now he’s about to move in with the woman of his dreams.” Lloyd threw a bunch of crisps in Zac’s direction. “Oi, Zac! When should we be expecting the wedding invites?”

The whole table burst into laughter, and Zac rolled his eyes. He stopped chuckling when he noticed Justin’s dejected face.

“Yo, wassup? Wanna get out of here? Maybe you should talk to Heather about this. They’re best friends, aren’t they? She should know more about whatever is happening.”

Justin nodded, so they left for Zac’s apartment.