Twenty nine

"Come on, let her eat man." Uche told him.

"What about you? Aren't you going to eat." I asked Uche and got another glare from Nick.

Uche didn't reply, I guess he took it as a rhetorical question. He came to where I sat and he picked up the second dish Nick had made and took two forks before walking back to Nick.

He gave one of the forks to his best friend, who took it from him and they both sat next to each other on the dining table and began to eat.

I went back to eating mine too after I almost asked Nick why he was eating because he had clearly said that he had lost his appetite, but I didn't ask that. Now that I think of it, Uche was right, maybe I was troublesome. I giggled at my own thoughts, making them look at me but I reached for the glass of water on the kitchen island and drank from it, facing my dish.

We were done eating now and all the plates were in the sink. Uche picked up his bag from the dining table as Nick opened the door and headed outside. Uche stood at the door waiting for me to get my own school bag and when I went through the door, he closed it behind me.

"Nick, keys?!" I called him where he stood outside about to cover his ears with his earphones. I was asking where the keys were, so I could lock the door. He didn't answer, he just went ahead and still closed his ears. What on earth is wrong with him?!

I heard Uche sigh and when I turned around, he had gone back inside. I peeked in through the door and I saw him grab a key bunch from the top of one of the drawers there in the living room.

He knew where the house keys were and I didn't, wow Julie, just wow. He came back out and closed the door behind him, locking it quickly, he gave the key bunch to me and walked over to Nick, I hurried behind him.

"Now you are just being unreasonably grumpy, you know that right?" I was close enough to hear Uche tell Nick after taking out the left earphone from his left ear. Uche seemed pissed about what Nick just did; ignoring me when I asked for the house keys.

Nick had succeeded in making Uche get in a bad mood too. Nick's face suddenly changed, it surprisingly became less cranky but it was still moody. He was probably thinking about what Uche just told him.

When I really got to where they both were, Nick looked at me roughly before he spoke;

"The keys are on the second drawer in the ....."

"She already locked the door, let's start going, we might get late to school." Uche said and grabbed my arm so we could start heading to school. I turned back and Nick was just staring now.

We both left the yard( Uche and I), I won't lie, I was surprised with what he just did. It was like he didn't care about Nick being there. I kept staring at him as we walked on, his hands holding mine. He finally looked at me and saw my surprised face.

"What?" He asked.

"Uhm...did you just hold my hands in front of Nick?" I asked smiling, it made me happy; what he did.

"Yeah?" He said not letting go.

"Nick's right behind us." I thought I should let him know but he still didn't care.

"So?" He asked and I looked behind me. I wasn't sure of Nick actually been behind us but now I was. Nick was trying to catch up with us but we were far.

...

"Hey, what's up man?" One of our classmates who was leaning on the stair rail leading to the school entrance greeted Uche when we passed by him. I don't know why but I immediately withdrew my hands from his, maybe I was scared that the other students and his friends would see us holding hands. I couldn't let anyone see us, I didn't feel like I was good enough to be hanging out with him.

Honestly speaking, I was scared of what people would say if they found out we were dating. When I proposed making our relationship secret, I didn't do it just because of Nick and their bro code or whatever, no, I aldo did it because i was worried about the way he was known in school.

If we dated publicly, I might have to deal with people he knew and trust me, he knew a lot of persons; he was school famous, I wasn't ready for that.

He turned to me when he felt my hand leave his. He wasn't saying anything but he had his face expression asking me why I did that. We were now in front of the school entrance, at the base of the stairs. I sighed before saying anything to him.

"We can talk after class?" I smiled and took one step up the stairs and stood there, his eyes still on me.

"Why....why did you do that?" He asked, confusion written over his face.

"I...." I didn't know what to tell him. Actually I did, I just didn't how to explain it to him. He stood there, waiting for me to go on, his left hand holding the hand of his bag which rested on his left shoulder.

I licked my lips to stop it from getting dry, I had forgotten my lipgloss. I could see Nick heading towards us now, he had gotten tired of trying to catch up before.

"Can we talk later?" I smiled again and started up the stairs. I looked back when I was about to go in through the door and he was still looking at me when Nick placed a hand on his shoulder. I went inside.

*****

Heyy, it's your author geni. Please note that everything written here is nothing but fiction.Please vote as you read, comment your thoughts and don't forget to leave a review, I am very open to constructive criticism. I'm on all socials as @genika3na.