Tiredness

She drove to Domino's Pizza at Kumasi Crescent, Wuse 2, when we got there, the crowd there was massive for pizza alone, but Rachel had ordered ahead so we did not have to stay in the queue, and we walked to the other section which was cold stone, to get ice cream and we went to the car afterwards to sit and eat.

My phone rang again, but this time it was the manager calling, Ms. Josephine, she wanted to know if I was done and had left the bank.

"So, what's the deal between both of you?" asked Rachel after the call ended.

"I don't understand the question," I replied.

"You resumed yesterday and she had given you free lifts, twice. Did she spend the night at yours last night?"

I nearly choked on my pizza when I heard that, it sounded too ridiculous and I didn't imagine it lingered in her mind. If she thought that way, then a lot of others had the same thoughts too. I had to calmly explain to her how it all happened and that it was also a coincidence that she was still around my area because she visited a friend after she dropped me off the previous day. She did not buy my explanations at first though, but she had no choice but to go with it.

"I wonder how many others think I have something with the manager," I said.

"Don't worry about that. I am like her personal assistant, so I have to know basic things in that branch, especially about her."

"Anyway, even if we have something together, I don't know how it should be a concern to you."

"So, I was right after all," said Rachel.

"Oh, no. I did not mean it that way, I meant, why are you concerned, is that the kind of person she is?"

"Well, she is a decent person and wouldn't do such," replied Rachel.

"Then, make we die the matter if she dey decent." I gave her a slight pat on the back and we talked about some other things.

It was getting late and I did not want to spend another late night outside, so I tried to hurry her up for us to leave because she was ready to talk about everything that pops up in her head. I had a curious question to ask her though but I felt it would not have been the right time to ask because it would present a wrong picture and I kept it to myself.

It was about 9 pm when we left and we arrived at Nicon junction, I came down from her car because she was heading towards Kubwa expressway, to make her way to Gwarinpa and I took the pedestrian crossing bridge to make my way to the other side of the road so I could get a vehicle heading towards Banex junction, we said our goodnights of course.

When I got down from the pedestrian bridge, she was already there waiting for me and was waving at me to come to enter the car.

"What's up? You didn't take the express road?" I asked.

"Well, I thought about it and I can still get to Gwarinpa if I go through Jahi, and that's where you stay. That would help cut your expenses."

I was happy though but I didn't want her to stress herself and if I were to convince her that I'm fine, it would come off in an ungrateful way she'd have to take a long drive to get to Kubwa expressway, I entered the car and thanked her.

Seeing that we are meeting again for the second time that night, I had to ask her the question I kept pending in my thoughts.

"Why the sudden interest in me, being friendly and all?

"Waiting and coming to help me out with extra work so you could take me out for pizza and ice cream, and now this. I am not sure I deserve all these, except if there is something I am missing."

She laughed after she heard all I said, but she did not give an answer, instead, she turned on the radio of her car and tuned it to 96.9 FM. It was an unusual reaction though, but I said nothing further, I just enjoyed Soundcity FM until I got to my junction, Next Cash and Carry. She parked and I got down, closed the door, thanked her and said goodnight.

"Goodnight, mommy's boy." She winked at me, laughed and drove off.

I found that amusing and laughed as I called a bike to come to take me home from that junction. When I got home, I noticed I was so tired, that I jumped on the bed and slept off immediately.

My eyes were wide open early hours of midnight, I did not bother to check the time because I had no idea where my phone was at the time. I took off my clothes, the same ones I wore to work because I slept in them and I had my bath afterwards and I went to bed to try to force myself to sleep. The sleep wasn't coming after about an hour and I got up to look for my phone. After much searching, I found my phone under my bed, switched off. I quickly walked to the wall socket where my charger was, to charge it and I turned it on immediately it started to charge.

A text message came in when the booting process for the phone was done, and the message read, 'I am home now, I hope you are okay. To answer the question you asked me earlier, I just want us to be friends, that is all and I think you are a nice person and I want to make the first move to starting our friendship.' End of message.

I had no idea who the message was from because the number wasn't saved on my phone but I had to guess it was Rachel. The time then was almost 2 pm and the message came in a few minutes to 10 pm, but there was no point calling her because she'd be fast asleep by then, so I replied with, 'I am cool with that Rachel, sleep tight.'

There was no way I could stay awake doing nothing and whenever I stay up so late, I become hungry. I walked to my fridge and the only thing I had there was a loaf of bread and a bottle of coca-cola. I took it and walked back to where my phone was charging, to devour it and also see movies on my phone. It was almost dawn and I was still sitting on the floor seeing movies and for a weird reason, I felt like going back to bed to sleep a while before having my bath and preparing for work. It was such a tempting idea but I knew if I had laid down on that bed, I won't be up until it was afternoon. Dragging my tired self to the bathroom was a hard task to accomplish, I was so tired it took me minutes to complete the journey to the bathroom and it took more minutes to finish having my bath.

The struggle to have my bath ended, and I was faced with what to wear because my clothes were not ironed and I was not in the mood to iron any clothes. I instead searched for the less rumpled clothes and put them on.