DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 24
By: Faith Lucky.
Audrey’s Pov:
I cleaned my eyes completely and left the kitchen to meet him outside. He was packing flowers when I reached and he squ-atted, backing me.
When he noticed I was behind him, he turned to look at me.
“Oh! You’re here” he said warmly and turned back to the flowers.
He was picking and putting them in a bowl.
“Mr Rodney, what do you nee-d the flowers for?” I asked still standing behind him.
“Nothing really. But don’t you think they can be used as decorations?” He replied.
He was slow in picking the flowers as he’d t©uçh, admire and perceive it before pu-lling it out.
“Um…Mr Rodney, when exactly are you leaving?” I asked after a short while.
“Don’t really know. Maybe tonight or first thing in the morning. Why?” He replied and asked.
“Nothing. Just wanted to know.”
Hm. So I only had few hours to spend with him. I wish it could be extended to morning.
“Can I ask you a question?” Rodney said and for an unknown reason, I felt nervous again.
“Y…Yes?” I stuttered a little
“Why did you cut the pasta when you heard I was about leaving?” He asked and turned to look at me.
Oh, God! What do I say?
I bec@m£ twitchy and stuttered for words and to make it worst, he was staring directly into my face.
“I uhm…its…” I paused and sighed.
“Actually, the…the cutting of the pasta was a mistake. Th…There was nothing attached to it.” I replied.
He turned back to the flowers and laughed silently and I had a feeling he knew I was lying.
He stood up with the bowl of flowers and walked towards me. My heart gave a leap as he drew closer and stood in front of me.
He brou-ght out a purple flower from the bowl and fixed it in my hair.
I smiled and tried tou-ching it but he st©pped me, bringing down my hand.
“Let it be” he said.
“it’s beautiful”.
I smiled again as he backed me and kept the flowers on a stool.
“The song you sang in the club last night, was it for me?,” he asked as he sat on a long bench that was kept outside.
“Um…kind of . but not all the lyrics were for you” I replied and he chuckled.
“Come on; come and have a seat” he told me and adjusted for me to sit next to him on the bench and I did.
“So, what p@rt of the lyrics wasn’t meant for me?” He asked and I bit myl-ips.
“Is it the p@rt about being my weakness, being the one I’d die for and doing the things I thought I’d never do?” He asked again and I laughed.
“Well maybe. Kind of” I replied.
He smiled and we both stared into space.
“So you could use the Nigerian local language?” He asked.
“Well, I just tried. I was in love with the song so I had to learn. But how was it?”
“Well, coming from you, it was funny”.
I frowned.
“No, no; I mean the p@rt of the local language was funny. But the song itself was beautiful. You were amazingly great” he added and I smiled.
“I’m just surprised you could make use of the pidin or whatever it’s called”.
“It’s called pidgin” I ch!pped in and he nods.
“By the way, you’re a great dancer. I never knew that” he said and I blu-shed.
“Thanks” I replied childishly
“I also love dancing but, bad news is; I’m not a good dancer. It’s not like I can’t dance, the problem is, I’ve never wasted to learn. Even when I was with Jocelyn, she always got mad at me because I wouldn’t learn how to dance.
“But I think I’m suddenly interested. Why don’t you teach me?”
“Me?” I asked and pointed to myself.
“Well, yes. You. Is there something wrong?”
“Um…I…”
“Come on Audrey; it’s going to be easy. We can use the High School Musical song – Can I have this dance”.
“High School Musical? B…But some of the lyrics are…”
“I know. It’s just practice. Besides, why are you even considering the lyrics? I guess you don’t know what you did last night”.
I flin-ched.
“What did I do Mr Rodney?” I asked.
“Well, I’ll tell you after the dance. Deal?” He asked and I rolled my eyes and replied:
“Deal”.
“Good. And I’ll give you a hint bonus. This was p@rt of what you did to me last night” he said and pu-ll-ed my nose and I laughed, but still looked surprised.
“Mr Rodney! Don’t tell me I did that?” I asked as we both stood up, still laughing.
“Of course, you did. And they’re crazy more to be told of” he replied and also laughed.
“So, do you know the full song?” He asked and I nodded.
“What about you?” I asked
“Mmm…not really. But I’m a fast learner” he replied and turned on the music on his phone.
It was just the instrumental; so we had to do the main singing.
“Hm. I just pray you don’t peel my toes” I said as we waited for the intro to pas-s.
He laughed again.
“Don’t worry; I’ll try not to” he replied.
Soon, it was time for the singing and I cleared my throat and started.
We were still standing ap@rt, but we followed the lyrics of the song and did as it was required.
Take my hand
Take a breath
pu-ll me close
And take one step
Keep your eyes
Locked on mine
And let the music
Be Your guide…
We went on singing and dancing to the song and it was so beautiful.
My right hand was holding his left hand while my left hand was on his shoulder and his right hand on my w@!st.
At first, his hand on my w@!st had s£nt shivers down my spine, but I later bec@m£ comfortable with it.
Indeed, he was a fast learner; just like he claimed.
There was a place in the song that had required him to make me think I’d fall but catch me and he did it.
I had screamed, thinking I’d fall, but he caught me by the w@!st and turned me around. It was so much fun and I wished the song never had to end.
Oh! Mr Rodney; how I wanted this friendsh!pto last forever.
But what if today might be the last day we get to be so happy together? What if he changes the moment he leaves?
What if…
Oh! If only miracles could happen.
No mountain’s too high
And no oceans to wi-de
Cause together all night
Our dance won’t st©p
Let it rain
Let it pour
What we have is worth fighting for
You know I believe
That we were meant to be…
It was so much and I could tell even Rodney wished it never had to end in a hurry.
We did the dance so perfectly and finally concluded the song, breathing intensely.
My hand was still on his shoulder and his hand was still on my w@!st and we were staring into each other’s eyes since the first p@rt of the song had requested our eyes to he interlocked.
At first, we were smiling; but our smiles faded as we both for no reason, still held onto each other.
I was twitchy and that was when I could fully feel his hand on my w@!st.
I couldn’t tell why he still held me and somehow, I couldn’t refrain myself.
Our faces started drawing near and we could feel each other’s breath.
Slowly, Rodney’s eyes left mine and looked downwards – at myl-ips.
Oh, no! What’s happening??
I nervously looked down at hisl-ips and I could hear the sound of my blood running throu-gh my veins.
Ourl-ips were alre-ady tou-ching each other’s when we heard a tearful voice call from behind:
“Rodney?”
It c@m£ out weak and shocked and a little betrayed.
We quic-kly dis£ntangled ourselves and turned to see whom it was and to my greatest surprise, it was Megan.
What???
DEAR
JOCELYN
Episode 25
By: Faith Lucky.
Rodney’s Pov:
Audrey g@sped and moved back a bit. I stared at Megan with surprise.
“You…I…I can’t believe this” she stuttered tearfully and poured out more tears.
I was still confused. How did she find me?
I looked back at Audrey and back at Megan.
“Megan, wh…what’re you doing here?” I asked.
“Really?” She asked and scoffed with tears.
“is that the first thing that could come to your mind? You…you don’t want me around, right? I’m…I’m disturbing your perfect time – right? Oh, God!’
She turned around and started running away, weeping profusely.
“Megan!” I called and ran after her.
I caught up with her just when she was about entering her car.
“Megan wait…”
“Was this what you meant when you said you wanted to be alone?” She turned angrily to look at me.
“Is this your own way of being alone? By flir-ting in pri-vate with a…With a nob©dy?”
“Megan, it’s not what you think”
“And what do I think? Rodney, I’ve…I’ve been with you for years, but you’re never trusted me enough to let me into your pri-vate life; to be there for you when you nee-ded a friend. You shut me out like I was a total stranger. But here you are, flir-ting with someone else. Is this what makes you happy, huh? Tell me!’ She half-yelled and entered the Car, driving off immediately.
I stood with my hands at akimbo. I swayed up and down and hit my hand on the wall.
What the hell did I do? Why did I create such a mess?
For sure, if Megan hadn’t shown up, I’d have ended up k!ss!ngAudrey. But why?
Why was i strangely attra-cted to her? Why did I lose control? Why was my emotions pla-ying tricks on me?
I looked back at the house to see if she was still standing outside, but she wasn’t. I took in a de-ep breath.
How will I face her? What will I say to her? What will be her reaction?
I couldn’t even tell what to think. I was so confused.
I walked back to the house and there I met her pacing around the room; she was also disturbe-d.
She st©pped the moment she noticed me and we stood, facing each other.
Audrey’s Pov:
He was staring at my face, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.
I just fixed my gaze on the floor and fiddled with my hand.
He could clearly re-ad the confusion on my face.
“Mr Rodney…”
“Audrey…”
We called at the same time and paused, each wanting the other to talk first.
We were both curious to know what we were thinking.
“I’m leaving” he said and I felt a sharp pain in my che-st.
Well, what was I expecting? I had a feeling he’d want to leave immediately.
“O…Okay” I replied simply and took the my eyes back to the floor.
Perhaps, I wanted him to say something else, but didn’t. He just walked past me into the be-droom and returned with his car keys.
I remained standing and wondered if he was going to leave without saying any other thing.
I really wanted him to say something else. But what was I expecting him to say?
He got to the door and paused before walking out.
My heart skipped as he turned to look at me.
What was he going to say?
“Thanks for the help” he said inscrutably and finally left.
I plonked myself on a chair as I heard the sound of his car driving away. I suddenly bec@m£ weak and more confused.
Why did Mr Rodney try to k!ssme?
Although, I wouldn’t had rejected the k!ss, but I was still confused why he tried doing it in the first place.
And the way he had stared at me, I couldn’t forget those eyes of his.
The whole thing filled me with de-sires and Megan’s pres£nce created so many unanswered questions. If only she had waited a little longer, maybe the whole thing wouldn’t be this complicated.
I sluggishly cleaned the house, ma-king sure none of his things remained there. And after that, I locked up the place and returned home.
Leo’s Pov:
I headed for Rodney’s room and there I ran into mum who was coming out. She wasn’t looking happy; not at all.
She walked past me and I went in and there I met Rodney, smoking.
He was sitting on an arms chair and faced the window and didn’t even bother to know who was coming in.
“Hey bro” I called and went to sit on a table beside him.
That way, we could now see each other’s faces.
“Hi” he said in a sigh and smoked from his cigarette.
“it’s a good thing you’re back and in one piece. I hope this *being alone stuff*ends soon” I added and chuckled, but he didn’t reply to it.
“Just returning from Megan’s” I continued.
“She’s pretty upset, Rodney. She said she caught you guys k!ssing.”
“We weren’t k!ssing, Leo” he chimed.
“But you almost k!$$£d”.
“That’s Megan’s story”.
“But it’s the truth’ I said and he sighed.
“But thinking of it Rodney” I continued.
“What really happened? I mean, you don’t have any female friends. You don’t even like the company of girls. But surprisingly, you spent days with this Audrey of a lady and you were actually comfortable with it. You even almost k!$$£d her. What happened?”
Rodney sighed again and t©uçhed his hair.
“I…I don’t really know leo” he started, a little pissed off.
“I don’t really know how to explain it ,but I kind of feel different around her. And the k!ss!ngp@rt, I couldn’t tell why, but I lost control. We were just doing some dance practice and…I couldn’t let go of her when we were done.
“Of a truth, if Megan hadn’t shown up, I’d have k!$$£d her, Leo. But I can’t explain why.”
I also left the table and stood behind him by the window.
“Are you trying to say you’ve fallen in love with her?” I asked and he shook his head slowly.
“No” he replied calmly.
“That’s not possible. I can’t be in love with someone else. My heart was only meant for Jocelyn and she’s captured it alre-ady”.
“So what about Audrey? All the feelings and whatsoever couldn’t be for nothing. And she might be pretty confused right now, don’t you think? What will you do with her?”
He sighed and leaned on the window.
“I don’t know, Leo. I don’t know. I’m also confused.”
Audrey’s Pov:
I la-id on the three seaters chair in the sitting room, just staring at the ceiling. I was the only one at home and that’s just the way I’ve been since I arrived.
I couldn’t st©p thinking about everything that happened – the way Mr Rodney held my w@!st and almost k!$$£d me.
The image kept repla-ying in my head and it s£nt new shivers down my spine.
He didn’t even say anything about it before he left. He didn’t give any explanation. I really wanted to know what it was all about. When are we going to meet again?
Towards evening, Rachel returned and was surprised seeing me at home.
“Hey sis. Wats up? What’re you doing here?’ She asked as she kept her bag on the table.
“He left” I replied blankly, still staring at the ceiling.
“Who? Mr Rodney?” She asked and I nodded slowly.
“Oh!” She mouthed and sat on the edge of the chair to take off her shoes.
She took off the shoes silently and went to the be-droom to change her clothes.
After putting on a causal dress, she returned to the sitting room and sat on the hand of the chair where I lay.
“Hey” she called and tapped my legs.
“What happened?”
“Nothing” I replied.
“‘What do you mean nothing? When have we started keeping secrets from each other, huh?”
I kept mute.
“Audrey!” She half yelled and I slowly sat up, taking in a de-ep breath.
Rachel looked at me with curiosity, wondering what I was going to say.
“Mr Rodney almost k!$$£d me” I finally said and Rachel fell from the chair to the floor.
“Wh…What did you say?” She asked, still sitting on the floor with her eyes wi-de open.
I stared at her and shook my head.
She helped herself from the floor and returned to sitting on the hand on the chair.
“Okay; hold on, Audrey. re-move the *almost*. What are we left with? *Mr Rodney k!$$£d you?*
Seriously? He k!$$£d you? How…How did it happen?” She asked, ma-king her eyes wi-der.
“He didn’t k!ssme Rachel; he almost k!$$£d me. Although, he…”
I paused and heaved a sigh.
“Although he what?” She asked and I tucked my hair behind my ear.
“I…I think he would’ve… done it if Megan didn’t show up”. I said.
“Okay. This is getting more confusing. Megan was there?”
“yes! And…she kind of ruined the moment”.
“Audrey, I think I nee-d a better explanation. What really happened?”
I ru-bbe-d my hand on my face.
“We were just doing some dance practice. My hands were on his shoulders and his hands were on my w@!st. Then all of a sudden, it just…it just happened. He was about k!ss!ngme when Megan c@m£ in” I said palely.
“Oh my God!”:Rachel exclaimed.
“So, he almost k!$$£d you. But why?”
“Well, I don’t know. He didn’t say anything”.
“Oh, my God! This is so confusing. Why would Mr Rodney want to k!ssyou? He…He loves Jocelyn, right?”
We remained silent for a while, both de-ep in our own thoughts.
“So, what did Megan do?” She asked after the silence.
“No…Nothing. she just ran away in tears”.
Rachel sighed and placed her hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t think much about it Audrey. Everything will fall in place okay?” She said and I replied with a faint smile.
Then she left the chair and took my purse from the table.
“Do you have any change with you?” She asked as she opened the purse and surprisingly, she found a credit card in it.
“Hey; who owns this?” She asked as she showed the credit card to me and I sprang on my feet as if I had seen a piece of gold.
I gr@bb£d it from Rachel and stared at it with beaming eyes.
“It belongs to Mr Rodney. He…He left it behind” I replied and wore my footwear.
“So, where are you going?” She asked
“To return it” I replied and ran off in a haste.
TBC.