Short Stories and Relationships: Adios Teen, Part 1

Written by: Alice Ogutu

Alice tells of the story of a lady, Lia, after her High School and almost out of her teen age moving from her paternal home to live in the city with her sister, gain an education and meet her first love right in her naivety…

Short Stories and Relationships - Adios Teen

Her name is Lia.

She was so happy to know that she had been accepted to the Art School in the City, Sony School of Art. It was a prestigious art school. She had heard and seen good reviews about the school and that it provided a variety of great art courses.

She was so happy to go to the City and have a new experience. Also, all this furore about her going to the city escalated because her High School BFF, Tala (short for Talaty), had moved there a while back. Life in the city was always spoken of as something one would not want to skip yet with extremes, you know, things like; having to go to clubs, shopping and to the theatre/cinema.

It was both a wonderful surprise and a reunion between herself and Tala.

Although she had not informed Tala about her acceptance to the Art School, and her stay there as well, she was happy to see her. Tala promised to show her around the city. This excited her.

*******

A month later, as she strolled in the evening in the ambience of the setting sun, as was her routine, she met this cute guy. She had never seen him in the neighborhood before. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She didn’t say anything and neither did he – they simply exchanged glances and that was just about it.

She went on with her walk in the neighborhood for another fifteen minutes, all the while thinking of the cute guy she had just met. The thoughts completely overwhelmed her - in a good way. She couldn’t wait to tell her friend Tala. She knew Tala will be excited.

Later, after Tala came in from her mini-business from which she worked in the afternoons, she encouraged her to work on her feelings soon before the guy was taken by someone else. She had no clue of how to do this but thought, “Why not?” Obviously, she had seen many soap operas and read many romantic novels and was sure, right in that tiny head of hers, that she was up to the task at hand. She told herself that she would strive to do something about it.

For the few days that followed, she studied his movements, and learned that he stayed in the same block and same floor as she did. This was an advantage to her, or so she thought. After carefully knowing the where and what, she was ready.

*******

On this particular day, she waited to hear him leave and she left as well to catch up with him on the stairs down.

“Hello”, she greeted him.

“Hello”, he replied, and added, “So you live on this floor too, huh?!”

She nodded

The rest of the walk down the stairs was in silence.

It was a chilly morning, and the sun was yet to peep its head from the clouds in the sky. She was not wearing any warm clothes because she was rushing to pick something from the shop down the road where another friend also happened to work. (From time to time, she loiters around the friend’s place to chat with her on some girly stuff before heading back to the house.) She, in her determined mind, had decided to wait at the shop and chat the guy on their way back.

So far, her stalking had proved to be fruitful, and she had already known his name: Idris. But this kept her worried because she wondered what would be the best communication starter if she already knew his name. She left her friend at the shop after promising to fill her in with all the details later. She left before he reached the shop so that it would not seem as though she was waiting for him. She walked along slowly, her heart racing, her mind wondering on the possible conversation that was yet to follow.

As she neared the gate and was about to open it, she heard a voice from behind,

“Please allow me milady” he said.

She froze on the spot as he opened the gate and said, “After you…”

She walked in quietly and waited for him to catch up, so that they would climb up the steps together. Till now, she had not made her name known to him, and she didn’t want to seem in a hurry, so she let things unfold.

He walked up to her and struck a conversation,

“So which number is your apartment?”

“12”, she replied.  

"Hmm, that's just two doors from mine on the other side. How comes I have never seen you around?"

"Well that may be because I have classes in the morning and a job at the boutique in the afternoons. As for those days am free, I go to the gym with my friend from the shop down the block."

"I see. So where's this gym you guys go to?"

"Near the mall. It is a great place – it gives us a great opportunity for window shopping and a health snack or two after workouts. You know the place, right? "

"Yea, I do, I go to the Potters Gym. It is also near the mall. "

"Oh my, this world should really be a small place, huh? The place you are mentioning is the same gym I've told you about, the one I go to. "

"Hmm, indeed it is."

By this time, she and Idris had already reached the 3^rd floor (on which they both happened to live). She realized that their apartments were really close to each other – the difference was that he lived on the other side of the same floor – two doors apart, though.

*******

On this day, her sister, June, an air hostess and with whom she lived, was out of town. She was actually mostly away due to the nature of her job, but was expected late that day.

Lia was taking classes in Spanish and Art. She loved drawing and painting, and June allowed her to stay with her as the Art School was near her apartment. As she parted ways with Idris, he gave her a wink and pleaded that it would be his pleasure to meet her again. She agreed and went into the apartment.

June arrived in a little after 8pm. She was tired and happy to be back home. After a bath, a meal and happy smiles from Lia’s side because of the gifts her sister had brought her, they sat down and June begun narrating her stories of the beauty and wonders of the places she gets to set her foot in.

June loved paintings and portraits. She loved to be painted, and at times she would give Lia a picture of a place far away and let her paint her in it. She would later boast to her friends about the awesome young artist sister she has, and occasionally, her friends would come and request to be painted too. This made her appreciate the gift of painting more, and the more she did it, the more she fell in love with it. It became her passion – something she always aspired to do in her free time.

*******

While having a drink the next day at Mardis Mall, she decided to tell June about Idris. June got curious and did not hesitate to give her her mind on men and relationships.

"Come on J, I know what you mean, you know me well enough, and also you know am not the drooling type, I'll be careful and won't go way over my head, okay, feel better?", she maintained.

"Yea, a little bit, you know mom will have my head if I don't watch over you."

"Okay, can we go back home. I have Rita's painting that I have to finish, you know how mad she can get when I don’t do as promised, and you invited her tomorrow in the afternoon..."

"Yea I do, I had totally forgotten."

On our way back, she stopped by at the Garden's Mini-mart, and picked up some stuff for Tala. “She now owes me one”, she thought.

*******

After a long weekend, with everything now calming down, as it always was whenever June left the place, she was waiting to meet Idris again.

She had known that he was not around over the weekend, and the thought of seeing him again made her smile.

Monday was a busy day, but it ended well. She managed to invite Tala for her usual Monday sleep over. When they got home, Tala noticed a letter slipped under her door.

"Strange. I thought June had a key, and anyway, she had already left; so who could have slipped the letter? Hmmm!", Lia wondered.

"I have no idea, open it first, then we will know”

"Okay."

She opened the letter and Lia looked straight on to see the sender first. It was from Idris. She smiled. She was so into the old school way of showing love and emotion, and therefore this meant the whole world to her. Tala was eagerly waiting to see what it was and who had sent it. She inquired to know what each word said. Lia handed her the letter, and she started reading it back aloud at her while mimicking and making fun of her with silly sounds.

Idris had written to show his interest in her, and had left his number that she may call him back. She decided to call him later.

After an hour or so, she called Idris, and was glad that he didn't answer the phone, so she left him a message. He called back after a while.

"Hello milady, I think I will have your voice on my answering machine so that I can always hear it...", he begun after calling back.

"Am flattered, thank you. Are you just getting in? "

"Nah, I was having a bath, wanted to finish with everything else so I can concentrate on talking to you alone."

"Right."

"So how was your day?"

"Hectic. Mondays are usually busy, with classes all day and the store later in the evening."

"It seems you just need to relax, should I let you, I would not like to tire you more..."

"No it's okay, I've had my share of rest, plus I have tomorrow morning to rest, my class will be later in the day."

"Okay, so what is your name? Am Idris."

(If he only knew that she already knew his name… Heh... But she was not ready to let this beautiful moment turn sour with questions that were not necessary, so she simply told him her name and kept things cool. Tala had gone to finish with her reports stuff and it was also a good way of giving her (Lia) some privacy, which she really appreciated.)

"Lia... What a beautiful name you have. So Lia, what do say if I invite you over for breakfast, that way I can let you rest now, and... "

(She cut in before he had finished what he was saying…)

"Breakfast. That sounds great.”  Well, I should let you know that I prefer coffee, with no sugar.”

"That you'll get milady, now rest those eyes so they'll be looking beautiful tomorrow, okay?!"

"Okay, good night."

"Night, sweet dreams."

As soon as she put the phone down, Tala was standing right besides her,

"Gimme the juice gal, c'mon..."

She was so eager and couldn’t help giggling as she recounted their conversation to her…

(To be continued.)

*******

Till next time,

Alice Ogutu.