My dinner date stood me!

There is this day that is stuck in my mind. January 2006 found me in a state of quagmire over this petite lady who made my juvenile hormones go on an over drive. This was made worse by the constant prodding and prompting by friends who were privy of my hormone induced crush. This was one of my first publicly known crush. This young girl had a way of walking that spurred my brain onto conjuring day time dreams and frantic building of airborne castles. Her quick strides were all my mind longed to see. Don’t get me wrong, am not infested with voyeurism or such like bugs. She had these pair of smoky eyes that seemed neither here nor there. They seemed to dart furtively whenever our eyes met. She had this sharp pointed chin that made her streamlined in all aspects visual. Her hair was neither short nor long. I even fell in love with her shoes. Can you imagine??

I would serenade her with chits that were written and passed to her on dull afternoons when classroom concentration was at its lowest ebb. These were passed to her via hand couriers and in these chits, the best of my English were found. All through that, I don’t recall her sending me any. Hmmm! All this while, she was in the same class I was in but in a different stream and that made matters more scintillating.

Then the school was suddenly abuzz with talks of an upcoming dinner in a campus.it was the much anticipated Get Together. As was the norm, everyone was to get a dinner date. In this school, dinners and dates were part and parcel. A dinner without a date was akin to bathing without soap! All and sundry were in a discreet frenzy in an attempt to woo a date for the said function. I asked my crush if she would be my date and she neither gave a yes nor a no. Girls!!
Fast forward to the said day of the dinner and there I was, son of the soil; clad in a borrowed suit, inflated confidence, shiny shoes and clammy palms, anxious for my said date. I sought for her high and low wand later found out that she was in seclusion. The reason for her Houdini act was unknown to me. At least, at that time.

I then went out on seeking mission. I looked for her high and low for her almost chocking in the perfumed filled air and amongst the myriad of dinner dates lost in blissful romance. I spotted her in the sea of humanity, standing by a palm tree hidden in its fronds. As gentlemanly as I could be, held by her hand and led (almost forcefully) her to our table. You see, all I cared for was a dinner date. At the table were four other friends. Two ‘single’ girls and a couple. These two ‘single’ girls (with no dates) conversed with my date in a hushed manner and soon, there was the stink of a dead rat in the air. I was suspicious that something was amiss.

A glance at my date confirmed my suspicion for I could see her wiping a tear at the corner of her eye. You see, I hate making a lady shed a tear, whether crocodile or real tears. I only stand tears of happiness. On asking her what the problem was, she stood up and melted into the darkness in a huff. I was left aghast and felt helpless. Apparently, she had accepted to be another guy’s dinner date and I had ‘hijacked’ her. My friends gave me that ‘aki woiye’ kind of look while I ate my dinner turned murram in a huff. You can guess how I felt. In the next weeks preceding that, I was the topic of the school. The guy who got stood by his date; and after that, we were never that close again. You know.

Three years later, we became friends on Facebook but she went on to ‘unfriend’ me. L

True story.

Haki woshe.