Chapter Forty-Two – Missing the Past

Lara had intimated to me that she was worried about Mara. It was very out of character for her to be frolicking about town.

“You know I heard it’s called hyper-sexuality or something. Where when you are sexually assaulted, you wind up becoming hyper-sexual. If so, then I’m really worried about her, Araba. We should do something about it.”

I nodded in agreement but we had no idea what. How were we to broach the subject without setting Mara over the edge? She was already preparing for an interview with one of the TV stations so now was definitely not a great time to bring it up.

There was a knock at the door and it was Mara. She would be joining us to go over some of her talking points and then later Boateng would pick us up to take us there. I personally wasn’t looking forward to that encounter.

Soon Boateng joined us and we were on our way. Obviously, I wound up being the person in the front seat and the silence was deafening. I miss our friendship where we could talk about any and everything but I guess when you cross a certain line, there’s no coming back from that.

Mara was also in a world of her own. She was feeling all the nerves. She just wanted to go back to being a normal campus girl instead of the latest hot topic every other week but Jean had promised her that it was for the best and by now she was too far in to turn around.

Lara also had her own issues to deal with. She was late and not the kind of late that comes from stress or school pressure. She was going on three weeks. At first, she’d figured it was her period messing with her as always but now it was getting scary. She knew that the responsible thing to do was to take a test but she was scared of what the results might say.

Boateng kept his eyes fixed on the road, not because he was trying to be a good driver but because he had no idea what to say to me and he could tell that I was uncomfortable being there. It was best if he said nothing. He was about regretting his actions when he corrected himself. He did the right thing or at least that’s what his therapist led him to believe and she was the professional.

*

Angela had taken Carl’s number after the encounter just in case she needed help with anything and the two had set to talking.

It had been his plan to take part in the September games but this was not certainly a part of it. Angela was very reserved, shy and quiet. She was not at all his type. She reminded him of a bird he had to protect.

Well, as part of his bird protection duties, they’d started to hang out a lot since she would come to his place to study and he would walk her back to her hostel.

Ah, young love!

*

When we got back from the interview, I decided it was best if Boateng and I talked or tried to hang out at least. There had to be some type of way we could restore our friendship, so I left Lara in the room alone.

After biting her nails in serious thought, she realized knowing for sure was better than this dirty game she was playing with herself. Besides, Marilyn had been in a similar predicament a few months back and nothing came of it. She would be fine.

As she walked over to Kwame’s room, she was just thinking how surreal it was that not long ago I had been asking her what she’d do if she was pregnant. She brushed the question out of her mind immediately and knocked on the door.

Kwame opened in a singlet and boxers. He looked like he’d been sleeping. The idea really annoyed Lara. She’d been sitting worried for almost two weeks while he was sleeping heartily. She felt the overwhelming urge to slap him but she controlled herself. The real reason she was upset was not because he was sleeping. There was no point taking out her frustrations on him.

Kwame opened the door wider and she came in. She tucked her hands into her hoodie pocket and hugged herself.

“Can you go with me to the pharmacy?” she asked quietly.

“What for?” Kwame asked. The question annoyed her.

“I’m late.”

“I… does that…should we…”

“I want to get the test to be sure and then we figure things out from there. I don’t want to do it alone so will you go with me?”

Kwame nodded and quickly threw some clothes on. The journey to the pharmacy seemed to take a thousand years. Since I wasn’t in the room, they decided to take the test there.

The box said it would take two minutes for the test to fully load so while the two waited, they sat on the floor and talked solemnly.

“What happens if it’s positive?” Kwame asked. Fear was written all over his face.

“I don’t know. Will you be okay if I decide not to keep it?”

“Yes.”

“What if I decide to keep it?”

Kwame gulped. “I support whatever decision you decide to make.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it just as the two-minute alarm went off.