"Baby, hope you're okay."

I looked into my boyfriend's face, the light smile still there, waiting to resume full blown laughter and momentarily I was blind with rage. How could he even be asking me such a question? Hadn't he been sitting here beside me all this while? Hadn't he noticed my disposition at all? The barely concealed sighs and hisses? And the fact that, since I said hi, I had not uttered a single word?

"Nah, she is just meditating. Next thing, she'll say the spirit has spoken to her and she will open her own church. Hosanna The Lord Has Revealed Pentecostal, Apostolic and Presbyterian Multi-denominational Ministries" Chike said and they both burst into laughter.

For the second time in a few seconds, my stomach and throat tightened as blinding fury pulsed through me, seeking some sort of outlet, any form that could possibly involve hurting at least one of the two guys sitting beside the pool with me. It took all my reserves of self control to prevent my self from uttering a word. I'm usually very cool and I rarely ever retort angrily. Back when I was much younger, I was a lot more impulsive and after several fights with my brothers and some other kids in school, my mother decided I had my father's anger management problems and decided to put me through therapy. It mainly involved a lot of lashes with a whip whenever she got a report that I had as much as got in an argument with a classmate and soon enough, I was calm enough; more because of the thought of being lashed than because I truly knew that angry responses weren't the answer.

They had returned to talking and laughing about the very sexy and sophisticated looking girl they had spotted at the mall and how she promptly fell with a scream of "chineke moooo!!!", her wig, bag and one shoe flying in different directions, when she got on an escalator she had obviously never used before. It was funny, I admit, but then, today was not just about that alone.

I hated my boyfriend's best friend.

One would think I hated him because, maybe, he did not like me. Or he had tried making moves on me and I had turned him down but, for the sake of Segun, my boyfriend, I hadn't said anything. But it wasn't for either reason. Actually, Chike is a really nice guy. He is still single and says he is not interested in relationships, so everyday, he has a different girl on his arm but always makes it clear to them that he never is in it for the long run.

"That's because he is in it with your boyfriend for the long run!" Shade, my best friend, single and one-time admirer of Chike (turned antagonist after he told her point-blank that he really didn't think they were ever going to get serious) declared.

"Ahn, ahn, Shade!" I protested. "How can you say a thing like that?"

"Well, is it not the truth? They spend nearly all their free time together, watch football together, play tennis at the club together on Saturdays, and you're left listening to Demi Lovato singing heart attack. Don't worry, stay there. The heart attack go soon knack you."

And that was the crux of the problem. I felt like a third wheel in my own relationship. Chike and Segun did practically everything together, it was almost unreal. Even back when I was little and used to take the whole bestfriend thing really seriously, i'm not sure my then best friend and I used to spend as much time together as they did. And that was before jobs, relationships and responsibilities.

No, my boyfriend is not gay. I'm sure I would have known that if he were. And even if he were gay and Chike were his "partner" it would still be very weird the time they spent together. Even when I came along on one of their trips to the club to play tennis, I always felt like the ball boy. Or girl. Chike was taking up all my boyfriend's free time.

And I was hating him for it.

It would have been my fault if I hadn't complained to Segun. But he just blew it off as me being paranoid. Chike was just his very close friend and they had gone through pretty rough times together so it was only natural that they stayed together in pleasant times.

"But i'm your girlfriend," I wailed. " You rarely spend any time with me. Are you supposed to be dating me or him?"

"C'mon babe," he said, pulling me closer, that semi-mischievious smile that made me forgive him every time playing on his good-boy face. "You know you own me. And if a rock were to crush you and Chike. I would try to save you first."

It was oddly sweet and I rested my fears. But the next time I found myself listening to Demi Lovato while they were watching Manchester United play Liverpool, it went clean out of mind. I was seething privately while they "oooooh"ed, "aaaaaah"ed and "gooooooal"ed. It must have been obvious that I was angry because, once the match was over, Chike took one glance at my face and decided he had to go to the tailor's.
I ushered him out of the door before Segun could even offer to accompany him.

And Segun didn't even seem to notice my anger. For the rest of the day, I did not utter a word to him, even when he asked what was wrong.
But while I lay awake, seething and trying to come up with more ways to hate Chike, my boyfriend lay snoring beside me, without a care in the world.

"Look, it's about time you make Segun realize he has to reorganize his priorities o," Shade admonished. "If it were me, I would not even open the door for that rascal of a friend of his whenever he comes knocking. And I will make sure Segun does not even see him at all. What nonsense!"

Shade is a good friend, but she always suggests things she knows I can't do. Since my mother's "therapy", I've been non-confrontational and i've always opted to talk about a problem rather than fight over it.

And sometimes, I wonder if she was still single because of her radical suggestions.

But she was always there to listen to me. And whenever Segun, Chike and I were heading out together, I always invited her over to come along so I could have someone to talk to. It alwys ended in disaster because of the different dispositions: Me - Quiet Despair, Segun - Oblivious, Chike - Indifferent, Shade - Moderately Mad.

I have a sneaking feeling she still very much still likes Chike, probably more now than before, but is only mad because he doesn't even seem to remember she exists. So she takes every chance to antagonize him; the results always being me pulling away my yelling, angry friend away from the slightly amused and still very aloof Chike.

And now, my friend and I are even more united than ever.

In hatred of a man that denies me my boyfriend and denies her a boyfriend she would have loved to have.

And Segun was still oblivious to how I felt about the entire issue.

So when after a few more minutes, he turned to me to ask as he always did;

"Babe, are you okay?"

I smiled my iciest smile that could freeze hell over and said;

"Yes. Never been better."

*watching from afar*

JeffreyJamez: *watching from afar*

come closer na

if the story continues i would come closer....but for now where i am seems comfy.