Birthday Blues

Nene could not resist the urge to take another look around the room. It looked perfect, and she knew everything else was in order because she had checked and rechecked a thousand times. Dinner was keeping warm in the microwave and the table was already set for two. The bottle of wine she had bought was cooling in the fridge and she had up to an hour before her guest was due to arrive.

She knew she needed to take a bath and get dressed for dinner, but an hour was more than enough time even for her. Sighing, she took one last look around and sent a silent prayer to the gods before turning to walk up the stairs that led to her bedroom.

She spent half an hour in the bath, letting the cool water soak away the tension that stiffened her shoulders. Her feelings for Tammy had always been more than she could handle rationally. He made her feel things that no other man had made her feel in all her twenty-six years on earth.

For the first time, she was really working hard to keep her relationship going. And it was hard work, for although Tammy was very loving and understanding, he was almost non-committal about where their relationship was going.

They had been dating now for six months, and when he had said he wanted them to talk about something important, she had offered to prepare dinner if he would not mind talking in her place. He agreed and even though he had not said anything else, she hoped and prayed that he was now ready to take their relationship to the next level.

She was dressed and on her way back downstairs when the doorbell rang. Her heart gave a crazy lurch and a thousand butterflies began to dance in her stomach, but she fixed a smile of welcome on her face and went to answer the door.

God, he really is handsome, she thought, staring at Tammy as he stood before her. She opened her mouth to ask him in but he was already leaning towards her. He kissed her softly on the lips and it was all she could do to stop herself from falling into his arms. His arm came around her waist. She leaned against him as they walked into the house.
“How was your day?” he asked, turning to smile at her.
“Uh? Okay,” she replied, smiling back.

She did not bother to tell him that she had taken the day off. It would have been impossible to keep her mind on her work while thinking of this date with him.

The evening passed pleasantly enough. They talked and laughed and teased each other. Nene managed to push her anxiety aside and enjoy the company of the man she loved. She was even more gratified when Tammy ate every morsel of food that she placed before him. She felt the belch of satisfaction he gave at the end of the meal was worth all the hours of preparation.

Tammy insisted that they shared the wine from the same glass. Nene's tension began to return as time flew by. She expected that any minute Tammy would start on whatever it was he wanted to talk about, but he seemed to have forgotten all about it. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep the smile on her face as she realized that she might not hear what she had hoped to hear.

Soon enough, he began to show signs of tiredness. When he caught himself in a yawn, he stood and announced that it was time for him to go. She saw him to the door with mixed feelings. Her disappointment fought against the trace of sadness that his leaving provoked. That night, she cried herself to sleep.

But she felt better two days later when he called her up to ask for another date. He wanted to go to the beach on Saturday; would she be free to come? This is not fair, she thought to herself. He knows I love the beach and I really cannot resist a chance to spend time with him. But she did not tell him that. She told him as coolly as she could that she would let him know before Saturday.

Saturday afternoon saw her sitting beside him in his car as they sped towards the beach.
She frowned at the mischievous glint in his eyes.
“What's the matter?” she asked him.
He smiled at her. “Nothing.”
She eyed him. “Tammy? I know you better than that.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.” But he would not look at her.
“Tammy!”
“I told you,” he replied, trying to keep his face straight but not quite succeeding. “Nothing.”
Seeing he was unwilling to talk, she let it go.

The time at the beach was fun, and Nene enjoyed every minute. She ignored Tammy and his goings on, pretending not to notice anything unusual about his behavior. He was trying so hard to act normal that she was almost tempted to tell him to relax. They had lunch on the beach, sitting on a mat and sharing the meal that Tammy had brought with him.

“I love chicken,” Nene declared, waving the drumstick that she held in her hand.
Tammy dodged the waving piece of meat, and ducked under the hand that held the drumstick to nuzzle her neck. He kissed her hungrily on the lips, her warmth and softness igniting his passion.
“And I love you,” he told her, drawing her closer.
She dropped the piece of meat and curled into his arms. “I love you too.”

They lay entwined in each other's arms, silently, letting their bodies communicate the emotions that they did not need to share with words.

Later, they watched a young couple stroll along the beach. A little girl walked with them, her fingers clutched tightly in her father's hand. The man looked so much like Tammy that Nene felt a sudden rush of emotion flow over her.
“Nice couple,” Tammy commented.
She nodded, afraid she would cry if she tried to speak.

He must have felt something too. He was silent for a while, watching the couple as they moved farther off.
“I wanted…” he began but caught himself before he had said any more. “Let's go home,” he said instead.
She nodded, still without speaking.

He held her hand as she walked beside him to the car. The drive back was mostly silent but instead of taking her home, Tammy drove straight to his house.

The house was in darkness and she stood just inside the door waiting for him to find the light switch. Somehow, it seemed to be taking too long. When the lights finally came on, it was just a twinkling of blue and red rays from the far end of the room. Music came on too. A male voice sang the birthday song along with the tape that was playing. She was quick to recognize Tammy's voice.
“Tammy?” Her voice was small and thick with emotion.

He appeared in front of her, singing the last refrains of the song, while she listened silently. It was her birthday and she had thought Tammy had forgotten all about it. But he had remembered. He had remembered and tried to make the day special for her. She smiled at him in the semi darkness.

He took her into his arms, and she went willingly. He kissed her gently, softly and with lingering desire.
“I got you a present,” he told her when he broke off.

She clung to him as he maneuvered her to the settee. She closed her eyes and inhaled, drawing in the male huskiness of him. Her hand drifted to caress his face. He caught the hand and kissed it.
“Your present.”
She opened her eyes and saw the little box that he held in his hand. Somehow, he was now kneeling in front of her. He opened the box, and her eyes flew to his face.
“Tammy?”

He heard the question in her voice, saw the hope in her eyes and knew he was right. She would say yes.
“Yes. Nene, I'll be honored if you'd agree to be my wife. I love you and I only want a lifetime to show you just how much.”

There were tears in her eyes, but she smiled through the tears. “I thought you'd never ask,” she told him.
“I wanted to so many times. I almost did the last night we had dinner at your place but I decided to wait for your birthday and make it special.”
Nene laughed then, remembering the torment she had gone through on that night. “You silly romantic! What if I said no?”
He smiled then. “I hoped you'd say yes.” He lifted the ring from its' soft bed of velvet. “What do you say?” he asked her. “Will you marry me?”
She made a face at him. “Let's see…”
“Nene!”
She laughed again. “Yes,” she whispered as she went into his arms.

By Oma Ogbodo

Short but lovely and interesting story.. Well done

UPDATE: OPENING DATE: 1ST DECEMBER 2015.
DEADLINE: 5th FEBRUARY 2016
ABOUT NAWOT:
The Nelson Adeyeye Writers Of Today(NAWOT) is an online competition that is organized by Sandra Adeyeye C.E.O of Eminent Creators in honor of her late father Mr. Nelson Adeyeye as a way to encourage the writing and reading culture of the Nigerian youth.
This competition promises to be an exciting and uplifting showcase of well-laid out Prose that promotes creativity at it's peak.
AWARDS:
There shall be a selection of the best twenty stories by our judges. These shall make up our anthology other prizes to be won include but are not restricted to:
Best writer Romance Category - 15,000
Best writer Science Fiction and Fantasy Category - 15,000
Best writer Mystery and Horror Category - 15,000
Best writer Action and Thriller Category - 15,000
Other consolation prizes, a copy of the anthology and other books shall follow.
RULES AND REGULATION:
In order to be eligible, participants are to note the following guidelines as regards submission of entries.
1) Participant must be a Nigerian youth between the ages of 16 - 30 years.
2) Participant must send a mail containing a black and white passport photograph, age, sex, phone numbers, email and facebook i.d in a separate mail from the mail bearing his entry.
3) Entry to be submitted must be Prose, original work of participant and must be an unpublished work, not submitted for any publication during the period of this competition.
NOTE: entry should not bear author's name on it. Just the title and the word count.
4) Entry must be between a 1,500 (minimum) - 2,500 (maximum) word count. Entries must be complete, concise and bear a comprehensive plot, i.e a beginning, middle and an end (no season). Entry font should be Arial size 12 and double spaced.
NOTE: subject of mail should signify what category the author is entering his story. No entries in PDF format will be accepted.
5) Participants can compete in four categories during this competition. I.e every writer is entitled to four entries per competition. Science fiction/fantasy category, mystery/horror category, action/thriller category and romance category.
NOTE: each entry attracts a fee of #1,000.
6) Every entry must have an attachment of the scanned bank draft which has the title of the submission boldly written on it.
Account name: Eminent Creators
Account number: 0201029142
Bank: Gtbank.
7) Every entry must be in English language, with minimal usage of vernacular; and if unavoidably used, must be explained as a footnote for better understanding.
All entries must be submitted to nelsonadeyeyewritersoftoday@gmail.com on or before 5 February 2016 (late entries will attract an extra fee of 500). Date for the prize-giving ceremony shall be communicated to participants via mail.
MODE OF SELECTION:
Participants will have excerpts from their stories displayed on our blog and Facebook page for voting by our public audience within a span of two weeks. Excerpts with the highest votes/comments within that period shall scale through to the next stage of selection.
Final announcement of the winners shall be left to the jurisdiction of the competition's in-house judges whose decisions shall be Binding and Final.
Finally: Writers retain the rights to the stories they submit for the NAWOT competition. The twenty winning stories are published as an anthology and open for purchase after the launching. After that, the winning authors are free to publish anywhere, as long as due credit is given to the NAWOT competition and/or Eminent Creators. Eminent Creators staff and NAWOT team members are not eligible to participate in the competition.
Good luck.

Signed:
Hillary Zita Successa
For the competition department.