You met her was at the big supermarket where she went shopping with her mom. You liked the way she looked, the curviness of her hip, the roundness of her breast and the smoothness of her skin. She is fair, just the way you liked it. You saw her walk away from her mom, towards the culinary section and you followed her. She asked the waitress for spiced chicken and just when she was about to pay, you smiled at her and offered to pay.
‘No, thanks’ she said shyly
But you insisted. ‘How could I let an angel pay for a chicken?’
She smiled and said ‘thank you’ as you paid and asked the waitress to keep the change.
Then you had the chance to look at her close on. You saw her face, the way tiny pimples are starting to appear, you saw her dimples, the way they look deep as if someone had carved them with a finger. She saw you staring, she saw you moving your eyes over her and she felt intimidated, she twitched like someone sitting on the stabbing edge of a nail and she could stand you no more.
‘Thank you’ she said. ‘My mum would be waiting now’ she continued.
‘Oh yes that is true’
‘What is your name?’ you asked her
‘Rosabel’ she replied.
‘I will like to meet you again’ you said. Then you gave her your phone and being a smart girl, she understood you. She poked your keypad and entered her phone number.
‘Goodbye’ you said
‘Goodbye’ she replied, a moon like smile on her face, illuminating, irresistible. She was young, naïve and you liked it.
At night, after you had imagined her tucked in bed with perhaps only bra and pant, after you had reflected on what to say to her, you decided to call her. She did not pick the phone at first and it scared you. That you might never get to hear her voice again, that you might never get to see her again, it really scared you. When you tried for a second time, she picked and you heard her say ‘hello’
‘Hello angel’ you replied.
‘Hello. Please who is this?’ she asked
‘Well, I am not going to tell you, I am going to remind you’
‘Okay’
‘Today, somewhere in Victoria island, at a really big place, I saw you stand with your mum, I saw you buy a chicken and I saw you press my phone’
She laughed, she laughed a lot. ‘So it is you’ she said
‘Yes it is me’
‘But I didn’t get your name’
‘Vincent’ you replied coolly.
‘How do you do?’ you asked
And she told you how she had just graduated from secondary school, how she waits anxiously day and night for the result of her A levels examination and how she gets so bored because there is nothing to do other than watch the TV and chat with boys who have nothing to offer other than the vague promise of love.
‘You don’t like boys?’ you chirped in
‘I do. Just that you know most of them are so childish. They only bore you the more’
You both laughed, yours, louder and thick, hers, mild and gentle.
‘Is what I said funny?’ she asked
‘Yes. A lot’ you answered
‘I hope I won’t join the clique of those boring boys?’
‘No. you won’t’
There was not much to say that night. You told her how you had graduated from Cambridge two years ago, how you had returned home to manage your family business and how uninterested you are in everything around you and then you told her how it all changed when she walked into the supermarket.
‘Change?’ she asked, bemused
‘Yes. I like you and I really want to see you again’
Before you said goodbye, you fixed a meeting. She told you her dad never stays at home and that her mom never comes back until late in the evening.
‘Does that mean I can come see you at home?’
‘Yes’ she replied. ‘But buy chicken when you are coming’ she teased.
In her voice, in the manner she picked her words; you had sensed a blazing desire, a want.
Before you slept, after you had said a long hearty goodbye to her, you rolled and twisted and turned in ecstasy.
‘She really likes me’ you said aloud to yourself.
The day you met her again, at her house, she was much more beautiful. Her hair, long and flowing and her dark leggings excited you. She slammed close the door as you entered and she pointed to a cushion. The house itself was warm; you liked the polished marbled floor, the array of colourful ceilings, the sweet music of Celine Dion playing on TV and the way everything seems to fit into each other.
‘Hope you like my house?’ she asked
‘I do’ you replied
She dashed into a room and when she returned, she brought with her fried potatoes chips and bottled water.
‘This is for you’ she said.
‘I am not going to eat it alone’
‘Then who are you going to share it with?
‘You of course’
‘You will have to feed me by force’
‘At your service’ you said and bowed.
When she saw you moving towards her with a slice of potato chip, she jumped from her seat and started to weave her way through the cushion sets. You were not ready to let her go and you chased after her, twisting and turning the chairs and then you grabbed her, your pounding chest pressed on her, feeling her warmth.
‘I caught you’
You cheated. You jumped over the cushion’ she said with a smile as she grabbed the potato from you.
Then you are back on the cushion, this time around on the big one. She was seated by your side and you told her how beautiful she looks. It was becoming more and more easy. She was always listening to you; she blush when you say things and she seem to have found pleasure in smiling at you.
‘How old are you?’ you asked
‘I am sixteen’ she answered.
‘You are still a baby’
‘I am not a baby’ she retorted.
‘So if you are not a baby, have you had a kiss before?’
‘No’ she replied,
‘Ha-Ha. You are a baby’
‘I don’t want to be a baby anymore’
‘What’
‘I don’t want to be a baby’
Soon there was no space between you. You had moved closer to her and her to you. She was shaky, a bit ruffled and she looked at you as your mouth came closer to hers. At first, she tasted of chips and spice. Then you pinned her lip, the lower one first, sucking it to yourself, slowly, in no rush. Then the upper one, you felt its glossiness and then she stopped.
‘Is this right?’ she asked
‘I think so’ you answered
she placed her head on your chest and you weaved through her hair, you told her sweet words, words you had learnt from years of encounters with girls. You told her how she is the best thing that had happened to you and how you are never going to hurt her.
‘I really do love you’ you said
And she cried and cried at the strange feeling, the weakening feeling of love.
‘I love you too’ she replied and she let you kiss her again.

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