Serendipity [BoyxBoy]

Chapter Three

This was the first time Matthew had been out of Lagos and he wanted to enjoy it as much as he could.

With the concert and reuniting with old friends and watching out for Naomi’s crazy ass, he doubted they’d have time to tour the city. He didn’t believe her when she said they would, still, he would try to make it happen.
When he had started playing bass in church, it wasn’t because he was a staunch catholic or because there was no one else to do it. A lot of people volunteered, a lot of parents signed their kids up with the choir master. But Mathew had begged and put in the work plus extra because it was his way of escaping all the shit life threw at him. Mondays-Saturdays were a bitch; while his mates went to school, he'd had to work to support his mum and siblings. He’d never known what being a kid felt like. He’d never known what it was to play without worrying about his mother or to graze his knee without thinking it’d make him look irresponsible. He'd never known what it felt like to look up to someone else when he needed something or hold someone’s hand when was scared. He had to be strong for his little sisters, he had to be his mothers support pillar. He had to be responsible. He’d only been a child yet he'd worked as much as the adults.

Playing bass on Sundays was the only thing fun thing he did. Even when he got blisters on his finger tips, it made him feel whole. 

When Naomi walked up to him and told him she wanted him in her band, he thought she was crazy. Here was this girl who came to church with her parents every Sunday, sitting in the front row looking like the perfect family, asking him for something. Here was the child of the same people who donated millions during harvest, asking him to be in her band with eyes wide and pleading. Like she had nothing. Like she was searching for something.

He had thought she was mad and he didn’t hesitate to tell her so. She only laughed at him. Agreeing was the best decision he’d ever made though. Five years later and the band was doing great. They were raking in just enough cash for him to support his family, he’d made great friends (no one would tell him but he knew they gave the lions share of their earnings to him and that only made him appreciate them more) and now they had this sweet gig in Benin City.

If Matthew hadn't dropped out of school, maybe he wouldn’t feel like he had to hang on tightly to the people he had. Maybe he’d complain about fake friends on twitter instead of having fantasies of doing something as mundane as going on a ‘class field trip’ with them. But, dammit, that’s what he wanted. A break from recording and touring and working. Just a day to explore a fucking museum with his friends, sans the school uniforms of course.

Luckily, Benin had a beautiful historical museum at the center of the city and if they weren’t all hung over after the concert tonight, he’d make sure they went tomorrow.

▪️▪️▪️

Nosa dragged himself out of his room to Egho's room, which was just across the corridor from his. Carefully, he lifted his hand and knocked on her door.

"If you tell me anything about Jesus being a winner-man, I'm going to shave off my eyebrows with Vim," came her tired reply.

Eghosa was not taking being woken up at 5am well. 

"None of that, please." Nosa said. Vim was a scouring powder used to scrub the bottom of pots, it definitely didn’t deserve to be used as shaving cream. Besides, Egho looked ugly enough with eyebrows.

There was a pause then, "Oh, it's you. Abeg, wake me up when you're done bathing."

Nosa was so sleepy that the toothpaste he aimed at his toothbrush fell into the sink and it took him three tries to get it right. He fell asleep in the shower and woke Egho with a yawn on each of his words. By the time he was alert enough to look at himself in the mirror, he saw that he looked like he'd been chewed and spat out. Still, he didn’t try to fix himself up. Too tired.