Serendipity [BoyxBoy]

Chapter Twelve

TW: Homophobia.

One summer night, Adazia fell asleep and dreamt that she was drowning. 

It was an odd dream-- for one, she was a superb swimmer, her back stroke was flawless and she had the medals to prove it. Also, she didn’t live anywhere near a major body of water and didn’t frequent the beach. The chances of her drowning in a pool were zero to none. 

When she woke up, she heard her parents discussing downstairs. They were talking about her progress at school; how proud they were of her results—of the straight As she bled for. They were proud of the sports medals. The wooden plaques. The nice commentary from her teachers.

When Ada closed her eyes, she could see them, black ink against the dull grey of her report cards, swirly cursive telling her what she already knew:

‘An amazing student. Teaching her is a privilege.’

‘A brilliant mind. Hard working and full of morals.’

‘Bright and talented.’

Her father began talking about how soon all the Chiefs would want their sons to marry her. How he would get all he spent on her back in form of bride price. He lamented over the fact that they still never had a son and her mother consoled him. 

It was easy for Ada to forget that, when it all came down to it, she was commodity. Nothing but a bargaining chip. She represented all her parents could have had if they’d had a perfect son instead of the perfect daughter.

It was then that the dream began to make a little more sense. 

That day, she'd gone to school, grabbed Tyler Joshua by the collar and dragged him into the bathroom. She'd made sure people saw—made sure they thought what she wanted them to think, made sure that the rumors reached her parents ears.

By the end of the next week, she was in Nigeria. Instead of celebrating her 16th birthday with her friends in Ohio, she'd found herself in Our Lady Undoer of Knots, Lagos with a girl who called herself ‘Denial’. 

Two years after that, they'd met MJ and Simi. 

Eighteen months later, Simi was gone and then they were three and the trio was in Benin. 

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Nosa didn’t see Irekan after mass on Sunday, despite the fact that he saw him up on the altar in his cassock assisting the priest like he was supposed to.

The following Sunday was no different and the one after that. Nosa assumed Irekan had to go home early—that he had to run errands for his parents or he wasn’t feeling well enough to stick around. Irekan never offered an explanation for his absence and it was better than concluding that Irekan was avoiding him.

He tried not to let it get to him; the silence, the way Irekan avoided him before and after his football games and the way he wouldn’t look at Nosa even when they bumped into each other on the road and Uvo was clamouring to be petted. He tried not to let it bother him, after all, they still met up on Saturdays. Mostly at Irekanmi’s house and, when Nosa actually had to babysit (Egho was done doing him favors), they spent the time in his place where they sat outside and read while Ehi played with Uvo.

Irekan had gotten him into comics and rock music. He had introduced Irekan to novels and indie. They read and swapped music.

How could he be bothered by Irekan ignoring him when Saturdays was still their day? He wasn’t even 100% being ignored—it was just… whatever. That unexplainable feeling he got when Irekan avoided his gaze, that kick in the gut that left him feeling sore whenever mass ended and Irekan wasn’t hanging around outside, it was whatever and Nosa was so over it.