MAUREEN - Weary to the Marrow

They say ‘shit happens’ but oh boy, this was some crazy stuff, what in the world? I bet that freak with the forked tail was having a great laugh at myself and my girls expense. As if it wasn’t enough that Titi’s philandering boyfriend was there with another woman, Dolapo’s guy too had to come and spoil things further. Heaven knows how we are all going to recover from this seeing as things were shaky enough before all this.

Ruined moods and all, we couldn’t even continue to celebrate Dolapo’s success. Poor girl, I felt so sad and mad on her behalf. Titi’s face said all we all knew: she would need some time to recover from the shock of seeing her man walk away with his other woman. Thank God for Funmi that pulled her away from the couple outside the parking lot. The other woman looked like she was daring Titi to challenge her. And then shortly afterwards, Dolapo had to endure seeing her PK with another lady as well! Sigh. This is exactly why I hate boy trouble; it has this way of ruining every other good thing in your life at that moment. 

Now Titi is sulking as if she didn’t know she was going to get bitten in the ass before. I have this sneaking suspicion she knew beforehand that Dayo was married as Lola said before, and the thought of that pisses me off because of all the trouble she put us through. But then I guess that’s what friendship is supposed to be about, us putting up with her crap and all.

“Looks like we have to postpone the party at your place Maureen.” Temmy said, as we all walked towards the exit.

Lola stole a look at Titi and said “Yeah, we should meet up later, Maureen, hope you haven’t made huge plans?”

“No it’s okay.” I said, even though it was anything but okay. “We can do it tomorrow”

“Tomorrow evening?” Temmy said.

“Yeah that’s fine.” I said.

“Dolly are you alright?” Funmi asked looking concerned.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Dolapo said.

We all looked at her.

“Seriously guys, I’m fine! I’ve just had the best night of my life!”

“Are you sure?” Funmi queried.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good.” Dolapo insisted.

“Okay then” Lola said. “I have to catch the tube back home, who’s coming with me?”

“I’ll come with you,” Funmi said. “So we’ll see you all tomorrow.”

We all hugged and said goodbye, well apart from Lola and Titi.

I got home just after midnight and crashed on my bed. My life is so freaking stressful and tiring right now. I haven’t told the girls yet, but my mum called me last week threatening to send me back to Nigeria if I don’t do as she says. She wants me to do an MBA and she has requested application forms from the top six business schools on my behalf. I told her, MBA my foot. There is no way I am going to spend another two years of my life in business school; when I have big dreams and ambitions of my own. So at the moment, my mother and I are having this stand-off where neither of us wants to back down.

I sat up, kicked off my heels and rolled back on the bed. Something else I haven’t mentioned to anyone: I’m considering moving to New York, Paris or Milan, or some other city where there might be more opportunities for me to break into fashion. Besides if I leave London, maybe I can escape my mother’s clutches completely. Daddy has his ambitions for me, but I am his little girl, so he’ll always let me have my way in the end. Why my mother can’t let me be is a mystery.

With all of that going on by the side, and now all this drama with the girls, I haven’t been able to create anything lately. I keep sketching stuff and then tearing them up because nothing seems to look right. My room is littered with balled up papers, and my dustbin is overflowing with ideas I’ve chucked out. I thought I would have added some brilliant things to my portfolio by now, but it seems I’ve hit a brick wall. Damn! I’m so frustrated at the moment.

The shrill ring of my phone jolted me out of my dark mood and I almost let out an audible groan when I saw the caller I.D. It was Titi. All I could think of was, “What was it this time?” I let the phone ring, right now I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to lend a sympathetic ear or play agony aunt to anybody. Hell no, I’d probably just worsen things because I know I can get downright bitchy when I’m like this.

I dropped the phone and went to the kitchen. The phone kept ringing so I walked back into my room, five minutes and about seven calls later and I grudgingly picked it. She was coming over, she said. They were all coming over. What, had the plan changed again? Maybe somebody was feeling guilty for something. I put the phone down and went to get some snacks ready for their arrival. I could just picture how it would go, all of us bingeing on chocolates and cakes and talking about the events happening in our lives. Funmi would obviously have some motherly advice about everything. I could imagine Titi would be seeking attention and whining in her usual selfish way, Temmy would still be moping around over her broken relationship with Emeka; she is somehow convinced that it was all her fault that things went wrong. Lola would be wondering if she’s doing the right thing holding on for Kole or Wole or whatever his name is. And Dolapo, her present reaction to everything was really strange, she wasn’t hurting, at least not that I could see. If anything she seemed to be eager to please everybody and not discuss about PK, she seemed to be okay with what happened yet she seemed to be hiding something. I wouldn’t be surprised at whatever happened anymore any way, it seemed strange things were unfurling all around us. I wondered if any of them would even ask me what was going on in my own life.

I caught myself thinking these seemingly disloyal thoughts about my girlfriends and groaned. This did not bode well at all, I thought. This wasn’t how this night was supposed to turn out. Temmy’s cheeky face peered up at me as my eyes fell on my phone screen, I didn’t even bother picking her call. I let the phone ring as I walked to the door and flung it open and then the thought that on the other hand, this might just bring us all together crossed my mind.

(c) Rayo