LOLA: Saying Our Goodbyes

Lola, what are you doing? I thought you were going to take your time with getting to know this guy, yet somehow he’s convinced you to spend the weekend with him in Milton Keynes! This isn’t the way to take things slow, is it? Silly girl, silly girl…
But I like him … I think it will be okay…
You gave him the key to your place!
I think I can trust him not to do anything crazy…
Like beat up someone?
Okay, I’m just going to go with my instincts on this one.

These conflicting thoughts were going on in my head as I said goodbye to Wole and walked back towards the church building. In spite of my head nagging me with thoughts of what was right or wrong, my heart was beating with excitement and anticipation. While I was crying into my pillow throughout the week, my heart was aching, aching for the reassurance of having Wole next to me. I missed him. God help me, I’ve been missing him since he left last Sunday. I didn’t want to act inappropriately; otherwise I would have run to his arms as soon as Maureen passed away.

It has been an emotionally draining week and I’m still trying to come to terms with the whole situation. I’ve been wondering if it is really happening, or I would soon wake up to a different reality. I mean, I spoke to Maureen barely ten days ago. The shoes and belt she gave me recently are sitting in my wardrobe. Emails and text messages from her are still in my phone. And yet, here we are at a funeral supposedly celebrating the life of Maureen. But I don’t want to believe that nagging feeling that I would never see her, or hear her laughter again. I would never go shopping with her, and we would never tease each other over our different taste in clothes. Who would I turn to when I was having a fashion crisis? Who would give me make-up tips? I shook my head and tried to avoid thinking about it again. I really needed some reprieve from the pain and the more I thought about it, spending time with Wole was better than wallowing at home in tears.

I looked up, feeling guilty for thinking about Wole, while grieving for my dead friend. But who else could I turn to? All my girls were dealing with their own shock and grief. Temmy has been quite ill since Sunday; Dolly has been unable to attend lectures or her recording sessions; Titi has been unreachable, and Funmi has been shuttling back and forth between her house, Maureen’s flat and her parent’s place. The one time we met up to plan Maureen’s funeral, we ended up crying until we developed headaches. So far, the only good thing that has come out of this is that we are friends again; all the bickering and fighting that was going on prior to last week has vanished. I’m glad it has made us stronger, but it’s just so, so sad.

As I stepped into the church, I bumped into a guy on his way out. I mumbled an apology without looking and was about to walk away when he spoke.
“Hi Lola.”
I looked up in surprise.
“Ebuka!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard about Maureen’s death, so I came to pay my last respects,” he said, almost shyly. “I can imagine how you and your friends must be feeling.”
“Thank you for coming. Have you seen Funmi?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No I haven’t. I mean, we saw each other during the service when she did the bible reading. But I haven’t spoken to her yet.”
“Oh okay. I think she’s around somewhere. If I find her, I’ll let her know you are looking for her.”
“Thanks.” he smiled. I thought he looked a bit nervous. Oh well, I suppose he must be wondering what Funmi would say to him.

Funmi wasn’t in the church when I went back inside, so I assumed she had gone to use the restroom or something. I had to move some stuff back to my car - the photographs and equipment that I had used for Maureen’s tribute slideshow. The other day, my girls and I had sorted through Maureen’s albums and selected the best of her photos. It was a very distressing experience for me to put the slideshow together last night. My eyes fell on a particular one with myself, Titi, Funmi and Maureen. The photo was one we had taken on our graduation day; we were all smiling and looking very proud of ourselves. I remembered Maureen was wearing impossibly high heels that day, and she had almost tripped on the podium as she went up to collect her certificate. I smiled and put the photograph back with the rest. My dear, sweet Maureen, I whispered. Rest in peace, you will be so missed. I was glad Maureen’s parents did not want a very formal service, so my friends and I could incorporate our little contributions today. Except for Temmy, who would be holding the fashion show next week. I made a note to ask her if she needed any help with it.

I put the projector, laptop and folder containing the photographs back in my carry case and went back to the front of the church to find Dolapo and the others. We still had to get to the cemetery on time, and I didn’t want my friends to leave me behind. Outside, I noticed the hearse carrying Maureen’s coffin had already left. Then I saw that there was a crowd gathering by another car and I went to investigate. What was going on now? I wondered. I got closer and saw two heads bent over Titi’s car. They were pointing at the tyres and examining them intently. Temmy and Dolapo saw me and motioned for me to hurry. I walked faster.

“What happened?” I asked them as soon as I was within earshot.
“Titi’s tyres have been slashed!” Temmy said, wide-eyed in disbelief.
“Eh?” I asked, incredulous. “How? By who?”
“We don’t know,” Dolapo said. “But we’ve called the police and they are on their way.”
“How could this happen?” I put my carry case down because it was getting heavier by the second. “Was it just now?”
“It must have been while the service was going on.” Dolapo said.
“Yeah, nobody saw or heard anything” Temmy added.
“Na wah o” I said, shaking my head. “How many cars were damaged?”
“Two cars – Titi’s car and that other one there,” Dolapo said. “All the other cars seem to be fine.”
I looked around, and saw Titi talking to someone.
“Isn’t that Dayo with Titi?” I whispered to Dolapo and Temmy. “What is he doing here?”
“Yes, it is him,” they whispered back.
“I wonder… hold on a second” I said, marching up to where Titi was standing. Dayo was holding her hand. I acknowledged him with a nod, but spoke directly to Titi.
“Come Titi, I just heard what happened,” I said, pulling her away from Dayo’s side. “Who could have done it?”
“I…I don’t know” Titi said, looking like she was close to tears. “I was just telling Dayo that I think I saw his wife earlier…”
“His wife?” I screamed. “His wife was here?”
“Shhhh!” Titi nudged me. “I’m not saying she damaged our cars.”
"The other car is Dayo's?" I asked her. "Eh!"
I signalled at Dolapo and Temmy to come over. Where was Funmi when you needed her?
“Titi said Dayo’s wife was here!” I said to them in excitement. "And the other damaged car belongs to Dayo!"
“What!” Temmy and Dolapo whispered.
“Calm down, Lola” Titi said, looking worriedly over her shoulder. “I think I saw her.”
“You’re not sure?” Dolapo asked.
“I… well…,” Titi stammered, looking at us perplexed. “When I was reading the tribute I looked up and saw someone that looked like her. But by the time I finished, she had gone.”
“Then I definitely suspect her,” I said.
Dolapo clasped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God Lola, are you saying Dayo’s wife slashed Titi’s tyres?”
“Well who else would do such a thing?” I countered. “And how come Titi and Dayo were the only targets?”
“That is just crazy.” Temmy said.
“Crazier than dating a married man?” I asked.
“Wait, how did she know where you would be today?” Dolapo said to Titi. “Does she even know about you?”
“Ah, remember she saw us at that concert!” Temmy said. “She must have suspected something was up.”
Titi looked stunned. “Oh my God! What am I going to do?”
“Titi, I think it’s obvious now that you are playing with trouble.” I said to her firmly. “See what dating Dayo has caused? His wife is now targeting you!”
Titi was about to say something, when two police cars arrived. We turned around as three policemen and a policewoman got down and started asking questions.
“Titi, I think you have to go and talk to them,” Dolapo said.
“Yeah, you go ahead Titi,” I said. “Then you and Dayo should have a long discussion about what you are doing.”
Titi looked at me with a flash of anger in her eyes, but I didn’t care. This relationship with Dayo was going to hurt her more in the long run. I turned to the others.
“I can’t believe this,” Temmy said watching Dayo and Titi talking to the police. “If it turns out that Dayo’s wife did this, then I certainly wouldn’t want to be in Titi’s shoes.”
“Me neither,” I said. “She sounds like a scary person.”
“What about me?” Dolapo said. “I’m now sort of working for her. She can track me easily! This is not good at all.”
Temmy and I stared at Dolapo.
“Ah, I would suggest you never step on her toes, Dolly.” I said.
“Same here.” Temmy added.
“Meanwhile, we need to get to the cemetery as soon as possible.” I said. “We have to leave Titi and Dayo to sort themselves out.”
“That’s true, Maureen’s family will be there already,” Temmy said. “But I came with Titi, so I don’t have a ride.”
“You can come with me,” I said. “Let me carry this stuff back to my car and I’ll come by to pick you up.”
“Where is Funmi?” Dolapo asked, looking around. “Has she left already?”
“I think she has other things on her mind right now,” I said with a sly grin.
“What, what?” Temmy asked.
“Ask her when you see her. I’ll be right back!” I said, and hurried off to my car.


I was glad when I pulled into the car park at my place later in the evening. I didn’t think I had any more tears left in my eyes to shed this morning, but by the time we finished at the cemetery and Maureen was lowered into the ground, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight. Everyone wept openly, even the newspaper correspondent that had come to make notes for a report. I swallowed a lump forming in my throat as I pressed the buzzer and waited for Wole to let me into the building.
“Hey,” he said, wrapping me in a hug as soon as he opened the door and I stepped in. I let myself go limp in his arms and he held me like that for a long time.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, and then I moved out of his arms. “I could get addicted to that."
“I don’t mind.” Wole said. “How did everything go after the service?”
“It was very sad,” I said, sitting down on the sofa and taking my shoes off. “But in a way I’m relieved it’s over. I can grieve privately now.”
Wole nodded and came to sit beside me. “I understand.”
“You know Titi, right? Someone slashed two of her tyres.”
“Oh, so that was what the police were asking me about.” Wole said.
“They questioned you?”
“Yeah, just as I was about to leave the area. It wasn’t a problem though; they only wanted to know if I saw anything suspicious.”
“And her boyfriend’s tyres too.” I continued. “We all suspect his wife.”
Wole laughed. “Really? Now, that’s interesting.”
“It is. So anyway, what have you been up to?” I asked him.
“I brought my laptop with me, so I was able to do some work” Wole said. “Then I made lunch and tried to choose a movie from your vast selection of DVDs.”
“Really? What did you cook?”
“I found some plantains, so I fried two. That’s it really.”
“Okay.” I snuggled into him and closed my eyes. “You didn’t go snooping around my room, did you?”
“Yes, I did,” Wole said. “And I uncovered all your deepest, darkest secrets.”
I tickled him. “No you didn’t! I don’t have anything to hide in my room!”
“But I did look. How could I resist? I was planning to spend the night here.”
“And?”
“I like your room.” he said. “It’s neat and apart from all the scented candles, it’s not too girly”
“Thanks. I hope I can say the same about your room.” I smiled.
“You’ll be proud of me when you see my room.” He teased.
“Shouldn’t I be getting ready?” I sat up, and looked at the wall clock. It was almost six o’clock. “What time do you want to leave?”
“Let’s wait for all the rush hour traffic to calm down,” Wole said.
“Okay, in the meantime, let me go and shower, and then pack a few things.”
“Take your time, babe.”

I got up from the sofa and went to my room to get ready. A part of me wanted to take things slow with Wole, but another part of me wanted to throw all caution to the wind. Which one would be stronger this weekend? Knowing how strongly attracted I was to him, wasn’t I taking a big gamble? I pondered, as I stood under the shower for ages. I let the hot water ease the tension and aches in my muscles. When I was refreshed, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself, before stepping out. I picked out a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt for the journey, and threw a few other things into a small travel case for the weekend.

I was still debating in my mind when I finished dressing up and returned to the living room. Wole was staring at me with a strange look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“You are… so irresistible,” he said. He got up from the sofa, pulled me to himself and kissed me. I kissed him back and before I knew it, we were kissing – passionately. I was losing myself in his touch, his taste. My knees grew weak with desire as his hands worked over my back, and his mouth did crazy things to my senses. I felt like I was floating, to some beautiful place far away…
Suddenly he stopped. I opened my eyes to see him looking at me intently, like he was searching my face for some answers.
“Is… everything okay?” I whispered, breathlessly.
He smiled, brushing my hair off my face. “Uh-huh. I just want to be sure you want to do this.”
My heart soared with affection for Wole at that point. I smiled back.
“Yes I do.” I said, and pulled him down to the rug.


(c) Favoured Girl