What Do I Say?

Life took a twist for me few days to 'That Day'. 

Wondering 'what day is I am talking about?' Worry your mind not, you’ll soon find out. 

I got a call from one of my very few close friends, Linda, asking me about the kind of guys I liked; I was baffled because she had never been the type to ask such funny questions talkless of asking via a call out of the blues. I asked her "Babe, hope you are feeling OK? Do I have to call your Mom? " She just laughed at my questions then said "Common, answer the question: What kind of guys do you like?" 

I told her that being a sapiosexual, I really loved guys that could initiate intelligent conversations and keep it going for as long as we were together. She laughed heartily and made some nasty comments about my love for fairytales. We both laughed it off but I never thought of that call as important till 'That Day'. 

Few days to 'That Day' flowers and a note which read: “I love the way you walk” without a signature, was delivered to my apartment: I had recently moved out of the school dormitory few weeks back to a personal space to get more comfortable and get me some more privacy. 

Being the overly self-conscious person I am, even with my busy school schedule, I made it a point of duty to assess all my male classmates who could make such gesture and I found none. I felt a rising feeling of both fear and excitement in my stomach. So many thoughts ran through my mind at the same time like the London Marathon; "Does this mean I have a secret admirer? Or is it a stalker?" I almost fainted with all the random and insane thoughts creeping their way into my head causing it to spin wildly. 

This very scary at the same time romantic gesture kept coming in for the next few days before 'That Day' I needed to tell someone because each day, a different kind of flower was delivered with a really cute but creepy note attached to it and still without a signature. I thought I was going to go crazy so I called my best friend, the craziest and most amazing person in the whole wide world. You will soon find out why he is the craziest. 

I called his number twice before he finally picked, only God knows what evil scheme he was working on this time. As usual his first words were "Ah! Calabar Geh, you finally decided to call Big Daddy!!!" I laughed and made funny faces hoping he would not notice since it was not a video call but this guy knows me too well. I wasn’t surprised , when he said "are you going to tell me what's going on with you and will you stop making funny faces, you are almost 20", that got to me, but you know I love him so I can't take offense in his heart wrecking words. I gave him a detailed run down of the whole charade that had been causing me nostalgic feelings. All he could say was "fear fear” (which means: fearful person). You need to stop getting scared so easily and enjoy the mystery behind the flowers cause one day they might stop coming ". I felt at peace with his words and after some unreasonable (and naughty) exchange of adult words, I hang up on him to taunt him.

****************************************************************************************** 

After a hectic day of receiving a lecture for 3 hours straight, I proceeded home to take my bath, and have some 'me' time (entails Oreo cookies and ice cream). Just by the entrance of my apartment I found a white box, the first thought that came to my mind was "Oh my God, this is a bomb" but I had never seen where bombs have sticky notes on them (even in movies) especially my favorite color – Purple, so a bomb was out of the question. My mind kept playing games "open it, don't open it". 

I decided to do what any normal person would do, I fetched a stick and used it to shift the cover of the box so I would be able see what was inside and also read the note without touching it. I could only scream, inside the box was a black dress folded neatly just the way I loved it and the very open-toe block heels had been eyeing for months and the note had my favorite overrated phrase "LOVE". 

My head kept going over all my male friends to decipher who could have done this but only my best friend knew so much about me but there had never been any form of attraction, we had clearly defined our relationship from the get go, so he was clearly out of the picture. "God who could this be?? I am getting tired of the suspense".  Long story short, I had to touch the box and carry it inside my apartment for "proper inspection"; I tried on the dress and it hugged my curves perfectly like it was custom made for me. Oh the feel of its soft texture on my skin was so mesmerizing and the shoes fitted perfectly too. 

That evening after my whole "proper checking", I retired to my initial "me" time plan. But she had to ruin it with a call, remember that very close friend of mine that called at the beginning? Oh by the way her name is Linda, I grumpily picked up my phone and snapped at her "You better be calling me for my bank account number else I'd unfriend you this very moment". She giggled and asked "Hope you got the box". 

Immediately she asked that question, the pack of cookies on my laps fell to the floor as if it also felt my shock. It was only when she called my name "Obong!!!" that I realized l was still on the phone. I asked her how she knew about the box but she only avoided the question by telling me to wear what was in the box, wear light makeup and meet her at Hard Roc Lounge by 9pm, the new restaurant that had just opened last week outside the university campus. She hung up before I could even ask her why and what it was about. 

I decided to play along and find out what exactly was going on, cause at this stage, I was already going crazy. My week had been filled with so many weird things happening, that was enough to make me go nuts then she had to add this. I called Teejay, my best friend, to tell him everything that just happened and where I was going to just in case any bad thing happened, I was that scared. And because of the fear he noticed in my voice, he could not make any jokes which at that moment I really needed. He told me to go and that he would call to check on me every 30 minutes, well that was reassuring but he knew I would still be scared out of my mind.

******************************************************************************************

The journey to Hard Roc Lounge wasn’t a really pleasant one, having to walk to the road with a black dress and block heels made me an object of spectacle to everyone I passed, you can’t imagine how shy I felt taking those seemingly never to ending steps to my bus stop. 

It was a twenty minutes journey with the keke napep, and by a few minutes past 9, I was finally at my destination. I reluctantly made my way to the front door of Hard Roc Lounge amidst the thick stench of mystery that had engulfed the atmosphere. 

I entered and I noticed everywhere was decorated with red balloons and so many people were nicely dressed, I even noticed a couple at the table not so far from the entrance, the lady was seriously blushing. That was when it dawned on me that it was Valentine's Day, oh my goodness how long have I been so lost in my own world that I didn't even notice what was happening around me. 

I walked forward into the restaurant and I spotted Linda but she was not alone, there was someone with her. I must admit he had a very nice haircut on. I walked closer only to see my best friend smiling heartily at me, I was in shock so I just kept quiet so I would not babble too much. I looked at Linda for answers as I was really confused but she kept smiling. 

He went on one knee, he held my right hand and he said" I know you are in so much shock right now, and I must confess you look really beautiful like always. I am the creep that wouldn't let your mind rest, I sent all the flowers, notes and the box with the clothes and shoes. I have been preparing for this for a very long time and I want you to know how much I love you and how much you mean to me not just as my best friend but as my world" I had tears streaming down my face, tears I didn't even know made my eyes their home.  

"Will you be my girlfriend, best friend, close confidant and padi?” “I know you were already my best friend before but I want you closer to my heart where you would always call home".

I was speechless, dumbfounded, flabbergasted, bemused, and every other word that could define my current state. Here I was looking non-pulsed, my best friend of almost 5 years on one knee, my close friend of about 5 semesters standing by, a crowd of persons whom I most like had never met before looking on, and a proposal I had never envisaged even in my wildest fantasy staring me in the face.

What should I say in response to Teejay’s proposal? I am so confused.