BETH.
After I got back home that night, I had to out up with Lara’s incessant nagging as she tried so hard to get me to tell her that I got laid and what not.
“How’s he? Who’s he? Tell me y’all are going on another date soon, please.” She had said.
‘Well, I’d love to have another date with him, dear bestfriend but he’s one of your numeorus boyfriends so it makes it obviously impossible!’ I mentally screamed.
“Uhm, no. Not at all, no next dates at all.” I replied as calm as possible, totally opposite to the battle I was having internally.
“Ugh! Let me guess, he’s bald? He texts too much while eating? He was rude to the wait staff at the restaurant? He chews too loud? He showed up drunk? He eats as if it’s a race? He was way too late? He brags about himself too much? He likes to have anal se…” At that point, I knew I had to just cut Lara off because knowing her, she was bound to continue listing them all till day break if left alone.
“Ugh, please, Lara! He was okay, he was actually the best blind date I’ve had in in history of my blind dates but it just wouldn’t work out, let’s just leave it at that. And who talks about sex styles or whatever on a first date, a blind date at that?” I couldn’t help but ask
“Well, me? I do? And they still stick around?” She said in a cocky manner.
“That’s because you’re Lara, baby girl and Lara always gets the man, no man ever turns Lara down? That’s the point so stop rubbing it on my face!” I joked as we both laughed and that was how I was able to end the blind date questions.
And then for the following weeks, I found myself extremely busy trying to make arrangements for her birthday party and might I say it was very stressful trying to do all of that without her knowing or suspecting a thing.
There were so many times she almost caught me, one time she saw me frantically texting one of the event planners while we were having our girls’ hangout and she snatched the phone off my hands wanting to see who it was that I kept talking to, she thought it was definitely a new man I had found but surprisingly, Tony had showed up behind her and succeeded in snatching it from her hands in a playful manner. I included just Yeesha in the plan since I knew she was the only one who wouldn’t end up ruining the surprise with her mouth. Janet and Grace were the type of girls whose mouths had no filter and for some reason, they always seemed to kiss Lara’s ass.
“I’m thinking of just going on a vacay to Hawaii with Damien for my twenty eighth birthday, you know?” I heard Lara say beside me as she got massaged by a masseur.
I had somehow managed to convince her that I wanted to just take her out to pamper ourselves meanwhile, I wanted to get her ready for the surprise. And to be honest, that part wasn’t hard to get her to do, Lara loved to do anything that included spending other people’s money, male or female.
“What? Hell no! Are you out of your darn mind? What are you going to tell Tony?” I found myself almost shouting.
“Ugh! Please, he hasn’t even spoken a word about my birthday, nothing like giving me money to pamper myself or just a plan to take me out too, while Damien has planned a lot for me, he doesn’t seem to care.” Lara said.
‘Yea, because it’s supposed to be a surprise, duh! Will it be a surprise if you already know what kind of classy and luxurious party he has planned for you?’ I found myself screaming inwardly.
“Maybe… maybe he already has some plans, maybe, just maybe. You never can tell yet. That’s why you just can’t hop on a plane and fly off with another man, what would you even tell him, huh?” I defended, secretly hoping that I was making at least a little sense.
Lara suddenly stood up from the massage table she was on startling both me and the fine man who had to stop the massage he was doing for her. Lara had purposefully chosen the man cos she found him attractive. The amount of confidence she had can sometimes annoy and embarrass me so much even though I wish I had half of that confidence she had.
“You know, the way you like to talk about Tony and take his side so much these days is so suspicious… Do you by chance…” She started, while my heart started to beat way too fast out of fear. “Do you by chance think Tony is the best man out of all my boyfriends? She finished.
I let out the air I didn’t even know that I was holding in.”Uh, of course, he’s the best man for you out of all. Do you not think so too?” I asked in return.
“Hm… maybe in terms and money and that love stuff, maybe. But for someone who owns clubs and looks very social, he can be boring sometimes, you know. Unlike Damien who loves taking me to parties, clubs, shopping, many vacations and all that, Tony doenst really meet up with him in that as aspect, he’s all about spending quality time together in a simple way and all that bullshit.”
“If you were to marry either of them, who would you pick?” I asked, curious.
“Definitely Damien. He kinda matches my vibe.” She chose without hesitation.
I found myself shaking my head for her, “So you think marriage is going to be about vacations and spending money all the time not about love and care? Gosh, Lara, I love you so much but sometimes I just feel like choking some sense into you, ugh!” I glared at her in a disappointing manner.
“Well, if it doesn’t go well, that’s why divorce is there. I don’t really care.” She responded, getting me even more irritated.
“Yea right, get into marriage while already thinking of divorcing yay! Way to go, Lara.” I replied sarcastically, while rolling my eyes too.
We finished our spa all the while talking about more things other than Tony and also proceeded to manicure and pedicure, I also took her shopping and bought over five beautiful dresses for each of us. Soon it was her birthday, I told her to dress up beautifully as I would be taking her and our other girl friends out. I also told her the venue of the luxurious restaurant which had been booked out just for her birthday, lots of her friends and colleagues had been invited by me and all she had to do was show up and you need to see my the horror on my face when I went to walk Lara in from the garage and she was there with no one other than Damien!
“Are you out of your mind?” I almost screamed on seeing them both getting out of a fancy car.
“What? He offered to just foot the bills and hang around with us. The more, the merry, don’t you think?” She said, looking confused like she didn’t understand what I was screaming for.
“No, I don’t think, I do not think at all. This was not part of the plan, all you had to do was come here alone. What part of ALONE did you not understand? It’s girls only, girls only. Look, I’m so sorry, uhm, Damien? But you won’t be able to go in with us, sorry!” I said as I dragged Lara away from there leaving Damien standing, the poor guy looked confused and embarrassed but I had to look past that.
If he tries to come in, not only would he be more embarrassed, but he’ll also be very heartbroken. In fact, we’d all be embarrassed at that point.
I succeeded in pushing Lara into the venue and then everyone came out singing a happy birthday song for her, succeeding in shocking and surprising her. After that, Tony walked out of the shadows bearing flowers and a box of ring and then he went on one knee, earning screams and shouts of excitement from the guests.
He then started to speak, “When I look into your eyes, I know I won’t let go unless you do. When I look into your eyes you made me want to hope of better days to come. When I look into your eyes I realised I want to belong to you all my life. Can I keep you and never let you go? Can I hold your hand and hug you tight? Can I tell the world how lucky I am to have you in my life? Or simply, can you be mine for the rest of my life?”
“Yes! Yes!” Lara screamed enthusiastically as he placed the ring into her left index finger, after kissing eachother so sensually, they proceeded to hug eachother and while they did, I caught Lara mouthing thank you to me with a thumbs up and I simply smiled.
After a while, while the hugging and all was still ongoing, I suddenly sighted Damien beside me and I almost gasped, he looked hurt and beratbroken and somehow I could just feel his pain.
‘Sorry, Damien. That makes two of us.’