The Right One

Nineteen

Less than thirty left till Hope could finally get off work, she'd gotten a shock when her friends – Paul and Tayo, that is – decided to show up unannounced at her workplace with the excuse that they wanted to hang out with her afterwards. Hope naturally was wary because if there was one act Tayo seemed to have perfected, it was not behaving in public, and Hope knew she couldn't risk even the slightest misstep when it seemed like her whole life was riding on her not getting fired.

"Behave," Hope warned Tayo who feigned being offended at the remark.

"You hurt me, Hope," Tayo laughed, her eyes shifting slightly so they were now fixed on Oke who was laughing at something a customer was saying. "Who's that?"

Hope's brows shot up and she gave Tayo a pointed look. "Behave," she repeated, somewhat menacingly.

Tayo rolled her eyes before shifting her attention back to Oke.

Hope turned to Paul. "Well. Since you guys are here, are you going to order something or what?"

Paul nodded. He turned to Tayo to ask what she wanted but all she replied with was a distracted murmur. He chuckled then decided to order for both of them. He then left to sit and enjoy his meal, expecting Tayo to follow. Only, she seemed to have found something more interesting to do instead – stand right there at the food counter, staring at Oke like he was her favorite snack straight out of her favorite food channel. Oke, bless his soul, as usual seemed to be totally oblivious.

"Stop staring at him," Hope snapped, shooting a glare at her friend. "You have no idea how weird you look, standing there gaping at the boy while your food is there getting cold."

All Hope got in response was a toothy grin and a wink before Tayo shifted her attention back to said boy.

"Did you even hear a word out of what I just said?"

Tayo turned back to her and chuckled at the annoyed look on Hope's face. "Why do you have to be so dramatic? Someone cannot even feast their eyes in peace where you are."

Hope's brows shot up to add to the 'so called' dramatics. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that the last time I checked, you were into grandfathers and in case you haven't noticed, Oke is not seventy years old."

Tayo snorted and rolled her eyes, unaffected by her friend's jab. She however decided she was going to eat the food anyway. She stuck out her tongue at Hope before going to join Paul.

"Time to go home," Oke sang excitedly as he walked over to her, giving her a head pat as he walked past her on his way to go get changed, purposely ignoring the glare Hope directed at him at his action. She decided to go in to change as well, taking her time while at it.

She'd timed it perfectly because when she got back out, Paul and Tayo were done so she motioned for them to come over as she started walking out of the restaurant and her friends followed.

"See you tomorrow, Hope," Oke called as he hurriedly walked past them, waving as he did so.

"Bye," Hope called back, waving as well.

"Bye, cute boy!" Tayo called after him. "It's okay that you didn't bother introducing yourself to us! Next time!"

He turned back, looking a bit flustered as he waved shyly at Tayo before hurrying away.

Tayo waved back eagerly even though he could no longer see her. She sighed dreamily.

Hope face palmed, staring at her friend like she'd suddenly grown a second head. The whole restaurant had probably heard that. Did Tayo live solely to embarrass her or something?