Night Like That (gxg)

11. home sweet home

Now

If she wanted to, Chastity could have left Ivy's house and been at her parent's in less than ten minutes. But she didn't want to. She hadn't been there for all of six years and she was not planning on breaking her record.

Much like her, Ivy had grown up in the kind of comfort that's relegated to any middle class family. Good schools, amazing clothes, the reality that income was never really something to worry about and nice holidays. Unlike her though, Ivy still had both her parents be loving and also, very unlike way too many Kenyan households, they genuinely looked to adore one another.

Ivy had disappeared into her room the moment they had arrived, somehow already stressed about what was on her plate. Chastity didn't try to understand how she had things to do and so she didn't question it. Instead she made herself comfortable in the guest room, unpacked the clothes she was going to wear to the office the following day and started wandering around the house.

They had upgraded – the kitchen looked especially modern. She made a beeline for the fridge, grabbing for the bottle of yogurt and a banana. Since moving, she wasn't sure she'd ever really filled her fridge like the Ototi's had.

"Have you finally come to ask for her hand in marriage?" someone asked, a stool scrapping loudly against the tiled floor.

Chastity sighed then plastered as big a smile as she could. "Hello, Pendo. Nice to see you too."

Pendo was not exactly Chastity's arch nemesis. Actually, they were very cordial with one another. The only problem was that they were far too similar and sometimes that had them butting heads instead of agreeing on everything. Being with Pendo always made Chastity wonder how Ivy could stand her and her sister and not lose her mind.

She was dressed in a black t-shirt that had no business looking that pretty for just how plain it was. Her hair was in lines and her face was almost bare. The sneering had been a nice little accessory to an otherwise bare face.

"Still stringing her along then?"

During her third year in uni, Pendo had pulled Chastity into her room during one of her visits and demanded to know why she was so determined to break Ivy's heart every chance she got. Of course Chastity said that she had never done that. This led to Pendo calling her a bitch and making her promise to never break Ivy's heart. Never even think about toying with Ivy. Chastity, shaking in her UGGs, promised never to do that.

Seven years later and she had probably done exactly that.

"I am not stringing anyone along. We are still friends and I value her."

Even with all the modernizing, most of the kitchen utensils were in the place they had always been so she grabbed a bowl, knife and a spoon and begun preparing her snack.

"Then why is she here and why does she look like shit?"

Chastity had seen Ivy. They had come over together. She had been laughing and was bursting to the seams with stories. She had no bags under her eyes to speak of and unlike Chastity who'd only managed to squeeze in a five hour nap since Friday, she had looked well rested.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She bit into the banana, her resolve of cutting it into the yoghurt lost. "She looks healthy. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say she is positively glowing. Now you on the other hand..."

Pendo did look like how Chastity felt the longer she stared at her. Neither of them had expected to find her at home, back to her usual dark self. Sometime back she had discovered her calling – plain humanitarian work. She had even opened a bakery that did more giving than receiving. She wasn't a doctor but she was good enough that her parent's bragged about her as much as they did Ivy.