A Sauce Down the Pole

Chapter 16

"Whatever you need, fetch it later I'm super late.", Peace said to Mandy when they bumped into each other at the elevator. "Come on girl I need the blender." "Sorry babe, go check Azana or Omuhle ", she shouted back while pressing the ground floor button. "Nadia: @Peace are you coming, or we should continue without you?

Peace: Please guys give me a few minutes my Uber got lost"

'Typical lies'

She arrived at this big, beautiful house in Midrand.  She was not surprised anymore, these kids lived in beautiful houses.

'So, everyone is from money?'

The security let her in. She spotted her group members on the veranda next to the pool. They had summer clothes or bright colours, it was hot outside and she was wearing a black cropped top, black jean shorts and black and white sneakers. It was a nice outfit but was not fitting for the day or occasion.

"Hi guys, sorry I'm late.", she said while opening her laptop and searching for an empty sit. "It's okay, at least you're here now." Wendy answered, "No, it's actually not! We need to call you out on your bullshit we've been here for like 20 minutes." Yep, that was Nadia, "And you'll be rushing us and want to leave before any of us here.", and her partner Akwande.

"Guys let it go, let's just do what we came here for." Thank you, Ethan. "Fine, Miss Nkosi please update us on what you've done so far"

'Wow they despise me so bad'

Luckily Peace had done some work and was confident in what she had pulled so far and was not scared to share it with her teammates. Everyone else shared their findings and Nadia made sure she knew that they were repeating their presentations. "I've realized we work with 2 bacteria, 2 fungi and 2 Eukarya, who's also working with fungi?", Peace asked realizing that they might work in pairs. "Clearly you were not listening, Akwande presented a fungus." Peace did not bother to backchat Nadia. "Never mind.", she said and Akwande looked at her and then back to his laptop.

 Troy stood and walk to the house "Can someone please help me with caring the drinks" he asked still walking towards the kitchen. Ethan and Peace both stood at the same time, "There's no cider this time.", Akwande made that comment still glued to his laptop. Everyone else was confused but Peace knew what he meant, she looked at him and then marched to the house. "What is it? Soda?", she asked taking two cups from the kitchen counter, "Cocktail", Troy answered reaching for the other two cups making her smile, "Even better". They started walking towards the exit, "They are virgins.", earning an evil eye from Peace.

They both stretched their hand to give Wendy a drink, but Troy was closer, so Wendy took a drink from Troy. "Wow thank you guys I didn't know you love me that much." She jokingly said, "Well that's what you get for being nice." Peace answered fletching a smile and looking at Nadia and then Akwande, "Let's see whom Ethan chooses so we can tell who's most evil." She said holding the cup close to her chest.

Ethan gave Nadia one of the cups and Peace had to give the other one to Akwande, "You have so much drama", Akwande said in a low voice only Peace could hear.

They wrapped up their work and decided that from there on they would work in pairs to finish the project and meet once as a group before the presentation. It was just after 5 pm when Troy brought some snacks and beers. "Do you have a cider?", Peace asked internally praying that Akwande doesn't make any comment about it. "Sure, let me get it for you, anything else for anyone?", Troy asked. "A juice for me I don't drink alcohol," Nadia emphasized looking at Peace.

'Hence you're a witch.'

Peace turned to sit comfortably then she realized Akwande was looking at her with a small twitch of his mouth.

'Wait is he smiling at me? He's going to tell on me!'

They played 30 seconds and Peace was only good at guessing, she had Wendy and Troy on her team. They were winning thanks to Wendy who was very good at describing. She checked the time, and as fun, as it was, she had to leave. Her shift was starting in a few hours, "As much as I'm enjoying this, I have to go". She said gathering her stuff, "Akwande did say you were going to leave first", Nadia said sipping on her juice, "He got that correct." She took out her phone to order an Uber. "I also have to go meet up with my sister, I might as well peace out everyone.", Akwande said slowly moving Peace's phone away from her face. "Let's go I'll take you home." The others did not notice their little chat because they were focused on the game and were a little tipsy except for Nadia who looked at Peace as if she could slip and drown in the pool.

They said their goodbyes and walked towards where Akwande had parked, "Where're you going to drop me off?", she asked to make sure it was a safe place for her or if there were Ubers available at that location.  "I said I'm taking you home.", Peace did not know how to act; she could not figure Akwande's intentions. Once they were inside his 'out of this world' Mercedes, "Why did not you tell him that was not your favourite cider?", he asked not even looking at her. Peace was surprised, "Who said I have a favourite cider and that was not it?", she pull up a face. He made a low laugh, "It took you 45 minutes to finish one bottle, at my house you finished 4 in an hour." Peace was washed with embarrassment, she avoided eye contact.

"That's not true and these are different circumstances.", she stared on the road, "You were supposed to drink freely this time because you were done with schoolwork and that time we had not even started with any work." Peace wanted to change the topic because with every explanation she gave this guy was ready to object.

She would steal a few glances hoping he did not notice; his hair was big covering his whole head until she noticed he'd shaved the sides. "Stop checking me out."

'You're not about to make me feel awkward again.'

"Why did you offer to take me home.", she finally asked, "The way to my house passes by campus and I know you live close to campus, so as a Good Samaritan I offered.", he said shrugging his shoulder and his two fingers tapping the stirring wheel, not the answer she wanted. Peace noticed his movement.

'Oh, that's what you do when you lie?'

When they were a minute away from Peace's residence, "Thank you for being a Good Samaritan, it saved me time and money", she said sarcastically smiling at him. He looked straight into her eyes and Peace struggled to keep her stare, "Who said you ain't paying?", Peace was a bit surprised, but her facial expression did not change. "I just told you", she answered, "We will see about that." He stopped at the entrance. "Thank you," she said reaching for the handle to open the door, but it was locked, she turned and looked at him. "I don't have time for games Xavier", she said a little annoyed and frustrated because she did not know where this was going. "I don't play games." "Then what's up?", she was certain it had nothing to do with her paying for the ride. He leaned way closer to her making her whole body confused about whether it was cold or hot. He spoke directly to her ear his curly hair touching the right side of her face, "We are now partners, and I like a communicating partner who won't stand me up for our dates, who would reply fast to my texts. Lastly, never ever call me Xavier, it doesn't suit you."

Why was he talking like that about their partnership for the project? She did not  like any of it.