Amuche sat sniffing; dabbing her eyes with bits of the serviette paper she was supposed to be using to wipe her mouth. But the tears won’t just stop streaming down; ruining her MAC.
“Cheer up, babe, think about it for a minute, imagine if he broke up before Valentine’s day”, I said.
She tried to smile; a watery smile, her pretty face a muddied mess.
The restuarant was crowded. It seemed a lot of people were still in the mood for love. Couples held hands across the table; staring into eyes filled with longing. I just hoped they would have better luck than Amuche. For me, I had long given up. My heart was beyond the reach of such idiots as Emeka; Amuche’s wayward beau. She finally stopped crying and we resumed eating.
“Hey, care if I join you?” a tall man in a blue sports jacket asked. His voice was like liquid timber; hitting my eardrums like a bass drum beat underwater.
It seemed it had the same effect on Amuche. She wore an instant perk.
“No! Amuche, you’ve just been through one, must you always let them get to you”, I thought.
“You’ve barely touched your food, or do your rocks crack in your teeth as mine”, he said, pointing to my plate of rice, his eyes dancing with mirth.
Pushy familiarity was just the thing I detested; you thought that meant that they were confident and smart, only for them to show you that they were as familiarly pushy with just everything else that wore a skirt.
Amuche’s eyes were instantly dry and twinkling, the dried path the tears took contained in banks of caked powder.
“My name is Emeka, and after a pause, he went on, it’s a pleasure meeting you ladies.”
A dismal look flared on Amuche’s face. It seemed she was going to cry, but she quickly brightened again; after all he wasn’t the same Emeka, I was almost certain she was thinking.
I smiled. This was getting disgusting. I got up to leave the table. As I made to leave, his hand touched mine, and I swear I felt something. Current, sparks, electrons would all sound corny. But there was definitely a ‘something’. Hard, callused hands. Broad and assured. Familiarly pushy. He slipped something into my hand. I closed my hand over it.
“I’ll see you in the car, Amuche” I mumbled.
In my beat up Corolla, I stared down at the gold embossed card in my hand which said: Emeka Dibie, Head Builder, Specter Inc. and on the back was scribbled the words.
“I was watching you while ordering and worried that I won’t get a chance to speak to you alone. I’d like to push past those invisible walls and build new ones around me and you”.
Familiarly pushy. Familiarly clairvoyant. But it got me smiling. Maybe I’ll take a chance.
This sentence got me smiling “His voice was like liquid timber; hitting my eardrums like a bass drum beat underwater”…How did u come up with it???…Nice and short, saw a couple of typos you need to watch out for…
Hey, Mercy… thanks a lot and I came up with that line by remembering how I feel when I hear some guys talk 😀
Thanks a lot!
Mercy beat me to it! I was going to single out that sentence too…it snagged my attention instantly…as for familiarly pushy men,they are all over the place! it can be quite annoying.I find being a frosty bitch dims the fire out for em! lol…nice story Berry..did i mention you’re one of the people whose works i love reading on this site?
Thank you, Estrella… Familiarly pushy is what some people know how to do best… 🙂 I’m glad you love that line too.
Lovely story.
Thank you, Miss Rola
Amuche sat sniffing; dabbing her eyes with bits of the serviette paper she was supposed to be using to wipe her mouth. But the tears won’t [would not]just stop streaming down; ruining her MAC.
This raises some questions:
Okay. Was she using a Mac in a restaurant? Or did they leave after she cried? Was she at home when she was crying? If she’d been crying at home, U could’ve told us. If she’d been crying at the restaurant, surely Emeka would’ve noticed it, but U gave no hint about that. Nice, but work on this, and other aspects of the story too.
Good job…
Thanks for your insights. She was crying at the restaurant. She wore her MAC powder from her house before she came to the restaurant as most women do and she had cleaned up her tears by the time Emeka came to the table as stated in Line 8.
Thanks a lot.
Ok. U stated that she’d stopped crying, but the way U introduced the next character made me feel like she’d barely started when he came.
As for the Mac, well, hehehehehehehe….U know na…The only MAC I sabi na the one wey Steve Jobs use hold iPhone users for work…
Abi o…I was wondering how a few tears can damage such a machine…and then I realised….
LMAO!!! WIMMIN!!!!
Typical girls stuff…nice piece baby.
:)Girls stuff indeed. Thanks…
OMG!! this piece blows my mind off……. i loved that line too………..
Thank you, diamondslings… Shows all of y’all are baritone lovers! 🙂
@Berry,My goal in life has suddenly changed; I must learn this liquid timber voicing.
Focus! Kaycee, Focus!
@kaycee,lols.
@berry if your pen aint feisty then i wonbder whose pen is! you have done so well on this…i ditto @raymond. you said MAC powder but i thought you meant MAC BOOK (laptop?)
@kaycee…you will turn to crayfish before you learn it.
Hahahahahaha @crayfish turning.
I’ve been imagining how liquid timber would sound. It’s good to have you back Berry…
Thanks, Scopy.
Forget about that ‘liquid timber’ sentence - this is the one that does it for me:
“I’d like to push past those invisible walls and build new ones around me and you”.
Smoooooooooooooooooooooooth!!!!
(Oh, and welcome back, FeistyBerry.)
🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks Tola, I’m glad to be back!
TOLA…I REALLY HATE YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had copied that sentence too to say something about it…AAARGHH.
I hate you. I’m going to write you a poem soon.
@xikay and @Raymond, I tried the liquid timber voice thing on a gurl @ the polling center on saturday; She was so disgusted. I am beginning to think there’s nothing sexy about timber or sawdust; liquid or not.@Berry,u spoil my runs. I am offended.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! That’s to tell U that it’s nothing but the stuff of dreams….Hehehehehe…
Lol… For that kain hot sun wey we see that day… shuo.. no be liquid timber dey do person oh.. u for don gi am umblerra!
@kaycee,…ha ha i told ya..sowry
How do you get so much across with so little words? I like your tone of voice. I think the mention of sparks seems out of character. i know she mentioned that it sounds corny but I think she could have described it in her own way instead of saying “something”. Does that make sense?
I understand what you mean by the sparks being out of consistency, Daisy and thank you for that.I think it’s a POV inconsistency and I’ll look into it. Thank you for noticing! 🙂
Really enjoyed this story. And at the risk of repetition,the liquid timber caught me immediately as well. But i wondered how on earth timber became liquid.hmmn. The ladies seem to know,i still dont oh.
Nice one
Thanks, Stan, Liquid timber would be like a feisty way of expressing a deep, throaty, deep down gurgly voice that also seems to hit at your ear drums like a timber drum stick..
See… it’s easy to understand! 😀
Berry always knows how to do her thing.
(Some) girls will always be girls. Nice stuff.
Thanks Jay… 🙂
@stan, I learnt about timber and its liquid on a fateful saturday election day. I learnt the hard way. I forget say na girl write am.
Lol@U learnt about timber and its liquid! I no send you oh…hahahahahahahah!
A prolific writer in the making. Maybe u’ll be the one to teach me ‘efisi’ literature…hahaha
Thank you Efisi.. 🙂
Totally concur with @Tola Odejayi…the sentence about building new walls was sweet. Nice one , just wondered if it should be timbre rather than timber?
I’d like to push past those invisible walls and build new ones around me and you”.
Whoa. Sounds like something Jaheim would say in a song…meanwhile…timber ko…sawdust ni.
LOL…interesting story…made better by the engaging if somewhat ‘far out’ dialogue.
I likey.
And though this post is almost a year old..D story was beautiful and I couldn’t help it when I laughed out really loud at d comments..
@berry feistypen…Ur pen really is fiesty..berry..Nice one!
I love this!