“Is it sexual?” I asked Sammy. “I see the way you look at her. It is hard to miss it.” He was tongue tied. His tongue was suddenly too heavy for the right answer.
Caught off guard is probably an understatement when it came to that slim, tall girl, the voluptuous temptress. She must have been part of the organising crew. I had to slap myself out of this maze. Why did I care anyway? Sammy is only a friend after all and this date could be the first if not the last.
Sammy handed me a VIP ticket to the show. He had been waiting at the hotel’s entrance. “Here, go and have fun”. I was too excited to think of what he actually meant when he said that. He is humble, speaks very little and in very low and unsure tones. He doesn’t want to repeat himself too.
We dashed to the venue, after the red carpet treatment, where he spent most of his time drooling over the other girls and stealing “selfie” moments with them whenever he could. He probably doesn’t recall that I attended the show in solitude. What hurt the most was his invite came in when I was readying my swimsuit to go swimming, my other affair. I don’t think he remembers that I was caught up in traffic and had to leave the small car with my kid brother so I would jump on some old, rickety boda boda, whose rider was reeking of something close to rat poison.
I sat in the furthest corner, close to the DJs. I always want to hear my music loud and clear. I want to dance to the loudest of beats- those that I can hear in the furthest vessels of my heart. I endured a bunch of our very own artists bore me. I settled for drinks that I only took in dreams. Once in a while, I stood up just to be sure I wasn’t missing Sauti Sol perform and every second I scanned my eyes through the cheering crowd to see if I could get a glimpse of him.
He wasn’t so bad after all, twice, he came around to bring cans of beer, and then disappeared. I tried to search around for my supervisor (isn’t that what Sammy had become?), in vain.
Where did I go wrong? I had not expected a fun night, but at least he should have hang around. “Could he be with the temptress mistress?” I wondered. After downing, one too many, the thought of him faded from my drowsy brain. When my favourite squadron (Sauti Sol) hit the stage, I forgot my solitude. I started singing, well whining really, along to my favourite of Sauti hits, Nerea. I looked around and everybody else was excited, a reminder that that’s perhaps what we all came to do. I joined the wagon and screamed like I had the craziest of company. Now that I think about it, I’m mad at myself. Really? What was I thinking? To leave home and all the company it offers and be treated to this?
The show climaxed and I crawled out of the crowd. I headed straight to the washrooms, buried my head in the sink and evilly laughed at my foolishness. I kept asking myself whether there are people who invite you to a show and just disappear. The beer ordered me to call Sammy and find out where he was.
I called as many times as I remember till I just gave up. Life can be unfair sometimes. All this while, Simeon (the play boy) was calling and texting, trying to find out where I was or whether I was safe, and I ignored him. Luckily, I bumped into workmates who had come to cover the event. Together, we treated ourselves to a few shots and a photo session, and then spread out to our different destinations. The craziest bit is Sammy has kept his mood swings switch on till today. He ignores me (which is okay) and wants to prove that he was hurt more than I was, which is also okay.
