Celebrities in my Head

Anne

"Hello?"

"Hello sweetheart, the exams are over, lets hang." Andrew purred through the phone.

"You’re funny you know?" I asked laughing at his ridiculous imitation of a cat.

"Yea, part of my charm. So, party at John's, come with friends." He said, shuffling in the background.

"Drew, I don't like parties, come on!" I whined, diving onto my bed for comfort. The thought of bodies grinding together irked me a lot.

"Yea, yea, you've told me a thousand times but seriously, you've gotta live a little. You've been studying all semester and every time I mention a party, you run for the hills babe. It won’t hurt to enjoy yourself just a little, and besides, John's lounge is close to your hostel, you can go back anytime!" He massively persuaded. 

"Ok! Ok! I'll think about it," I yelled in an attempt to end the argument.

Drew is downright stubborn and persuasive. I’ve been trying to run away from his constant talk about going to parties but from the look of things, he had caught up with me.

I didn’t want to be coaxed into doing things I had no desire to do, but he had a way of making things sound so interesting and inviting and had somehow made me promise to attend at least once.

"There’s nothing to think about, remember you promised," He warned.

"Only cause you called me a 'kill joy' and made me believe my life was boring,” I said mock angrily.

I imagined him smirking at the other end of the phone. 

"And it's not far from the truth hon. Again, you've gotta live a little. How many times do I need to get that into your little thick skull? You'll regret leaving this school without so much as a Lil party."

"Why meeee!" I protested.

“Because no friend of Andrew is going to leave this earth without so much as due fun."

"Your crazy, you know that right?"

"So I've been told, now dress cute, call your friends, and let's party! I'll be there by seven," he said.

“Wait, Drew!” I wailed.

“lelelelele!- can’t hear you, lelelele!”

He kept yelling till he ended the call.

‘weirdo’

We'd grown so comfortable with each other over the month, so much so that I was beginning to believe that our first encounter was just an imagination or something out of a horror movie.

He was so different from that soulless guy that had straddled me that night. Was it the way he smiled whenever he wanted to make a joke or the way he’d scrunch up his face like a confused baby whenever I tried explaining a medical term? Absolutely nothing could connect him to that silhouette in the dark.

Wherever he enters, there seemed to be a brighter atmosphere because he always had a thing up his sleeves.

He frequented the house of his closest friend John who lives close to my hostel, and would more than half the time hop into the hostel to chat with me and my roommates. There's never a dull moment with him.

Whenever he was around, my roommate Jane always fawned over him. Pamela on the other hand had a distaste for unserious people. According to her, Andrew’s an unwelcome distraction.

Andrew wouldn’t hear of it. He made sure that he got on her nerves all the time. When she’s studying, he would slowly creep to her, grab her books, and runoff. Pam would chase him all over, cursing at him till she gets exhausted and gives up. It was hilarious to watch.

John often complained that he was losing his friend to us but Andrew would be like, ‘how would I give up pretty ladies for dudes, no way man!’

All in all, Andrew's one heck of a guy and I’m happy to have met him notwithstanding the circumstances surrounding our encounter.

My roomies agreed without protest to go to the party. Jane would give her arms and legs just to be close to Andrew and breathe in the same air as him. Pam said she was only going because she needed to protect us from the evil Andrew. But we all knew he was beginning to grow on her. I tell you, the guy is infectious.

He is also annoying, but he made it up with his charisma.

Pamela, Jane, and I dressed casually and came down to meet Andrew who had arrived with his bike. He was going to leave it behind while we walked the little distance to John’s.

After giving Jane and me a quick hug, Andrew had jumped behind me to where Pam stood and grabbed her handbag, then took off, with Pam hot on his tail. Jane and I couldn’t stop laughing till we got to John’s house.

The party was in full swing when we got there. The music which was only a whisper from our hostel was now blasting in our ears and thumping in our hearts.

By now, Pam had caught up with Andrew and they had begun dragging Pam’s bag right in front of the door.

When Andrew allowed her to take her bag back, Pam hissed, threw some nasty curses at him, and stomped into the party.

Andrew turned to where Jane and I stood and gave me a wink before extended both hands to Jane and me. We took his hands and were dragged into the bustling house. 

The house was dimly lit and just as I feared, bodies were grinding on each other. I could also perceive the stench of sweat and alcohol and some other odor I couldn’t quite place.

I turned to protest to Andrew but he immediately placed his hand over my eyes and nose as if he knew what was going on in my head.

“You’ll get used to it,” he whispered.

I made to protest again with his hand still over my face but he shushed me, then dragged me deeper into the house, with Jane in tow.

"Let's go there!" Andrew yelled over the music as we made our way to a setup where drinks were kept on tables.

“I’ll go find Pam!” Jane yelled, leaving immediately in search of angry Pamela. 

I sat down on one of the seats. Andrew didn’t sit with me. He stood in front of me and began whining his waist seductively.

“Are you feeling me,” he mouthed, sticking his tongue out in a teasing way.

“Shut up!” I shouted, covering my face in embarrassment.

He removed my hand from my face, tugging me to join him.

“No!” I mouthed.

“Yes,” he mouthed back, nodding his head and moving in sync with the upbeat music.

  

I hesitantly stood up and joined him, laughing and clapping as he made complicated dance moves. He even attracted a little crowd who started hailing him.

As the party progressed, I realized I was actually having fun with Andrew by my side. Aside from the drunk and grinding people, every other thing was looking up.

Individuals came to the center of the house and busted different dance moves. It was as if a dance battle had issued.

"Hey!" Andrew yelled over the music.

"Yea!" 

"Want a drink?!" He asked holding up a canned drink, "little alcohol, exhilarating."

"No, I'd rather be sober. For you and my girlfriends!" I replied, moving from side to side. 

"Come on, you're already here, enjoy it to the fullest!" He coaxed.

"No!" I deadpanned.

"Your such a baby! There little or no alcohol in it and you're like ' no, I'd rather be sober'" he said mimicking me in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Yea, the dude can be annoying when he wants to be.

I took the can and took a sip. 'Hmm, burns a little but not bad.' I took another and another and felt myself floating.

Wow!

I felt powerful.

Pushing chuckling Andrew aside, I walked straight to the middle of the house.

I stood tall, staring around me at people who cowered in fear at my awesomeness.

Just then, Chris Brown and Justin Bieber came out of the crowd, looked at each other and at me, then walked majestically up to where I stood and began crumping.

‘Where did they come from and how are they dancing so well?’.

I felt intimidated. Not for long though. I was going to show them who's boss.

I started wriggling my body to the beat, up and down the makeshift stage. I could hear people whistling and hailing me.

Shakira, in her full beady costume, came out of nowhere and went all hips don't lie on the stage. I knew I was equal to the task.

Andrew needn’t persuade me into coming here. If I had known I would be meeting celebrities, I wouldn’t have complained the slightest.

I was still inside my head when a pair of hands held my waist and pulled it close to his body. I could have gone all jujitsu on him if I hadn’t recognized the hands as Andrew’s.

I squirmed, struggling to go back to stardom when I felt myself gliding towards the exit.

"Hey, stop that! We gotta go.. enough for tonight."

"But whyyy! I was going to ask Shakira for her number."

He stopped abruptly and stared at me like I just pooed on my body, before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"You saw Shakira?" He asked in incredulity.

"Yea and Justin Bieber amongst other celebrities." I slurred.

He burst out laughing again, leading me through the remaining distance to the exit and outside.

"You're such a baby. You had the tiniest bit of alcohol and boom! your seeing celebrities. Your tolerance is the size of a pea," he teased, wheezing and clutching his stomach from the full-blown laughter he was trying to hold.

I huffed and went ahead of him. I was sure I saw celebrities. Why was he making me feel stupid?

About a few steps towards the direction of my hostel, something clicked in my head. It made me stop abruptly and swivel round to meet Andrew who was still recovering from the laugh attack.

  

"My friends?!” I asked in alarm.

"John will be bringing them, don't worry." He stated casually, pulling out his phone which had begun ringing. He moved away from the blasting music and picked the call.

Who is he talking to? I kept asking myself.

Must be a celebrity.

He was making fun of me when he's got a celebrity hiding in his phone.

With that in mind, I rushed and grabbed the phone from him, putting it on my ear.

"Hello!" I yelled eagerly into the phone.

"Hello," came a confused husky voice.

Wow!

I felt tingly all over. My lady side began jumping up and down, begging to be let out.

"Shut up!” I whispered down to it. “Errr...it's a pleasure speaking to you, are you a musician or an actor?" I asked expectantly. 

"Anne?" The owner of the lovely voice asked in confusion, laced with a bit of annoyance.

"You know my name?! Oh, I’m so honored."

"Anne, what are you doing there?" The concerned voice sent more tingles down my body.

"Well.” I slurred, "I came to this party with Drew here and my friends who I don’t know where they’ve gone to,” I said, darting my eyes around, “We met a lot of celebrities. We had a dance battle and I surpassed all of them, sir! I need to register as one of you guys, please where can I do that?"

The voice paused for a few seconds as if trying to make sense of what I was blabbing about. Unexpectedly, he began laughing, making my measly heart miss multiple beats.

"If you would give Andrew his phone, I will tell him how to help you go about it," He said calmly. I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

I handed Andrew, who was looking at me in utter amusement, his phone. He placed it on his ears shaking his head at me.

"Yea...chill man I’m already taking her back.....that'll be in the morning....... I’m not drunk.....cool...later." He said and dropped his phone.

I guess he was being chastised for making jest of me.

Serves him right!

With little difficulty, he strung my arm over his neck and grabbed my waist.

“Anny?” he called me calmly.

“Yea?” I answered absentmindedly. My thought still on Shakira.

“You’re beautiful,” he divulged in the meekest voice, one that I’d never heard him use before.

“Shakira is prettier,' I replied dreamily, looking up into the starry sky, then gradually rested my head on his shoulders.

I heard him chuckle. I was gradually going under but I kept forcing myself to stay woke.

The last thing I remember was someone handing me over to an irritated female security, and a whisper which sounded like 'welcome to the world of hangovers,' before I finally allowed myself to go under.