Chapter 5

If someone had told me I would be getting laid that early, I would have laughed in their face. I probably laughed in someone’s face already.

I ended up spending all night at Caleb’s, and safe to say he had a lot of energy and experience. Totally not what I heard about white boys, but maybe I was just lucky.

I’d just gotten back home and was standing at the door when I heard some drama unfolding inside between Damian and his girlfriend.

“Okay, what do you mean by that? You can’t do long distance anymore?” I heard Damian ask. Uh Uh, that seemed like something private, and the sane decision would be not to eavesdrop on their privacy, but I wasn’t sane at all at that moment.

“I’m just saying it’s too stressful driving up here almost every day,” She replied.

“Okay, we can narrow it to just the weekends babe, that’s less stressful right?” he asked her.

“You know I don’t even like driving Damian,” she told him.

“I know baby, and I really appreciate what you do for us, you know if I could it would be the other way round,” I could hear the plea in his voice. But why couldn’t he do it? Didn’t he have a driver’s license?

“I know, I’m just tired,” she replied in the lowest tone, I had to piece the words together.

They were silent for some time, and I thought they were done. But when I went to knock on the door, Damian spoke again.

“We can make this work Anny,” he said.

“How,” she questioned him.

“I don’t know, like we’ve always done?” he answered.

“Yeah, like I have always sacrificed?” she sounded annoyed.

“That’s not true, I have sacrificed a lot for us too,” he said.

“I don’t want to have this conversation,” she said, and I heard her footsteps approaching. I was about to escape, but again they went on.

“Don’t leave Anny, please let’s talk about this,” Damian went on, stopping her, because I didn’t hear her footsteps again.

“Leave me alone Damian,” she said, seeming tired.

“I don’t know if it’s just in my head, but I don’t think this is not just about the driving, I think there’s more to this, so say your mind Ann,” he said.

“Fine Damian, I don’t want to do this anymore,” she confessed. Oh my God.

There was complete silence after that.

“There’s someone else right?” Damian asked. Anny didn’t answer.

“Damn it, Ann, please answer me,” he said, a little loudly.

“Yes,” she whisper-yelled.

“I knew it,” Damian shouted, “Why Anny?”

“Come on Damian, even you will agree with me that the only connection we have, the only thing that connects us these days is sex,” she replied.

“But that’s not true babe, you know I love you,” he confessed.

“I know, but not just like before. You seem to be more interested in my body than me of late,” she told him.

“You have a beautiful body,” he said,” But that’s not the only thing about you I love, I could start listing now, but we will be here forever,” he said. Aww

“I’m sorry Damian, but I just found someone better,” she insisted.

“So you’ve already made up your mind?” he asked.

“Yes”

“Then you should leave Ann,”

“I’m sorry Damian”

“Leave Ann,” he whisper-yelled.

“I’m sorry,” was the last thing I heard from Ann or Anny before the door unlocked. Oh.

“Hi Ann,” I greeted her when she stopped out. No answer. That was awkward.

I stepped inside, and Damian had retired already. Well, what a way to have a graceful morning.

I decided to  shower and begin my assignment since it was due the next day. I moved past the living room to my room, opened the door, and went in, but before I could close my door, I heard a loud “Fuck” from Damian’s room, and something crashing on the wall.

I stood there, torn between minding my business and going to find out if he was okay. After about five minutes of silence, and me debating, I decided to go and check on him. I knocked on his door.

“Damian,” I called, “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” his reply came through the other side of the door.

“Are you sure? I heard something crash,” I insisted.

“I said I’m fine,” he shouted.

“Okay sorry,” I apologized before disappearing into my room. So much for being a caring neighbor.

I took a shower and headed off to make breakfast for myself. When I was done, I took it to my room, together with a bottle of water, and focused on my homework, checking my phone from time to time, to see if Caleb left a message. He dropped me off and promised to call or drop a message when he got to work. He didn’t.

Two hours later, I was done with my assignment and turned it in. It wasn’t that difficult or long, just a lecturer wanting to test our minds before school started, probably wanting to know more about us through our writing.

I took the plate I ate in, and the bottle of water I came in with to the kitchen, and dropped them there. I’d noticed that the kitchen and everywhere else was always clean, and I didn’t know if it was Ann who always kept it clean, or if Damian was just a tidy dude.

There was an orientation camp the next day in school, but I was still thinking of whether to go or not. Yes, it was a good opportunity to make new friends and get to meet coursemates and all, but I didn’t do crowds and was not up for making new friends. I didn’t have any friends for a reason.

My classes were beginning officially the next day, and I needed to organize myself. I had some raw food in the fridge, but I wasn’t going to cook unless it was during the weekend, so I just checked my snacks to make sure I had everything I needed, then noted down things I needed to buy, to make my simple meals for the week.

When I finished that, I went to my room to check my emails for any updates about work and if I had gotten any important emails. I had to start work the following week, but I was just checking to be sure. It was a self-paced online job that I had recommended, that came with good pay, and I planned to milk every opportunity out of that. When you were an international student who had to work hard to be worthy of your scholarship, and also work hard to take care of yourself, you couldn’t misuse opportunities.

The only emails that flooded my phone were LinkedIn notifications which were not really important. With nothing else to do, I decided to call Caleb, since he had not messaged or called since he dropped me off.

My messages were not replied to, he did not take my calls, and I was getting worried, but I decided to be more patient, maybe he had too much work. I then opened one of my novels to read when I heard a knock on the door, and for a split second, I got excited, thinking it might have been Caleb, but remembered he was still at work.

“Who is that?” I asked from my bed.

“Damian?” he answered like he expected me to know already.

"What do you want?" I wanted to be rude to him because he was rude to me earlier.

"Can I come in?" he asked. "Just a moment," I replied, quickly putting on something more presentable.

"What do you want?" I asked again, after opening the door. However, he did not respond, instead walking into my room and looking around.

"Your room is beautiful and cozy," he complimented.

"Thank you," I responded. "Did you come here just to admire my room?" I inquired in return.

"I apologize for my rudeness earlier; I was going through a tough time, but I'm feeling better now," he confessed.

"It's only been four hours. Are you really feeling better already?" I questioned.

"I mean, I'm not completely fine, but I'm better now," he admitted.

"I'm sorry," I told him.

"For what?" he asked, not realizing that I had overheard his conversation with Ann.

"I overheard you and Ann," I informed him.

"Oh," was all he said. "Well, it is what it is," he said nonchalantly, but it was clear that he was hurting. I wasn't good at comforting people, so I stayed silent, which was better than saying something unhelpful.

"Anyway, I just came to apologize," he continued.

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you," I told him honestly.

"Thank you," he appreciated. "I'm going to make something in the kitchen. Would you like to join me?" he offered.

"You can cook?" I asked, curious.

"I'm a badass chef," he said with a big grin, and I eagerly hopped off my bed.

"To the kitchen, Chef Damian," I said with a foolish smile, which made Damian laugh.

"You're going to get wrinkles from smiling so much," he teased, and we both laughed