Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) (6 page)

She took a deep breath and handed him the
can of malt. “It was very windy the day I took that picture.” She told him. Let
him look, she told herself, what harm can it do? “I was rushing home from work,
but when I saw that man sitting there, I just l knew it was a picture I had to
take.”

He smiled. “So you don’t mind that I
looked?” He asked gently. There was relief in his voice, how could she
disappoint him?

“No.” She replied. “I’m glad you like
them.”

“How could I not?” He exclaimed. “They are
extraordinary.” He paused to turn another page. “Are you published?” He asked.
“Commercially?”

“Not yet.” Ada replied.

“Why not?” He asked. “This looks ready to
go.”

Could she tell him about some of the
publishers who required that you put up a hundred per cent of the cost of
publishing a book such as hers? She was saving the money to publish her work,
but that was not his concern.

He flipped through some more pages. “Don’t
you want to sit?” She asked him. He couldn’t be very comfortable standing over
the side table. A minute ago, you wanted him to leave, a warning voice in her
head reminded her, now you’re inviting him to sit.

She didn’t listen, she followed as he carried
the book - it was a large book - to the couch and even sat beside him. She
watched as he went through all the pictures, telling him the story behind each
one, “I wanted to make ugly things look beautiful and powerful.” She said
finally, as he closed the book on the last picture, an old woman with a cane,
being led by the hand by a barefoot boy of about twelve years old.

“Well, you succeeded.” He said and smiled
at her. “I feel like applauding.”

Ada laughed. “That would be awkward.” She
observed.

He looked at her for a long moment. “I
believe that’s the first time you’ve ever laughed at anything I’ve said.” He
said, with a note of teasing in his voice. “I like it.”

Their eyes held over the closed book. Ada
didn’t feel tired anymore. The intimacy of the moment had her blood pounding.
He was so close she could see the real color of his eyes, they were not dark
brown, like almost everybody else’s, they were a beautiful hazel, she could see
his lashes, and even the small hairs on his chin.

He was studying her face intently too.
Maybe I am still drunk, Ada thought, but I want him to kiss me.

He must have heard her thoughts because at
that moment he leaned down and captured her lips with his.

She was kissing Eddie Bakare.

The thought bounced wildly in her head. 

She was kissing Eddie Bakare!

And she was liking it.

Her heart fluttered sweetly in her chest as
his lips moved over hers. So this was what it felt like to be really kissed! A
wave of pure pleasure washed down over her, from her hair to her toes.

She heard someone moan, no, not someone,
her. Her hand found his shoulder and held on to him, he responded by pulling
her closer, deepening the kiss. Ada felt what must have been a star of pleasure
burst in her head.

Don’t ever stop, she begged silently, don’t
ever, ever stop.

He stopped.

She tried to open her eyes to ask him why
but her lids felt too heavy, when she finally got them to open, her eyes fell
on his lips, still so close to her own.

How could she never have noticed how insanely
kissable those lips were?

She dragged her eyes up to his, he was also
looking at her lips, when he looked up, his eyes were smoky, and he was
breathing very heavily.

Now she felt shy. This was Eddie, for God’s
sake! He had no business kissing her, or her him. He belonged to the countless
other girls who deserved him, not her, she had no use for a guy like him.

“Go out with me.” He said, his voice
sounded strange, urgent, and insistent. This was not the cool, calm, and funny
Eddie she knew, Ada thought. This was passionate Eddie. Was it her? Could she
really be having such an effect on him?

“Go out with you?” She echoed lamely.

He nodded. His hands were still wrapped
around her arms, warm and sweet. Kiss me again, her inner voice urged. “I can’t
go out with you.” She said instead.

“Why not?” He asked. He leaned closer, his
lips mere inches from hers, if she just leaned a little forward….

“I don’t even like you.” She told him.

He chuckled. “That’s the second time you’re
saying that in one day.” He said reproachfully.

“I’m sorry.” She said contritely. “But I
can’t.”

“Just a date.” He urged. “One.” He thought
for a moment. “Pretend we just met, maybe at the bank, at the movies, or at
your office, and I asked you to dinner. Give me a chance to prove that if you
get to know me better, you might actually like me.”

I don’t want to like you, she thought, and
it’s too late to pretend we just met, not when my lips are still tingling from
kissing you. She sighed. “One date?”

His smile was full of triumph. “Yes.” He
said. “One date.”

She nodded. What could it hurt? “Okay. Just
one date.”

His smile widened, and she was rewarded
with the sight of two beautiful dimples. “I can’t wait.” He said, giving her a
quick peck on the cheek. He got up. “I should let you rest. I will call you
tomorrow.”

She sighed. What have I gotten myself into?
She wondered as she watched him walk to the door. What in heaven’s name have I
gotten myself into?

“Ada!  Where is your mind? I’ve been
talking to you for almost one full minute!”

Ada looked up in surprise and saw Sophie
standing over her desk, wearing a curious expression. “Don’t tell me that
you’ve gone and fallen in love,” Sophie continued teasingly. “Or please tell me
that, it would truly make my day. It’s about time you fell in love anyway.”

“I haven’t fallen in love!” Ada protested,
straightening up from the daydreaming slouch in which Sophie had caught her. “I
just have a lot on my mind.”

“Yeah I know!” Sophie scoffed. “That’s why
you had that mooning expression on your face!” 

Ada sighed. Of course, she had been
thinking about Eddie and the ‘kiss’ they had shared. Had she really kissed
Eddie Bakare? She wondered what Sophie would say if she told her.

It seemed so wrong now, in
retrospect.  She shouldn’t have let him do that, she should have
protested, or at least showed some displeasure afterwards.

What displeasure though? It had felt
incredibly good.

I’m becoming silly, Ada told herself, like
all those girls in the movies.

“Eddie wanted your mobile number.” Sophie continued.
“Not your office line, your personal mobile, and he wouldn’t tell me why.” She
gave Ada a speculative look. “Does he have anything to do with that daydreaming
expression you had on earlier on?”

“No!” Ada exclaimed, “And I don’t know what
‘daydreaming look’ you’re talking about.” It was a bold-faced lie and Sophie
was obviously not buying it.

Sophie shrugged. “Okay, don’t tell, me,
leave me in the dark.” She tripped back to her office in her high heels, the
knowing smile still on her face. There is nothing to tell! Ada wanted to
scream.

The day went by remarkably fast. Sometime
the week before Sophie had interviewed Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Aligbe, the owner of a
new clothing atelier, which was fast becoming popular among the society ladies.
Ada’s task for the day was to do the photo shoot for the article.

It took the whole morning. By the time Ada
got back to the office, she was exhausted. She spent some time working on
fine-tuning the pictures and doing all the other work on her plate. At some point
during the afternoon, Oliver and Fadeke started a lively conversation about
movies. She didn’t participate, she honestly couldn’t hear them, she was
thinking about Eddie, again. He had taken her number from Sophie, was he going
to call or keep her waiting all day?

As if he could hear her thoughts, her phone
started to ring, interrupting Fadeke and Oliver’s conversation.

It was a number that wasn’t saved on her
phone, so it was probably him. She took a deep breath. Why was she so nervous? It
was only a phone call.

“Hello.” She said into the phone.

“Hi Ada, This is Eddie.”

As if that voice could belong to anybody
else, Ada thought. How was it possible that his voice could sound even better
on the phone? It felt warm, husky and sweet, like chocolate, or cream, or...

“Hello?”

She snapped out of her wayward thoughts.
“Hi.” She said.

“So I’ve been thinking about our date.”

Our date? It sounded so intimate and
suggestive, coming from him. She wondered if she had made a mistake in agreeing
to it.

“What about it?” She asked him.

 “I know we haven’t decided on a day,”
He said. “But how about tonight?”

Don’t say yes! An inner voice urged her,
make him wait at least a week, make...

“Tonight is fine.” She heard herself
telling him. How could she make him wait, when she could hardly wait herself?

“Great.” He said. Ada could hear the smile
in his voice. She imagined the dimples that would accompany that smile. “Should
I pick you up from work or from your apartment?”

Ada looked down at the jeans and cotton blouse
she was wearing. Err.... No, these wouldn’t do. She found that she had an
absurd urge to try to look beautiful for him.

“From my apartment.” She told him. “Maybe
at seven?”

“Seven is fine.” He replied. “I’ll see you
later.”

As Ada cut the connection, she looked up to
see Fadeke looking at her, with an expression of curiosity on her small face.
“Are you going on a date?” She asked, her eyes wide.

Ada gave her what she thought was a
dismissive frown, which only made Fadeke giggle. Oliver had been busy at his
laptop with his earpiece on, but when he heard the giggles, he took them off.
“What’s funny?” He asked Fadeke.

Fadeke gave him an impish smile. “Ada has a
date at seven tonight.” She announced. “She’s in love!”

“Bravo!” Oliver exclaimed earnestly.

Ada shook her head. At that moment, she
would gladly have pushed them both out of the window. “The problem with all you
children of these days is that you have zero respect for your elders.”

“Sorry grandma.” Oliver tittered. She shot
him a murderous look and he went back to his earphones, leaving Fadeke still
smiling from ear to ear. Seeing Ada’s glower now directed only at her, she
wiped the smile off her face and went back to work.

Ada left work early, well early for her. At
fifteen minutes to five, she was already on her way home. She had studiously
ignored the knowing smirks from both Fadeke and Oliver as she left, as well as
Sophie’s questioning looks.

Let them wonder. She thought, willing
herself not to be embarrassed. So what if she never went on any dates, her work
was important to her, and this didn’t actually qualify as a date. Eddie knew
that she didn’t like him! He couldn’t really be expecting much from her. Maybe
he just wanted to satisfy his curiosity about her, or maybe he was bored, maybe
his current flame had left the country or something. This thing… this...
‘date’, had nothing romantic attached to it.

So why are you rushing home to get primped
up? A little voice whispered inside her head.

She sighed.

Luckily, given the hour she had left the island,
there was no traffic. She had taken one of the big blue Bus Rapid Transport
buses, and it sped through the free roads, with no concern for its own ungainly
size. In no time at all, she was at home.

She took a moment to rest and to massage
her feet, then she was up scouring through her wardrobe for what to wear. She
had no idea where they would go. Where did people go in Lagos these days?
Mainly to the movies, malls, pizzerias and ice cream places, she assumed.
Somehow, she was sure Eddie would not be that mundane. Maybe one of the
high-brow Chinese restaurants, or one of those awfully smooth hotel restaurants
or bars, or maybe he would be downright unconventional and take her to the Fela
shrine, where the dead afro beat legend still reigned supreme.

Hmm!

She decided to stop thinking about it. It
was already six pm. After a little consideration, she selected a light-green
gown from her wardrobe. It was short and flirty, a relic of some uncomfortable
shopping trip with her brother’s wife Ify. Ada had never worn it. She hadn’t
been happy then, when Ify had forced her to buy it, but now she was grateful.
She had a pair of fashionable black pumps that she had worn at Sophie’s
wedding, but she decided against them, she didn’t want to seem as if she were trying
too hard to look like a fashion forward girl, so she settled for a pair of
black ankle boots with short heels.

It only took her a few minutes to shower
the dust and grime of Lagos from her body and change into her attire for the
evening.  Her natural hair could be an issue sometimes, but thankfully it
behaved, after combing the thick mass, she secured the front with a thin green
hair band to go with her dress, and allowed the rest of it hang out towards her
back like a thick black cloud. She applied a little makeup, slightly more than
normal, but not enough to be too much.