Forty minutes after I stopped talking with Uche, my alarm rang. I opened my eyes and rubbed them lazily after.
"Thank God, she cooked," Nick said, going through the pots in the kitchen.
"What are we having for breakfast?" I asked him and he came to the dining table with a box of cereal.
"I'll grab the milk," he said and returned to the kitchen.
"I thought your mum made something?"
"That's for when we get back from school. If I don't come home with you, you can just microwave it. You know how to do that right?" He returned with the milk and asked.
"What do you think? I'm not handicapped." I snapped at him. He didn't reply, he just fixed his cereal and started to eat. It was then I realized he didn't get a bowl and spoon for me.
I gave him my middle finger before going to get it. I'm sure I just heard him chuckle. He seems to have woken up on the right side of his bed.
Now was a good time to use up the favour he was owing me."I almost blurted out that you were at that party yesterday," I mentioned and he turned to me, a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.
"What do you want, let's get it over with." He asked with his mouth full.
"Stop snubbing Uche," I said and heard him chuckle."What?"
"I should have known, what else were you gonna ask for."
"Well, are you gonna do it?" I finished fixing my cereal and covered the milk.
"Nope." He continued eating.
"But..."
"Did he ask you to do this?"
"No?"
"Exactly. He doesn't give a fuck that we're not on talking terms."
"That's not true. He misses hanging out with you."
"You don't know that." Nick finished his bowl of cereal and started making himself another.
"Please," I decided to beg. He stopped what he was doing, looked at me and sighed.
"If he's arrogant about dating you one bit, I'll stop, agreed?"
"No. I'm not gonna agree to that, you're just going find a way to make him boast of dating me."
"No, I won't."
"Yeah, tell that crap to someone who doesn't know you."
"Okay, new deal. If he breaks your heart even one bit, you break up with him." Nick leaned in with his brows arched."Agreed?"
"What if you make him hurt me?" I wasn't going to agree to that yet.
He chortled, "Look, if I can make Uche hurt you, then you shouldn't be dating him in the first place. Uche doesn't hurt those he cares about, even if they hurt him. So I want you to agree, if he ends up breaking your heart, you won't go back to him, no matter what?"
"Hold on, why are you giving me terms? I'm the one you owe a favour."
"That's not the fucking point Julie! Just fucking say yes!"
"He won't break my heart..."
"Just say yes, we're gonna be late for school." He sat back on his chair and continued to eat his cereal as he looked at me.
"Fine. Yes, whatever." I blinked, and began eating my cereal before it became soggy."Not like you'd give a shit if he breaks my heart, don't act like you care."
"You think I don't?"
"Do you?" I asked and Nick just stood up and took his bowl to the sink.
"I'm going to get my bag and finish your cereal before I come back so we can leave. We're running late." He hopped his way up the stairs and I heard his door close.
A few minutes after, he came back down but I wasn't done eating."Really? We're late Julie, I told you."
"We're gonna be late anyways; we'll be late by the time we make it to school." I wasn't about to rush through my cereal.
He sighed and sat back in the chair he ate in."Still, hurry up," He said before starting to watch something on his phone.
"I'm done, we can go now." He got out of the chair and grabbed his bag, his eyes still on his phone the whole time. I wonder what he was watching.
He only stopped watching his screen to lock the front door with me."You keep the key?" He asked me and I shook my head. I didn't want to be the one to hold on to the key till school was over.
"We should check if Uche's still around so we can walk to school tomorrow," I mentioned to Nick when we left our compound.
"He probably left already, his dad's around, he never goes late when his dad's around."
"Let's check first," I pulled Nick by the arm and forced him to Uche's porch. I rang the doorbell and waited, soon Uche's dad opened the door.
"Good morning, sir" I greeted in unison with Nick without planning to. We looked at each other and then turned back to Uche's dad.
We didn't even need to say why we were there, "I think he left already," He said and looked at the wall clock hanging high behind him, making sure it was past 8 like he thought.
"No, I haven't," I heard Uche's voice from behind him and poked my head through the space of the open door.
"You haven't gone to school yet? It's..."
"I overslept, Dad." Uche cut him short and poured himself a glass of water in their kitchen, drank it and picked an orange from the kitchen before joining us outside.
"You overslept, I should clap for you?" His father's tone seemed angry but Uche just sighed.
"I'm leaving already," Uche forced a smile at him before closing the door."Hey," He leaned in and kissed my right cheek. I smiled and saw Nick roll his eyes.
"You good?" Nick asked him and I couldn't tell if he was just doing what I begged him to do or if he was really concerned for how tired Uche looked.
Uche stared at him for a while to decipher if he cared to know or just tried to argue with him.
"Yeah," He just ended up saying and taking my hand.
"Uche, your eyes are...sunken in," I gasped when I noticed.
"It's fine, it'll look normal before noon." He shook off my worry.
"You take your pills yet?" Nick asked and got Uche to look at him again.
"No." Uche just answered as we crossed the road.
"Did you run out of them or what? Your face looks like shit..."
"Nick," I didn't want him to say anything more.
"Didn't sleep..." Uche explained and ran his hands through his messy hair.
"Yeah, I can see that. It's why I asked if you took your pills."
"I threw them away," Uche mentioned and Nick suddenly stopped walking.
"Your dad saw them?"
"No, I..." Uche stopped and swallowed, then he looked at me. At that moment, I felt like shit. Did I really make him throw out the pills that helped him?
"You what? Why are you looking at Julie?" Nick wanted to know."You know what? I don't give a shit, just fix your hair when we get to school, you look horrible." Nick hissed and walked forward without Uche and me.
"I look that bad?" Uche asked and pulled his hoodie over his hair. He pulled it till it covered some part of his face.
"No," I answered and shook my head, "Don't listen to Nick. Your hair is bad, but it's not that bad." I said honestly and smiled at him, but he only sighed.