I woke up early the next day and did my prayer. Amira was still with Greg so I had the place all to myself. I was looking forward to seeing Khalil and getting Christopher out of my head.
"Come in" a male voice said as I knocked on Khalil's door. I opened the door and saw this white British boy. He must be Khalil's roommate.
"Hi, good afternoon" I said to him
"How are you doing mate?" He asked and pointed towards a chair for me to sit on.
"I'm doing great, thanks. Please where is Khalil?" I asked as I scanned the room for him.
"I'm here zee" he shouted from what seems to be the bathroom.
"Okay" I answered
"See you later mate" Khalil's roommate said as he left the room.
After a short while Khalil came out with a towel wrapped around his waist, I have never seen him like this since the time we used to play in the rain as a kid. He looked, what was that word Amira would say? Hot, he looked so hot. He had the whole six pack and it was dripping wet.
"Hot" I blurted out
"Sorry what?" He asked without suspicion.
"What?" I asked too wanting to deny what he heard.
"You said something" he said
"No, I didn't" I answered
"Thought you sa...." he said before I cut him off
"Get ready fast jhoor, I'm starving"
We got to the restaurant and Khalil loved it. Both the interior and exterior decoration has changed since I've been there and it looks so nice. We found a couple's booth and Khalil sat with excitement.
"I'll have your special" I said as the waiter attended to us.
"I'll have the chicken with fries please " Khalil said in a polite tone.
The waiter left with our order taken and we took tap water in the meantime.
"What did you say you wanted to tell me? You seemed so excited on the phone" I asked as I watched Khalil eat the last of his fries.
"Oh yes, it's my mom and dad" he said
"Is everything alright? Wait, are they back together?" I asked him in anticipation of the good news
"Ah, there you go again. You know me too well" he said with a smile on his face.
"Of course, I'm your bestfrifriend after all" I said
"Correction, girlfriend" he answered
"I know, I know" I said jokingly. It still feels surreal that I'm doing this with him.
"So, when is your dad coming home?" I asked
"He isn't, we're moving there" Khalil said
"You're moving to Ibadan?" I asked him, to clear my doubt about what I heard
"Yes, you know he can't just leave his company unattended to. I'm sure you know he has trust issues" Khalil said sadly.
"Yeah" I answered with a sad smile
"Don't worry, I can visit you in Lagos anytime I want. We aren't selling our house there" he said trying to assure me
"Oh okay, I was sad I won't get to see you as much. You better visit often" I said with relief
"I won't have it any other way" he said romantically. I smiled and squeezed his arm playfully across the table.
"How is it living with a stranger? I know you like your privacy" I said
"It's been fine. Cole is barely home and when he is, he's cool. We have similar ideals to privacy so no one is stepping on the other person's toes" Khalil replied
"What a relief, I was worried you'd have to get another accommodation" I told him. He laughed at my comment. Khalil has always been a private person, even more private than me. He is very particular about his belongings and hates it when people touch his things without permission, except me of course.
"Don't worry Zee, no one is getting another accommodation. Boundaries have been set and I respect his just as much as he respects mine" he said reassuringly.
"Okay then, Khalil can you take a picture of me from that angle? It's been a while since I've posted on Instagram" I said
"You have Instagram?" He asked me
"Yeah, Amira opened one for me several months ago, it's actually cool, you should open one" I answered
"Those things are a distraction babe, you should be careful" he said with worry.
"I always am" I replied
"Should I take your picture with my phone or yours?" He asked
"Take it with mine, I answered"
"Okay" he said as I gave him my phone and posed for a picture.
"Here you go" he said after taking several shots of me.
"Aww thanks, let's take a selfie" I said and I took a picture of us together. We look so happy and I finally got Christopher out of my head.
We went to his hostel after we left Oliverra's but Cole had some of his friends over so we went to mine. Amira was with Greg so we were alone. We watched Friends on Amira's laptop and it was fun. We kissed too but nothing more. I want to take things slow with him and not make the same mistake I made with Christopher.
"Should we watch another episode?" Khalil asked but I was too sleepy to continue.
"If you want to" I answered mid-yawn.
"Sure, hey come here" he said and took me to lie on my bed. He gave me a forehead kiss and I dozed off after that.
"I said she doesn't want to see you! Haven't you done enough" I heard Khalil shout and it woke me up from my sleep.
"What's going on there? Babe who is it?" I asked with a blurry sight. I widened my eyes and saw Christopher standing outside the door.
"No one important, go back to bed" Khalil said while trying to obstruct my view of Christopher.
"Chris?" I called out
"Zee, who is this? He doesn't want to let me in" Christopher said in a drunken voice.
"This is Khalil, my best friend. What are you doing here by this time of the night? I asked him. I didn't mind that my scarf has fallen off and he was seeing my hair. I was more focused on why Christopher had been drinking and why he came to see me this late at night.
"Can you just leave?" Khalil asked aggressively
"I need to speak to Zeenat please" Christopher said
"Come in Chris" I said as I pulled him in without minding the shock on Khalil's face. Christopher hugged me tight and wouldn't let me go until Khalil shoved him away angrily.
"Why are you entertaining this Zee? Is he not Christopher, the guy you told me about?" Khalil asked
"He is but you can see he isn't feeling himself right now so please just today. He needs me, he needs a friend" I said trying to appease Khalil and not to see it as more than me being a friend to him.
"Okay but he leaves tomorrow morning" Khalil said in a harsh tone
"Okay, no problem" I answered
I gently put him on Amira's bed and removed his shoes. I could feel Khalil being uncomfortable with it but it was Christopher and I couldn't turn on him when he obviously needed me.
"I love you Zee" He said before dozing off.
"He's just drunk okay" I said to assure Khalil.
"Whatever" he answered and went to sleep.
I couldn't sleep all through the night because I was concerned about Christopher. I have never seen him this way and it terrified me. I kept checking up on him to make sure he was okay.
"Hey, good morning" Christopher said in a sleepy tone.
"You're up" I answered immediately
"Yeah, thanks for letting me stay. I hope it wasn't too much trouble" he said, already sitting up.
"No, I'm always here for you Chris. Do you want to talk about it thou?" I asked
"It's nothing serious Zee" he answered. I knew there was something wrong but I had to believe that he just wasn't ready to tell me about it.
"Babe" Khalil said as he hinted that he wanted him to leave.
"Yeah" I answered sadly. I didn't want him to leave but I had to put Khalil's feelings into consideration.
"Can you drive home now? I asked Christopher
"Of course, I'm all sober now. Can you walk me down, please? I need to talk to you" he said but before I could answer Khalil interrupted.
"No, she can't!" He snapped at him
"Excuse me?" he snapped back at him
"Are you going to stand there pretending to care about her? Did you have to come here of all places after the hurt you've caused her? I mean, who do you think you are?" Khalil said angrily
"What do you mean by that? Zee, what does he mean by that?" Christopher asked without a clue as to why Khalil was this furious.
"It's nothing, you should go" I answered
"No, it's not nothing. You lied to her, cheated on her and you manipulated her into having sex with you" Khalil said
"Hey! Cheated on her? Manipulated her into ha... What the hell is he talking about Zee?" Christopher asked wanting me to say something about it but words failed me. I was short of words at that moment.
"Just leave, and stay away from her" Khalil retorted
"Okay" Christopher answered and left. He was hurt deeply by what Khalil said but not as much as he was when I didn't defend him. He never cheated on me and it wasn't his fault I had sex without being ready. I knew I needed to let Khalil know that and not see him as a bad person but it was easier for Khalil to believe it. He was insecure enough when it comes to Christopher and I didn't want to give him more reasons to be that way.