05
I return to the girls and we continue to dance for a few more hours before getting a table at the corner of the room.
"How about we draw up a bucket list of things we need to do this year," Azaila brings up.
"A bucket list? We've literally done everything," I tell her.
"True, I just wanted to use it as an excuse to get you to make a move on Basim," she admits.
"Did Dayo put you to this?" I ask, turning to look at Dayo disapprovingly.
"Okay, I'm guilty as charged, but I see the way he looks at you and this cannot be a story of us waiting excruciatingly long for you guys to end up together."
"So what are you trying to say, Dayo? You want me to ruin the friendship because we think we are each other's soulmate, is that it?" I didn't like where this conversation was heading and I didn't appreciate being in the center of it.
"You won't know if you don't try," Rossita adds.
"Is that what happened with you and Gomes?" I snap. I didn't mean to be harsh, but we all have had our fair share of failed relationships and I don't need to put myself in that situation - especially not with Basim.
"Nurys!" Dayo scolds me.
"I'm sorry, but the only thing on my bucket list is kissing that guy on the dance floor." I stand up, saunting towards the unbothered man. I pull onto his jacket as I lean in to kiss him. He tenses up a little and for a second I thought he would embarrass me by pushing me away, but he doesn't do that - instead he wraps his hands around my waist and deepens the kiss.
The next thing I remember is being pulled away from him, a hand on my face and then my braids getting pulled - that's when I lose it - why did she feel comfortable pulling on my braids? It's as if she was oblivious to the fact that it took twelve hours to get these braids professionally installed on my head.
"Are you crazy?" I scream at her once the guy I was locking lips with holds her back.
"Yes, and I can get even crazier if you try to kiss my boyfriend again," she spits out.
"Your boyfriend?" I was a little taken back. Yes, I made the first move, that was very much my fault but he kissed me back - did we really forget that part? I didn't even know he was in a relationship.
This is the part where she calls me names and if I'm unlucky I will get slut-shamed and even called a bitch. What can I say other than this is how girls speak to girls.
"Yeah bitch, what did you think?"
See, I told you she would say it - how original. I calm myself, trying not to provoke her or escalate the situation. My girlfriends show up, Dayo standing in front of me, trying to protect me from the danger.
"Check your man next time before putting your hands on someone," Rossita tells her.
The girl, presumably drunk, takes that moment to remove one of her heels and throws it in my direction. We started drawing attention towards us with all the yelling back and forth. Soon enough one of the bouncers decided to escort both parties out.
What a way to ruin the night. "Sorry girls," I mutter, feeling ashamed.
"You don't have to apologise, it wasn't your fault," Dayo lets me know and I turn to hug her.
"I think I'm going to puke," I announce.
"Just make sure you don't puke where I can see it," Azaila tells me. I quickly ran to the corner of the building as I vomited all the content I had drunk.
Rossita comes to me with a bottle of water. "Here," she says.
"Thanks." I wipe the corners of my mouth before grabbing the bottle from her. She nods with a smile.
"I'm sorry about what I said tonight, I shouldn't have."
"It was nothing but the truth, but I appreciate your apology."
We both return back to Dayo and Azaila. "How many more minutes until the uber arrives?" I ask.
"Basim is coming," Dayo says and instead of exploding, I bite my tongue.
I wanted to tell the girls not to mention what had just happened in the club, but why? Why did I feel the need to stow away what I am - because maybe he would look at me differently. So be it. I told myself, but it was probably my drunken state talking.
We hadn't even lasted five minutes in the car and Rossita was already blithering about the event that occurred in the club.
"She kissed someone," he repeated after her, catching my stare in the rearview mirror. I didn't know why I was feeling guilty, I didn't do anything wrong - okay, yes, I did kiss someone in a relationship but I didn't know that.
"She ended up getting in a heated bout of cat fighting with the guy's girlfriend. It was a mess," Azaila adds in a slur.
"I can only imagine how that went down," he chuckles, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I see you have met my friends," I say, looking at him unapologetically.
"You could have invited me to the fun," he teases once everyone climbed out of the car, but you could see it was strained. He seemed bothered.
"Oh stop, I feel so bad."
"Do you feel bad for the girlfriend or me?" He asks. The car was turned off and by this time everyone was inside.
"For you?" I was confused.
"This is the second guy you've been with since we got here," he says, already irascible.
"What are you trying to say, Basim?"
"Why am I here?" He asks.
"You came to fetch us."
"No, why am I here in London?" His questions were starting to slowly irate me.
"What do you mean? You came for the wedding."
"Then why did I stay?" He turns to look away. "Allaena." He throws his coin to the floor as he cusses.
"Basim, tell me what's on your mind?"
"I like you."
Silence, that's all you could hear from inside the car. I didn't know why he said that or if there was a motive behind his words
Once he realised I wasn't going to say anything back, he climbed out of the car and silently went inside.
I wanted to call out to him and tell him I felt the same way, but I stopped myself. The moment I did that, there was no going back and what did forward look for us? - With me in South Africa and him in Dubai.