"Won't you greet Eva ?", Her mother asked, more like scolded based on her sharp tone.
"I'm so sorry", Eva apologized. Facing my mother, she gave a little curtsy with her face down that I found intriguing as she greeted.
"Good morning ma".
Her eyes went to me, and I cocked my head to the side wanting to see if she would greet me the same way. She didn't, but her respectful tone didn't change. "Good morning. Welcome to our home", she told us.
She was very respectfully, I didn't get why but I liked that a lot. It was refreshing to witness.
"Oh ! you're just as beautiful as your mother", My mom complimented.
Eva blushed, and her eyes slided to the cream tiled floor.
"Thank you Ma", she mumbled. If I wasn't paying attention, I wouldn't have heard.
My mom wasn't wrong, she was gorgeous just as I suspected.
Even with the ton of black spots on her arms, her brown skin had a glow that made the spots look like art. Her hair was the part of her I couldn't stop looking at. It was held up in a big puff by a head tie.
I didn't know I had a thing for black girls who carried natural hair till that moment. It looked soft, and healthy and I felt a certain urge to feel her curls on my fingers.
"Eva please get more snacks for our guests", her mother instructed.
"Oh no no no, that wouldn't be necessary", my mom protested, "We really don't ...".
I stared at the woman beside me.
Oh hell to the fuck no !
I was starving, and after hauling my ass here she wanted to decline food ?
Hell no !
"I'll help Eva out", I volunteered, cutting my mother's words.
Looking at the woman, I said.
" Thank you so much Ma for the generous gesture".
My mom's eyes spat fire when I turned to her.
The woman chuckled. "Okay, Eva take him with you".
Eva nodded. "Okay mom". Her eyes went to me and moved away quickly, "Follow me".
I stood and followed her quietly, until our mothers voices turned faint.
I tried my best not to, but like every male, my eyes would move down to her bottom from time to time. I could tell she had something there, but the flare whatever they called the style of the dress wasn't making it easy for me to decipher the size.
"We have orange and pineapple juice here", She spoke, opening the refrigerator and bending over to get whatever.
I moved my eyes round the kitchen, impressed by the decor. One thing about the church was they never failed to deliver. It was the perfect blend of native, and modern.
I heard her shut the refrigerator, before I moved my eyes to her.
"Which one do you prefer ?", She asked holding up the boxes of juice, her eyes on the ground like the tiles were so interesting to stare at.
I opened my mouth to respond, when she mumbled something I couldn't hear, turned around and tried to open the top cupboard.
I watched her stand on her toes, and stretch her hands to the handle but she was way too short to reach it.
I walked over to her to offer my assistance. She was too focused on stretching even though she knew she couldn't reach, that she didn't hear me move.
It was after I was standing behind her, with my hand raised to open the cupboard did she notice.
She shrieked and moved away from me, stepping on my toes in the process making me wince, and almost tripped over her unnecessarily long dress.
I instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her, instantly noticing how small it actually was beneath the sack of a dress she had on.
"Hey, take it easy. I apologise, it wasn't my intention to startle you", I told her.
Her eyes met mine for a second. Light brown just like her mother's, framed by long lashes. They were gorgeous. I also noticed the dark circles and bags under those beautiful eyes, seemingly from lack of sleep. I knew it had to be because of the church.
"No ... No ... No problem. Thank you ", She stuttered, ripping my arm off her waist. She then took two steps away.
"Please help me get the containers up there", She requested her eyes down.
She was really shy. That was a quality I wasn't sure I liked.
"Aight ".
I took out what she asked for, and she grabbed them from me.
Then she moved around me with so much focus ... y'know the eyebrows bunched, eyes squinted kind of focus so our bodies wouldn't touch.
I would have laughed, if it didn't make me feel like some kind of disease.
I was used to girls doing everything in their power to get physically close to me, girls rambling and making no sense just for me to have the dumbest conversation with them. This was strange.
She dropped the containers on the kitchen island, and grabbed a plate from the plate rack on the counter. I noticed her hands were shaking incredibly as she opened one of the containers.
Was she scared of me or something ?
"What's that ?", I asked, referring to the content of the round shaped plastic container she had grabbed.
Her eyes met mine briefly, before she answered.
"Chin chin".
I watched as she poured a generous amount of the chin chin into the plate.
"I've never heard of it", I said, staring at the square shaped golden brown things on the plate.
"It's a Nigerian snack", she told me. "You can try it if you want. It's for your mother and you". Again, she answered without looking at me.
I reached for the chin chin, and threw two squares into my mouth. It was crunchy, and overall delicious.
"Wow, this is made with flour ?", I inquired.
When I got no response, I repeated the question and she nodded.
This was worse than any movie awkwardness.
"So how long has your father been pastoring for ?", I asked trying to make conversation. I usually didn't care, but this strange being named Eva was confusing me.
She grabbed the second container, grabbed another plate, and walked back to the kitchen island.
"M ...M ...Me ?", She stammered, turning her eyes to me finally.
I arched a brow that projected the words Is anyone else here ?
How was she going to join the church choir when she couldn't speak to me ?
"Uhmmm all my life", she answered, her Nigerian accent strongly coloring her words just like her mother's.
I nodded, half expecting her to ask me something. She didn't.
"Okay", I mumbled.
The awkward silence fell again.
She poured the content of the second container into the next plate. Peanuts that were equally as delicious as the chin chin when I tasted them.
She was about to open the third container when I said, "I think that's enough Eva. Thank you".
"Are you sure ?", She asked, not looking at me.
" Yeah", I confirmed.
"Okay, could you please help me keep these back in the cupboard ?", She requested, gesturing at the containers.
I did as she asked, and pulled out my phone to reply to some of my messages when I was done.
"Which one do you prefer ?", She adressed me.
I looked up from my phone to her.
"Orange or pineapple ?", She asked holding two big juice bottles in front of me. Surprisingly, looking at me.
I wet my lips with my tongue, suddenly determined to get her to stop acting like a malfunctioning robot.
"Tough choice. Which one do you prefer Eva ?", I threw the question back.
She blinked long and hard, "I'm asking you".
"But I want to know which one you like more or ...", I tilted my head to the side, "Do you prefer watching people fuck through your window ?".
Her eyes went wide.
Eva's POV
I looked down at my hands, ashamed he had finally figured out I was the one spying on him the other day.
" Please could you not use that word around me ?".
He didn't say anything, and I moved my eyes back to him.
As if waiting for me to look at him, he asked with amusement dancing in his eyes.
"What word, fuck ? You do know that was exactly what you were watching right ?".
My throat ran dry, and I swallowed. I wasn't comfortable with the way he talked about this, like it was no big deal.
The amusement in his eyes was confirmation that he was enjoying my reaction to his foul words.
" I'm ... I'm sorry", I apologized. "It wasn't my intention".
"So what was your intention ?".
His eyes had this caging effect. Like you couldn't look away, like he could see everything you were trying to hide. It made me nervous, and I tried my best to avoid having eye contact with him.
Everything about him was making me nervous. I wasn't this way with the male gender. I didn't even notice them, talk more of letting them affect me. This felt strange.
But I guess I was scared he would tell my mom, or ... I sincerely didn't know what was going on in my head.
"I just ... I heard your voice and ...",my eyes moved down to my hands again, as I explained. It was his eyes again. The way he was looking at me.
" I wanted to see you".
Everyone preached in church that the truth would always set you free, so that was why I was telling him the truth.
He hummed.
I shrugged, going on.
"I really liked your voice, so I was really curious to know what you look like. I'm so sorry for being a creep. I promise I've gotten curtains, and I promise my windows will never ever be opened again. I promise I'll never spy on you again".
He didn't say a word just kept looking at me like I was a puzzle he was trying to figure out. I waited for his response, his heated gaze making me feel exposed.
"It's cool Eva", he finally said and my cheeks heated. I looked down immediately. He must think I'm a weirdo.
This time, it was the way he said my name, with the non nigerian accent I wasn't used to hearing. He made my three letter words name sound ... unique, special.
I liked how it rolled off his tongue.
Was that a wierd thing to say ?
Was it wierd to say I liked how he said my name ?
I breathed out, glad that he forgave me, and to calm the chaos in my head.
"So would you like orange or pineapple juice ?".
His eyes went to the juice boxes, " Orange ".
I shot him a smile, and went ahead to pour the juices. I felt lighter, more at ease now I had apologized to him.
***
"Thank you so much for stopping by Mrs Johnson", My mother told our neighbor we had followed to our doorstep.
I avoided looking at her son as much as I could, but more than once I had caught his eyes on me.
"Please, call me Stella ", Mrs Johnson corrected.
My mom smiled, "In that case, thank you so much Stella for coming over to welcome us".
The woman chuckled, " That's better, but there's no need to thank me. It was such a pleasure meeting you".
" Likewise", my mother told her.
"So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day ?", Mrs Johnson asked my mother.
My mother heaved a heavy sigh. " I'm supposed to be at the church with my husband ... ".
I noticed he rolled his eyes at my mother's comment, and I frowned slightly. The two women didn't seem to notice.
"... but my daughter and I need to buy some more things. We would have gone tomorrow, but you know we have morning prayers at the church tomorrow, and the night fellowship we can't miss for anything".
Mrs Stella stared at her with understanding. " I'm actually on my way to the church right now, you know we can head there together and my son ...", She grabbed his arm, pulling him closer to her.
My heart started beating fast, like how it did when I had to sing in front of the entire church.
Why was it beating this way now ?
"My son can take your daughter to get whatever you need".
Her words were the reason for my irregular heart beat.
"Right son ?", She asked, looking up at him and giving him a say no and die type of look.
He nodded with a very fake smile.
"See, he would take Eva", Mrs Johnson said to my mom.
My eyes met his, and I looked away immediately.
I couldn't even stay in the kitchen with him without my nerves being all over the place. How was I going to survive going shopping with him ?
Shopping ! We're talking hours here.
My mom's eyes went to me, and I begged her with mine not to agree with this arrangement. She wouldn't leave me alone with the opposite gender, right ?
A smile made its way to my mom's lips, and my hope crashed to the bottom of my tight shoes.
Of course she trusted me, and the way she had raised me.
Christ help me.
"Yes please, thank you so much for the offer Stella", My mom told Mrs Johnson, then turned to him. " God bless you my son".
He gave her a smile. One of his twists falling between his eyes. Was that his natural hair ?
"It's no trouble", he told my mother.
It was trouble. It was massive trouble.