Mary scowled as her mother dragged her to another section of the huge mall. This was not how she planned to spent her saturday.
She had already planned how her day was going to go, simple and relaxing but her mom had other plans and dragged her along.
She loved the mall but hated when she came with her mom. She preferred going to the mall with her friends or dad. That way she could get whatever she wanted but with her mom she had no choice.
Her mother criticizes and insults her tastes whenever she picked something fashionable.
It was like her mom is against fashion and it frustrated her to no ends. They got to the cosmetics and skin care section.
She picked up a medium sized Caro white cream and placed it in the shopping cart.
"Madam, what did you just put there?" Her mom pointed to the cart with a frown.
"Cream, the one you bought for me haha finished and I don't like it so I want you try something new" she responded
"You don't like it. What do you know? You want to jump from Nivea to Caro white, not while we're still together." Her mother said in a stern voice
"But mommy I like it" Mary grumbled
"You like it...why won't you like it since you want to start bleaching. As young as you are." Mary frowned as she listened to her mother
"My friend will you put that thing before I decorate your face!" Her mother spat.
"Is it not my body?" Mary mumbled under her breath as she placed the cream back on the shelf.
"What did you say?" her mother asked with a glare.
"Nothing ma" Mary replied as she looked down.
"Better" her mom scoffed as she picked out two bottles of Nivea and placed them in the cart.
They continued shopping and were now in the grocery section. Mary was tired as she held about five nylons from the five different stores they entered in the mall.
She followed her mom about with a pained look on her face, she was tired and hungry.
"Why is your face like that? Are you carrying the world on your shoulders?" Her mom asked.
Mary wanted some badly to roll her eyes but she knew that was a bad idea.
"I'm hungry" she simply replied
"Don't worry we'll soon finish here and go eat something before heading home" her mom replied with a smiled.
She felt relieve wash over her as she heard that.
They finished shopping and got to the checkout counter. Mary placed her bags on the ground beside her as she waited for her mom. She leaned on the wall with her eyes closed when she felt pain in her feet.
She quickly opened her eyes and saw a shoe mark on her feet and a boy standing right before her. She glared at his head as she angrily grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.
"Can't you see where you're stepping on while walking or are you too blind to see that you stepped on me" She angrily yelled to the person's chest.
"You're the blind one for standing in my way!" Dean angrily yelled.
Mary looked up at the familiar face and her frown deepened. "I should have known it was you. It seems you have nothing to do with your life other than disturbing and annoying me" Mary spat
"I'm the annoyin one? You are the one who walked up to me!" He scowled
"You are the one who stepped on me!" Mary shot back.
"Is everything alright here?" Mary's mom asked as she walked up to them.
"Everything is great mom, I was just saying hello to my classmate" she said with a sweet smile.
"Good afternoon ma" Dean Greene with a charming smile
"Good afternoon my dear, how are you?" She replied
"I'm fine ma"
"There you are! I thought you got lost or something" Mrs. Alade sighed in relief as she walked up to the small group.
"No mom and even if I did I'm old enough to find my way around and call you" Dean said in a matter of fact tune
"Children now adays think they can do everything themselves" Bukky Mary's mom laughed.
"I'm Bukky, Mary's mom" Bukky introduced
"Good afternoon ma" Mary greeted.
"Good afternoon my dear, I'm Stella Dean's mom. You look familiar Bukky" Stella Dean's mom said.
"I was thinking thesame thing, I know you from somewhere but I can't remember where" Bukky replied
"What's your surname?" Stella asked
"Alade" Bukky replied
"Bukky Alade! Now I remember, we attended the same secondary school and belong to the same group of friends. Remember Stella bankole" Stella said with a huge smile on her face.
She was practically buzzing with happiness as she watch the look of realization on Bukkys face.
"Dear Lord. How could I forget! Is this really you?" She asked as she walked closer to stella
"It's me oo"Stella replied as she pulled Bukky into a hug.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Mary mumbled under her breath as she watched her Mom and Dean's mom interact.
"We have a lot to talk about! How about we go find somewhere and sit?" Stella suggested
"Yes, we were about to head to the restaurant" Bukky replied wirha smile in place.
"Okay let's go" Stella beckoned Bukky with her hand as they walked out Mary and Dean following behind.
"Just great! I'm stock in the same room with you!" Dean spat.
"Mary glared at himself she struggled with her bags. "As if I wanted to look at your annoying face for one more minute!" she shot back.
"Are you guys okay" Bukky asked as she turned to look at them.
"Yes we are great" Mary replied with a smile that turned into a scowl when her mom turned back around.
"Dean help Mary with some of that load" Stella instructed as she saw how tired Mary looked.
"Okay" Dean replied as he reached out his hand to Mary.
A smirk formed on her face as she dumped four nylons to him and only held the one containing cosmetics and walked away leaving him staring at her with an annoyed glare as he arranged the nylons.
"Idiot" He mumbled under his breath.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Stella and Bukky talked over their meals as they reminisced their secondary school memories and life in the university. They were very close friends back in school but lost all contact a year after they graduated.
"What about Lola? Have you met have since we graduated?" Stella asked.
"Oh yes I did! We met on the way when I was coming back from the market three months after we graduated and she was heavily pregnant, turns out she was pregnant while we were writing waec but no one noticed." Bukky replied
"Are you serious?" Stella asked shocked, Bukky nodded
"Lola? Lola the slay queen? If someone else has told me this I wouldn't have believed them! Chaii and I thought she had common sense" Stella said
"Me too ooo, forget that tell me about your family" Bukky asked with a smile.
"Well I got married twenty years and Dean here is my first child and Kayode he is my husband's late brothers son but i consider him my own too. And you?" Stella asked.
"That's sad. Well I got married twenty years ago too and Mary is my only child" Bukky replied.
"What happened to four children? Twin boys and a boy then girl as the last born" Stella joked.
"My sister, that was my plan ooo but God has a different plan" Bukky replied as they both laughed.
Mary sighed as she took a sip of her Pepsi. She stared at Dean who was playing with his phone and glared.
"What is it?" Dean raised his eyebrows as he caught the look she was directing at him.
"Don't you any sense of decency? How can you sit there pressing your phone when I'm right in front of you?" She leaned forward and whispered so only he can hear.
"So? Am I suppose to eat you?" He asked with attitude
"You better behave like a normal human being and start up a conversation so our mom's think we are friends" she rolled her eyes at the last word she spoke.
"No, I refuse to talk to you. And they are too listen in memory lane to notice we aren't speaking to each other" he replied and got back to his phone.
"As if I'll want to talk to an idiot" she scoffed
"You were the one who wanted this idiot to look and talk to you" she smirked.
"I hate your personality" she spat
"It's a mutual feeling" Dean replied