Story: DIARY OF A SHY COLLEGE GUY - EPISODE 11

DIARY OF A SHY COLLEGE GUY

EPISODE 11

Author

Daniel known as Senator Daniel


After the day I discovered what channel o was all about, I teased Joshua about it all the time. He was just a very unusual guy that did real weird things; like, he told me he was the best drummer in his church, but no one knew he smoked weed before climbing the stage to drum during night vigils. He also used to dress up real nice on Saturdays to crash parties at the Multipurpose Hall on campus. He asked me to tag along on multiple times, but I always turned down the offer, because I knew the day I joined him would be the day he gets caught. I just didn’t have mind for stuff like that, but I liked having Joshua around; there was never a dull moment with him.
School went on as usual, and we were getting closer to exam period. A lot more people had gotten phones now. Dare, my close friend had gotten a small, silver coloured Motorola phone with an Econet line. Omari had a Motorola Talkabout, and a couple of girls had also gotten phones too. A few weeks after Dare got his Motorola Sope got the same type with an Econet line. At the time, Econet was doing a promo. They had dropped their sim card price from eighteen thousand Naira to six thousand. The day Sope got his line he had gone out with thirty six thousand with the mind of getting six lines- one for him, two for his parents, two for his siblings, and the last one for me. Yea, that’s how great a friend Sope was. But the issue was that, he got to the Econet office a bit late, and they had run out of stock. So he had to buy from a reseller who sold at double the price, and he could only afford three lines.
A few weeks to the start of second semester exams, I went home for the weekend and discovered my mom had gotten another phone with an MTN line for a call centre business. I asked if I could take her other phone to school for a week, and she said no problem. So, there I was on a Sunny Monday morning, walking to class from the Moremi Hall call park, with my black Mitsubishi Trium Mars phone in my hand, feeling fly when I heard someone call my name from behind. I turned around and saw a tall and pretty girl walking towards me with a smile on her face. It was Temisan; a girl from my past.
Back in 1999
During the three years I spent at home before getting into Unilag, I had become famous for throwing parties at my house; the parties were organized by me, my brother, and a couple of our friends. The three things that made the parties successful were music, the elite crowd that attended, and girls. I was a music freak at the time, so I was always the DJ, and never disappointed. My brother knew the happening people in the area. And as for the girls, thanks to my two friends at the time, black skin beauties, Tosan, and Felicia, the parties never lacked girls. I had met Tosan first at a tutorial centre; she was a friend to my cousin who was living with me at the time. We became friend after she invited my cousin and I for her brother’s birthday party. Felicia had been at the party too, and then I found out later that she lived two streets away from mine. Any time Tosan came over to see Felicia, they would come over to my place, and our friendship grew.
At one of our crazy parties in 1999, I was arranging the white plastic chairs in my compound, anticipating guests when I heard a knock at the gate. I went over to open the gate and saw it was Tosan and Felicia, dressed up flashy like they were in the girl group, Destiny’s Child. We stood by the gate, talking about the party and when their friends would be arriving when a silver-coloured Volvo 740 drove up towards us with a girl behind the wheel. I was immediately drawn to her. Her hair was scatted, but in a sexy way. She was brown skinned, with pimples on her face, but she was still really pretty. The heavy sound of the Volvo engine filled the air. The car slowed down at my gate and with a poker face, she waved at us before driving off. The whole thing was so damn sexy to me at the time.
“Do you know that girl?” I asked them, still looking at the car as it drove off.
“Kunle, that’s my sister, Temisan. She just dropped us off.” Tosan said.
“Oh! I didn’t know you had an elder sister. Why didn’t you invite her for the party?” I said, turning around to face them. Tosan just rolled her eyes at me and walked into my compound.
“Kunleee.” Felicia said, hitting me on the head with her black handbag. “You like girls too much.”
We went in for the party, but I couldn’t get Temisan out of my head. It had been like a scene from a Hollywood romance movie. The fact that she was about my age, 17, pretty, and could drive really turned me on.
A few days after that particular party, I had to travel to Ibadan for WAEC GCE, but I kept in touch with Tosan via landline. I always asked about Temisan, but would say NO anytime she asked if she should handover the phone to her. I didn’t want our first conversation to be on the phone.
The day I wrote my last GCE paper was a Saturday, and my parents had a party in Ibadan that day. So, after attending the party, they came to my cousin’s house to pick me up for the trip back to Lagos. That same day was Felicia’s elder sister’s birthday party back in Lagos, and I just couldn’t wait to get back home.
Tosan and Felicia had come over to my house twice that day to check if I had gotten back from Ibadan, and the moment I got back, I started preparing for the party. I ironed my favourite shirt at the time; a deep blue long sleeve shirt, with double breast pocket. I wore that on charcoal black jeans and brown leather moccasins.
Even though I was a reserved guy, I was very popular in the area because of my elder brother, and as soon as I got to the party, people started greeting me, left right and centre. Felicia appeared from nowhere, gave me a hug, and disappeared. Seconds later, Tosan walked up to me, held me by the hand and led me into the house. I asked where she was taking me, but she didn’t hear over the loud music. We walked into the crowded living room, and I kept greeting people as we made our way to the back. Then, she stopped by a dark corner of the large living room with a single seater couch. There was a girl on braids and white bodycon gown on, sitting alone. When I looked closer, I saw it was Temisan. Tosan introduced us and walked away. I sat on the arm of the couch next to her. “Hi. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m glad we are finally meeting.” I said.
“Hope they were good things?” She replied and we kicked off the conversation from there.
I don’t think I had connected with anyone before the way I connected with her. For a shy kid, I did real great that night. The day was just so magical; one of those rare days that my shyness goes on leave, and let’s me be bold and confident.
I didn’t get up from where I sat with her throughout my stay at the party. Felicia and Tosan checked up on us every once in a while; they got us drinks, food, small chops and every other thing we requested. Those two girls played cupid that day. They were just so happy to see me with a girl that I liked. Temisan and I talked about any and everything. I was blown away when she told me she had been driving since she was 13. Being the first born, her dad wanted her to be very responsible and he thought her a lot of things at a very early age.
While walking her to the bus stop after the party that night, we spoke about the future. She had already gotten admission into University of Lagos to study Business Admin. But I hadn’t passed all my WAEC subjects yet, so we made a pact that she would wait for me, and not date anyone till I got in the following year. I must have made a strong impression on her that night for her to agree to something like that. She gave me a hug at the bus stop before getting into the bus, and for months afterwards, I had her scent in my head.
She resumed at Unilag a few weeks after that party, and we lost contact. I would pass word of mouth messages to her through Tosan; there was no GSM at the time, and no Internet, and as time passed, the communication reduced, till she became a distant memory.
Present Day
After finally getting into the University of Lagos three years later, here I was, face-to-face with Temisan- my old crush. She was in her final year, and I was a freaking Jambite.