The Bro Code #3

Read previous episodes of The Bro Code

Ayo shuffled around on the uncomfortable sofa and was pleasantly surprised to find warmth either way she turned in what was usually a chilly waiting room. She struggled to open her eyes and in her drowsy state almost screamed out loud as she discovered she was squeezed in by the two male bodies on either side of her. The guy to the left had his muscular thigh stretched out over her legs while the one on the right had her firmly in a one handed embrace. Both were sound asleep with one of them snoring so loudly it seemed like the droning sound was being amplified by the ceiling fan above.

It took some more seconds for the cobwebs in her head to clear and a couple more after that before she remembered how she had begged them the night before to cuddle with her and how they had obliged despite first teasing her about being an agbaya. Pablo had finally arrived late the previous night and together they had gone in to see Damilare, her brother, who had finally opened his eyes although Dr Odoh had warned that it could not be for anything more than fifteen minutes. And in those fifteen minutes Pablo had clearly and succinctly communicated to the hospitalized young man that the next time he ever put his sister or any of them in such a situation, he would need to be flown abroad for treatment because “no hospital for naija here go fit solve your matter”

They had walked into the hospital room and found the young man with bandages around his head, torso, arms and legs and heavily sedated yet still making a hapless attempt at flirting with the night nurse on duty.

“Heyyy sister,” Damilare had broken into a smile, “That’s my big sister” he said distractedly to the nurse who was occupied with changing his IV. His smile however evaporated after one look from Pablo and even the nurse sensed the electricity in the room, understood the unspoken request for privacy and left them alone after reminding them that the doctor had given only fifteen minutes.

Obi was still holding on to Ayo’s hand and even he didn’t know if it was for moral support or to stop her from rushing to embrace her brother or maybe even to stop her from beating Damilare’s stupid ass. After several seconds of intense back and forth staring, Pablo finally broke the silence.

“This guy I hope you know say you don fuck up big time sha. I understand that you’re in pain right now and severely medicated but I want make you know say…”

Ayo cut in before he could finish. “Pablo wait please.” She walked to Damilare’s bedside, took the one seat beside it and sat down, then she reached out to hold his hand. “How are you doing my baby?”

The young man’s right eye was spotting a bandage as well so he had to turn his face completely to the side to see out of his good eye and talk to his sister.

“I’m alright Ayo, I thought I was going to die before and I swear I saw a white light at one point before my eyes closed but I’m alright now.”

“So what happened Dami? Why are you doing this to me again ehn? Why? Haven’t I suffered enough?”

Ayo had begun to tear up again and both Obi and Pablo hissed in frustration. It was almost disgusting to see their friend who was such a notorious hard guy literally turn to mush and it was only the person on the bed who could make her that way. 

“Sister mi I’m so sorry. I promise you that I’m no longer running with cult boys, I can’t waste my life like that nw and I’ve been giving them distance ever since the last time I got into trouble.”

“So what the fuck happened man?” Obi thundered, speaking his first words since they entered the room. Ayo turned to glare at him and he sighed and repeated in a much softer tone. “Tell us what happened Damilare.”

“I don’t roll with those boys anymore yeah, but I’m still sort of close to one or two of them simply because we’re course mates and our closeness is on an academic level more than anything else because these boys are really smart and shit. They stay off campus and I went over to their place to get one physics book that I don’t have yet.”

Damilare was quite medicated and it was a bit difficult for the three of them to really follow his words with the way they lazily rolled out of his tongue coupled with the constant breaks he took. They waited patiently for him to catch his breath and then continue his story,

“I was there barely an hour before we started to hear shouts and screams downstairs. Some members of a rival cult group entered into the compound to look for trouble and ended up cutting up the security man and just like that shit hit the fan. Some people called the OPC, others called the police and the guys I was there to see went downstairs to join in. I thought I could easily sneak away through the chaos but one of the rival cult boys spotted me and recognised me from when I was still trying to belong. Somehow somehow I got caught in the fracas between him and one of the OPC people just as the police showed up and began to shoot sporadically into the crowd.”

Ayo had been crying silently and holding on to her brother’s hand as he finished off his story about how one good samaritan neighbour had finally been able to whisk him away just as he was blacking out. He was able to provide the four-digit code to unlock his phone just as his eyes closed in the backseat of the neighbour’s car and that was how it had been possible for them to contact Ayo as they rushed him to the hospital.

Obi and Pablo had listened silently to the tale, asking no questions but exchanging knowing looks between each other. They were hundred percent sure that Damilare was not being completely honest about his involvement in what the news blogs and sites were reporting as a major clash between two rival cult factions, but now would be the worst time to bring it up with Ayo. They would wait to address her privately once they got back to the apartment and away from the emotional pull of Damilare’s many tears.

Not too long after that the nurse came back to inform them that they would have to leave so she could administer another sedative to Damilare and he would continue to rest. Ayo had promised him that they would all be there in the morning whenever he woke up, completely oblivious to the odd looks both Pablo and Obi had given her. She knew they wouldn’t ever complain, the bro code was almost crystal clear on these type of situations, as if it had been envisaged with Damilare in mind. The trio had snuggled up on the couch, Pablo on the left and Obi on the right, providing the perfect cocoon of warmth for Ayo to attempt to get some sleep.

And so she slept until hours into the morning when she woke up and overcame the urge to scream after finding out she was sandwiched between two men who had seemed like strangers. As her eyes and memory cleared and as Obi’s snores continued to be amplified by the ceiling fan in the otherwise empty waiting room, Ayo slowly and carefully pulled herself up and away from the two of them. Pablo stirred a little and then relaxed, his muscular thigh finding a new spot just beside Obi’s stomach which was almost completely spread out on the sofa. Apart from an elderly woman who occupied an identical sofa on the opposite side of the room, they were alone in the place. Ayo pulled out her phone and double tapped the screen. The display lit up to reveal that it was almost 3am, along with a host of missed calls and messages scattered across Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram and several emails as well. She locked the phone back, changed her mind and decided to switch it off completely. She would get to everyone deserving of a reply when the day brightened but right now, she was in no mood to engage with anyone whatsoever.

Ayo turned back and looked at Obi and Pablo as they continued to sleep undisturbed. How cute she thought to herself. Then she almost laughed out loud and ruined the perfect calmness of the moment as she thought about how Pablo would react to being called ‘cute’. Observing the two of them asleep and at so much peace almost brought tears to her eyes but she steadied herself. Of its own accord, her mind began to roll the tapes and took her back to that fateful day in September 2009 when she saw Obi for the first time and how much her life had changed since then.

****************************************************

Seventeen-year old Obi sat at his favourite spot at the back of the class with the rest of his friends and watched the lecturer drone on and on without hearing a single word the old, potbellied man said. It didn’t help that his guys were all talking and trading gossip about the events of the freshers party that had gone down the previous weekend and all the mouth-watering and scandalous things they had seen. Obi had missed the party intentionally, opting instead to use the opportunity to catch up on the notes and assignments he had missed over the previous month when he was still coming to school from his house. He had only just moved into his new accommodations that afternoon and rather than spend the night at what he was sure would be a lousy gathering of a thousand freshmen like himself, he had decided to take the day to acclimatize himself into his new environment.

It was a decision he would regret all though Sunday morning when his friends came back and even on Monday morning as the gist from the party was still unexhausted and all of them collectively agreed that he had missed a chance of a lifetime.

“AH! Obi boy, you for see the way that babe just dey grind on top my preeq,” Alex announced for the billionth time as the lecturer busied himself with explaining certain principles of accounting at the front of the class.

“I see am nw,” Gbajumo rushed in, “She wan use nyash kill this Alex guy but Obi, you for see where I been dey that time.”

“Where you been dey?” He had heard this story so many times already that he knew it word for word, along with all the hand gestures and facial expressions that followed. But his guys were determined that he hear it all again.

“I dey one koror like that with two girls. TWO o guy, no be one. I no even sure say they be freshers sef. One get nyash die, the other one just pack bobby anyhow. They just dey sapa me the goodies from side to side and me sef, trust me na…I just dey their middle dey collect, dey mezebu, dey jollificate.”

Gbajumo made a face like a dog lapping up water and the boys burst into laughter to the annoyance of one or two students in front of them actually trying to listen to the lecturer. It was a mixed class, one of those borrowed courses therefore different hundred level students from across many departments were crammed into one of the larger school lecture halls for the hot Monday afternoon class.

“But Obi you miss o,” Toroti said for the umpteenth time, “Why you be no wan show na?”

“Man nothing serious o, you know say I gats arrange my life that day. I don miss so many assignments when I still dey come from house so as I just move in, I gats use that day do better thing.”

“Omoh guy forget that one o,” Alex laughed, “The things wey happen for that party ehn you fit no see them again throughout the rest of your stay in this school.” 

The others laughed again, they were really starting to get on Obi’s nerves with the taunting,

“Come wetin sef, no be just rock una rock? No be just breast and nyash una press? Na why you don dey sing for my ear since early Sunday morn morn? Na wa o. So wetin for happen if say una get liver carry babe upstairs go fuck am for room? The boys wey run the package na your age mate too and dey no get two heads.”

The boys quieted down to glare at Obi. He had hit a sore spot as it was already common knowledge that several guys had been able to rent empty rooms impromptu in the top parts of the building and had taken their catches for the night there and engaged in all manner of teenage sexual activity. Some of them had bragged about it openly that morning to anyone willing to listen and already several girls had seen their number of male friends double and even triple as the gist went around that they were “sure knacks”.

“See oga, that one concern you.” Toroti finally countered. “I fit no knack at all o but e better say make I dey flenjor, dey press bobby and nyash, dey drink magic moments than make I dey inside dey read book. God forbid!” He snapped his fingers dramatically and the guys laughed once more. Suddenly Alex was urgently tapping Obi’s shoulder and telling him to look in a particular direction but to do it without making it obvious.

“Na the babe be that. Ehen that one. I no fit point na just look am codedly. Small small o guy, no go break your neck.”

Obi turned casually to the direction his friend was signalling with his eyes and saw a very pretty, brown skinned girl wearing a black face cap and nodding along to whatever jam was playing in her head. From where he sat, Obi was instantly mesmerised by the vibes she was giving off almost twenty feet away. As if she felt their eyes on her, the girl did a sudden half turn and all the guys instantly tried to look elsewhere and not make it obvious that they had just been staring at her. All except Obi who refused to look away and instead made eye contact with her. Their eyes locked on for what seemed like an eternity until Gbajumo finally nudged him slightly and by the time he turned to look at him and look back, the girl had returned to her original position and was again nodding her head to the phantom beat.  

“You for kuku use eye tear her cloth na this one wey you dey look like agama.” Alex teased, playfully slapping his head at the same time.

“Guy who be that abeg?” Obi asked with urgency in his voice.

“Omoh forget that one o, the girl na better ashewo.”

“Shey na wetin I ask you be that?”

“Haha oga calm down nw. Na the babe wey I dey tell you about for the party na. She just stand for middle of the dancefloor from morning to night just dey rock anybody wey bring preeq come her side. She even rock some babes sef, abi Toroti?”

Toroti nodded vigorously. “Na she nw. If you try hold her body or press her breast she go dey comot your hand. If you do too much she go leave you for there go meet another person. She just dey dance dey dance.”

“Na ashewo nw,” Alex added again.

“How she take be ashewo abeg?” Obi inquired, giving his friend a steady side-eye

“Shebi you no hear wetin I talk just now? Abi cum dey your ear?”

“So na the same dance una dance na ein she sef dance, yet na she be the ashewo?”

His guys began to laugh again. “Be like say Obi don fall in love o, this wan wey he no wan gree say the babe na ashewo” Gbajumo said, holding his stomach tight.

Obi smiled. “That one concern una, abeg free me.”

The class ended some minutes later and Obi wasted no time as he detached himself from his friends and walked towards where the mystery girl sat even as they shouted taunts and other obscenities at him all the way there. He reached her just as she rose from her chair and before she could turn to leave the hall with her friend he blocked off her exit.

“Hey”

She stared at the outstretched hand for some seconds before finally reaching out hers and shaking him firmly.

“Hey to you too.”

“I’m Obi” He paused, as if waiting for her to say something.

“Oh my God! Are you serious? You’re Obi? As in the Obi?” She clasped both hands over her mouth like she was trying to conceal a scream.

Obi’s grin stretched from ear to ear and he began to blush uncontrollably.

“You’ve heard about me?”

“Of course not nigga, I’m whining you. Where the fuck do you think you are?” The girl snickered loudly. Obi’s face instantly lost its glow and he started to appraise her anew as she continued.

“I’m only teasing you guy, calm down. I saw you and your friends gossiping about me before and I’m sure y’all were spreading the usual party gist. Next thing I know you come around with your “I’m Obi” and you expect me not to mess around?”

He disliked the laughing look on her face and how it perfectly brought out the colour of her eyes. He especially disliked the way she had burst his bubbles with her mocking confidence.

“We weren’t gossiping about you,” He countered lamely, “In fact, we weren’t even talking about you at all.”

“Really?” The mocking look was back in her eyes. “Well I don’t believe you sha. Anyway, my name is Ayotunde but everyone calls me Ayo. Which means that if you ever call me Ayotunde I will cut off your testicles.”

Obi began to wonder what he had gotten himself into with the obviously crazy person standing before him. She looked too pretty to be a tomboy and her ass was showing serious prospects of future greatness. He decided to go along with the flow because at least she was genuinely interesting.

“It’s nice to meet you Ayo. And yes, my guys and I were indeed gossiping about you. I didn’t show for the party and they were filling me in on the wild chick who danced for hours with literally everybody.”

Ayo laughed as they made their way out of the hall together.

“First of all, I was high as a motherfucker. Secondly, why do you all have to be so judgemental? I’ve had strange people walk up to me today and tell me “I heard your gist” and they expect me to care. Nigga do I look like I give a fuck?” She stopped and gesticulated wildly and Obi had to pull her laughing across the street to prevent them both from getting hit by a car.

“You’re crazy this babe, you know that yeah?”

“Only in the afternoons.”

They walked and talked for hours, completely forgetting about the sun, their other lectures in different faculties, their friends waiting for them and everything else. Before they finally parted, Obi worked up the courage to invite her over to his place later that evening. She accepted without any hassle, collected the piece of paper on which he had hurriedly written directions, hugged him and went her own way. Obi waited till she was out of sight before he took off for his place on the street immediately outside the back gate of the school, intending to inform his roommates that he was expecting a guest, bribe them out of the place if necessary and then do a quick clean up.

Two hours later and precisely on time, Ayo knocked on the general gate to the building and Obi was downstairs in a flash not even giving the gateman an opportunity to do his job. He led her up the spiral staircase and into his shared apartment on the second floor even as Ayo commented that he was obviously a rich kid to be occupying such fancy quarters as a 100 level university student.

“Would you like something to drink?” Obi asked, opening the fridge to reveal its sparse contents. She settled for a bottle of orange juice and he poured it into a glass, placed the rest on the centre table and took his place beside her, sitting as closely as his confidence would allow him.

They engaged in polite small talk as she took the remote he gave her and flipped past channel after channel on the TV. Soon enough they ran out of stuff to talk about and Ayo finally muted the television and turned to face Obi while he pretended to be concentrating on the soundless Lil’ Wayne video being played.

“So…here I am”

“Yeah…yeah” He stammered out, “Thanks for coming”

“And…”

Obi still refused to look at her until she reached over and forced his chin to turn her way. They stared at each other for some time before Ayo realised that the boy was truly clueless. She laughed and shook her head sadly and before Obi could ask what was up she grabbed his head and stuck her tongue far into his mouth.

It took some time for him to overcome his shock but once it happened he began to fully participate in the kiss and his hands went all over the place, pawing everywhere it could find flesh as her clothes came off at a speedy pace. They rolled off the couch and unto the carpeted floor and after several fumbled attempts he was finally inside her. Obi began to thrust at a frantic, hurried pace as if he couldn’t quite believe what was happening while Ayo lay underneath him and tried to steady herself. It didn’t take long before his body started to jerk involuntarily and his groans took on a deeper tone. Ayo managed to firmly push him away just in time as he shot ropes after ropes of thick sperm onto her stomach, legs and even the carpet, before he rolled over to the side and lay down exhausted beside her.

They lay silently beside each other for several minutes as Obi struggled to catch his breath while Ayo remained completely motionless. After what seemed like an eternity she finally lifted her wrist to look at her watch and released an exaggerated sigh.

“Wow! You went almost one full minute Mr Obi, ahn ahn. Congratulations champion, you’re truly the hero we don’t deserve.”

If the ground could open up and swallow him there and then it would have been the best moment of Obi’s entire life. Ayo began to quietly mumble her own version of the popular gospel song “winner oh ho ho winner, winner oh ho ho winner, Obi you don win o winner pata pata…” and he felt the shame burn through his body and bring him to the verge of tears. Then she laughed that her insane, full laughter that was so remarkably contagious, propped herself up on one elbow and wiped the sweat from his chest.

“Was that your first time?” Obi said nothing so she poked his ribs and tickled him until he finally gave in.

“Yeah…it was…it was my first time.”

“Makes sense” The sureness of her tone annoyed him for reasons he could not understand.

“What about you?”

“Third time”

“Third?”

“Third!”

The silence returned as the automatic air conditioner regulated itself, its soft purring being the only sound in the room.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll get better. You’re a fine boy, all you need is a little more practice and before you know it all the ladies will be chasing you like you’re D’banj or something.”

“Ayo…”

“Yeah?”

“Please shut the fuck up.”

Her laughter instantly filled the room as she rolled from side to side and after a couple of seconds Obi couldn’t hold it any longer and he joined in. They laughed at absolutely nothing for a while, stopping and starting again many times. Then the silence descended on them again.

“Could you get me something to clean up with? Yunno after all this protein content you just deposited all over me” She said sarcastically and Obi playfully hit her on the shoulder before getting up and returning with tissue, a rag and a bucket with a little water in it. Together they cleaned up the carpet, her body and everywhere else after which she asked to be shown the bathroom. She came out minutes later and Obi replaced her inside and after flushing the toilet he stared at his reflection in the mirror. I just had sex he thought to himself. He was finally a man and although it hadn’t gone half as he had imagined it in his head, he admitted to himself that Ayo was indeed the coolest chick out there and he wouldn’t have wanted anyone else for a first experience.

Obi came out of the bathroom and met Ayo crushing a green, grass like substance with her fingers, pouring it into a brownish, perfectly cut papery material and then rolling everything into what resembled a cigarette. She stopped when she noticed him watching.

“Is that weed?” He asked like a child just stumbling upon a pornographic video for the first time.

“Of course. Haven’t you ever gotten high before?”

“Nope.”

“Wow! So I’m going to take your virginity and give you your first blunt all in the same day? Are you sure you won’t start calling me ‘Madam President’ like this?”

Obi laughed and shook his head and went to sit beside her, both of them still being completely naked. Ayo produced a lighter from somewhere and lit the perfectly rolled blunt. She dragged it and released the smoke slowly into the air, as if for emphasis. She took two more puffs before carefully handing the blunt to Obi. He placed it between his fingers like he had seen her do and took two small puffs. Almost immediately he began to cough violently and she had to repeatedly thump his back before he finally got himself.

“See this one, you don go jonze,” She laughed. “Better calm down bro, if you don’t respect the blunt do not ever expect it respect you.” She took it back from him and puffed some more before handing it back to him, watching his movements all the way. Obi did much better on his third, fourth and fifth attempts and finally calmed down.

“Did you just call me bro?” he suddenly asked from nowhere. Ayo laughed her contagious laugh again and Obi had to join in.

“But you’re my bro nw, abi you don’t want to be my bro?”

Obi had started to struggle to form coherent thoughts. “Hmmm… see the thing is…you can’t be fucking your bro…”

“True true! Eyahh. So I guess no more sex for us then yeah?”

She looked him deep in his eyes and he returned the stare. The blunt burned slowly in her hand for several seconds before they both smiled at the same time. Ayo had seen the look in his eyes and she knew in that instant that they had reached an understanding, no extra words were necessary.

She reached for the remote and unmuted the TV. The video for the R’n’B hit of the summer was being played and she stood up and began to slow whine to it. After some time she switched dance steps and pulled Obi to his feet to join her. They passed the blunt between each other and danced off rhythm to the subsequent music videos being played, not caring about beats, tone or anything else but simply unleashing all their inhibitions and making up new moves as they went along

After almost an hour they sat back down on the couch, naked, sweaty and completely exhausted and finished up the third and final blunt for the evening.

“Ayo…Ayo I think I’m fucking high,” Obi’s speech slurred and his bloodshot eyes gleamed incredibly.

“It’s not a thinking matter boo, you’re definitely very high.”

“Ah! Ayo, I love you so much man. Thank you for today, it’s been epic.”

“I love you too bro. and don’t worry, this is just the beginning. We’re going to run so many different crazy adventures together, I promise.”

“You promise?” Obi asked, suddenly feeling very emotional.

“I swear. I swear on the bible or…. No no! We’ll make our own book of regulations or something. And then I’ll swear on that.”

“A book?”

“Yeah, like a code or something. A code for our friendship.”

“A code for bros?”

Ayo looked at him excitedly and then they high fived multiple times until their palms started to hurt and they rolled about laughing.

“I’ve got so many things to teach you Obi, it’ll be my pleasure.”

Obi went on another laughing fit. “Yeah you do, especially the weed. I love it, it’s absolutely incredible.”

“This is even low grade stuff, don’t worry, I’ll get much better stuff from my plug tomorrow. In fact, we’ll go together.”

“Yaay!” Obi cheered. “You have a plug?”

“Of course. It’s some guy in his third year. He’s a really bad guy and all that other shit, but trust me he has the best kush on the entire campus. Fuck it’s good.”

“What’s his name?”

Ayo drew a solid blank. She thought and thought but nothing came up.

“Broooo I don’t actually know o. I swear I’m not even saying nonsense right now, I legit don’t know his name.”

“And he’s your regular plug? So what do you call him then?”

Ayo shrugged. “Everyone just calls him Pablo.”

To be continued