I do not know why a simple statement made my heart go da-dum yet again. Nor why this da-dum thing only happened with Callum. But I wasn’t about to find out since my mind spaced out, preventing me from continuing with the conversation.

Instead, I nodded at the book in his hand and asked, “What’s that?” and noticing how high-pitched my voice sounded, cleared my throat and repeated in a bass, “What’s that?”

He glanced at it and replied, “Just a Geography book.”

I didn’t know what that meant, so I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “Geography? What is that?”

“It’s...” He bit his bottom lip and shifted his weight from one foot to another. “May we sit down? I think the librarian’s gone, and I doubt he’ll be chasing after you.”

I nodded in agreement and stepped back. What’s the worst he could do, ban me from the library? Wouldn’t be the first time I’d been banned from a place for picking an argument with the owner or occupier.

Thank God for Inspector Raphael, who somehow always managed to resolve the issue in my favour and educate people on a thing or two about discrimination. It didn’t stop him from scolding me though, yet he still kept my misadventures a secret from my mother.

He kept plenty of my and Ed’s secrets, actually. It probably wouldn’t be long until he figured out why we needed Callum.

Callum and I sat down at one of the tables, and he explained to me what Geography was. He spoke of physical features and the environment, and countries and maps. He spoke mostly about other places besides Richard Town, how every single place had its own unique attributes and lifestyles, and how there were places yet to be discovered that could even be more beautiful than the ones he’d read and heard about.

I listened to him with wide-eyed amazement, and couldn’t get over how animated and happy he was while he talked. It was contagious and made me smile. He talked so much, I was almost sure he’d forgotten to breathe. I even noticed the goose bumps form on his skin when he talked about a particular place he liked – Harkfeld, it was called.

“Wow,” I breathed when some silence finally passed between us.

At once, his face flushed pink and he brought his fingers under his bangs, lightly massaging his forehead. “I’m sorry, I talked too much.”

I let out a tiny giggle. “I didn’t think you were capable.”

His ears looked like they were on fire. I must’ve been right, because his fingers touched the tips of one of his ears. “I am so embarrassed. I didn’t even let you speak.”

“I was listening and enjoying you talk,” I said with a grin. “Geography sounds interesting. I like that you have something you’re passionate about.” I propped my elbow on the table and rested my head in my hand as I watched him. “You really wish to travel, huh?”

He nodded sheepishly and flipped a page of the book, running his hand over the colourful page. “I’ll go to Harkfeld one day. I don’t know how, since it’s halfway across the world, but I will.”

I simply smiled, and thought about how nice it would be if I went with him.

Out of the blue, he asked, “Why do you look at me like that?”

“Like how?”

He lifted his eyes to me then quickly looked away. “Like that.”

“How am I looking at you?” I laughed, leaning both my arms on the table.

“You know how,” he murmured.

“No, I don’t.” I argued, amused.

“It’s...” he said, and used his index finger to scratch his eyebrow. “The look is...it’s piercing.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Piercing?”

“Sharp.”

He kept his eyes on the book while mine remained on him.

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” I asked.

He shook his head no. “It makes me...I don’t know how it makes me feel, but it makes me feel something.”

Something like what?

“If it’s not uncomfortable, then why won’t you look at me?” I inquired, aiming for a little tease.

He shifted a bit in his seat and slowly, lifted his eyes to me.

Such beautiful eyes.

“In case you haven’t noticed, Rose,” he said softly, “I’m a little shy.”

This time it was me folding my lips to stop the ginormous smile threatening to split my face.

I didn’t even know why I was smiling.

I shook my head. “Right. Sorry, it was a bogus question,” I said with an apologetic face.

“It’s okay.”

Silence fell between us, and it was then that I noticed how dark it was getting. Actually, it was dark already, and I winced when the library lights went on.

“Oh my God, I have to head home. Looks like I lost track of time.” I stood up in a hurry while Callum checked his wrist watch.

“Wow, it’s seven already,” he murmured.

I groaned. “I have to go before my mother gets upset. See you, Cal-”

I was cut off by the scraping sound his chair made as he rose up instantly and declared, “I’ll take you home.”

I only stared at him.

He shrugged and added, “If you don’t mind.”

I smiled and motioned for us to go.

*****

Callum wanted us to take a coach since it was faster, but I felt like walking. I only took coaches when I was with Ed and she insisted. And since I now had Callum as a companion, I was in no rush to get home.

I recounted to Callum the day I first met Ed, on her ninth birthday party.

“...so I went inside the house looking for the lavatory, only to walk in on Ed throwing a verbal and physical tantrum while her mother tried to force her into a pink and fluffy tulle birthday gown.” I narrated. “ I’d thought Ed was being mistreated so I rushed in to help her. She was flailing her limbs about – kicking and screaming, and one of her tiny fists smacked me right in the face, leaving me with a bruised cheek and a bloody nose.”

Callum burst into laughter at my story, and I swear I’d never witnessed anything so charming on a person. It was hard not to be enchanted by that face, smile and dimple, not to mention the sound of his laughter.

“And what did Ed do?” He beamed, eager for the rest of the story.

“Huh?” It took me a while to come back to earth, but I went back on track. “Oh. Well for Ed, that was the perfect distraction for her to make her escape while her mother attended to a wailing me. Nobody could find her for the entirety of the birthday party, but she showed up out of nowhere when everybody was leaving in just her drawers.”

Callum was stunned. “What?”

“Mm-hm. She made sure nobody else saw her except for me. She then apologised for boxing me in the face, and told me how much she hated wearing dresses. She gave me some sweets and a dolly as a peace offering, and we’ve been friends since.”

There was a look of longing in his eyes as he said, “What a nice friendship you two have.”

“You don’t have any friendship stories?”

He shook his head. “I’ve always been too quiet to be able to make friends. It’s been me and my brothers since childhood.” He looked up and smiled fondly at the starlit sky, like a wave of nostalgia had hit him.

Someone shouted in the distance to switch on the street lamp, and the dark surroundings brightened up a second later. A coach drove by us while a young man followed, calling for it to stop.

I gave Callum a playful nudge in the side with my elbow. “Well, now you have me and Ed. We’ll be your friends.”

He laughed. “I appreciate it.”

Before I knew it, we stood right in front of my home. I looked at the familiar front yard, at the brightness within the house, then turned on my heel to face him. “Thank you for bringing me home.”

“You’re welcome.”

What was next? Was I to hug him, shake hands or simply wave? But I didn’t want him to leave just yet. I wanted to see him more and spend more time with him.

“Bye, then.” He gave a little wave.

No, no, no, no!

“Wait!” I squeaked, and he looked at me inquisitively.

Brain, think of something to make him stay a little while longer.

“Something of mine is broken,” I blurted. “It’s the bolt on my bedroom door. Can you fix it?”

His eyebrows shot up. “At this time?”

I laughed nervously. “Of course not, silly! Tomorrow, obviously!”

Because the lock’s not broken – yet.

“Oh,” Callum relaxed. “Well, I have a tight schedule tomorrow. Maybe I can come by on Saturday? Say, 10:00 am?”

I nodded with eagerness. “That would be perfect.”

Maybe by then, I would have found a few more ‘broken’ things that needed fixing.

His lips stretched into a white smile, and I was taken by that dimple again. “Good night, Rose.”

“Good night, Callum,” I replied, except it came out more like a sigh.

He gave me a small wave, and I waved back before he turned and walked back into the street. I stayed there, staring at him, till I could no longer make out his figure.

*****

“Alright, I found a bigger one!” Ed’s husky voice hollered from the corridor and a few seconds later, she walked into my bedroom carrying a big rock in her hand, in the same way a waiter would carry a tray.

“Great work, friend,” I complimented, tossing the small stone I had aside. “That ought to do the trick.”

It was Friday afternoon, and the two of us had been hard at work trying to break the bolt on my bedroom door, so that Callum would fix it the next day.

I took the rock from her, and with both hands, began pounding away at the bolt while Ed took to the carpet with her legs crossed, and helped herself to the vanilla cakes on a plate next to her.

The bolt loosened and bent a bit, but when I stopped pounding and tried its function, it still locked like a charm.

I threw my head back and groaned.

“Hey, do you think Callum will notice that we intentionally broke it with a rock?” I asked as I unbolted.

“Probably,” came Ed’s muffled reply. “But his job is to fix things, not ask how they got broken.”

I shrugged, accepting that answer.

“I still can’t believe you haven’t brought up Establishment Day yet,” Ed said. “And you spent the whole evening with him.”

“It takes time, okay?” I argued, frustrated. “We’re still getting to know each other. I can’t just throw it upon him. I need to ease into it.”

The real reason, however, was that Establishment Day had completely slipped my mind. Phase three of the plan had dissipated when I was with him, and all I could think about was him, all I could focus on was the moment with him.

“I still have a couple of days,” I added. “I’ll bring it up when he comes here tomorrow.”

I pounded at the bolt a few more times and stopped when my hand started to hurt. I swivelled towards Ed and stretched the rock out to her. “Your turn.”

Ed looked at the rock in distaste and with a reluctant sigh, stood up. She walked towards me and inspected the bolt, then rolled her gaze to the rock, placing her hands on her hips.

“I think I know something that will work faster than a rock,” she surmised.

“We don’t need an even bigger rock,” I told her in a flat tone.

“Wait for me,” Ed lifted her palm to me and rushed out of the bedroom.

I sighed and let the rock slip from my hand to the floor. Some moments later, Ed returned holding a damn panga in her hand.

My jaw dropped. “Ed!”

“Enh? Enh?” She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at me. She swung the large blade to the side with both hands. “What do you think? Clever, right?” She made a battle stance like she was some ancient warrior.

Lord, save me.

“How in the world is a panga supposed to help?” I demanded, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Nkwanzi, look at this marvellous wide and strong blade,” Ed chirped, passing her palm over the blade. “It’s going to yank this blasted bolt clean off!”

“Do you even know how to use that thing?”

Ed made a fist and hit her chest twice. “I am a master of machetes. Just wait and watch.”

I had a bad feeling about it, but I watched with a grimace as Ed lifted the weapon and slid the blade in the space between the bolt and the door, and started using it as a lever; except there wasn’t enough room between the door and the bolt for it to act as a lever.

Ed rotated to look at me and I gave her an ‘I told you so’ glare.

She offered an innocent smile. “I think the machete is a too big and extravagant weapon.”

I face-palmed. “You think?”

With her left hand still on the panga’s handle, she placed her right on her hip and crossed her ankles. Maintaining her innocent smile, she asked,“Have you any pliers?”

In the end, we weren’t able to completely remove the bolt, but did enough damage to it to stop it from functioning properly. I sat down on my bed with a sigh after a hard afternoon’s work and Ed jumped onto my bed, collapsing on her back.

“Thank goodness your family’s out,” she remarked. “Your mother would have given us an earful.”

When she mentioned my mother, my mind reversed back to the shawl I’d seen her wearing the other day. I couldn’t help but think about who had given it to her, and why she dodged telling me.

A pinch in my side made me flinch. “Are you alright?” Ed asked.

“My mother’s hiding something from me,” I stated.

I heard Ed shift as she sat up.

“It’s just... I saw her wearing this pretty new shawl the other day and she couldn’t tell me who it was from. It was strange because it wasn’t from the usual culprit – Mr. Vincent,” I expressed then sighed. “I know it’s none of my business, but it’s bothering me.”

When I didn’t hear Ed comment or say anything, I turned and found her biting her bottom lip, her eyes trained on my blanket. She looked somewhat guilty.

“Ed?”

“Hm?” She looked at me.

I narrowed my eyes. “Do you know who could have given it to her?”

“Uh, no!” she answered, but I noticed the delay in her statement. “If I knew, I would tell you. You know that, right? Actually, if I knew, and I thought it would be best if you knew from me, and that it would do you good and that I would be the right person for you to hear it from, or that I was certain of what I was saying, then I would definitely tell you.”

Oh, she knew. Or at least she had an idea.

My heart constricted with conflict and anger at the realisation that my dear friend could be keeping something from me.

Her grey eyes softened and so did her voice. “You know that, right?”

I looked away for a bit, not sure whether to prod her or let it be. Nevertheless, I knew and understood Ed was always looking out for me. Yes, we had our ups and downs, but her intentions had always been in the right place.

“Yes,” I replied at last, a bit begrudgingly.

She let out a sigh of relief. “Look, Nkwanzi, your mother’s okay and that’s all that matters. Try not to let what’s going on bother you because there’s nothing to worry about. Sure, she got a special gift from someone but she likes it, right?”

That was obvious.

“Right,” I mumbled.

“And she’s happy, right?”

Well, she wasn’t sad.

“Right,” I mumbled.

“Then let it go!” Ed whined, giving me a playful shove. It caused me to chuckle.

“Okay?” Ed pleaded.

After a while of internal debate, I looked back at her and nodded. “Okay.”

Without warning, she grabbed me and pulled me in, planting a noisy kiss on my cheek while I laughed. She really made it hard to stay mad at her.

A/N:

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to vote⭐!

Do you have a best friend?

PS: Don’t try this pair’s stunts at home, folks.