Serendipity - Chapter 1

One, Two, Three, Four

Or was it In and out?

She couldn’t remember which exercise she was supposed do for shortness of breath.

“Hold on to reality” She could hear Dr. Nata’s voice say “look for something solid and focus on it. Anxiety is an illusion, it makes you believe. . .”

“Oh shut the fuck up” She snapped silencing the voice she’d lived with for 9 yrs.

“Excuse me?”

Oyin put all she had in her to focus on the source of the inquiry. Her first instinct was to apologize for cursing. No, she wouldn’t, especially not to…her. She took a deep breath and then let it out again. There, that was it…she had it now. With a nerves slowly coming back to normal, Oyin confronted her best friend…her former best friend.

“So you and Kunle, hun? She said proud that her voice did not reflect the turmoil she felt inside.

“Look, we didn’t plan it…”

“Oh please spare me the clichés” Oyin scoffed.

She covered the distanced that separated them in two swift moves.

“So tell me, how did it happen? What. . .You fell down and mistakenly landed on my boyfriend’s di…”

“Oyin!”

The reproach only made her laugh.

“What…too crude for you?” she laughed again “You Ms. I say what I want when I want? You are going to lecture me? This is rich”

Oyin took a step back and folded her arms across her chest.

“Okay, let’s hear it” She said softly.

It was like time stood still as both women faced each other.

“Tell me Yemmy, Tell me!” Oyin screamed “Tell me how you can do this to me? Answer me? My best friend. . .”

Oyin who still couldn’t believe the animal like scream had c0me from her quickly took a step back when Yemmy screamed back

“Oh give me a break!”

Her retreat was the opening Yemmy needed to move in for the kill.

“Best friend?! Best friend?! Do you think I don’t know what you used me for? Do you think I didn’t know I was just a charity case? Oh yeah… being friends with the girl from the other side of tracks.” She switched over to a falsetto voice “Oh how wonderful for Oyin to be friends with her, bringing her to the country club, being seen with her. Darling, Darling girl.”

Not even Dr. Nata’s exercises could help Oyin hide the shock on her face.

“What?”

“I knew all along. I saw the looks they gave me and I saw how you preened in their presence. I saw it…I knew it all along. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth but I wasn’t born stupid” Yemmy spat.

Oyin cursed her fidgety hands. The last thing she wanted was for Yemmy to know how much her words hurt her. She wiped her hands on her jeans and mentally debated between folding them across her chest again…an obvious sign of retreating or clasping them behind her. She did neither; instead she slowly put her hands in her pocket and stood straight.

“I used you?” She asked tilting her head to the side, a tendril of hair falling just above her eyes. She curbed the impulse to blow it away.

“Let me see if I have this right, I used you and you know I was using you…yet you let me do it. Wouldn’t that make you…” she paused “stupid?”

“No! What it makes is smart” Yemmy lashes back “How else would I get into your crowd without one of you and who better than to make the introductions if not the Princess?” Her voice dripping with derision“Oh Oyin, you can be so dense” she chuckled “Once I figured out you were only using me to cement your status as the magnanimous princess, I decided to switch it on you” she stoped and as if remembering something delightful she started laughing.

Oyin watched in shock as the person she had called friend for four years became a stranger.

“It took some planning and control…” Yemmy continues now seeming to have fun “mostly control because I swear to you, there were times when I just wanted to…” she stops and waves her hand in a dismissive manner

“Let’s just so it was harder than I thought”

“Oh my God!” Oyin whispered.

“You know…for someone who is supposed to be bright, you are really foolish, that you didn’t know…God!” Yemmy clasped her hands together.

“Oh my God!” Oyin whispered again and turns away but Yemmy follows.

“Of course you not knowing…only confirms what a narcissistic bitch you are” Yemmy batted her eyelashes “Oh everybody loves me, I am Oyinlola Martins. I have all the guys falling over me and the girls wanting to be me” she imitates in a sing songy voice. “That someone hates you is incomprehensible to you” she returned to her normal voice.

“Hates?” Oyin repeated.

“Yes hate”

“What did I ever do to you?”

She wanted…needed to know.