Chapter 6 #2
At that exact moment, Kofi walked through the door with our lunch, his face lit up with a wide grin – just as a mischievous, knowing smile spread across mine. Sade wanted to go on a date. What if the best way to keep Kofi from focusing on me was to shift the attention onto …
‘Hey buddy!’ I said a little too loudly, flashing my award-winning smile at Kofi as he kicked the door behind him. I helped him with the bag of food as he sat our two Diet Cokes on the table. ‘Thanks so much for getting this, I’ve been craving lasagne for a good two weeks now, you star.’
‘No worries at all, hun,’ replied Kofi, beaming.
‘I’m just glad we’re able to do this!’ Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it sooner.
Kofi and Sade. Sade and Kofi. They would be perfect for each other.
Kofi was a bit of a golden Labrador – super romantic, excitable, super kind and generous – and Sade was a black cat: mysterious, sexy, nurturing and an undercover lover girl.
Even thinking about it made me giddy and I knew I had to start sowing the seeds.
‘So,’ I started, turning towards him, fork in hand.
I needed to tread carefully here. ‘How have you been lately? What are the apps saying these days?’ I blew onto a forkful of lasagne and was about to put it into my mouth when out of the corner of my eye I saw Kofi watching me, almost hungrily, his eyes fixated on my mouth. Shit.
I instinctively put the fork down and smiled at him – how could I have this conversation in a professional way when Kofi probably thought this was a work date?
‘Hehe, why do you ask?’ he teased. I didn’t like where this was going. Time to nip this in the bud.
‘Oh no reason! It’s just …’ I intentionally trailed off, enough to grab a few mouthfuls of pasta.
‘Well, I have a friend, you see; my best friend, actually, and I’ve been trying to set her up for a while but the men in this City move mad, as you well know.’ Kofi scoffed at this, eyes still searching for meaning in mine.
‘Essentially, I haven’t played matchmaker in a while and I genuinely think you and her would really get on! You’re quite the opposite, but I think, in this instance, it could potentially work.’
Kofi reached over and grabbed his Diet Coke, studying me quietly as he opened it and took a swig, his eyes still grazing over mine.
I couldn’t read him; was he being coy or was he upset?
Had he caught on to my game? I waited for his response as I swallowed a couple more mouthfuls of pasta, the air in the room suddenly feeling thick with anticipation.
‘I see,’ Kofi finally said, after what felt like hours.
‘Um, well, haha, I’m errr … Yeah, I’m still trying to date and stuff, just seeing what comes along, but I also trust your judgement too, Cass. Um, what’s she like, your friend?’
Phew. At that, I launched into my pitch. My plan was to set them up and have them hopefully like each other enough that it would get Kofi off my back if just for a little while.
‘So her name’s Sade, she’s thirty-three and Nigerian.
Works as a talent agent down Great Portland Street and she’s very single and very beautiful, if I do say so myself.
She’s a little introverted but she’s warm and funny and kind, and loves doing nerdy shit.
’ I raised an eyebrow at him while taking another bite of lasagne.
Knowing Kofi’s love for video games, I hoped my last sentence would grab his attention.
‘Mmm OK, OK!’ he nodded, his demeanour perking up. ‘Is she anything like you personality-wise? And do you have a pic?’
‘Why? What’s wrong with me?!’ I replied in mock disgust. I grabbed my phone and brought up Sade’s Instagram account for him to see.
‘Haha, no, I wasn’t insinuating that there was anything wrong with you, sis! What I was trying to say was that if she’s anything like you, I’m sure I’d have a great time hanging out with her.’
The silence that followed hung in the air like a damp sponge.
I took another mouthful of lasagne to keep my mouth full as I thought about how to answer.
Eventually, I mumbled a quiet ‘Aww thank you’ and nudged closer to his seat to show him Sade’s Instagram page.
Kofi took my phone and started to scroll through her photos, every now and again mouthing his approval at a bikini or night-out photo.
‘Damn,’ he said, eventually, handing my phone back. ‘She’s gorgeous. She has a lot of hobbies too, by the looks of it. I like that. I’ll give her a follow on IG and slide into her DMs haha.’
I tried as hard as possible to cover up the wide grin that had been forming across my mouth.
This was great news for me; getting Kofi off my back for a while and potentially hooking my best friend up with a genuinely nice guy.
Even if it didn’t go anywhere long-term, at least he’d be busy for a short while.
‘You won’t regret it. You guys’ll get on like a house on fire!’
Here was hoping.
A couple of hours later, I checked my phone to see if there had been a response from Jericho on my recent booking and to my excitement, saw the ‘1 unread message’ tab on my profile page. I clicked on the tab and read his message:
Why, if it isn’t the brilliant-yet-mysterious Cassie with all the questions :). Great to hear from you again! I see you’ve booked to have the pleasure of my company this Saturday at 2 p.m.; someone was able to scrape up some coins then? ;) J xx