Chapter Eleven
That Night
Kwame folded his lips in for a moment, moistening them, and his lids lowered. ‘D’you wanna rectify that?’
‘Are you saying—?’ Anika’s heart juddered into a pounding rhythm at odds with the slow song playing outside the laundry room.
‘Yeah,’ he said softly. He leaned closer, then paused, his head tilted in his inquisitive posture again. ‘Unless you don’t want … ?’
Anika shook her head, almost imperceptibly. Was this really happening to her?
Her thoughts were cut off as Kwame edged closer.
She nodded and then his lips met hers, confidently but softly pressing against them.
He angled his body more towards her, his hand reaching up and cradling her jaw to bring her closer still.
Anika’s eyelids drifted closed, her breaths shallow puffs in and out of her nostrils as Kwame moved his mouth over hers, his lips easing hers apart, his tongue skimming lightly in to touch her own.
He wasn’t forceful, but the confidence of his kiss felt like the melt of warm honey.
Too soon he pulled away, his mouth stretching into his glow of a grin, still heart-stoppingly close to her face.
‘Boom,’ he said quietly. ‘Issue solved. Happy birthday and that.’ His eyes held hers a moment longer and then he stretched and jumped down from the washing machine with a nonchalant air.
‘Listen, we’re still mates, though, yeah?
’ He gave her a sidelong smirk. Anika’s heart sank a bit, but then Kwame’s phone began to ring.
At first he seemed casual, but, as he saw who was calling and moved away slightly, Anika could see his shoulders tense.
‘Eni?’
Anika knew Eniola was Zaya’s friend – girlfriend, maybe. But the tone of Kwame’s voice implied they didn’t have casual phone chats as a matter of course.
‘Where?’ He was already heading towards the door.
‘No. OK, OK … Tell her to … I’ll be there in a second, yeah?
’ Kwame hung up quickly. He unlocked the door without saying anything else to Anika, leaving it flung wide as he rushed out.
Disoriented by the sudden change in atmosphere, Anika jumped down from the washing machine, grabbed her bag and followed.
The house was almost empty and the music had stopped abruptly, like it had got to the end of a mix CD. It was eerie in there now, like it had been abandoned. Interrupted, like a bike dropped to the pavement with its wheels still spinning.
Anika knew the feeling.