The place Olly took her to was a hang-out that had newly opened not too far from her house. As he pulled into a parking lot, she teased him about his extensive knowledge of hang-outs and clubs. He took the ribbing like the good sport that he usually was and Alero felt the tense set of her shoulder relax gradually.
After they had grabbed seats and placed their orders, Olly turned to her with a serious expression on his face.
“So? How are you really doing?” he asked.
Alero shrugged, not wanting the conversation to take the turn it seemed Olly wanted to take it.
“Okay I guess. I haven’t heard from Maggie in a short while.” She responded, trying to steer the conversation to more comfortable topics.
“She’s good. Busy with a rush of jobs but happy as far as I can tell.”
“That’s good. I should try to get a hold of her soon.” Alero smiled, genuinely pleased that her friend was doing okay.
“She was worried about you though.” Olly started and Alero sighed with the knowledge that she had not succeeded in diverting the conversation to less treacherous grounds.
“I’m fine.” At Olly’s skeptical look, she insisted, “Really!”
Olly nodded clearly not convinced by her insistence.
“So how are things with Banjo?” he asked quietly.
Alero huffed out a large sigh. “I suppose he is fine. I saw him earlier today and he looked fine.”
Olly raised a surprised eyebrow. “You saw him earlier today?” he asked, his incredulity apparent in his tone.
“Yes, I did.” Alero answered in a self satisfied tone.
“So you guys are good? You’ve sorted your quarrel?”
“Olly…”
Alero started but clamped her mouth shut. What would she say to him? She remembered Maggie telling her that his feelings for her might have run deeper than she had ever suspected.
She looked into his face and saw that he was staring intently at hers as if trying to decipher something he could see written on it.
A server came up to their table with their order and began to place plates of food and drinks before them with deft and economical motions. When he had finished he left them to it.
“Olly, I….Banjo and I aren’t dating anymore.” She said quietly. The usual jumble of pain, sadness, hurt and grief ran through her as she used a fork to push around her plate.
Olly let out a long sigh.
“What happened?” he asked as he dug into his own food.
Ally shook her head. “I’m not even sure myself anymore.” At Olly’s questioning look she continued. “It just went crazy.”
“Why did it go crazy? You guys seemed good the last time we hung out.” There was a flash of something in his eyes as he bent to his food. It had been so quick that Alero could hardly guess what it had been.
“You know Banjo pretty well.” Alero said and Olly nodded still not looking up into her face.
“Do you think he…see…You know me pretty well too. Do you think we suit?”
Olly’s head snapped up to hers an incredulous expression on his face.
“What is that about?” he asked.
“I…I asked Banjo for some time to sort out a few things in my head. He got upset at that…well, he had that accident a few hours later so…I think I messed up.” Alero finished furiously blinking back the tears that were threatening to fall again.
“Give me a run down. The two of you will not be the death of me!” Olly exclaimed as he put down his cutlery and gave her his full attention.
Alero sighed in relief as she spilled it all out. After she was done, she took a peep at Olly to see if she could read his expression. His face was a study of emotions that made it inscrutable.
“Eat up.” He said quietly.
Alero sighed. She really needed to get over this. Why she had ever thought a relationship between her and the likes of the Banjo Adenirans of this world could thrive, she would never know!
Oh but she knew! She knew and her heart bled with the pain of a dream disintegrating in the harsh light of reality.
Would any man ever have a pull on her being the way that Banjo had? She really could not fathom it and did not know how she was ever going to settle for less now. Now that she had had this love and lost it.
She and Olly ate the rest of their meal in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. When he dropped her off a little while later, she thanked him for the evening out.
“It was good to hang out with you.” He smiled a little sadly.
“No. I was maudlin but it’s kind of you to say that.” She smiled back at him.
“Good night Ally. Don’t forget to get a hold of Maggie. I swear you modern girls make a guy’s head spin with all the balls you insist on juggling.” His goofy smile took the sting out of his words.
“Thank you Olly and good night.” Alero smiled widely, her heart filling up with fondness for this dear man who had been a better friend to her all these years than she could ever had guessed.
He threw her one last cheeky grin and rejoined the light traffic going down her street.
It was not until she was in the middle of her nightly routine that she pulled out her phone and opened her messages.
Maggie’s was chatty, asking her about what was going on and telling her to reply ‘ASAP’. Alero smiled as she closed that message. She would respond when she her headspace was in a better place. In the mean time, she knew that Olly would tell her that he had seen her and she was not suicidal in the least.
Her fingers were a little shaky as she opened the second message. The contents had her blinking in confusion, or the lack there of, because the message was blank. Alero clicked on the return button and reopened the message. It was still blank. She huffed in a mix of bitter amusement and self derision and threw the phone on her bed. Banjo would not turn her into a crazy person. She scoffed at the phone as if it were the offending culprit. She turned and looked at the image reflecting back at her from the mirror. She acknowledged the sadness haunting that young lady’s features. She shook her head at the image and the image shook its head back at her. Alero smiled and the image smiled back.
“You’ll heal.” She said to the image. The image mouthed words back at her. “It’ll get better.” She assured her image and then she got into bed, a nostalgic mix of grief and determination.