Chapter 14

Pauline, Nigel, Hoagie and Abby were at Pasty's having a meal in the evening. They had timed their arrival to coincide with Kuki's end of shift. She had become a bit withdrawn ever since the whole 'Wally and guy' saga. So the group had decided to 'force' Kuki to hang out with them, hoping that they could at least make her smile again even if just for a few minutes.

They had had better luck with Wally, somehow. They had at least hang out with him, even though it was terribly obvious that he did not want to be with them. He would hardly string a few words together to form a sentence. His face would light up slightly whenever he saw Kuki heading in their direction. However, the latter would turn around the minute she saw him in the group. So this time the strategically timed group meal was planned without Wally in the picture.

Kuki joined the group shortly after they arrived. She really did seem to be having a bit of a good time with the group. She laughed at random jokes made, and contributed to whatever they were discussing. Finally, Nigel asked her, "Won't you please just talk to Wally? He's miserable…and pissed…and–"

"If this is what we're gonna talk about," she interrupted, "then I'm leaving," she said seriously as she stood up, causing the chair to drag along the floor rather noisily.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry," he said, hands in the air in surrender.

Kuki took her seat again slowly, her face still showing irritation. "Please don't push this," she said quietly. "I'm dealing with it as best as I can." Her friends nodded solemnly, before Pauline changed the subject.

"Um…so I've got a date tomorrow night."

Eyebrows rose all around the table. "With who? Whom?" Abby asked, suddenly very excited.

"I… uh, can't say just yet," she replied sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with everyone at the table.

"Oh, come on," Abby prodded. "It's just us. Besides, you should always let someone know where you're going when it's with a new date. You know, for security purposes and stuff."

Pauline bit her lower lip as she thought for a moment. "We'll be going to the movies." Abby gave her the look that said 'don't waste my time and just tell me already'. The Kenyan covered her face in her hands as she blushed, peeking through the spaces in her fingers as she said, "Don't judge me ok?" The group maintained silence as they waited for the big revelation. "It's Mr. Wyatt."

"WHAT?" Nigel stared unbelievably at her. Abby on the other hand froze in her seat, wide-eyed. Hoagie just twisted his mouth and inflated a cheek before asking who Mr. Wyatt was. Kuki was indifferent.

"Um…how exactly did this come about?" Abby asked, still very surprised. Pauline then went ahead to explain what had transpired at the clothing store when he'd gone shopping, how she had avoided him and finally how he asked her to go on a date with him. Abby then smiled a very naughty smile as she looked at her friend. "I see," she said at last.

"No, you don't see," Nigel said irritably. "He's a lecturer for goodness sake. Do you understand how bad this would be in the eyes of the administration?"

"I know," Pauline said. "It will only be this once." She dared not look at him as she said this.

Abby tapped her fingers on the table as she looked at her friend's face. While the others began to chat about other things, she quietly asked her friend, "Do you like him?" Pauline gave her a knowing look and then shrugged.

xxx

Wally was due to meet Greg at his club in seven days. He had still not managed to get Kuki to talk to him let alone be in his presence. It seemed that at that particular point in his life he had a very magnetic effect on Kuki; unfortunately, he was repulsive. He was repulsive, and he was getting sick of it. He walked down the corridor determinedly, stopping at door 121. He was pissed, he was tired, and he had a date with a son-of-a-bitch. Terrible combination, that. He banged furiously on the door.

Kuki was freaked out by the loud, impatient banging. "Who is it?" she asked timidly.

"It's me. Open up," the voice demanded.

The expression on her face suddenly became stony. "I don't wanna see you –"

"Open the damn door," Wally yelled back. "Open up before I break it down."

He sounded serious, Kuki mused. She walked up to the door and opened slowly, peeping at him through a tiny space. "What?"

He scoffed. "We're talking inside." He forced his way through the door as she quickly took a few steps back to avoid a collision with the door. They stood in the centre of the room, shooting daggers at each other. Wally raised his arms questioningly, "You seriously couldn't just ask me about it? Confront me?" His voice was accusatory.

"There was nothing to discuss. You can't exactly fail to see two people kissing," she replied coldly as she crossed her arms. "You'd have probably denied it anyway."

His face registered disbelief. He sighed then stared at the ceiling for a few moments as he bit his lip. When he returned his gaze to her, she saw a man who was hurting. "I can't believe you. If I wanted to be with someone else, I would have ended things. I would never cheat on you and you know it." He laughed humorlessly. "At least I thought you knew."

"Don't you make me the villain here," Kuki said angrily. "You were the one kissing somebody. You were the one who wasn't man enough to just tell me there was someone else in the picture. I mean, the whole week you were acting strange. You didn't say a damn thing! I gave you time –"

"He's a bloody drug dealer!" Wally shouted back.

Kuki stared at him for a moment. "What?" she asked quietly. "So you're doing drugs now. He's you're druggie boyfriend?"

Wally growled furiously. "He's not my fucking boyfriend. I fucking love you but right now you're making me wonder why!" Those words cut Kuki real deep. "Joey was doing drugs. He needed five hundred bucks to get these guys to back off. I didn't have that kinda money. So I was stressin', it's why I was weird that whole week. I sold my bike. We paid them off then…" he looked ashamed as he continued, "…then he…he kissed me." He was surprised when his sight grew blurry. Tears flooded his eyes, and he wiped them away roughly as they fell.

Kuki swallowed hard. He was telling the truth. She could see it; she could hear it. Her heart bled as she thought of how bitchy she had been. She raised her hand to his cheek, and he turned his face away. She quickly withdrew her hand before slowly covering the two feet between them. He did not look at her. She hesitantly took his hands in hers. "Wally," she said pleadingly, "Wally…I'm sorry."

Still looking at the wall, he lifted her hands to his face, holding them there before kissing them and slowly turning his gaze to her sorrowful face. "How could you think I'd ever do something to hurt you? Don't you trust me?" he asked, his voice broken.

"I was mad…I did trust you, but I was mad," she said as she wept, "And I felt betrayed. I saw it with my eyes…I saw it."

Wally sort of understood where she was coming from. "You should have given me a chance to explain," he said quietly. "He kissed me, not the other way around."

"Why did you let him?"

"He had a gun. And he was gonna kill me dead if I didn't let him."

Kuki embraced him, and he hugged her back, holding her head to his chest. They both felt the tension between them begin to disappear through that little action. "I am so so sorry. But everything's ok now, right?" she asked with a sniff as she pulled away to look at him. "The debt is paid and that's that?"

Wally deliberated over his next course of action. He held her hand and finally said, "Promise me that you won't repeat a word of this. Promise me!" She nodded, and he continued. "He wants me to meet him next Wednesday. If I don't, he's coming after my family. He could probably come after you too."

"But–"

"I can't go the police. Someone like him must have contact persons in the squad. It would be no good."

Kuki was looking up at him worriedly. "What does he want from you?" He didn't reply, for she already knew. She hugged him tight. "Oh Wally," she cried.

"Just hold me," he said quietly. "And tell me it'll be ok." She said no such thing. How could she guarantee that when they were talking about a drug dealer? He must use the stuff himself. He can't possibly be the most stable of people. She instead stood on tiptoe and brought her lips to his.

xxx

Abby walked into her room later that evening after having been invited to dinner at Hoagie's. His mom had made roast potatoes and grilled chicken. She was still licking her lips as she turned on the lights, seeing to figures asleep on Kuki's bed. The petite girl cuddled comfortably into Wally, his arm draped over her.

"It's about damn time."