Lulu AkakiI sat watching the door, bored out of my mind. I couldn’t believe I’d let Allan talk me into attending this concert. I didn’t even know the group performing. But he was my best friend and he thought I needed to socialize more and broaden my musical taste. So I joined him and watched the door, planning a quick get-away. That was until I saw a red pair of boots walk in.
I took my time letting my eyes wander up her body before getting to her face. She was dressed in jeans tucked in to the boots and a tank top. I didn’t like this kind of outfit on a girl, but for some reason I was drawn to her.
“Who’s that?” I asked Allan
“Who’s what?”
“That girl that just walked in with the red boots. Do you know her?”
“No. Now be quiet, the performance is about to begin.”
I sat back and got lost in thought as the band got on stage. I kept thinking about the girl by the door. I craned my neck trying to see if I could find where she was sitting. I was growing impatient waiting for a break so I could walk around and find her.
At interval, I searched round till I finally located her. I pushed through the throngs of people making my way to the bar and offered to get her a drink. She eyed me up and down in that way ladies do. She looked around for the friends she came with before hesitantly accepting.
The interval was too short for conversation and my offer to see her home was politely declined. But I did manage to get a few vital facts. I knew her name was Anne and she was studying mechanical engineering, she loved music and lived at one of the hostels in campus. This made me excited, knowing she would be in close vicinity to me. I spent the night thinking about taking her out.
A first date with such a girl would have to be special. But where would I take her? I turned to the one man who would know where I should take her; Allan. He mentioned a few concerts before I got the one I wanted, the Jazz Festival. It was the biggest music event of the year and would be happening in a week. I had 5 days to plan it all and get her to agree. Of course it didn’t matter that the tickets would cost me an arm and a leg; I was willing to go to extreme to get her to go along with it.
With the tickets in my pocket, I had only one thing left to do, call Anne. I spent hours rehearsing what I was going to say to her. I’d never been this nervous calling a girl before. But I decided to go for it; the worst that could happen was she would say no.
The girl who answered the phone was apologetic. “I’m afraid Anne isn’t here. She’s gone away.”
“Gone away? In the middle of the semester? Where has she gone? Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“To some kind of camp. I’m not sure. She should be back by Friday.”
Friday! The concert was on Saturday. How was I going to get a hold of her?
“Do you have her cell phone number?”
”No. But her roommate might.”
“Please could you go and ask her? I’ll wait.”
The roommate was unable or unwilling to give out the number.
“Could I give Anne a message?”
“No thanks. No message.” I sat staring into space a plan forming in my head. It was strange, but it was worth the risk if it worked out. All I had to do was find out where the engineering students had gone. It wouldn’t be too hard
All it took was a little flirting and the secretary was happy to share the information with me. They were at an excavation sight somewhere at the Coast. I had no idea such a place existed, but I was about to visit the area for the first time. I prayed that my motorbike would be up to task to travel that distance.
Two days later, I finally arrived at the spot. I had gotten lost so many times I was now familiar with the area like the locals. The beauty of the place was lost on me, I couldn’t even remember the name of the area. I only had one thing in mind; find Anne.
I walked around till I saw her. She was covered in dirt but she still looked beautiful.
“James!” she said, in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
All my carefully planned speeches were lost. I simply blurted out “Will you go to the Jazz Festival with me on Saturday?”
She stared at me in shock for a few seconds.
“I don’t believe it,” she said. “Do you mean to say you have come all the way out here on that bike to ask me that?”
“Yes.” It’s the biggest music event of the year, you know.”
“Yes I Know.”
“So will you go with me?”
Those had to be the longest minutes of my life as I waited for her reply. The bike broke down on my way back and I had to push it for 2 kilometers. But that didn’t matter to me. I would fail my test the next morning, but I got home excited and counting the days to the weekend. I was too excited to care about anything else, Anne had said yes!