Page 43 of Two’s Better

I heard his voice as I read the message, which made my heart and my lower belly do that funny, fluttery thing. Despite myself, I was smiling helplessly as I typed out my reply:

His response came in the next second.

I snorted, my panic disappearing almost instantaneously. God, I loved him so fucking much.

The little bubbles that told me he was typing came up.

I laughed breathlessly.

Every inch of me burned. I stared at those words like I’d never seen them before, then frantically locked my phone. I took a deep breath as I tossed the device on my pillow like it was on fire, then another when I slid underneath the sheets. Uzezi and I had been through much worse and come out stronger on the other side. I had to believe, no matter what tomorrow brought, we were going to be fine.

Then my phone began to ring. At the sight of his name on the screen, even though I’d been expecting it, my pulse went haywire. I had the sudden, stray realisation that Uzezi and I didn’t really do phone calls. At least, not since we’d come to the UK. It was all messages, videos, and voice notes.

I reached up to straighten my bonnet, then rolled my eyes when I remembered it was a voice call, not a video call. Still. I felt weirdly nervous. I cleared my throat and tapped the button to answer.

Uzezi spoke before I could. “On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate my performance?”

“Oh my God. You piss me off.” But we were both laughing. “You’re actually so annoying.”

“No, but seriously,” he said, though he still sounded amused. “Seriously. How was—?” He cleared his throat. “Did you like what we did?” he whispered. “Did you actually come?”

My mouth dropped open in disbelief, even as my pussy fluttered at him saying the word “come”. “What? Are you being for real right now?”

“I’m being deadass,” he said, sounding so earnest it made my heart melt. “I genuinely want to know. Part of that “perfect” first time experience means communication, Fure, baby. It looked like you had a great time, but I don’t want to assume. So, I repeat, did you like it? It wasn’t too little? Or too much?”

I had to take a moment before I could respond. “I loved it,” I confessed breathily. “I loved everything about it.” I’d been two seconds from begging him to fuck me right there, protection be damned. “Honestly, Uzi, I don’t think I’ve ever come so hard in my life.” Thank God he couldn’t see my blush right now. “You’ve legit ruined me for anyone else.”

“Ehen?” He sounded smug. “Have I, now?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fuck off.”

He laughed. “That’s good to hear. And in case you’re wondering, it’s the same for me. Goddamn, Ofure. Like you said, you’ve completely ruined me for anyone else.”

He was right; it was good to hear. And it made me feel melancholy, like I was missing something I’d never even had. I pushed the feeling aside.

“Na so? Oya, tell me more,” I purred seductively.

He laughed. “Oya, that’s enough.”

I grinned, rolling over until I was lying on my side, pressing the phone tight to my ear so I could hear his breathing. The position I was in, and the sound of his soft breaths triggered a vivid memory of the first ever Glitch, and I found myself breathing a little faster. Along with that came a sense of comfort and familiarity, and a low throb of longing.

“Know what this reminds me of?” I whispered.

He hummed. “What?”

“All our midnight calls back in Naija.”

He chuckled softly. “Damn. Good times. Wow. We really used to yap about anything back then, huh?”

“Mind you, I’d argue we yap even more now.”

He laughed. “Touché. When did we even stop, sef?”

“Probably when we came to the UK.”

“Right. Makes sense.”

After my family had moved from Jos to Abuja when I’d been eleven, for those first few years, while Uzezi and I had maintained our friendship, it had been a cursory thing—a call or message here and there, usually through our parents, while we saw each other physically perhaps once or twice a year during summer or Christmas. When we’d each gotten our own phones, we’d mostly tagged each other in memes and funny videos online, and that had been the extent of our communication.