Written by: Oratile Ndimande
Friday, the second. Odirile was slouched over on a random bench on campus, he was having the saddest pity-party any walking by-stander could have ever ignored. The very real possibility of having failed course was uncomfortable. How could he have failed? English and writing was his “thing” as he would so eloquently put it in past conversations. What would his mother and sister say, he thought? What would he say to the bursar; surely only one course would not be a problem. Would it? Odirile was not really sure, he only skimmed through the terms of his bursary before signing it and he was slowly starting to regret that absent-minded decision. What would Thabiso say; especially after that warning before the semester started? Why had Thabiso not answered his phone, Odirile thought again to himself.
“Ka go stetshulla” he heard as a random finger hooked under his pink finger that was rested on his lap. Thabiso laughed as Odirile flinched and swore before he realised that he was not being attacked by an angry pigeon or a thief.
“Stetshu? O tletse metshameko, wena T.” he said, attempting to regain some calm.
“Ke wena o tletsing metshameko, Odirile. Mogala wa gago o kae?”
Odirile stopped to pat himself down and look around the bench he was sitting on. Where was his phone? He put his hands in the pocket of his hoody and then noticed Thabiso had his left hand behind his back, then he caught a proper look at Thabiso for the first time.
Thabiso had on a plain red golf shirt, tucked under a pair of light grey jeans and a black belt. He wore a pair of clean, black sneakers that resembled a pair Odirile had in his flat, but these seemed to look better somehow. Odirile noticed Thabiso’s watch and single chain bracelet on his arm as he revealed his phone from behind him. The bracelet matched a modest chain around his collar. Lastly, Odirile noticed the grey and red bucket hat that rested above a slightly concerned but very familiar face that helped him settle into to this new town and varsity, but also a friend from back home.
Thabiso kept his look neat whenever he could when he was growing up. Today, he was looked the best that Odirile had ever remembered; simple and neat, yet impressive for some reason. Odirile had come admire Thabiso in the last few months, his life was seemingly coming together and was more than happy to help and advise or to just keep good company.
“It’s no wonder I couldn’t get an answer to my calls. You left it on the bench on silent. Ke bone molaetsa wa gago, ke ne sentse ke feleletsa tlhamo at the library, maitshwarelo ka go sa araba ka bonako. Wa bo dirile’ng wena Odirile?” Thabiso asked, bringing Odirile back from his thoughts. Thabiso sat down while Odirile talked about the list for his English course.
…
“And you’re sure this is going to work? Won’t I get caught out?” Odirile asked.
“You’ll be fine. They’ll have to make a consideration if you site a medical issue. And technically you did have an incident that held you back, so technically you’re not lying.” Thabiso advised.
“And you sure everything is fine with the bursary?”
“Yes. So long as you aren’t this bad with all your other courses.”
“I’m not” Odirile answered, a bit ashamed. “I’ll send it” Odirile agreed nervously, “Thanks again for coming over to help me with this. Load-shedding messed our progress in the library.”
“Ga gona bothata. Thank goodness you live in a different part of the city.” Thabiso laughed seated on a chair in Odirile’s room. Since where Thabiso’s place was to be dark for another two hours, the friends decided to chill and enjoy the start of the weekend with a cold beer and random laughs. It became dark outside, around 8 PM when they found themselves in the communal kitchen having their third bottle of beer, and Odirile was warming up a frozen pizza in the oven. Soon, the two began to talk about life at home.
“O s’ka itshwena ka banyana, wena itunne le dibuka, my father always said. Then he wondered if I took him too literally when he heard that I was secretly kissing boys after school.” Thabiso reminisced, looking out the window. Odirile noticed Thabiso’s eyes become glossier the more he dwelt on the subject.
“I remember you two fought about that until you left to study here. At least you’re here now and you’re out. You seem to have this life thing figured out.” Odirile said, trying to be somewhat positive but.
“I guess,” Thabiso responded, blinking very quicly. “Anyways, what about you? Any new girlfriends?”
“Last date I went on ended in another friendship.”
“I bet it did” Thabiso giggled. Odirile giggled along too, not sure if he should have been offended by that or not. He went back to the oven to check on the pizza, he bends over to check.
“Any new boyfriends? Hey, we’re in the gayest city in the country, I wouldn’t hold it against you if you –”
“O tletsi methsameko, wena T.” Odirile said as he stood up straight. Thabiso laughs and drinks from his bottle.
“Nare pizza ya gago e e butswa leng? Ke tshwere ke tlala” Thabiso complained has he went to check on the oven himself.
“A few more minutes” Odirile answered and they both leaned against the warm. Odirile took a sip of his beer and caught a glimpse on the corner of his eye of Thabiso. Still wearing the clothes from before, his bucket hat was missing, and a bleached faded haircut was exposed. He had on a rather stupid smile on his face with his eyes half open. How does one look so stupidly drunk and so cool at the same time, Odirile thought to himself. He started to giggle.
“O tshegang?” Thabiso asked.
“O tagilwe” Odirile laughed.
“Le wena o tagilwe” Thabiso laughed back.
“Ntshune” Thabiso let out as he moved slightly closer to Odirile.
The laughing stopped. The sizzling of the pizza could be heard as it started to burn for being in there for more than a few more minutes. Odirile looked into Thabiso’s half-open eyes and for a second forgot how to breath. He looked down at Thabiso’s lips and noticed he has just licked them. He looked back into Thabiso’s eyes, and back to his lips. Suddenly the door opened and a young woman in pyjamas came in. The two stepped away from each other and blushed. The young woman realised what she might have walked into and stepped back. “I’ll just come back later. You can carry on, I guess.” she stuttered as she tried to walk as quickly as she could to be out of sight.
“You can take the pizza if you want. Goodnight.” Odirile rushed out of the kitchen.
…
That evening was all Odirile could think about no matter what he tried to do to think of something else. Odirile downed the rest of his bottle and another before passing out.
“Ntshune” He remembered. He dreamt of Thabiso’s half-open eyes and lips. In his dream, Thabiso finally moves closer to kiss Odirile. Their lips land, and suddenly the oven explodes, and the entire kitchen is on fire. Although their clothes have burnt off, the young men are unaffected they carry on kissing. Odirile wakes up from this dream with a mild headache and a question he resented being asked for a lot of his high school career, was he gay?
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