ago while we were still in res, and I was so sure that I was going to win. Gcina was always very serious and focused at varsity and not interested in relationships and all that, whereas I was all over the place, being into this guy and the next – mostly just crushes, mind you.”
Mbali cleared her throat, a glint in her eyes. “We were speculating on when we’d be likely to get married, and I was convinced I’d settle down before her, but she said that if we reached twenty-seven and I wasn’t married by then, she’d get hitched before me. I was very happy to agree to supplying a designer trousseau for the wedding if she was right, because I never thought I’d have to pay up – but look how life has just spat in my eye!” Mbali laughed. “Oh ja! Trust Gcina.”
Sipho smiled at this explanation. He had always admired the friendship between Gcina and Mbali. Two years ahead of them at university, he knew Gcina because they had grown up in the same neighbourhood in East London, and while they were very good friends, Sipho knew that in all his twenty-nine years he had not had the good fortune to make a friend as loyal as these two women were to each other.
“Did you know?” Mbali asked.
“No, I didn’t, actually. I’m impressed that Gcina managed to keep that secret while she sent me on this errand. I’d never have guessed. You know, she and Rex have always seemed very casual, but then again, I’ve been caught up in work.”
Sipho took a sip of his water. As he put the glass down, Mbali couldn’t help but admire his hands – his fingers were long and lean, with well-tended nails.
Hmm! Mbali cocked her head to one side while she took it all in. This was just like Gcina. She never wanted much of a fuss about her own life but was always trying to sort out her friend’s, hence the delivery of Sipho Ngubene to her doorstep.
A plot was afoot and Mbali wasn’t sure yet if she should thank Gcina or . . . She would cross the bridge of punishment should she come to it. In the meantime, Sipho was proposing they go out for a meal.
Why not? Mbali thought. Tongue, please don’t trip over yourself, she begged silently, while in her heart she did a little happy dance. Finally she was going on a date with Sipho, whether he knew it or not. Ha!
Chapter 2
2
Sipho drove them a few minutes from her apartment to Bedford Village where they sat under an umbrella at a trendy café. Shoppers milled around them, sometimes walking past their table to get from one end of the shopping mall to the other.
The café was busy and in the short time that they’d been seated, a queue had formed. Fashionably dressed women sashayed past, handbags aloft, and men walked around with cellphones purposefully attached to their ears. There was a constant hum of activity.
Glancing over at Sipho as he perused his menu, Mbali felt a little jolt of excitement but ruthlessly quelled it. She was becoming used to his presence now, though God knows, it really taxed her self-control.
Eight years ago Mbali had fallen into deep, irrevocable lust when Gcina introduced her to Sipho, but unfortunately, she had never been able to string together a single intelligent sentence with him around. All her witty and flirtatious fabulousness completely disappeared in his company, leaving her either stuttering or mute. No wonder he had ended up dating a very self-contained woman, as Mbali had called her, of his own age.
Try as she might, Mbali had never been able to calm herself down enough to talk to Sipho properly, and worse still, he had always made an effort to come and talk to her. Eventually she had turned her attention to boys she could handle and assigned Sipho to a special and unattainable category of his own.
Mbali sighed. You’re a grown-up now, she chided herself in her mind. Yes, he is breathtaking, but you are a witty and accomplished woman who isn’t bowled over by a handsome face. But it wasn’t merely a handsome face; the whole package was simply superb.
“Earth calling Mbali . . .”
She looked up to see Sipho grinning at her. God help her, she was supposed to be over this stupid crush.
“I was just thinking about the past.”
“What about it?”
Mbali decided to jump right in with both feet. This was a trait known for landing her in deep waters without sight of land, but she was determined to start her new association with Sipho on a different and well-adjusted note. And what better way than to confront the very issue that had caused her the most discomfort?
She looked him straight in the eye. “Well, to start off, I’m sure you’re aware that I had the biggest crush on you that a nineteen-year-old girl can ever have on anybody, and it always made me act like such an imbecile around you.”
Sipho smiled. “If it’s any consolation, I really liked you and I was interested, but every time I tried to talk to you, you gave me the strangest one-word answers. I could never really take the conversation to the place I wanted it to go, and also, I knew Gcina was trying to be a matchmaker, so that clouded things even more . . .”
Mbali eagerly waited for him to continue.
He smiled gently. “In the end we actually never managed to have one decent conversation, and after a while it started to feel like too much work . . . and, uhm . . . It was varsity and we were young and my attention was eventually diverted.”
“Ag well, what to do – I was trying to play it cool. Crossed wires and all that.” Despite her wanting to have it all out, Mbali wasn’t about to confess that his presence had literally rendered her speechless. A girl had to hold on to some secrets.
Thankfully, the waiter came over to take their food order. But when he left, Mbali realised that Sipho wasn’t about to drop the subject.
He leaned over and asked, “So then, does this mean that you’re over me?”
Mbali looked at him steadily, annoyed by his question. Even if she was dying with love for him, she wasn’t about to admit anything of the sort. Maybe years ago she would have giddily declared herself, deeply grateful for the opportunity, but she had learnt that it didn’t pay to just hand over your heart to someone without a measure of caution. She had been clumsy in her youthful efforts to get Sipho to notice her and nothing she had tried had worked, until she had given up and set her sights on a more manageable goal – or so she had thought back then.
“I suppose it does,” she answered at last, promptly lowering her sunglass-shaded eyes to her sweet, ginger-laced cocktail. “But isn’t that a good thing, ’cause now we can be friends properly, you know, get to know each other better.”
“Ja,” he replied, catching her gaze and holding it. “I’d like that. Getting to know you better.”
For a moment, Mbali held her breath. Was that an invitation? Moments like this one had fed her hope years ago – he had always been friendly, always ready with the right thing to say. But she had to be careful now, so she went fishing.
“Isn’t there someone back in East London who might not appreciate your making such a fabulous new best friend?” She hoped she had managed to strike the right tone, with just enough teasing in it to allay any suspicion.
Sipho laughed out loud. “I remember this about you now, you were never very subtle.”
“Eyi! I don’t know what you
