announced that she was going outside to do some deep breathing, she would be back and Lulu had better have her story straight with all details accounted for.
Lulu was too restless to keep her position, plus lying on the bed only made her prone to vivid flashbacks that made her cringe. She padded on bare feet to the small en suite and proceeded with the facial cleansing routine she had neglected when she had slunk into her flat in the wee hours.
* * *
“So, are you going to marry him?” Precious prodded.
“Pardon?”
“Your born-again-virgin vow after Thabo: you said the next man you sleep with is the man you’ll marry. That’s your rule, right?”
“Yes, that’s my rule.” Lulu had changed into a pair of leggings and a slouchy shirt after a lightning shower and emerged to find Precious, back from her deep breathing in the garden, sitting at the dining table and sipping on one of the coffees she’d brought in. Sighing, she settled herself across from her friend. “Precious, I haven’t even begun to process this. Can we talk about it later?”
“Hell to the no, sister! If I give you time, you’ll give me the sanitised version. I want to pick up on the nuances while the tracks are still fresh, so start talking. Here, have a sip of this cappuccino first. Wonderful illy, your favourite,” Precious coaxed. “Start from when you decided that Mr Moneybags wasn’t the man for you.”
“I never decided that. I had fun and all on the date, but you know how he is, kind of really into himself.”
“Look, that’s a given, men are generally all about themselves.” Precious rolled her eyes. “I thought we’d accepted that and moved on.”
“Do you want me to tell the story or do you want to talk about life in general?” Lulu asked.
Precious made a zipping motion across her lips and leaned forward with an enquiring expression, but before Lulu could speak, she put a finger up, made an unzipping motion, took a sip of her coffee, then zipped up again. Lulu couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so silly.”
Precious held her silence.
“Okay, so the date went fine and even though Mr Moneybags is into himself quite a lot, he’s also into me and I know he fits the criteria, but somehow he doesn’t move me.”
Precious opened her mouth, then thought better of it and closed it again.
“What? Nothing to say?” Lulu laughed. “omg! You’re so greedy for a story. Anyway . . .”
The phone rang.
“No! Don’t answer it!” Precious jumped up, waving her hands in the air.
“I have to, it’s Her Majesty,” Lulu groaned. “If I don’t answer it, she’ll just march in here and her mood isn’t going to be any the better for having been made to exert herself.”
Precious subsided glumly. She heard Nothando’s voice clearly as Lulu pressed the button for speakerphone.
“Button, I’ve made breakfast. Come and tell me all about your date last night.” The line clicked silent.
Lulu grimaced and dropped her head on the table in dismay.
“You don’t have to go,” Precious said. “She’s not your boss.”
“Ja, ja,” Lulu sighed.
“Eish!” Precious reprimanded her. “You really have to find a way to stand up to your sister. She’s only a couple of years older than you.”
Again Lulu sighed. “Hheyi, you’ve been my friend long enough to know how this goes. Who needs that kind of drama? By the time news of any mutiny gets around to mama, it’s another story altogether. Those two against one will never be fair, not in any universe.”
“Yoh!” Precious clapped her hands together and threw them apart in surrender. “Me, I’m scared of uSis’ Thando myself, to be honest, so I wish you luck and I shall depart forthwith, having been deprived of a fresh and juicy story.” With another melodramatic gesture Precious got up and marched away. She turned as she got to the open door of the kitchenette. “And don’t worry, makhi, I won’t tell The Coven . . . yet.”
“Jesus, save my soul!” Lulu cried out in her best Nigerian movie accent, hands on her head. “Don’t be so cruel.”
Precious cackled all the way down the stairs.
2
While on the surface Lulu bought into her mother and sister’s constant exhortations to marry a wealthy man in order to secure a good lifestyle for herself, a stubborn part of her – not too deeply buried – insisted she be her own backup.
To that end she had an Independence Plan, which was growing steadily. In another five years she would be able to buy into one of the many new housing developments that were mushrooming all over Jozi. Her plan was to find a neat two-bed unit in a small to medium lifestyle complex that would be her very own.
Right now, living in Nothando’s granny flat above their storage unit was safe and convenient. For as long as Lulu had known, she’d always lived in the bosom of her family, and while she wanted her independence, she was smart enough to realise that it was mainly of the financial kind. She loved being a hop, skip and jump away from her sister and her family, and living next door to her small circle of friends.
But at times like these Lulu wished for a little distance. As she shuffled on a pair of gladiator sandals, swiped a glossy brush over her lips and reluctantly began to make her way to the main house, she allowed her mind to replay the events of the evening before. She had better get it all straight in her head before she was forced to present her doings to her sister.
Feeling restless after her date with Moneybags Molefe – she really should stop calling him that – Lulu had decided to go round to Dumisani’s. Yes, it was almost midnight, but managing a hotel meant his hours were flexible, and it wouldn’t be the first time she’d pitched up at his place after a date to talk to someone who wouldn’t try to pressurise her into anything.
Nothando’s approach to successful dating was to treat it like a military operation, whereas Precious, on the other hand, expected bells and horses, fireworks and overwrought declarations of undying love to feature, and was always vocal in her disappointment when they didn’t.
Lulu didn’t want to think of her mother’s expectations, which were even higher than Nothando’s. She was constantly being reminded that it was her duty to marry as well as, if not better than, her sister – after all, that was the point of having had two daughters and no sons. Wealthy sons-in-law were necessary in order to secure a lifestyle which she, their mother, had always expected and never got. “We didn’t have the opportunities you young girls have today to be the wives of rich businessmen and live in big houses and send your children to good multiracial schools.”
Why was she even thinking about all that? Lulu wondered. That was why she liked being with Dumisani. He took her mind off her issues by just letting her be.
She knew the code for the outer door to his apartment block, so she’d let herself in. He’d opened his door at her knock; by now he really should have given Lulu her own key. His starched white dress
