MY GOOD FRIEND

Folarin Adeyemo

I am at the Muritala Mohammed airport waiting for my good friend, I am so excited that he is arriving today. It's almost ten years since I last saw him, yet we communicate almost everyday, he is a bosom and a true friend, he is a quintessential gentleman- my friend and I go way back to secondary school.



I was in the category of the uncool nerd kids, one can easily identify me with my thick lens glasses, it is in fact the only way to describe me.

It was forlorn at the early stage of my senior secondary class, I was only relevant when there was an assignment proving impossible to solve.

I was teachers favorite due to my intelligent nature, nobody liked me for me, I was usually on my own, I had few girls in my category for sometime until they upgraded and simply graduated from the nerd zone; it is usually as a result of dating cool guys or becoming servants for the "cool" girls which I could not do.

My family is a running generation of elites, I am programmed from home to make sure I become a medical doctor just like my great grandfather down to my father, they have attached relevance to my being as a result of this mandate, as a matter of awkwardness; my pet name was "Dr" which many will find amusing.

I had a tough quest in front of me and the main pressure was I was conscious of it - it was almost the only thing on my mind, I have been configured to think, live and  carry myself as a doctor; I was not in the category of kids that do know what they want to be yet, this reason snatched my childhood from me as everyone in my family expected too much from me.

I was always at the extreme, it was all about extra hard work to command the very clamoured result, I even got an extensive exposure about the medical world at a very young age.

All these involved; I could not be carried away by some mundane secondary school frills; though it was alluring but it was not worth family gathering for the reason to lambaste me, so; from a distance; I just admire the youthful exuberance and pray a good friend come my way.

The last term of my first senior secondary school year was when I got answers to my prayers. He was transferred to my school, he was almost too tall for our age, athletic and had a popping chocolate color.

His physique was all that was required to join the clique of the cool kids, he was told to announce his name and what he wants to be called, he said with a little too mature voice "Desmond Abiola Finni" - it was followed by numerous feminine murmur which was the traditional way to declare that they liked him.

He was asked to pick a seat as; I have at this junction given up that he was never going to even notice me needless talk to me, he stared and chose a seat next to me in the middle roll.

My poor self esteem did not make me talk to him, I do not want to get snubbed or mocked with bants from the savage students in my class!

It was like heaven was ready to fall when I heard a familiar voice say "bro! you know my name, tell me yours" - Ecstasy is the best word to describe how I felt, "Folarin Adeyemo," I said and he smiled and told me his sister's name is also Fola.

Organically; we ran a decent elite and fruitful conversation, I was committed to helping him know his way around the school, this is the only one person that likes my type of person I concluded.

He is not aware that I am an intelligentsia like other students and wants to genuinely be my friend. I cannot tell if he won't leave me for better friends but I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

We bonded over a whole lot of things; academics and hostel related matter even went deep to family issues, we really had a lot in common, he was in a room next to mine in the dormitory, he would always hobnob with other students but he never ignored me.

He stood up for me when anyone wants to down-talk me, I mean, he had my back! We had the family issue in common, his father who is an academia wants him to be medical doctor but he (Desmond) wants to be a chef, I admired the fact that he knows what he want to actually become and was ready to pursue it - I mean; I just wanted to be what I was told to be.

He told me he was going to be a chef whether his dad supports or not, he will give him the certificate he wants as he knows he won't be doing it, the culinary is where is heart is and he will give it all that he has.

I wished I had his gut and backbone to resist and actually fight for what i want; it was too audacious!! I dare not do that to my people, they have gone extreme with the medical obsession that they have sewn my first coat for me with the prediction of what my height will be in ten years!

Desmond was all about the chef dream although he had the requirement needed to be a doctor, he was a huge force to reckon with in core subjects like chemistry,maths, biology and his favorite is food nutrition and technology, all these brains is going to be channeled into what he loves; I gushed over this fact everyday.

There I was, without even knowing what I love, I was given everything by my parent including what to believe and what to love! it was saddening!
We were best of friends in the secondary, so much that our parents got to know each other, they basked in the joy of that shared goal, it was the kind of energy they needed around their respective wards.

My father aver that we were too compatible, he saw all the sense in the fact that we both are potential medical students, his father had a cautious, academic mien when I met him, his attitude, speaking and entire personality was as though he was of the British descent.
We had a strong chemistry as friends and even our foes respected that, on our high and low days; we had each other's back.

The bond augur to both of us studying Medicine in the University of Ibadan, our families threw parties for us collectively in our homes, we then had a gigantic thanksgiving party in the church, one will mistake it for a graduation ceremony, with so much joy was it done, thanks to my high spirited father.

Our bond metamorphosed in the university, we were almost inseparable, two definitively different personality but best together,  and the only time we were publicly not together was when Desmond goes for his culinary class, his passion for the course was not of this world anymore and he struggles really hard to strike balance, "My happiness lies strongly in being a chef!" he will always say.

I was beginning to feel I might end up miserable if I do not get what to be so passionate about but then I am an A student in medicine, I weep on days I procure any "B" in a course.
I just figured medicine might be the only thing I am good at, in the absence of any other passion option; I stuck to medicine like a pest. Maybe it's my passion- I gave it my all.
I grew out of naivety in my sophomore year, being a nerd just disappeared after I fucked arguably the most beautiful girl in my department.

Students needing my help in that area of academics use to be my weakness in secondary school and early university days because I oblige to avoid bullies or to just get few  minutes of lauds- that was until Desmond advised me to harness that opportunity I have to get what I want.

He made me understand that people actually need what I have and have no choice but to repay in whatever form I require.

Any girl I read on the school's blog as the reigning elite is who I see crawling to our house in the dead of the night to see Desmond, he tells me when I ask that nothing happened, I just let it slide so I am not perceived as coy.

I had brains like Desmond or even more but I do not get to even shake this girls! So I went by the book of the master Desmond at the tail of the last semester in the first year.
I started by ignoring their calls to aggravate their yearn, I schemed my operation in a way that compels them to come to my house, it went little out of hand when I had guys only coming to my house for tutoring.

I was dumbfounded and assumed Desmond's scheme was complicit, I ran back to him like a puppy for control advice, it appeared he knew it was going to turn out the way it did, he advised that I put the boys beneath me to get what I wanted.

To talk of masculine beauty, I was not a good pick, I have an oblong face, I took less care of myself, had my thick old fashioned glasses coupled with my fro in those days, I was always mistaken for a thug or relative, it is definitely why I never got any complement other than savviness.

I took the advice of my friend and upgraded, had my hair cut to modern taste, got myself some more reasonable wears, I mean those type that trend can reckon with, "who said a brilliant person must dress bad?" Desmond asked!

The second year was taken by storm, I paid more attention to my imperfect self, in a matter of time; I began to get the results I wanted though it started with a fat ass female lecturer complimenting my look, I was noticed in a different way, attention was drawn to me in the way that I loved!

Over time, I got my spot in the class of the creme de la creme of my faculty, girls were all over me, I then for the first time was able to see the potential of getting to the pants of a girl in myself, I could clearly envisage it because of the keen closeness with some ladies in the faculty, it even began to become rumour that I had shagged some girls; which was not initially even believable for the devil.

I kept my focus though on education because the renovation in my personality raised few eyebrows at home, I was even referred by my father to the pastor for counseling as regards need for focus, my family is a sensitive one so they stay.

My father claim to an innate to sense danger when it is approaching, aside that; I fell in love genuinely with medicine maybe because of the professional presence of able lecturers I had or because I was good at it.

The most beautiful girl in my department came my way at a party I attended with Desmond organized by the school student union, this title was bestowed on her by the biggest beauty pageant platform in the school, it was surrounded with so much controversies I wouldn't know because I was then an introvert.

She from that time owe it a duty to be present at social functions, she was looking ravishing, you could tell for sure why she was crowned the most beautiful, she had a sky blue silk gown on, it was bedazzled with shiny stones, the stones were responsive to the lights around, this consistently invited my eyes for bewilderment, her coke body figure graced the gown with few parts of her moisturised skin advertised by some ripped parts of the gown.

 I stood staring with my lips on the straw of my drink; I totally forgot how to sip, she flung her hair on intervals as it disrupts the phone romance she was having, she seem not to be in the realm of the party, totally austere, she had a long fringe hairdo on.

it was all black tinged with inferior blue color too, my penis was insane, I was lost in the lust I was in, I paid so much attention that I studied how much she blinked her eyes, I was already dreaming of myself making the diva beg for more.

At an instant; she briskly began to walk towards me, my low self esteem resurrected from the dead and I practically began to shiver, the relieve I had when she walked past me was not measurable! "fuck!" I exhaled; I noticed an ID card laying on the floor and as assumed; it was for the most beautiful girl - Aminu Mariam was what it read; beautiful name for a beautiful girl.

I ran after her to give it back, she was in a ready-to-go cab when I ran with more stride, I understood the necessity of seizing the moment. My hand wave caught her attention, she managed to stall the cab, saw her ID card, collected it with reluctant appreciation and the cab zoomed off. I stood panting from the race I embarked on and cursed myself all through the night.