Anti-valentine

The days leading towards valentine literally got everywhere and everyone rife with palpitations, everyone was giddy at the thought of spending the day with their partners, going on dates or just generally having a nice time.

Conversations with the guys centered on what each one would be wearing and what party, lounge or hangout would be ideal to spend the day and on social media? It was over flooded with a lot of brands advertising discounts for lovers, everyone suddenly seem to be in a relationship as social media timelines got filled with love quotes and pictures of a whole lot of couples (even though a lot are broken up) and can't wait to be decked out in red and white outfits.

Am not particularly a vals person, to me, it's just the 14th day of the second month of the year but to my utter shock,  the love fever in the air gradually creeped up on me and I thought it would be nice to catch up with Simi again. I had seen Hamz also preparing for valentine, as he recently had a faux bouquet of stunningly beautiful rose flowers he had save money for delivered to our house, Mom kept teasing him about who the new lady in his life could be these days and given the awkward encounter between myself, him and Simi in FONDLE FOR TWO, it started to bug my psyche that perhaps, he's trying to snag up Simi which to me would be an act of betrayal, I mean, Simi is suppose to be with me, not him, even if he has feelings for her, by virtue of me being his brother, he ought to kill his affections for Simi because of me...that's what brothers do right?   


Fourty eight hours to valentine's day, I decided to call Simi and officially ask her out on val's day but she politely turned me down, saying she was attending a family outing with her parents, though it stung me that she turned me down and with the background thought that she could be lying about a family event when she's really going to spend the day with Hamz, I went along with it and said it was fine,

''There's going to be more valentines to come, right bae?"

She said, I paused...did she just call me bae? She asked if I was still on, I quickly gathered myself and clearing my throat, I said yes, that it was cool, so I hung up. Minutes later, my friend John called me up, I had thought for a moment that it was probably Simi  calling me back to say she had changed her mind even though quite frankly I was really low on cash and if she had said yes, would leave me scampering everywhere to raise money, John was calling to invite me to a party at his house and at first, I thought finally, a friend had the tact to throw a valentine's party so the rest of us broke asses can have an excuse to take our partners there rather than to an expensive diner...but what he said afterwards gagged words in my throat,

"The theme of the party is "love hurts", you know, I figured since you're single, am single as per recently getting dumped by rebecca and most of our friends aren't exactly in a committed relationship right now, I thought it would be fun for us guys to gather around and throw us a party for us guys alone...it would be fun, trust me",

I paused for a few seconds to gather my voice then I asked,

 "Wouldn't it be like the most boring party ever?"

John laughed and assured me it would be fun, given that John throws the most fun and dope parties, I sighed with relief, trusting it wouldn't  be a flop, he continued, telling me the colour code for the day is black,

"Since we are anti-valentine for that day, we won't be wearing the colours of love but the opposite...a badass colour, black!"

I nodded and said it was cool and we hung up the call. The morning of valentine's day, the atmosphere was dull and hazy due to the harmattan, in my well lit room, I kept pulling out all of my clothes from my wardrobe, trying to pair up the perfection combination of an all-black ensemble  from my collection of black outfits, Hamz tiptoed behind me and jerked me by my sides to startle me, I jumped up in fright, hissing and pushing him away, he came by my side laughing and sat on the bed, asking me why am shuffling up my clothes, I told him about the intended party and he thought it sounded quite unusual but interesting for a guys only party to have a theme, colour code and stuff,

"I think it's a cool idea..it feels strange but something I would like to experience...when we are young should be when we should be wild and experience many things, can I come along with u?",

I sighed and reminded him about his val plans,

 "What val plans?"

He looked at me curiously, I alluded to the expensive bouquet of flowers he so meticulously saved every penny he had for, he sighed and said he got it for Mom! My face clouded with horror,

"You friggin son of a queen!...How could you get something for Mom and never tell me so I could also get something for her...Aha! You're trying to paint yourself to Mom as some responsible son who has his mom at heart, u punk!"

He smiled and said he had to as he's the most notorious of Mom's children hence the need to occasionally surprise her with gifts, I smiled and nodded in agreement, so I told him to get prepared for the party as he dashed out shouting thanks as I yelled after him to get an all black outfit, "NOTED BRO" He shouted back. By evening, I got dressed up in a wooly turtle neck severe black cardigan with black skinny jeans and black shoes whilst Hamz decked out in a black sleeveless jacket over his well built torso over black jeans and ankle boots topped with a face cap and we were set to go.

On our way to our shindig, we kept running into lovers and teenagers well cladded in red and white outfits, leaving trails of dense cocktails of perfumes sprayed on themselves lingering in the air as they gleefully walk past us away to venues of their parties and dinners as they cast a curious look at Hamz and I who wore a stark colour contrast to the general theme of the evening Entering into John's house, there was minimal decorations aside a huge "demon-y" font graffiti of the theme of the party "love hurts" drawn up on a wall paper on the wall by the entrance leading into their living room, no flowers, no red or white ballons, nothing at all that hints at love put up.

We met some mutual friends of John and I already seated at the party, instantly, I got a whiff of depression at the sight of everyone, how singleton forced us out of our homes to avoid the happy chuckles of lovers strolling to dates and back to back showing of romantic movies on cables to create our own anti-valentine party. I greeted everyone as the lads complimented Hamz's bulky and strong looking frame, saying he could pass for my private bodyguard, we all laughed and sat down. The guys downed drinks while Hamz and I took juice but Hamz spiked his own juice with a bit of vodka as I gave him the cold stare of me leaving him to his fate if he throws up or gets tipsy, the party began in earnest as bad boy songs by thug guys like kendrick lamar, kanye, wiz khalifa et al blasted from the speakers while we all grooved to it, sipping our drinks with glee and cussing out girls and exes! We all danced towards the dining table where delicious food which had been ordered along with pizzas, shawarmas, small chops etc abound and we all eat and gulped drinks at will, Hamz was clearly having fun as he joined the guys jumping on the sofas and screaming, throwing empty cans of drinks at each other, just at that moment, Simi called me so I went into the bathroom to pick, she said she could hear music and screaming in the background, I said yea, that it was the telly, I had to lie because she might not believe I actually went to an all-guy party and assume am surrounded by girls in a club or something....you don't have to be totally honest with girls, they appreciate a little lie sometimes to avoid drama, she believed me and said she was at the family event she told me about, I said it was cool, I went back into the living room and the guys were just calming down, so we thought to watch a few women bashing movies whilst appreciating the singleton life! And afterwards ended a fierce revolt against cupid

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