chapter 7

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"Come." Derek tapped the space beside him, with a quick nod, she pressed her butt against the hot wood; almost hissing at the feeling.

"It's hot." She said, making him chuckle, when her body got used to the heat, she face him with a smile. "Do you live here?" She asked, wanting to know more about him. Derek just shook his head, turning so his legs were on each side of the bench and he could face her properly.

"I asked first. This doesn't look like a place you'd come to."

He explained, his eyes trained on her. Janet noticed that he had this look on his face, his lips slightly parted, his eyes wandering. Like he was trying not to look somewhere.

She copied his movement, slowly putting her second leg over the bench, wanting to appear seductive. "I was just hanging out with Shalom. My house is not too far from here sha." She shrugged, purposely giving him more information than needed.

"So I can just come by abi?" He joked as she giggled at him, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. "Now answer mine." She continued, leaning closer to him, he lifted one of his legs unto a large stone, then put his hands on his knee. She noticed his every movement.

Literally.

"Are you trying to ask where I live?" In an odd way, that sounded flirty, Janet grinned but shrugged innocently. "Am I?" She asked in return, Derek just shook his head and let out a small laugh. "Near here." Was all he said, not giving her the details, sadly.

"So this is your neighborhood then." She concluded, taking a look at the neighbourhood, her chest arching as she looked over her shoulder, trying to observe the place. Not that she was going to come here by herself.

"A bit shady shey?" He teased, "Not for your kind." Oh? Her kind? What did he mean by that? 

"My kind? What am I? A zebra?" She joked, leaning in with a teasing smile, their face close to each other. This made him let out a loud laugh before leaning in as well, when did they become so friendly? 

It was probably because when she spoke to him, she felt a bit more bold, more...flirty. It just happened, like a switch that clicked in.

"You'd be more of a puppy."

Was this his way of calling her cute? "Why's that?" She asked, acting clueless; not caring if they were invading each others personal space. "Fragile, innocent...cute." He finally said. 

Ignoring the other ones he said, she leaned back with a cheesy smile, biting her lips so she wouldn't look stupid with such a clown like smile.

"I'm not fragile." She interjected, pouting her lips at the thought. Was she fragile? But she knew one thing for sure, she wasn't innocent, at least her mind wasn't.

Perhaps she played that role too well.

"You're not? Na lie, you that was reacting to ordinary rumor." Derek sniggered, running a finger over his nose; that was hot. Janet had noticed, he did that sometimes.

"Yeah, whatever." She scowled, folding her arms against her chest; this made the outline of her bra more visible. 

"Since we're on animals, I'd peg you for..." She began, tapping her chin and tilting her lips in a thinking manner. This caught his attention, he cracked a grin and tilted his head, waiting for what she'd say.

"Rottweiler."

Janet concluded.

"Oh, ouch." He coughed out, feigning hurt, his hands over his chest; his eyes glancing up at the giggling girl.

"Yeah, especially how you jumped on Kareem." She brought up as well, he just shook his head with a small side smile.

"He deserved it." He simply said with a shrug.

"You know, I thought your mom was strict." Derek voiced out, looking over to her small hands she had placed closer to his legs, but it wasn't touching him, yet...

"Why's that? Omo pastor?" She assumed, mentioning what he had called her when they were over the fence the other day. He smiled when she said that, then nodded at her. 

"They're not, well, not when it comes to my female friends." She confessed, remembering the last time her mom found out she had been texting one of her flings from before, this was about three years ago, her mom scolded her for the entire day.

Let's just say that the texts weren't so...innocent.

"Ah, I see. I should back off then."  Derek chaffed, raising up his hands jokingly, Janet rolled her eyes before slightly pushing his legs. "Too late." She replied.

A phone call interrupted him, when he looked at it, he just rolled his eyes and put it on silent. Janet pursed her lips at this.

"Uh, your mom?" She cautiously went for it.

"Like she cares." She heard him scoff at the question, his mood turning sour. His mom was obviously a sensitive topic then, she only wandered why. She wanted to ask if it was his dad, but she wasn't sure if that would be pushing it.

"I know it's scratching you to ask, ask it." He chuckled darkly, there was nothing humorous about his laugh, it sounded sarcastic and dry.

"I'm not going to." Janet blurted out, with this, he looked up at her; somewhat surprised. Then he let out a sigh, as if thanking her. 

She didn't want it to get awkward, so she said something else.

"Besides, I don't want to make things all awkward again."

"Again?" Derek picked out.

"Well, yeah. Or lie and say it wasn't." She stated, observing him. He just shrugged before shoving his phone back into his sweatpants. 

"This one you brought your wallet, are you hoping to shop?" Derek presumed, looking over at the wallet she held tightly in her hands, she just looked at it before letting out a small laugh.

"I'd like an ice cream about now." Janet mentioned."See this one oh." Derek replied with, eyeing her down playfully. Her entire body was feeling so hot, she thought she was going to explode. The heat also went up to her cheeks, she had been smiling way too much.

"I know a place sha, but it's like two minutes from here." He added, pointing at the opposite direction, it was a narrow road which led to another street. She really wanted to go with him, so she texted Shalom that she'd be going to a store with Derek.

"Lead the way." 

Janet exclaimed as she plopped on her feet, stretching out loudly. She heard him chuckle at the sound that escaped her, when he stood to his feet, she realized that he towered over her.

Now she had to look up if she wanted to stare at his hypnotic eyes. Raising his hands, he placed it over her shoulders, leading her towards the area. 

She felt that heat again. It wasn't her fault she felt so sexually frustrated, the way he held her and drew her closer made her tummy get butterflies. Janet slyly looked over at his wrists dangling over her shoulders, almost touching her breasts.

"Is this okay?" Derek asked, his voice a bit cautious. She didn't even have to think about it, she just nodded, visibly leaning into his touch. The walk was quiet but comfortable, before she knew it, she saw the store. It was a small shop with transparent doors, it looked like they only sold frozen stuff.

They crossed the street with ease, she noticed that people stared at him, then at her with this smirk, but she just chose to ignore him. This was his neighborhood, so they probably knew him.

"Asa! How far nah. This one you're looking fresh like this." Derek greeted loudly, letting go off Janet's shoulders and jogging towards the shop, shaking the hand of a guy behind the cashier, not before he opened the door for her.

"Damilayo! You dey whine me? Wetin you wan buy?" Asa said, he was a man; he had full grown beards and neatly tied up dreadlocks. One thing she noticed about the guy was the scar under his eyes, it looked like a knife wound.

"It's not me oh, it's my friend."

Derek said, bringing Janet closer to the cashier, seeing as just stood there— awkwardly clutching unto her wallet and phone, looking around the shop. It was a lot cooler in here.

"Friend? Since when you get fine friend like this?" Asa grinned at Derek, looking over at her with his teeth showing, he had a gold one which replaced his molars. He ran his eyes over Janet, admiring how fresh and enticing her thighs looked.

"Alaye look up." Derek snapped his fingers at the man, making him cackle. With an eye roll, Derek faced Janet, almost bending so he could be face to face with her. 

"Over there." 

He pointed as she just nodded, making her way towards the freezer. The sight of all different flavours of the ice cream stick made her squeal. He had it all!

Picking out a strawberry for herself, she wandered which one Derek would like, he didn't seem like a sweet tooth. Picking out a mint, she walked back over to the guys and placed it down. Derek looked over with his brow raised when he saw that she picked out two, but he just remained quiet.

"Come again later, okay?" Asa grinned seductively as she made her way out of the store with Derek on her tail.

"For you." She quickly said, practically shoving it to his chest. "You didn't have to." He groaned out, but took it from her. 

In less than three minutes, they were back on the bench.

Janet swinging her legs happily as she tore open the ice cream, Derek just watched her, his ice cream melting away on the bench.

"You're not gonna try it?" She asked, before bringing out her tongue and running it over the delicious stick. With an innocent smile, she gazed over at him from above her lashes; her tongue still licking around it.

His eyes squinted and his brows rose with a ghost smirk on his face. She wasn't sure if he caught on to what she was doing, but she continued. 

This time, she swirled her tongue to the tip of the ice cream, rather slowly, her eyes still trained on him. A low slurping sound coming from her, this time Derek adjusted his sitting position, quickly looking towards his own ice cream like it was suddenly the most interesting thing.

She had to hold herself from giggling, just wondering if that had an effect on him, even if it was only a little.

"Tasty, right?" She asked almost silently as he just cleared his throat, humming. He bit into the ice cream, chewing it like it was bread or something. 

She giggled at this.

"What?" He asked with his mouth full, a bit of ice cream trailing down the side of his lips, she was almost tempted to lick it off.

"You chew your ice cream." She voiced in a teasing tone, boldly raising her hands to wipe away the stain. Like she said, he made her feel rather bold.

At this, he almost froze, looking over at her fingers now coated in the mint ice cream. "I lick mine." She continued, her voice slightly above a whisper. As if to accompany what she said, she licked it off her hand, making sure her tongue slid over it slowly.

He looked shocked at what she had just done, in fact her conscience was practically screaming at her to stop being so seductive, but she just loved catching him off guard. His eyes narrowed at her, his lips tugging up a little smirk but he just nodded at her statement.

"We should head back." Janet said when she checked her phone, an hour had already passed! Time went so fast when she was having fun.

"Uh, well- I'll be right behind you. Just, give me a few minutes." She heard him mutter, sounding skittish; she almost believed that he was nervous.

"Huh? Why?" Janet asked, completely clueless of what she had just caused for the poor boy.

"Hm?" He hummed with his eyes wide before laughing it off, "I need to throw this away." He quickly made up an excuse, before getting up, but turning around so she wouldn't see it. He went to the back of the tree, leaving her to attend to the questions running through her mind.

Why was he acting that way?

Was he...

"Psh, no way." Janet mumbled to herself, there was no way he'd have gotten a boner because of her. After about two minutes, he came out into the open with a thin lip smile as he made it towards her.

See?

No way...

"Let's go." He said, quickly turning her around as they began to make their way back to Shalom and Sammy.

Perhaps she was flirtier than she thought.