HEDGED
.
Episode 5
.
Mama and Tricia weren’t always like this. They were formerly very close friends.
.
Mama couldn’t wait to see Tricia after I told her what she had done for me in my “dire” hour of need. A year later, they finally met, and it was love at first sight.
.
Mama couldn’t believe I hadn’t told her that Tricia was gorgeous. She couldn’t believe I’d forgotten to tell her that Tricia was from our section of the country, from the area where we lived, and from our clan.
I wasn’t even sure how to tell Mama that I, too, had no idea (for the most part).
.
It’s not like I go around asking about a girl’s ancestry, you know. I’ll always say it to Mama in response, but Mama, on the other hand, would strongly disagree.
.
Tricia and I were always great friends before we started dating, but we never really talked about our backgrounds.
“If you can’t marry a girl, Greg, I don’t see why you should even think about asking her out.” Mama would constantly chastise me after she inquired what my plans were for a certain female I was dating and I said, “I have none.”
You are already familiar with how I feel about my mom, so conversations like these should not come as a surprise. My mother and I can truly communicate freely while staying within certain mother-son limits.
.
Previously, I’d go all out to learn everything I could about a woman I’d just met. These chats would usually plant notions that were not necessarily a great depiction of what was genuinely going on in my head at that moment in the relationship. Because I’d led a lot of girls down the wrong path with these assumptions in the past, I simply established that I’d avoid being too forward in these “getting to know ourselves” processes.
This is probably why Tricia and I never had these kinds of conversations.
So you’ll see why Mama expected me to know everything there was to know about Tricia when she inquired—to have answers to what she usually referred to as a “basic starter to becoming acquainted with each other.”
.
Tricia and I weren’t dating when she met Mama. We were just friends—really good friends.
.
Tricia would usually pay me a visit when I was still at school. She does this on a regular basis, and we have hung out together on other occasions.
.
When we first met, Tricia was in a relationship. From what I could tell, they seemed exceedingly serious.
.
I’d met and liked Tricia as a person. I felt mostly obligated to her because of the circumstances surrounding our first encounter, and the fact that she was already dating someone made it easier for me to look away (in desires).
I was satisfied with Tricia and my friendship at the time. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
.
I became fonder of Tricia with each passing day, but I never entertained the notion of an affair.
Mama orchestrated all of that. Mama opened my eyes to certain sides of Tricia I’d never seen before—parts she’d identified as remarkable.
.
Tricia and Mama became friends almost immediately after meeting. They would frequently exchange phone calls, check in on each other, and even plan get-togethers.
Mama became fonder of Tricia with each passing day. Mama couldn’t finish a sentence without mentioning Tricia.
Mama eventually ingrained in me the idea of a possible “Tricia and me”. It took some time, but the notion eventually won me over.
For the first time since Tricia and I became friends, I found myself pondering an emotional relationship.
.
All of this happened shortly after Tricia’s lover dumped her. It was a tumultuous breakup.
Mama took advantage of the situation.
I didn’t have much to do after that.
I apparently arrived late to the party.
Tricia had always had a thing for me, but because I hadn’t communicated my thoughts and because she was seeing someone at the time, she never acted on them.
.
Tricia and I had been friends for a long time before we decided to take it to the next level, so our connection just grew deeper—so deep, Mama became jealous.
To be continued…
.
Moshood Avidiime The Writer
