Chapter Fifty Three

Mamfundisi wrinkled her nose. "What are you saying tata? That all these hooligans must come to my house. Hayi,hayi. I'm not in support of that one mna" the pastor smiled. This was his wife. "Mamfundisi you are a pastor's wife at least you can have some compassion don't you think? Besides isn't Xolo oneof your son's friends? He's not a hooligan."

Mamfundisi violently shook her head. " No he is not. Xolo is the one that always troubles your son mfundisi. That boy is bad news just like his father. "

The pastor chose to read from his bible instead of listening to his wife's words.

•

Xolo went to look at the window . Lindani's bedroom window showed the road that most students used when coming back from school. There were already a bunch of them already returning from school. They were in high paces. Always as if they were going to do something at home. Where in reality they were just going to throw their school bags inside their homes and then they'd go somewhere else.

Xolo waited by the window a while before Lindani showed up with Ruby of course right next to him. She seemed to be telling him something while he just nodded at her. For some reason both Lindani and Ruby saw it fit for them to look up to Lindani's window only to see him. Xolo saw Lindani's eyes light up. And what happened next shocked both Ruby and Xolo. Lindani actually started running. This was one of Lindani's couldn't dos.

Well everyone regarded as it anyway. Lindani never ran or picked up his pace when walking. He was the slowest guy at school yet everyone seemed to want to catch up to him. Xolo included.

Xolo got away from the window. He went to sit on the bed. What was he going to say? How would he explain this? He didn't want to cry in front of Lindani so he had to do something else. Something that would not involve talking.

Lindani got to his house. He placed his hands on his knees. His whole body was screaming at him. "Damn" he cussed under his breath. This was what he got for quiting running and then suddenly doing it with his body unprepared. Mamfundisi was quick to come take his school bag. "My boy how are you today? How was school?"

Lindani ignored his mother and took back his school bag. He went to his room. He was only focused on seeing if Xolo was really there or not.

Lindani opened the door of the room. Nothing. No one inside. "Shit" he hit his head. "Looks like you're going crazy now. Seeing things ugh!" He threw his bag on the floor and threw himself on his bed. He had his eyes closed when Xolo decided to get out from the closet he had hid himself in.

He tiptoed to Lindani.

He gently untied both Lindani's shoelaces and then started to remove the shoes. Only for him to get Lindani's eyes on him. "Hey" he awkwardly waved at Lindani.

***

The room was so silent that a pin could drop and that was what they would hear. Lindani slowly sat up on the bed staring at Xolo trying to make sure that he wasn't dreaming him again. "Are you real?" He asked surprising Xolo with the question.

"Am I real?" Xolo pointed at himself. "Since when has there been question of my being real or not?"

Lindani ignored his question. He went to touch Xolo's face. He moved his hand up and down the soft skin. "What are you doing?" Xolo was shocked by this behavior.

Lindani cleared his throat taking back his hand. "You're real. What are you doing here? In my room. What were you doing with my shoes? Why weren't you at school today?"

Xolo looked down at the grey marbled floor. "That's too many questions don't you think?"

Lindani shook his head. "They're all necessary questions. I have to ask you. "

"Necessary?"

Lindani got to the edge of his bed. Raised Xolo's head. "What is wrong? Why were you crying?"

Xolo removed Lindani's hand from his chin. "Can you just not ask me anything right now. Please. I don't want to talk Lindani. I'm sure you won't even want to hear what you are now asking about. "

Lindani put back his shoes. "Let's go."

"Let's go? Go where?"

"You clearly have had one of your fights with your mother so let's go solve it then. I'll personally apologize for you."

Xolo pulled an offended face, "Why would you think I'm the one who has to apologize?"

Lindani smiled. "No offense but you're always wrong. I'm sure you must have done something to upset her even today."

Xolo folded his arms his face in a pout. "Why would I ever come to you then?"

Lindani came closer to where Xolo was standing. "You always come to me." This revelation made Xolo think of all the times he would get into a fight with his mother. And yes. The only person he ever came to was...Lindani. "We might not be friends but for some reason you always come to me when you're troubled. Whether to shout out your frustrations or to blame me about them"

Xolo sat down on the floor. He pushed back his dreads. "And you always listen to everything. Why are you like that Lindani? Don't you get frustrated by me? You don't even complain about it. You just calmly listen. I'm so freaking annoying sometimes I know this because I annoy myself too."

Lindani went to sit next to Xolo. He sighed. "Xolo that's a wrong question to ask. What you should be asking is why are we like this. Clearly it can't be normal right? We're complete opposites yet in some way or the other we get drawn to each other's lives. I made peace with the fact that I'm always gonna be the one who listens to your crazy talks. I have made peace with the fact that you're always gonna blame me for everything wrong that happens in your life. And that's cool. Truth be said without your drama my life would be pretty boring."

Xolo snorted. "Your life would be so good without me. I mean you're the guy that everyone wants to be in college. You're-" Xolo suddenly cut himself. He realized what was happening. He was actually complimenting Lindani. He suddenly got up from the floor. "What are we doing?! What is this us making peace? What is this?!"

Lindani didn't get up from the floor. Just looked at his blue painted wall. "There's no peace needed between us Xolo. We've never been each other's enemy."

Xolo blinked not understanding what Lindani was saying. "Of course we are! We fight all the time."

Lindani disagreed," No we don't. We've never argued or fought Xolo. Even though everyone claims to have seen us fighting or arguing it's all lies." Xolo sat back down. Looking defeated. "So what were we doing all along? Friends? Are we friends? Am I the always complaining one and you're the cool silent one?"

Lindani chuckled. Shocking Xolo. He has seen Lindani smile but never had he heard him laugh or chuckle. This was the first.

"We're definitely not friends. Xolo since childhood we've had this weird relationship. I don't know what to call it. But it's definitely not a friend's or enemy's relationship. I think it's too deep to even explain. Take today for example you weren't there at school I kept on looking for you. Kept on wanting to hear your voice that drives me nuts but also calms me for some weird reason. I saw you on my window. I can't explain..." he held onto his chest, "I can't explain how freaking excited I was to see you. I bloody raced to this place. And I never run! But I did it today in order to see you. That in its own says a lot. I care about you Xolo Maseko."

Xolo looked at Lindani who was still not looking at him. "I think I care about you pastor's kid. And that's messed up. I thought I hated you. "

Lindani smiled again. His eyes going to Xolo's. "So are we taking you home? What did you do this time? "

Xolo chewed at his upper lip. "I messed up big time. Lindani I don't know what to do. Mom's so angry."

"Your mom's always angry at you. What's the difference today? "

Xolo chewed at his lip again before answering. "It's really bad Lindani. This could just really end my family's reputation. My father is going to be mad as well when he finds out what I did."

Lindani didn't press Xolo on about what he actually did. Instead changed the subject. "It's my birthday today and nobody remembered. No one even gave me a gift. My life is so sad"

"Your birthday is tomorrow you stupid. And I already gave you my gift."

Lindani frowned. "What gift?"

Xolo pointed at Lindani's shoes. "I helped you out of them. So that's my gift."

Lindani rolled his eyes. "I'll give you the same gift on your birthday."

Xolo slumped, "I don't care. We're both cheapskates anyway. I wonder if my mom would have forgiven me by then."

Lindani placed a hand on Xolo's shoulder. "Moms always forgive their children. For whatever wrongdoings we've done." He reassured.

Xolo removed the hand. "I think I liked you more when you were silent. You talk too much." He emphasized his statement with a wrinkle of his nose. Making Lindani roll his eyes. "What now?" He asked Xolo who was tying his dreadlocks.

Xolo finished with his dreads and looked at Lindani waiting for a reaction. But it didn't come. Lindani still wanted an answer to his question. So he shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I really don't"

***