Work Hard, Love Harder

Zoe laughed, pulling the cup of cocoa from her lips. The coffee shop was busy on the cold Autumn afternoon, and people were brushing past the two to line up for warm drinks. “I’m surprised you actually brought your school bag with. You should have known better than that.” She handed Femi a cup, steam rising with a welcoming warmth. “Chai tea, as usual.”

Femi took the drink, a frown still on his face. Though now it lessened with the gifted beverage. “You know that finals are coming up.”

“Yup.” Zoe took a sip from her cocoa, eyes smiling up at Femi.

“And you know that I also have to study for my college finals. I have like, four papers to write.”

“Well aware, thank you.”

“And you want to do… what exactly? Instead of studying?” Femi hadn’t even touched his tea, still staring down at Zoe with a dubious and exhausted look. The paper cup was starting to burn his palm.

As if she were waiting for that question to finally reveal her master plan, Zoe turned Femi around and pushed him right back out the door. “We’re going to the aquarium.”

“What? Why the aquarium?” Femi let himself be pushed out the door by his smaller companion, apologizing as they got in the way of people trying to enter and exit the cafe.

“Femi! I gotta see some stingrays, like, right now,” Zoe said, pushing their way back out onto the street and dragging her guy crush towards the aquarium.

*****

The shadows cast on the inner walls of the aquarium wobbled, the lights in the water making everything it touched dance in the dimly lit hallway. Femi adjusted the strap of his backpack as they walked up to another exhibit. Zoe grinned widely and leaned in close to the glass to watch a pair of lemon sharks swimming by. Fish zipped back and forth along the artificially constructed coral and rocks.

“This is way better than studying,” she said.

“Babe, we’re just going to have to study later.”

“Or, and I’m just throwing this out there, we don’t study. Like, ever,” Zoe replied.

“And fail classes? Do you want to repeat your first year? Do you want me to repeat all my classes? And get kicked off the soccer team?” Femi asked.

“Ah, relax,” Zoe replied, turning back to Femi and dragging him to the next exhibit. She was certain the stingrays were around here somewhere. “You’re not gonna fail. Your grades are perfect. I bet you could skip finals and still pass.”

“That’s an exaggeration.”

“Not really.”

“And I thought the purpose of studying with me was to help you with your chemistry work?”

At the mention of the subject, Zoe winced. “Well… yeah. But we can do that some other day.”

The circular logic was starting to make Femi’s head hurt. “We were supposed to study today. It was my last free day for a week. And finals are coming up soon.”

Zoe stopped in her tracks then, and Femi, not ready for the sudden halt in forward momentum, bumped into her. He apologized quickly, but when Zoe turned around, he could sense there was more than avoiding studying on her mind.

“I just wanted to have one day, okay?” Zoe asked, thrusting her hands out to her sides to emphasize her words. “We haven’t even seen each other for two weeks. Two weeks, Femi.”

Femi scratched the back of his neck, a nervous look on his face. He was glad they were alone in this section of the aquarium. “We’ve both been busy, babe. I have college courses and soccer and that my RA job and you…”

“I know! You don’t think I know that? I just…” Zoe kicked at the ground, looking away from Femi for a moment. “I wanted to spend time with you. I didn’t want to do homework.”

Femi just stared at Zoe for a long moment, the lady not meeting his gaze. Femi took a breath, closing the distance between them, and wrapped his arm around Zoe’s shoulders. He pulled her in close for a half hug. “I’m sorry, I’ve been busy…”

“Fu*k, Femi. Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. You got your own sh*t to do. I understand.”

“Sorry,” he said again.

Zoe sighed.

Sensing he was only making things worse, Femi refrained from commenting again. They stood there near the shark tank for nearly five minutes, Zoe’s face pressed up against Femi’s chest and Femi’s arm lightly wrapped around Zoe’s shoulders.

When Femi finally spoke up, he tried to keep his voice upbeat. “We should, uh, we should go find those stingrays. I think the aquarium is closing soon.”

Zoe pulled away, looking up at Femi. Her face was neutral for a long moment, then a smirk slipped onto her face. “Yeah, those stingrays wait for no man.” She turned around, grabbing Femi’s hand as they continued through the aquarium. This time, Zoe didn’t let go of his hand, their fingers stayed interlaced loosely.

*****

“I should probably get home now.”

Femi looked over at Zoe as they walked down the sidewalk. They were about to part ways, Zoe for her job at the boutique where she moonlighted as a personal shopper and Femi for his room. His father had offered to move him off campus to an apartment where he could be more comfortable after his first year but Femi wanted the full campus experience. And that included dorm rooms. He wasn’t quite ready to share such a small space with someone else ad infinitum, hence the RA job. He got his own room out of it but was still just another college student; not the son of a Nigerian billionaire with more money than he knew what to do with. Femi had a lingering urge to pay for a taxi for Zoe rather than let her take the train, if nothing else but to spend a few more precious moments with her before they said goodbye for who knew how long this time around. But he was still in two minds about why she was in this relationship; was it the money or was it him? So, he restrained himself until he had more time to figure it out. It was always work or school or soccer, and honestly, Femi was getting sick of it.

“Ah, yeah. I’m sorry you have to go so soon,” Femi said, pulling the edges of his sweatshirt closer around his neck. The wind had picked up, gusting through the streets, and the chill was sending goose bumps over his skin.

“Me too,” Zoe said, a frown marring her features.

There was a long moment of silence between them, people passed them on the street corner as they stretched out their goodbye.

“I really should go,” Zoe said again, her feet not moving.

Femi fidgeted next to the lamppost, looking down the street. “Just stay.”

“What?” Zoe asked, surprise in her voice. She thought for sure it was just wax build up impairing her hearing.

“Fu*k your job, I’ll pay you for the hours you miss today. Stay at my place tonight.”