Work Hard, Love Harder

“Or you’re just terrible. It’s okay, Zoe. We all knew you weren’t perfect.”

“Just take your shot.”

Femi sunk two before missing the third. Zoe sunk one, and deliberately missed the second.

“Where the hell did you learn to play pool?” Femi asked.

“I used to play with my friends in high school. Detention was a lot of hurry up and wait. I picked up a thing or two.”

“Should’ve left them where you found them,” said Femi, pocketing one ball before missing another.

“Yeah, maybe.” Zoe banked a ball off the rail and into a side pocket. She feigned surprise. “I didn’t think that would work.”

Juliana narrowed her eyes at Zoe, her suspicion clear. Zoe gave her an exaggeratedly innocent look. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. Zoe returned it. She winked at her, and immediately her face was back to total neutrality. “Come on, Zoe. I cannot take Dangote’s gloating if he wins.”

“Considering I’m winning-”

“You’re up by one.”

“Which means I’m winning.”

Zoe missed her next shot. Femi made his next two before missing. “You can cut your losses now, Zoe. No one will think any less of you for trying to maintain some of your dignity.”

That’s when Zoe decided to stop pretending. “Double or nothing. Winner takes all.”

“I think I made her mad,” Femi said to Aisha, sotto voce.

“I thought we weren’t friends,” Aisha retorted.

“It was the break up. Emotions were high. We both said some things we didn’t mean – especially you, but that’s not my point.”

“You have one?”

“I’ve decided we’re friends again, which means we can continue our work and Juliana doesn’t have to depose me.”

“Fair enough. You going to accept Zoe’s challenge?” Aisha asked.

“Of course! I never back down from a fight I know I’m going to win. Your shot, Zoe.”

“Good.” Zoe stabbed at the cue ball, sending it hopping over another one and into the two ball. It slipped into the side pocket easily. Femi choked on his drink. Juliana’s eyes were shining with pure delight. Colton and Aisha exchanged a look of surprise.

Zoe’s next few shots were simple. The last one, she shot the cue ball at the twelve. It hit with a loud clack! The twelve crashed into the four ball, sending it skidding into a corner pocket. The twelve ball rolled slowly over to the left side pocket and dropped in. Femi blinked at her owlishly.

“What…?” He was speechless.

Zoe set the pool cue onto the rail. “I believe you owe me some money, Mr. Dangote.”

“Did Dangote just get hustled by Beyonce Barbie?” Colton asked, looking at Zoe in awe.

“I did not get hustled-“

“Face it,” Juliana said. “You got owned.” Colton nodded in agreement.

Femi spluttered. “I thought you learned to play pool from a bunch of high school delinquents!”

“I said I picked up a thing or two,” Zoe clarified. “Not all of them.”

“Oh my God,” Femi muttered. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just got hustled by Beyonce Barbie.”

Zoe clapped him on the shoulder. “And now you owe her $3,000.”

*****

Zoe put two thousand dollars in her joint account with Zack, shoving down the guilt about hustling a friend. She had run out of time what with class and homework and trying to keep things on an even keel with Femi. She’d attended the party with him, aided by a little pushing from Aisha. It was there that she’d learned that Femi really was starring in her shitty remake of Coming to America. His father was like one of the wealthiest people in Nigeria…hell, one of the wealthiest in the world with interest in oil, commodities, and industry. And Femi was his first born and heir. She’d hardly known what to do with that information. For one thing, she liked him; he was a real friend. But on the other hand, he had the entrée she needed into high society. She didn’t want to use him, but she’d be a fool not to use him. It was a battle that was driving her seriously crazy.

To make matters worse, she was finding that her school work wasn’t the breeze she’d been counting on, and with one distraction after another, she was seriously in danger of falling behind and losing out on her scholarship.

*****

Zoe knocked tentatively on Femi’s door. There was no answer, so she checked her watch for the time.

8:30 p.m.

Yep, this was within his ‘open’ hours. He should be in. She knocked again, taking a deep breath and waiting.

“Yeah?” she heard a voice call from inside and she opened the door, sticking her head in.

“Uh, hi. You busy?” she asked as her eyes fell on Femi lying on the bed, a book on his stomach while Aisha was sprawled on the floor playing Super Mario on his wide screen.

He spread his hands out in a ‘see for yourself’ type gesture. “Come in,” he said. She stepped into the room as Aisha looked up at her.

“Um,” she said.

Femi sat up. “Do you want Aisha to leave?” he asked, stretching a hand out to push at Aisha’s back so she could get up. “She can go. She’s just trying to win an unwinnable bet right now.”

“No, it’s cool. It’s nothing private. I was just wondering, um, Colton said you helped him out with his trigonometry and I…need help,” Zoe explained.

“Oh,” he said swinging his legs off the bed, “you require tutoring? Did you bring your books?”

“Um, no. I wanted to ask you first.”

“Well, I am on call right now, but if you want to return at around eleven we can go over what you need to learn and how long it might take to learn it.”

“That’s….thanks, Femi.”

“No problem.”

Zoe stepped back out the door and closed it gently behind her. She let out a breath she hadn’t really known she was holding. It was really no big deal; he would help her with her trig work, she’d be able to catch up on what she needed to know. And it would be no big deal. Also, if he happened to ask her out to one of his family friends’ events, she would go. And get to know some people, people who might know some other people who she could hustle. It was all six degrees of separation anyway. It didn’t have to mean a thing.