CHAPTER 6
Alero listened with half an ear to what Maggie was telling her about hers and Quinn's holiday at the Bahamas with his family. She had been surprised to learn that she was as well acquainted with them as that. Apparently, she had gone over with Quinn for an extended stay earlier in the year when she had taken some time off her hectic schedule rather than come home to Nigeria. Alero wondered how her parents had felt about that but she made no comments. No need to rock the boat if the waters were calm enough.
She noticed when the fine specimen of male seated across from her stood to stretch and she turned to admire his physique. She was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Olly. As she watched him, she noticed there was someone seated next to him. She extended her gaze lazily to him as well. Olly had always had good looking friends. If Maggie had expressed her love for beautiful things by taking the fashion and modeling world by storm, Olly had done his own expression by way of his collection of friends. Olly had the most astonishing collection of eye candy as friends. Her breath hitched when she realized who she was looking at. She would have imagined that after the years that had passed since she had last seen him, she would have been...maybe mildly surprised to see him but not this shocked. It was the pain of the pent up breath she was holding that forced her to start breathing again. She removed her gaze from his as calmly as she could focusing on keeping her breathing even as she tried to focus her scrambled senses on something else. Her eyes latched on to Olly as he made his way towards her. She smiled widely at him in relief that was quickly replaced by tension when she realized that Banjo had unfolded himself from his seat and was coming after Olly.
"Hey Ally! So this is you?!" Olly's loud voice exclaimed as he got to them. Ally stood up as he reached her as was soon wrapped up in a warm hug. She sank into that hug and was overwhelmed by the feeling of nostalgia. In a lot of ways, Olly had been the older sibling she had longed for when growing up. There had been times when life had been pretty overwhelming to the shy, introspective girl she had been. Those times when she had longed for a not-so-older someone to take the pressure off of her and Olly had always stepped in where he could.
"You ran away from us because Maggie left." He reproved mildly as he slowly disentangled them and held her away to eye her critically.
"Yes, she's taking good care of herself." Maggie quipped from beside Alero as she dragged her back down to sit with her, answering the unspoken question his assessing look had seemed to be asking.
"I wasn't talking to you." Olly reprimanded his sister as he went to sit on the handle of a chair close to Alero. The female occupant of the seat squealed in patently feigned affront which Olly turned to assuage with a debonair charm.
Maggie's gasp drew attention to her again as she jumped up and went to say hello to some long missed friend who had just walked in leaving an empty space beside her which Banjo promptly slid into.
Alero stiffened as his sides bumped into her. She tried to look unaffected as she turned to him. "Hello." she said abruptly and turned away.
"Hello yourself." He responded sounding mildly amused. Alero turned a sharp gaze on him at his tone wondering if he was laughing at her. His face seemed bland enough and so she relaxed into her seat and proceeded to 'ignore' him.
"Didn't think you still hung around these parts." he commented as he leaned forward in order to make room for her on their shared seat and turned back towards her.
"Oh." she responded nonplussed for what to say when he continued to talk to her. "I still do from time to time." she said with a small, polite smile.
He nodded as he hunched over as if intending to settle into a long conversation with her.
"When Maggie is home." he said just as Olly interrupted.
"So Ally, what's happening with you these days? I hear you're the next big thing at that firm of yours."
Alero turned a relieved smile to him. "You heard from where exactly? Have you been listening to gossip?" she chided jokingly.
Olly scoffed at her. "Men do not gossip." he stated emphatically at which it was Alero's turn to scoff. They kept up the banter amongst themselves as other friends and acquaintances from their growing years joined in. Maggie and Quinn also found their way back to the group and everyone shuffled around to make room for them. Banjo remained fairly quiet by her side, occasionally laughing out loud at some of the funnier comments but not contributing much to the conversation otherwise. She had begun to relax when he suddenly tensed up beside her. She could feel his muscles go rigid against her.
"Hey Maggie, I'll be leaving now." a sweet, quiet voice spoke into the bantering voices. Alero looked up even as Maggie jumped up to acknowledge the young lady who had spoken. She was neat looking, was the thought that sprung into Alero's mind. She could not remember her from the early days, but then she had the sort of features that would not jump at you in a crowd. As Maggie led her away chattering a mile to a minute, she felt Banjo's muscles slowly lose their rigidity. She turned to look at him curiously but he was surreptitiously watching the pair of Maggie and the young lady as they walked towards the main entrance. She shrugged inwardly as she wondered at Banjo's strange reaction to the young lady who had looked non-threatening enough. She looked around the group and noticed that Olly was staring questioningly at Banjo who was trying hard not to look in his direction.
Presently, Maggie came back into the lounge and was hijacked by another group of departing guests. Alero checked her wrist watch and realized that the night was indeed far spent. She made to get up but was checked by Olly's voice.
"Leaving so soon Ally? I thought you were at least going to spend the night."
"Hah! In whose room? Madam over there..." she began only to have Olly stand and hurriedly put a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion.
"Don't let my mother hear. As far as she is concerned, her daughter is innocent." he reprimanded jokingly at which Alero laughed out loud.
He held out his hand to help her up from her seat. Alero took it and allowed herself to be pulled up.
"I don't have any change of clothes." she said.
"So? You can steal some of Maggie's. She probably won't even realize they belong to her." Olly said.
"Deceive yourself! Maggie? Not recognize her own clothes? You're just a joker." she teased as they walked hand in hand to find Maggie.
Banjo watched the pair as they made their way towards where Maggie had just exited. They were a fine looking pair. As he wondered if she would make just such a fine pair with him, he spluttered.
Where had that thought come from?