There was barely any time left for her to prepare. Desi was losing her mind and a lot of her patience, too, especially with the ticket-booking attendant at the train station. She had called to book an early-morning ride for the designing camp, which was starting the next day, and it seemed that was extremely late by transportation rules.

“Please, can I look at other connecting trips?” she asked for what seemed like the thousandth time that afternoon. Since all the direct trips were full, surely there would be one where she could connect from different cities? The answer was yes, but it seemed the attendant on the phone just wanted to punish her for some reason.

Normally, she wouldn’t even bother and just go with any form of transportation that was available when she was ready, but she had learned the hard way to always plan her trips ahead when she couldn’t get a flight and arrived at her mother’s deathbed too late. She was extremely careful not to make decisions based on past trauma, but this one still hurt to think about, and would probably guide her decisions on planning trips forever.

As disorganized as she was, she always planned and booked trips ahead of time, so the attendant’s refusal to help her was already starting to give her a migraine.

“...only free seats are on the 4 pm trip tomorrow…” the attendant was saying.

“You know what, never mind. Thank you,” she ended the call with a snap and flopped onto her bed.

“Ugh, I don’t want to go!” she groaned into her pillow, but quickly got a hold of herself. She hadn’t even packed. She was too busy finishing up work tasks without realizing how quickly the time passed. She hopped over the perpetual pile of things on the floor and dug a small travel bag out of her tiny wardrobe. After shoving a few outfits in, she went to her desk and got her stash of candies. She unwrapped and popped one into her mouth, then threw the pack into the travel bag.

The candies were her anchor and source of sanity in her very stressful life. They were also the reason she had to have one tooth removed and get veneers for most of her front teeth. Eating candy was the only bad childhood habit she was unable to break. Thankfully, she always managed to overcome every other bad habit. The candies she had put in her bag were strawberry flavored because she needed their tangy, sweet flavour to keep her perked up and amiable at the camp when the presence of too many people overwhelmed her.

She looked at her packed bag, happy about how little time it took her to pack. She chuckled at the mix of jeans, sweatpants, hoodies, and t-shirts squeezed into the bag. If her mother were still around, she would have tutted at her and switched out one or two of her jeans for dresses. Then Desi would have argued about how people who use a lot of their brain the way she does need comfort to survive, and then they would have gone back and forth until Desi compromised with girly blouses for her t-shirts and shift dresses for her sweatpants. Smiling at the memories, she switched out two big t-shirts in her bag for a crop top and a flowery blue blouse her mother loved. 

Her phone rang just then, bringing her out of her reverie. It was her friend, Abby, calling.

“What’s up? Are you all set for tomorrow?” Abby asked without preamble.

“Set?” Desi mustered the most dramatic sigh she could and then “I’m so deaddd. There’s no train and I don’t want to take the bus because they’re usually crowded in the morning. And the camp sign-in time  is at 9 am, and Mr. T is one of the instructors, so I have to be there before 9 am, and I can’t even…”

“Hey hey hey!” Abby interrupted with a laugh before she could continue.

“I’m sorry,” Desi chuckled, “I’m just really stressed.”

“I feel you. We need to get you there before 9 am for real.”

This was one of the things Desi loved about Abby. She never thought of problems as individual responsibilities. Her first resort was always “We need to solve this”, which made Desi feel loved beyond words. If Abby needed it, she would happily climb the highest mountain for her. That was how much she loved her.

Flopping back onto her bed, Desi put her phone on loudspeaker and went to the Uber app on her phone. Maybe she could take a cab there. Sure, it would be pricey, but how bad could it be? She put in her location, and the price displayed on her screen almost made her choke on her saliva.

“Jesus Christ!” she screamed

“What? What is it?” Abby’s voice mirrored the confusion in her own

“Uber is charging me forty thousand naira. For Ibadan here.”

Abby was silent for a moment, then she started coughing, which eventually morphed into full-on mocking laughter.

“Why would you even think to travel by Uber? You must be secretly rich. So you’ve been hiding your real wealth from us, Princess.”

In no time, Desi joined Abby, realizing the ridiculousness of the situation. Just then, Abby shouts, “Coming, babe!” to someone in the background.

“Are you at Wale’s place?” Desi asked

“Yeah, he wanted us to hang out today since he’s travelling tomorrow. He’s doing a resort trip with his gym buddies.”

Wale was Abby’s fiancé and lover of 4 years. They met seven years before when the three of them were still students and hated each other. While Desi and Abby were cool kids who partied occasionally and maintained great grades, Wale was the nerdy top student who never saw eye to eye with Abby.

Things between them had worsened when they were put in the same group for a project, and Wale kept nitpicking about the carefree way Abby did everything. Similarly, Abby couldn’t stand Wale’s fixation on perfection, and the two argued nonstop, with Desi constantly being put in the middle, or being a good friend and taking Abby’s side.

Desi couldn’t exactly pinpoint when things started between them. She had just gotten to their designated study point about 30 minutes late one day, mentally practicing her apology speech, to find Abby and Wale making out. Their kisses were so intense that it looked like they were trying to consume each other.

After that, both of them had kept a respectable but friendly distance, clearly having decided not to pursue a relationship. But it didn’t stop Wale from always staring at Abby like she was a cold bottle of water on the hottest summer day. After graduation, the three of them kept in touch, and Wale finally mustered the courage to ask Abby out. It turned out she had been waiting for him to ask since she agreed immediately. Now they were going to be married in a few months, and no one was happier for them than Desi.

“... still don’t understand why they keep travelling around to work out.” Abby was presently saying, and Desi chuckled.

“That’s what you can’t understand?” Desi asked sardonically, “I’m just here trying to figure out how Mr. tall and thin with glasses is literally a Greek god now.”

Abby burst out in agreeing laughter. “I don’t question it because I love it, girl. Big brains, big body too - isn’t God good?”

“Talking about me?” Wale's gentle voice carried over the phone, and Desi knew it was time to end the call. Whenever they were together, they managed to lock everyone out of their little love bubble. Desi had third-wheeled so much, she just knew to fade away once they were together.

“Yeah. It’s Desi,” Abby responded. The sound of them kissing ever so softly just before Abby says, “We’re trying to get her a trip to Ibadan.”

“Alright, guys, talk to you later. Love you, Bibi.” Just before Desi tapped the button to end the call, Abby’s voice rang out in a shrill scream.

“Oh my God, wait! Babe, aren’t you guys going through Ibadan?”

Desi’s face slowly lit up with a smile as she jumped off the bed. Well then, that was settled. 

She happily jumped off the bed and went round the room picking up other stuff she would need for her trip tomorrow, as she discussed travel plans with Wale and Abby.