Eniola and Banke

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!! Eniola's mobile phone rang loudly jerking her from sleep, she sat up abruptly and grabbed the phone from her nightstand. She squinted against the blinking neon blue lights of the small screen before flipping the phone open "Banky its two a.m." she said groggily. She normally did not take calls that woke her from sleep, but she made exceptions for her best friend.

"Eni,I...I.." Her Friend was sobbing so hard Eniola could barely make out the words between the sobs "Banky what is it?" she asked alarmed she was trying not to panic, but a lump of fear was rising in her throat. "Listen, calm down and tell me whats wrong"she said after a moment of trying to decipher the meaning of Banke's blubbers and whimpers.
"I, I...I c-cant." she managed to say between convulsive cries "p-p-please c-come here," she begged "you h-h-have t-t-to come please"
"I'll come okay" Eniola said in a soothing voice, trying to calm her friend down "I'll come as soon as I can tomorrow, but tell me whats wrong."
"I c-cant..."
"Are you in trouble?"
"Yes..."
"Are you in a safe place?"
"I'm f-fine, b-but I...I'm dead Eni, m-my life is so over...I..."
"It's okay Banky, whatever it is, I'll be there, I'll take the first train after my exam tomorrow, okay?"
She heard her friend mumble something before she broke down into sobs again,
"I'll stay on the phone with you okay?"
She did not get off the phone until she heard Banke's soft snores after her sobs had slowed and then stopped altogether. She flipped her phone shut and curled up under her black and red striped duvet but sleep would not come and worry kept her wondering what was wrong. She got out of bed, sat at her desk and turned on her computer, she might as well study while she was up.

"Oh. My. God. Eni, could you please keep it down" Jules her roommate said curtly, before ducking back under her covers. It crossed Eniola's mind to apologize and maybe move quietly to the common room to study, but changed her mind after considering the fact that Jules' boyfriend Andy practically lived in their dorm, despite the fact that his was only two doors away, had terrible aim and never quite managed to pee right into the toilet bowl, and left his dirty boxers on the futon which she paid for if she remembered correctly. And lets not forget that they kept her up with their noise, either the fighting or the moaning most nights, she preferred the fighting. Thinking of all this made her type a s loud as she possibly could without breaking the keypad. . She heard Jules' grumbling and almost smiled to herself.
-----
"Eni, are you sure you're okay?" Ephraim asked squeezing her hand, they were at the train station waiting for the boarding announcement. She looked at him and tried to smile "Yeah...I don't know, I'm just so worried I called her like eight times and she hasn't called me back. I'm really really worried"
"I can tell, I'm afraid you'd have chewed your fingers off by the time you get on your train." He said with laughter in his voice and a little smile, he then gently reached for the hand she hand in front on her mouth as she chewed on her nails.
"Babe, should I bother asking you not to worry?" he asked and she shook her head. He bent slightly to kiss her forehead "she's fine, there's nothing to worry about" he said reassuringly.

She looked up and caught a few people staring at them, she would never get used to that, she would probably be staring to if she were an onlooker herself.
But Ephraim did not seem to care, he was always so affectionate wherever they were, holding and kissing her hands, her fore head, wrapping his arms around her waist.But it was not just the PDA that drew peoples attention, it was the fact that she was a chubby black girl with long braids and cowrie ear rings and he was a lean ginger haired white boy with green eyes and a smile too big for his face. Some people tried to be polite and looked only from the corners of their eyes but look away when they turned; others just stared unabashed, almost without blinking. And some of them had disapproval written in bold CAPITAL letters all over their faces, especially the older people.

Eniola had despised him intensely on their first encounter, he was her first college roommate's cousin and had been helping her move into their new dorm. He had let out a bothersome "Oh..." when his cousin introduced her as her new roommate. Eniola had been convinced it was because she was black and "from Africa" as the girl had announced enthusiastically. And Eniola had tuned out everything he said or at least she had tried to, but months after that first meeting she ran into him at the Asian food market across the street from campus and remembered his name was Ephraim and he went to the Medical college a few blocks from her school.

Their relationship had pretty much progressed naturally without any of the anxiety or head games that often comes with dating. Eniola had never been in any sort of romantic relationship and had not expected everything to run as smoothly as it did, especially knowing all the gory details of her girl friends' dating experiences. Her and Ephraim had so little yet so much in common, it was always a thrill. They were genuinely interested in and curious about each other and in the eight months of 'hanging out' before they made their relationship official, they had become such good friends that he listed her as a reference on a job application. It was simple, what they had, and Eniola liked it very much.

The announcer made the boarding calls and Ephraim kissed her before handing over her duffel bag. "Call me when you get there." He said still holding her hand "I will" she stepped forward and gave him a tight hug, then she left to board the train.
"Try not to worry so much" he yelled after her.
------
Banke was sitting on a very uncomfortable bench at the train station. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying herself to sleep, crying when she woke up, crying as she was bent over the toilet failing to keep her breakfast down. Her nose and cheeks were red as well, it seemed her light complexion was doing her a disservice, she thought bitterly, remembering that she had onced considered it her best feature. She did not want to think about the reason for her tears, she could not afford to break down in a place as public as the train station. It was unusually busy and that annoyed her, all those happy people, kids her age coming home for the weekend. They were all blissfully ignorant to the turmoil that boiled away in her chest, just thinking about it made her eyes well up with tears again.
She looked at her purple watch; 3:15. Eniola's train should have arrived by then. She took her mobile hone out of her purse and was about to call when she heard her best friend call out her name. She looked up and saw Eniola with a Grey duffel bag and a worried expression on her face.
"Banky baby, you scared me half to death." She held her in a tight embrace "Oya what is it? Tell me now"
Banke broke down into sobs and they stood there, arms around each other, Banke bawling as Eniola rubbed her back soothingly. She did not care that it was a public place anymore; she needed to cry so she was going to cry.
------
"Are those what I think they are?" Eniola asked alarmed "Whose are those?!" her voice was rising in panic. They had taken a taxi back to the off campus apartment Banke shared with four other girls. Two of her flat mates were also Nigerian and the other two were Sri-lankan and Peruvian.
Eniola had asked Banke a few times to explain what was happening, but all her friend had said was "I'll show you."
Banke led her straight to her bedroom, without bothering to introduce her to her flat mates who were gathered in the tiny living room watching what seemed to be Micheal Jackson's memorial service on CNN.
She pulled her by the hand without saying a word and lead her to the window sill beside her unmade bed. There, in almost perfectly vertical lines, lay seven white and purple pen sized sticks, they looked like they were made of plastic and it was not until Eniola looked closer and saw double pink lines on the small oval screens on all of them that she realized what they were. She looked up at her friend "Are you joking?"
"Are you mad Eniola!Do I look like I'm joking?" Banke shouted, tears streaming down her face.
"But...how, you're not...you didn't tell me you were having...Oh my God!!" It really had not crossed her mind, they were best friends, they told each other everything, she did not remember Banke ever telling her anything about having sex with anybody. They were smart girls, they did not make mistakes like this.
"Jesu, Banke..." her face was crumpled up in what looked like anguish "Banky, what is going to happen now?" Eniola asked
"Eni... I don't know, I don't know how I'm going to open my mouth and tell my father that I'm..." she felt like the word was forcing its way from her stomache through her throat to her mouth. She had not said it, she had even tried to prevent her mind from forming the word, afraid that it would some how make it more real
"that I-I'm pregnant." she finally spat out, it was real.