“Where the hell have you been?” Sindi called out from down the corridor of my res. What is she doing here so late? I asked myself, trying to open the door of my room. And why is she yelling at me?

“Geez, Sindiswa! You scared me half to death,” I said, shaking my head as I inserted the key.

“Only half? Mxm. I should kill you for what you did,” she said coming to stand next to me. “Where the hell were you? I called, left messages, came here, twice already,” she burst into the room just as I opened the door, leaving me in the hallway. She threw herself on my bed, taking my pillow and throwing in on the other side of the bed. She lay down, in a defeated manner, and gave out a dramatic sigh.

I busied myself with the bookshelf, packing my books away. An image of Marius’s smile flashed into my mind and I couldn’t help smiling. His ‘proper study plan’ had taken me to study at the beach. It proved a relaxing method, better than my own. So relaxing in fact, that we had lost track of time, and stopped only when the sun had gone down.

I remembered the way the wind blew against his hair, so gently, that I wanted to touch it. I one point I had lost myself and was staring at him too long, I didn’t hear a word of what he was saying about a transistor. It was important information, but I was more fascinated by how his light skin glowed in the remnants of the sun, causing it to look almost transparent.

“Sinovuyo!” Sindi shouted, so loud that my eardrum almost burst. “Daydreaming again! This is why you flunk.” She was standing next to me. I jumped in fright and went to sit on the bed, rubbing my ear trying to ease the pain.

“Ubus’thini? What were you saying?” I asked, trying to avoid her eyes.

“Where the hell were you? I went to the study centre and you weren’t there. I waited and waited and you wouldn’t pick up your phone. So – I wanna know – where the hell were you?” she demanded.

I looked at her, marvelling at how she did it. How was she able to make it my problem that she was late, and I wasn’t there anymore? If she hadn’t been late, I would never have done the crossword competition. I would never have lost and gone to the beach with Marius.

If anyone deserved to be throwing fits around here, it was me. I was the one who got stood up, by her. And those calls she made, were not calls. She had buzzed me twice. An hour after the meeting time.

“You were late,” I reminded her. “I went somewhere else to study.”

“Well, where? We were supposed to meet and study…”

“You were the one who chose not to pitch, again! So you have no right to shout at me about it, coz I waited for over an hour for you.”

Sindi sat there and looked at me, shocked. I had never spoken to her like that. I always mumbled some sarcastic reply that nobody ever heard, and that for me was fine, even if it defeated the purpose. I had no idea where this great new courage came from. But Sindi was not impressed.

“I was running late,” she simply stated. “I was meeting Tshepo and we went for lunch. I would have told you but you had disappeared.” I was not waiting for an apology, so Sindi continued. “Do you know what that jerk did? He took me to Something Fishy! How cheap can you get?”

Ah, that’s why I’m getting my head blown off, I thought. She’s angry with Tshepo.

Tshepo was a third year Mechanical Engineering student. He was a black, beautiful diamond with lots of brain matter – the only reason Sindi went out with him. She didn’t like much else about him. His sense of humour she found dry; his taste in clothes, revolting; his choice of friends… But Sindi was with him because he was the hottest geek on campus, and lots of girls wanted him.

“I was at the beach,” I told her. “With Marius,” I added. And then realised. This would not be good news. But she needed to learn that she didn’t own us all.

The room was filled with pin-dropping silence.

“You were where? With who?”

“Marius took me to the beach.” It sounded better this way so I didn’t elaborate.

“Huh, for what, a tutoring lesson?” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Yes,” I said with an even bigger grin.

“He’s not into you,” she stated, getting up to stand in front of the mirror, fixing her cleavage. “To him you’re just a project. Marius likes smart women, he told me so on Saturday night. We clubbed together.”

At that point, everything I had disliked about Sindi rushed to the surface and turned into a snarling fit of rage. I had watched enough movies to know how to kick a girl’s ass. But I was not that kind of girl. I got up and walked to the table.

“He wants to see me every afternoon this term,” I gloated.

My phone vibrated on the table. It was after eight, so it could’ve been my mother, who only called during off-peak hours. I picked it up and Marius’s name flashed on the screen. I couldn’t help but smile, again.

“Speak of the devil,” I said as I turned to look at her. I wanted a full view of Sindi’s astonished face.

“Hey,” I answered softly, walking to the mirror so she could hear him too.

Sindi turned, slowly, and watched me as I stood in front of the mirror, swinging my body to the rhythm of his voice. I wasn’t faking it. My heart was fluttering and I was beyond blushing. Sindi turned and stormed out of my room, slamming the door as hard as her skinny arms could manage.

“What was that?” Marius asked.

“Just the wind blowing,” I said, throwing myself on my bed.

***

Tell us: Have you ever shared a crush with a friend? How did you handle it?