13.
Blessing is gazing down at Nathan's phone through incredulous and bewildered eyes. There's a sinking feeling in the stomach and a panic that's numbing the bones. Placing the palm of the hand on the forehead, Blessing closes the eyes desperately trying to piece together what is written in the message. She realises that she's not surrounded by her friends, in a foreign room, with foreign smells and a foreign family who she's been lying about missing. The only person she can remotely think of speaking to is Sam. With a strangled cry, she leaves the room and calls for Sam who saunters out of the kitchen,
"Look at this message! Look at it! Do you think she's actually serious?" Blessing shoves Nathan's phone in Sam's face who grabs it out of the hands and scrutinises it. Shrugging his shoulders, he hands the phone back to Blessing,
"Don't worry about it man. Did you actually do it?" Sam asks in a relaxed tone turning back towards the kitchen,
"Of course, I didn't, it was completely consensual so I'm confused as to what she's talking about?" Blessing shrieks, raising the arms in the air in distress,
"Dude man just relax. This stuff happens all the time, girls will drop their knickers down willingly and then the next they'll start screaming rape," Sam explains casually heading back into the kitchen, "relax its normal man. Besides where's the proof?" He yells back as the kitchen door shuts behind him. Dropping the arms to the side, Blessing gazes at the shut kitchen door and wonders what else she can do.
This entire week has been hallucinogenic and when she finally thinks everything is going back to normal, which means googling and researching vehemently how to swap back bodies. Pinching the bridge of the nose, Blessing puts on Nathan's sliders and walks across the hallway and knocks hard on her own apartment door. The door opens and she looks down to find Lana frowning up in her direction,
"Are you sleeping with Blessing?" Lana asks raising an eyebrow and folding her arms across her chest. Taken aback, Blessing has to remind herself who's body she's in,
"No I am not. We've funnily enough become really close," Blessing says through gritted teeth. Nodding her head once, Lana steps aside and yells Blessing's announcement to the flat. Popping the head, Nathan glowers at Blessing who is interrupting his prayers but he realises that unless he speaks to her immediately she won't go away. She's a needy individual Nathan notes to himself,
"Make it quick what do you want?" Nathan asks shutting the bedroom door behind him,
"It's important, I really need to talk to you," Blessing whispers and Nathan rolls the eyes, "look at this message from.... Sam...Sandra...I don't even know her name but look," Blessing points at the phone. Reading the message, Nathan shrugs his shoulders unfazed by the threat and statement, he's been through this so many times already,
"Ergh you actually went and slept with this girl? You know I don't sleep with ugly people," Nathan whines in a low tone. Rolling the eyes, Blessing goes to open her bedroom door but Nathan blocks her path, shaking his head, "I'm busy praying and I don't want you to ruin things," he explains.
"You're actually going to deny me going into my own room?" Blessing inhales sharply, as she feels the blood rising in the neck in a fit of anger. A pang of guilt seeps through the bones when Blessing realises that she's interrupting Nathan during one of his prayers. Regardless of her annoyance with Nathan, she knows she needs to respect his faith and how seriously he takes it. Clenching and unclenching her fists, Blessing explains in a calm voice,
"Are you not worried she'll go to the university dean or the union?"
A low sinister chuckle escapes from the throat and Nathan leans against the bedroom door with the arms folded across the chest,
"Welcome to the world of being falsely accused," Swallowing hard, Blessing breathes a shaky sigh, "you see, I know only 3, maybe 5% of cases of rape that are reported are false and majority are allegedly-," Nathan explains but Blessing cuts in,
"-Allegedly?" Blessing takes a step back, the anger boiling in the pit of the stomach when certain topics arise,
"I use that word lightly but it happens and it happens a lot more than you think. The number of girls I've banged and then tried accusing me the next day is so unbelievable. I'm surprised you never tried your hand at the accusation," Nathan explains dropping the arms to the side. The lump in Blessing's throat grows quicker and she briefly looks away from her own pretty brown face,
"So I shouldn't worry?" Blessing asks hesitantly. Nathan dismisses the situation with a wave of the hand, "so Lana was lying about Sam then?" Blessing says indignantly, eager to hear Nathan's opinion of the situation. Narrowing the eyes, Nathan looks up at his handsome bronzed face,
"You haven't tanned in a while," He says with contempt avoiding the question,
"If so many girls apparently lie about being raped and then Lana must've lied too," Blessing continues edging closer to Nathan. For the first time, she's happy for Nathan's large stature and hopes he is thoroughly intimidated. They gaze into one another's eyes, the heat rising in both the bodies and they don't need to say anything to come to the same conclusion. Nathan tries anyway to defend his best friend,
"Blurred lines," he says weakly, the words catching in his throat,
"No-such-thing," Blessing accentuates the words, hoping that they drum through the skull and imbed themselves into the skull. Just as Nathan is about to open his mouth with a snarky remark, Lana turns the corner and they both turn their heads in her direction. Pausing mid-step, Lana gazes at both curiously before walking past them silently to her room,
"I'm going to now," Blessing says turning on the heel and before Nathan can say anything, the apartment door slams shut. Clenching the fists, Nathan heads back into Blessing's room and crawls back down on his knees to finish his prayers. Once he's done, he opens Blessing's laptop and goes onto the search box and types in the girl's name.
You never quit, do you? Lying slut.
Pressing send, Nathan gazes at the screen until he sees the message has been read. Slowly he closes the laptop and that's when he remembers the pictures he took that are sitting snugly on Blessing's camera roll.
YOU ARE READING
The Body Swap (Completed ✔️)
Humor"I'm black!" Nathan screams but the voice that erupts from his throat is a high shrill screech. "I'm white!" Blessing screams but she brings her hands to her throat, mortified at the deep resounding voice that escapes. Nathan and Blessing look at on...
