It was supposed to be one of the most romantic days of the year, but it felt far from that. Ken looked at his girlfriend, Tasha, angrily. He was fuming and needed to be away from her.
“Where are you?” Ken asked Scola, his best friend.
“I’m in the house,” Scola replied.
“I’m coming,” Ken said and hung up.
Ken was at Scola’s house within the hour. He showed up with an expensive bottle of wine and chicken wings.
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Scola told Ken.
“Oh, you’re preaching to the choir,” Ken told Scola.
“Let me get glasses,” Scola said as they proceeded to pour the wine into glasses.
“The good stuff. Even I haven’t gotten you to spend on this one,” Scola teased Ken.
“The next time I want to spend heavily to impress a girl, remind me of this moment,” Ken said.
“How bad was your Valentine’s? This should be interesting,” Scola told Ken. She changed her position, ready to listen to the juicy story.
“I have been accused of being a ‘bare-minimum’ guy today because I didn’t plan a staycation or getaway for Valentine’s!” Ken exclaimed.
Scola laughed so hard at him.
“I don’t know what’s so funny,” Ken told her as he joined in the laugh.
“Can I say I told you so? Is it too soon?” Scola asked Ken.
“Don’t even go there. Who doesn’t appreciate a good pair of sneakers and good wine?” Ken asked Scola.
“A person who wanted something else,” Scola told Ken.
Ken had given Tasha, his girlfriend, a gift that she didn’t appreciate. He had consulted with Scola when getting the gift, and she had told him that Tasha would appreciate something different.
“They are original Nike sneakers. I know she doesn’t have sneakers and she keeps saying she wants to go to the gym,” Ken had argued.
“I say I want to start eating vegan meals all the time but you find me having meat all the time too. Have you ever seen her in sneakers or seen her exercising?” Scola had asked Ken.
Scola had let it go and hoped Ken knew his girlfriend. Now he was angry because Tasha had expected something more romantic for Valentine’s.
“At least tell me you gave her flowers,” Scola said to Ken.
“That’s just pressure from social media. We had a reservation at a good restaurant,” Ken said.
“You might as well have taken her to a nyama choma joint then,” Scola said, laughing.
“It crossed my mind but I figured she wouldn’t get the joke,” Ken responded.
They made fun of Ken’s unromantic nature. He was caring but didn’t understand many conventional romantic gestures.
“Enough about my horrible Valentine’s date, why are you home? I thought Mr. Potential was taking you out?” Ken asked Scola.
“Mr. Potential started talking about going to Lamu for the weekend,” Scola responded.
“And what’s the problem with that?”Ken asked, looking confused.
“I have known him for exactly three weeks and he wants to fly me to Lamu, to an expensive hotel for Valentine’s? I looked up the hotel rates and it’s a crazy amount.”
“Oh, how much should he spend on you after knowing you for three weeks?” Ken teased her.
“Come on, you know what I mean. It’s too soon to go that big. I also don’t think Valentine’s is such a big deal and I told him as much,” Scola tried explaining herself to Ken.
“Maybe we should match Tasha with Mr. Potential,” Ken joked. They both rolled in laughter.
“On the real, do you get tired of meeting people who don’t understand you?” Scola asked Ken.
“You understand me,” said Ken.
“Yeah, but you get what I mean,” said Scola.
They finished the wine bottle. Scola had a bottle of leftover whiskey, so they had a little more to drink. The conversation had helped Ken calm down. Scola also felt happier that someone understood why she turned down Mr.Potential’s Valentine’s invite.
“It would be so easy if we found clones of ourselves out there. Like I find a clone of you out there. He would know what I want,” said Scola.
“I know! I wouldn’t have to keep explaining myself and we would totally have gone to a nyama choma joint,” Ken joked.
“Calm down ‘Mr. Bare Minimum’ even I don’t want that on Valentine’s,” Scola responded.
“Women and their double standards. You don’t want Lamu and you don’t want nyama choma,” Ken said.
“This is why we can’t date,” Scola said, smiling.
“But seriously, would it be that bad?” Ken asked Scola.
“Are we seriously talking about us dating?” Scola asked him.
“Yes. We understand each other. We tell each other almost everything. Isn’t that what a romantic partner should be?” Ken asked, looking at Scola in the eyes.
“We are friends and that’s why it’s easy to do all those things. I wouldn’t want to lose my best friend,” Scola told him.
“Tell me, you haven’t thought about us dating,” Ken pressed her.
“You know I have, Ken, but I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship,” Scola responded.
“We already have fights as friends, and we resolve them; it shouldn’t be any different.”
“If we’re being honest with ourselves, there’s a reason we never find romantic partners who are good enough. Maybe it has always been right in front of us, but we come up with excuses to avoid the truth,” said Ken as he touched Scola’s face.
They both knew they couldn’t remain platonic friends after that conversation. It took a few months before they started dating, but they eventually decided to give dating a try. After a year they realized that this was it – the forever kind of love they had been looking for. They got engaged.
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