It was just after ten on the following Sunday morning, and I was standing at my kitchen making coffee for us, while Lawrence sat at the sofa facing the balcony and reading the Sunday Star newspaper.
‘Cancel?’ As I turned down the music, ‘Why would you want to do that?’
‘Because I am not ready!’ he said only half joking. ‘I need more time. You know you only get one opportunity to make a first impression.’
‘I don’t believe you! You’ve travelled all over the world, stood up to address meetings crammed full of ludicrously rich and powerful business people and run division that made a lot of money for your company and you’re scared of meeting my friends who shouldn’t say boo to a goose- who to be frank should be more concerned with impressing you than the other way round, what is wrong with you?’
‘I am nervous, that’s all.’
‘You’ll be just fine. All you need to know is that my friends likes fussing during drinking so there is no point in asking them to take a seat. Joseph is bound to be a bit off with because his life is falling apart and Peter... well Peter will more likely fall in love with you the second you say hello.’
‘You say all this like it’s some kind of a joke! Meeting your group of friends is kind of a big deal – it’s actually a lot bigger than meeting your family. I don’t want to freak you out but since you’re already halfway to BSC anyway I suppose it’s time I told you the truth: I have never, ever, ever in all my time here (I mean since am coming back to KL) brought a boyfriend...’ I stopped and raised a solitary ironic eyebrow. ‘I take it you are officially my boyfriend now, aren’t you?’ Lawrence rolled his eyes in a weary fashion. ‘Good.’ I said, and then continued – ‘to any Sunday brunch with my friends.’
‘Never?’
‘Not ever.’
‘And you’re telling me this now because?’
‘Because basically you could walk in to the restaurant, slap my friends in the face, put your feet on the table and fart and my friends would still think you’re the best thing since sliced bread.’ I paused and turned on the air-corn. ‘So are you ready?’
‘Yes,’
‘For the coffee or meeting my friends?’
Lawrence took moments that, when he first received my text about meeting my friends had gone into panic mode even though I tried my best to point out that group of my friends ‘weren’t the kind of people you have to worry about impressing’. No matter what I said to reassure him Lawrence refused to be reassured and instead demanded that with the little time we had left I should make sure he was up to date with every single last bit of my friends trivia...
As we drank our coffee together, Lawrence began to calm down enough to read out various snippets of news he thought worthy of discussion. Although I had little or no interest in the article about the investigation of a corrupt MP or the one about the playwright who had written a play that had a bunch of people he had never heard of up in arms, I liked the fact that Lawrence was interested in these things. As I sat watching his half mug of coffee while simultaneously getting irate over a comment in the newspaper that he read...
And, he is not readyto meet my friends and I have no choice to leave him alone while brunching with my group...
It's the beginning of the ends....
Till then
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