Shameeka’s not having it. ‘Uh, uh. Come on.’
Anika sighs, grinning, and knocks it back after clinking the small glass to her friends’. Shamz slams her own glass onto the bar and then leans back to observe Anika’s outfit. ‘Damn Daniel, back at it again with the patent leather Loubies?’ she says, lifting Anika’s hand to make her twirl around.
‘Astoundingly retro reference, babes,’ Anika says, chuckling.
‘I’m old, did you forget?’
They order a bottle of champagne and head to a table outside, stepping through the sliding doors in the bar area that leads to a canopied patio. The view down a Soho alleyway isn’t exactly up to the elegant standards of the hotel itself, but it’s perfect for revelling in the late-summer warmth.
‘So, someone’s been shopping then?’ Tina says.
‘A lil’ something, you know …’ Anika replies with a smirk, kicking up her red bottoms as they sit down. Shameeka nods at the waiter who comes up to the table a moment later with the bottle of champagne and glasses on a tray. He starts to pour the bubbles. ‘Oh, just a drop for me.’ Anika’s still a bit fuzzy from the night before, not to mention the tequila shot, but Shamz shakes her head vigorously.
‘Fuck you mean? We need to celebrate you becoming a radio don dada!’
She senses her friends’ excitement to toast her new success and relents, even though the thought of more alcohol makes a headache shimmer on the horizon. ‘Go on, then.’
They all raise their glasses, but, just as they finish clinking, Anika spots someone who makes her heart rate kick up a gear. Leaning towards Shameeka, she asks, ‘Didn’t you say this is just one of the press screenings? Isn’t it a bit unusual that Cam’s here?’
Following her friend’s line of sight to where Cam Asiedu is walking down the alleyway towards the hotel, Shamz shrugs. ‘Oh, I think Ayo said he wanted to catch one of the screenings and hang out in the back to start getting used to the audience reaction. Or maybe to intimidate the journos, who knows. This is the last preview screening, so maybe Cam just wants to check things out before the party? To be honest, from a PR perspective it’s good that he’s prepping to …’
As Shameeka speaks, Anika’s attention is drawn towards Cam like a magnetic pull. He’s alone, sunglasses on, his expression serious as he checks something on his phone. She swallows her drink hard, pleased to see him but also not quite sure what to expect. Cam makes his way towards them and notices Anika with an undisguised look of surprise that turns into a bemused smile.
‘Anika Lapo,’ he says as he reaches their table, one hand in his pocket. She smiles reflexively too, noting his continued use of her full name. He’s dressed in a casual soft-grey suit with a white untucked tee and, of course, flawless white-on-white low-tops. Seeming to realise that he’s zeroed in on her a bit too specifically, Cam expands his smile into a grin that he directs at the whole table. ‘What we saying? Oh, hey, how you doing?’ he says, noticing Shameeka and nodding at her. ‘Ayo didn’t let me know you lot were coming, I would have … Well, I dunno, to be fair. Hidden?’ He laughs, and Anika can tell he’s genuinely a bit tense as he takes his sunglasses off and folds them into his top pocket. When Cam catches her eye again, she can definitely see it.Nerves.Are they related to her being there? She thinks abouthow things wound up at the canteen and the ambiguous tension still between them.
Shameeka explains that they’ve pushed back the start time of the film, and Cam nods. ‘I’m going to head inside and make a quick call, grab a drink. I was gonna say a beer, but, let’s face it, brown liquor is on the cards. You guys good? Need a round, or … ?’ They all shake their heads, charmed. ‘If you lot hate it, don’t let me know after, yeah?’ He grins his winning grin again, but his eyes linger on Anika. She gives him a small smile of encouragement as she feels a twist behind her sternum at Cam’s unusual vulnerability. Drawing in a breath, she turns back to her friends as they drain the last of their champagne.
When they head down to the screening room twenty minutes later, Anika scans the sparsely populated seats expecting to see Cam sitting somewhere at the back, but there’s no sign of him. She sits on the end of a row next to Tina, who unzips her bag when the lights begin to dim. Anika can hear the rustle of a plastic bag, then T turns to Anika and winks. ‘Jelly babies for my babes?’
Anika giggles and reaches into her bag, glad that someone came prepared. The PR, a blonde who looks up at them disapprovingly as they munch the sweets, starts to introduce the film. She gives lengthy information about embargoes and reviews. ‘And we’re actually going to run a few test-trailers for projects we’ve got coming up on our slate before the main screening begins …’
Anika rolls her eyes. ‘I’m just gonna pop to the loo,’ she whispers.
Edging her way out in the flickering light of the previews, Anika blinks as she returns to the brightness of the empty downstairs lobby. Looking around for the toilets, instead she spots Cam sitting on a sofa off to one side of the luxurious space. Taking a deep breath, she forces herself to walk over to him. He doesn’t notice her at first, frowning at his phone screen again, buteventually he looks up and his eyes brighten, only to cut back to his phone when Anika sits down beside him. She’s unsure if this is a good idea, until he turns his head and raises one eyebrow at her crossing her legs, his skimming gaze much more welcome than the concierge earlier.A leg man … ?Her long brown limbs are glossed to a shine with shea butter, toned but thick-thighed. She gets why he might find them distracting.
‘You’re gonna miss the beginning,’ she says finally, nudging his arm with her elbow.
‘Youare, you mean, Ms Lapo.’ The depth of his voice rumbles into the side of her body. He’s less than his usual inquisitively jovial self.
‘All right?’ she asks more softly, resisting with all her might the urge to ask if his mood is about her.
He curves one side of his mouth and lets out a wry breath of a laugh, gesturing towards his phone screen. ‘My mum. She’s over in Accra, found some of our baby pics.’ He glances over at Anika, seeming to consider whether to elaborate. It’s strange how much she’s desperate for him to want to confide in her. ‘She’s been taking photos of them and messaging them over to me. It’s just a bit …’ He doesn’t finish, but he doesn’t have to.
Anika nods. ‘Of course. Let’s see?’ she asks after a while, with a gentle smile.
Cam bites the inside of his cheek. ‘All right. But bear in mind I was ababy, yeah?’
She raises an eyebrow and Cam angles his phone screen so she can see. A full-frontal, beaming Cam as a shiny-faced infant gestures towards the camera, standing on chubby little legs while his sister sits on the bathroom floor next to him, grinning up at her brother. ‘Things have changed,’ he says wryly.
‘I’m sure they have.’ Anika gives a throaty laugh, but they both hear the additional meaning in his words. ‘Sorry,’ she whispers.
Cam exhales hard. ‘Yeah. She was like the other side to my coin,you know? Sometimes it’s still tough to wrap my head around the fact she’s gone.’
July 2009
Anika had looked for Kwame and Zaya in class the Monday after the house party, but they weren’t there. After that, rumours had begun swirling around the school about the stabbing, adding to the sick sensation Anika had been feeling for days. Some were saying that Kwame, Zaya and Eni had been arrested by the police, others just that they were interviewed under caution. The scariest rumour was that Zaya had been stabbed in the heart – which of course Anika knew wasn’t true – but either way the word was that the girl was in terrible shape.
Yet nothing could have prepared Anika for the utter shock that hit her when she excused herself from class to go to the loo that Wednesday afternoon. As she turned the corner, she saw Eni being led down the corridor towards the exit, inconsolable in floods of tears. Soon rumour turned into devastating fact: Zaya Ama Asiedu had been in a coma since the weekend due to blood loss, and she had now passed away.
