One of the first times I heard Jax sing, I had my head bent, sulking over a B grade in a course I knew I deserved an A. As I sat there shutting out the excited chatter coming from others who were satisfied with their results, I felt a soft tap on my shoulder.
Source
It was Gift, the girl who consistently wore ripped jeans and t-shirts with big faded shirts over them. Countless times, she had been asked why she had ripped jeans in different shades and designs and she would shrug and say, “Just for the fun of it”.
I raised my brows at her and frowned when she handed a headset over to me.
“What for?”
She smiled and thrust it into my hands. I placed them over my ears and the soulfulness of the music got to my chest. The artist didn't use so much instrumentation, just a piano, yet it sounded like she singled herself out of the host of angels just to sing this piece.
Jax - Like My Father (Official Video)
By the time the song was over, I had totally forgotten about the lecturer who gave me a grade I thought I didn't deserve. I removed the headset from my ears and scanned around for Gift but she was nowhere to be found and since the song was on repeat, I settled in to listen to the lyrics again.
“I wanna come home to roses, And dirty little notes on posts-its
And when my hair starts turning gray, he'll say I'm like a fine wine better with age,
I guess I learned it from my parents, that true love starts with friendship,
A kiss on the forehead, a date night, fake an apology after a fight….” Like My Father
I had never heard love described so personally, it was always the cliché of having a man who cared, who could spend, or who was well-built.
As I listened to Jax, which I later found out was the artist's name, I wondered if I truly knew what I wanted from love. My thoughts shifted from the loudness around me to the multiple questions forming in my heart.
What was love to me?
Whose love story did I admire enough to form mine from?
What did I want from a man?
The baffling thing was that the song was all I needed to stop myself from saying “Yes” to one Toye who was continually asking me to be his woman.
Toye and I met at the faculty of Arts on the day scheduled for the screening of students opting to study Art-related courses. He was tall, dark, and handsome in a way that made ladies turn to stare at him multiple times.
I stared too but darted my eyes away quickly when his gaze met mine. What I didn't expect, however, was for Toye to still be staring when I tried to get another glimpse of him before hurrying into the faculty.
When I was done with my screening, Toye was nowhere to be found. I went home a little disappointed but soon forgot completely about him.
3 days later, I was at the faculty again to check if my name had been reflected on the notice board where accepted students had their names pasted when a shadow suddenly cast itself on the spreadsheet I was looking intently at.
I turned around and there he was.
He didn't seem to notice me so after taking in the freshness of his body spray, I turned back to the board. I was about to leave in excitement after locating my name when he smiled at me.
The attraction I had for Toye was instantaneous but beyond tripping for his 5”7 height, the chocolate brown skin, and nude-colored lips, there was nothing more to the feelings I had for him.
So I picked my phone up as I listened to Jax and typed a direct message on WhatsApp.
“I'm sorry Toye. We're perfect as friends but that doesn't guarantee that we'll be good as a couple. I truly care about you and hope that this doesn't deter our friendship.
Love, Tee”.
By the time I hit the send button, I had already become familiar with most of the lyrics so I sang along with Jax.
Gift came into the class minutes later and requested for the headset.
“Why did you give it to me?” I asked. She had a small smile on her lips.
“I guess you needed it. I understand what it feels like to get a grade you don't deserve, especially after the whole effort during the semester”
I gave her a huge smile in appreciation and handed the headset over. I didn't just need it to feel better about my grade. I needed it to make one of the most important decisions of my life.