I think I'm in love with a girl

And her name is Zee!

To Zee, the Girl Who Means Everything

When people meet Zee, they don’t just meet a person, they collide with a force of nature. And when she eventually reads this (because she will), I already know what she'll do. Thou shall not cry, Zee, nor shall thou get swellheaded. But honestly if she does both, she’s earned it. Because this isn’t just a letter. It’s a piece of my heart laid bare. A collection of moments and memories woven together with every ounce of love I have for her.

For those who’ve been around long enough, you’ve probably heard of her already. You’ve met her through my words, here and here. But no amount of storytelling could ever fully capture who Zee is. Still, I’ll try.

I’ve often tried to remember the very first moment I met her, but the memory slips through my fingers. And maybe that’s the magic of it, how something so profound can begin so effortlessly. I don’t recall how we started, but I remember how we grew: through laughter, through shared bites of food in secondary school, through gossip that traveled between us like sacred secrets.

Zee has this wild, wonderful spirit that makes her feel like home. Maybe it was her dimples that first drew me in, yes, the famous one major and one minor (though I’ll never agree with that analysis). All I know is that there’s a soft hollow on her left cheek, something anatomy labels a deformity of the zygomaticus muscle, but I call it a mark of joy. It’s a physical imprint of her laughter, her warmth, her sheer aliveness.

She’s more than cute though, let’s be honest, the cuteness is criminal. My slim-thick shawty with a laugh so weird it makes even the gloomiest day feel sunny. Zee is the human equivalent of a sunbeam, warm, golden, impossible to ignore. Sometimes I wonder how I ever existed before her. How did life feel full before she filled it with light?

Zee is unapologetically herself in a world that tries to shape people into anything but. If she feels like wearing Dunlop slippers around the neighborhood, she will. And if you dare raise an eyebrow, she’ll return your judgment with a stare so fierce it could peel paint. She’s stubborn, hilarious, impossibly herself and that’s what makes her magnetic.

I remember one time in senior secondary school, during biology class. A boy, in a moment of pure foolishness, decided to erase the board, even though people were still writing. Zee looked him dead in the eye and said, "If you erase that board, I’ll tear your book." He thought she was bluffing. He erased it anyway. And Zee, being Zee, calmly tore his book in half. I gagged!!! When the teacher asked her why she did that, she shrugged and said, "Ma, I already swore. I can’t go back on it." Proud best friend moment, guys!

There’s a word I once came across: Laotong. It describes a bond between two girls, one that transcends friendship and lasts a lifetime. That’s what Zee is to me. My Laotong. My kindred soul. My forever person.

Now, I couldn’t afford to go down on one knee and slip a ring onto her finger or give her money (because, let’s be honest, she’d just use it to buy bread). But I could do something even bigger: I could give her words. Zee has always loved when I write about our chaos, so this time, I thought, why not write about her.

20 Things I Love About Zee

• Her dimples, especially the one she swears is major. She carved out a special place in my heart for people with dimples.

• That laugh. It starts weird, ends weirder, and never fails to make people laugh with her.

• Her loyalty to general fashion rebellion.

• The way she listens- like the world pauses for the words between us.

• Her facial expressions: a drama series with no commercials.

• That annoying-cute dance move that should be illegal, but isn’t.

• Her excellent cooking, and her habit of giving me food. (Come homeeee. I miss you, and your food!!)

• The chaos and beauty of her storytelling- 10/10. It always starts with “Anipe”.

• Her ability to insult and flatter in the same breath.

• Her complete intolerance for nonsense, iconic.

• Her laugh that starts in her belly and ends in mine.

• The way she hypes everyone up, even on the days she needs it most.

• Her unhinged voice notes that always make perfect sense somehow.

• Her presence. The comfort of knowing someone gets you.

• Her ability to make mundane things feel magical.

• That look she gives when I say something dumb and she secretly agrees.

• Her strength, quiet, steady, unshakable.

• Her softness (she's a thug tho)

• Her ride-or-die loyalty.

• That she chose me, again and again, to be part of her story.

So when I say I think I’m in love with a girl named Zee, that’s not quite true. There’s no uncertainty in what I feel. I know I’m in love with her. And when I say I love her, I don’t just mean it in one way, I mean it in every way love can possibly exist. Platonically, romantically, and something even beyond definitions. I love her not just for who she is, but for what she makes me feel, for how she exists so effortlessly in a world that is better because she’s in it.

Adebusuyi Zainab Gbemisola Mojisola. Cynthia. Crazywhale. Crazy Monster. Dimple princess. Zee. Zainna. Zainny. My peanut. My pineapple. My mlue.

My mlue!❤️

She is living proof that distance means nothing when someone means everything. Watching her grow, become stronger, bolder, more herself fills me with a kind of pride that’s hard to explain. She is unstoppable.

And she’s turning 20. My not-so-little peanut is getting old. Someone marry this girl before she buys bread with your bride price.

Happy 20th, Zee. I still can’t believe she has other friends.

N.B: I started writing this on the 23rd of September, 2024, and I’ve come back to it again and again, tweaking, polishing, loving every word, because someone like her deserves a love letter that never stops evolving. Just like the way I love her.

And if I met her for the first time again, I’d go... they say shooters shoot. Zainab, what’s up with you?

Your anonymous bestie

Ree🤍