Foolish Games.. (3)

I pulled up to Ritaj’s house and was greeted by the sight of her younger twin sisters skating around their courtyard, they saw me with the bags and came up to help me. We exchanged hellos and pleasantries and they told me to go right in as no one was home. I love her sisters, they still manage to be shy around me after all these years, but I know they think of me as member of their family and that feeling was mutual.

“Juuuuj!” I screamed the minute I got inside. I heard her running around upstairs and knocking everything down in her path. I’m afraid my clumsiness might be rubbing off on her.

“Kaani, kaaani!” She yelled back and I saw her skipping down, taking the steps two at a time. Her hair was all in tiny braids, A-Keys style, and she was in an oversized hoodie and shorts.

I took in what she was wearing and quickly got into character in accordance with her outfit, raised my eyebrows and said, “Sup, ma nigga?”

She burst into another one of her famous hysterical fit of giggles and replied. “ Nothin much homie, just chillin’. Gimme some respect!”

I willingly obliged and knocked fists with her and joined in with her contagious laughter. My skin tone is a mixture of my father’s darkness and my mother’s porcelain skin, as a result, I turned out with naturally tanned skin. Ritaj was obsessed with getting darker, so much to the point where she wants to be the next Rihanna. A far stretch from her milky white skin. Of course she’s no where near her goal color, but she definitely has the talking part down. As soon as we regained our composure she pulled me into a giant bear hug. She can squeeze really tight for such a tiny person.

“Where are we studying?” I asked her, “In your room or downstairs? And where’s everyone? I thought you said I was late!” I looked at her accusingly.

“Well..” she began, with the most angelic look on her face, “ I lied! I miss you, we haven’t had us time in forever, I’m always busy with uni or work or with what’shisface, I just feel like so much has happened and we need to catch up!”

I didn’t think she noticed and I didn’t make a big deal out of it, I always knew that at the end we’d find our way back to each other amidst all the craziness, “What’shisface?” I asked amused, “ Don’t you mean your precious MshMsh?” I pretended to stick my fingers down my throat and made gagging noises.

“HAHAHA, I’m gonna play the “good girlfriend” and defend him shwaya, hmm, let’s see.. Ya 7mara! Ma artha 3ala Mshary, MshMshy 7abeeebiiii!” She said as she playfully smacked my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes at her, people in love made me a little queasy. Scratch that. Juju in love made me a little queasy, but I could sense that this relationship was different and that she was in it for the long haul and was really happy for her.

“So do you wanna start pigging out now or when the girls all get here” I inquired.

“Khaleeha ba3daiin I’m in the mood for chay 7aleeb!” She announced with a huge smile on her face, I knew where this was heading and went to the kitchen with her. I sat up on a counter while I waited for the water to heat. She put teabags in two mugs and sugar and added the water and proceeded to play our favorite childhood game.

She got the canned condensed milk and started adding it little by little asking, “Is this your color?” repeatedly to which I would reply with a shake of my head until we got the exact shade and grinned at each other, thinking of the past.

When we were kids, Ritaj was fascinated by how we had different skin tones and marched up to me in kindergarten stating that I was the exact same shade as the very grown up tea with milk she had that morning and demanded that she tastes my skin to see if I indeed tasted like it too. Being the new kid I was terrified by the girl in front of me and absent mindedly gave her my hand. She licked it, nodded briefly, stated that she was wrong and sat down next to me and said the words that would signal the beginning of an everlasting friendship, “Hi, my name is juju and you’re going to be my best friend.”

I took an instant liking to Ritaj as a kid. Unlike the other kids, she never made fun of me for always speaking in English. She did the opposite, she appointed herself to be my personal champion and defended me to anyone who dared speak or even think an unpleasant thought about me. Her and Khalid.

I met Khalid while playing doctor in the sandbox. No, it’s not what you think, it wasn’t the “show me yours and I’ll show you mine” variety. I was crying and valiantly trying to save the butterfly with the torn wing by applying cello tape. In retrospect, it might not have been my brightest idea, but in my defense, I was only four. He came to me with a worried expression on his face and asked if I was okay, at that point words were beyond me and all I could do was look at him and point at the butterfly. He gently put his arm around my shoulders and said that his dad explained to him that sometimes, things or people die but it’s okay because they don’t feel pain anymore and they go to a better place, with monster trucks. I remember looking at him with an incredulous expression on my face and asking what could a butterfly possibly want with a monster truck. I’ll never forget the look on his face with his eyes open as wide as saucers as he said “They’d be GIANT butterflies and they’ll carry the trucks on their wings!” I laughed with him and instantly cheered up and we gave the butterfly a proper burial service in the sandbox.

“So, SPILL!” Ritaj demanded, snapping me out of my reverie.

I feigned innocence and pretended to be absorbed with my tea and milk as I took another sip, “Hmm? Wassat now? Tell you what?”

She glared at me, unleashing the full power of her dark hazel eyes at me, “You know exactly what yal 3ayyaara! The guy? With the voice? Who was it! I want every little detail, I can see you blushing behind that cup so I know there’s much to tell!” Again with the jumping to her own conclusions, but as was the norm for that day, she was correct. Dammit.

I knew I couldn’t keep anything from her for too long so I put down my mug, and banged my head a little too hard against the cabinets behind it, to Ritaj’s credit, she managed to stifle her laughter and waited for me to continue, “Ouch! Ritaaaj, he’s amazing! I can’t believe I just said that, I don’t even know the guy bas that he’s funny, charming in a weird way, speaks perfect English, has way too much confidence and makes me drool!”

“What else is there to know? GO FOR IT!” she yelled at me.

“Go for what? Intay 9a7ya? You do realized that what you heard was the end of the conversation, right? And that I probably wont ever see him again?”

“Ilkuwait sgheera babes, you never know,” she leaned up and kissed my cheek, “these things have a way of working themselves out, you’ll see!” Her predictions sometimes actually happened and if I allowed myself to be honest I would have to say that I was hoping that this would be one of them.

I let out a sigh and concluded that conversation with a simple, “We’ll see.” I asked Ritaj how she’s been and what she’s been up to lately and she gratefully took the cue and launched into about 892 stories that I’ve missed that month, it was great catching up with her and I made a mental note to exert more effort into making time for us alone in the future.

Soon it was two o’clock and Haifa finally arrived, uncharacteristically, right on time. She was in a navy blue tracksuit with Popeye the Sailorman showing off his muscles in the back. Even in a tracksuit, every inch of Haifa screamed femininity. We got up to hug her and made idle chatter. I remember how intimidated I used to be by Haifa when I first met her, she was so beautiful and well groomed I couldn’t help but feel dowdy around her. I quickly discovered that despite her unapproachable air, she was as sweet as they came and I immediately took a shine to her. Haifa’s mother was a family friend and after several failed attempts of forcing us to be friends, our mother’s finally succeeded at a wedding we were both invited to when we were thirteen. I soon introduced her to Ritaj and we’ve been inseparable ever since. Haifa and Ritaj weren’t as close as I had hoped they’d be but they still got along great.

As soon we sat down after exchanging not so formal formalities, the door bell rang again.

“Ohoo ya3ni cham marra lazim agoom afich ilbaab?!” Ritaj complained.

“Yalla 3ad bala 3ayaara, goomay show off that sexy nonexistent ass for us! Yalla!” Haifa urged Ritaj on.

I couldn’t help but laugh, that’s the other thing Ritaj really wanted. Some “junk in the trunk”.

She pouted and got up, shaking what little she had in that area all the way to the door, encouraged by our whistles and cat-calls. She opened the door, kissed her friends, grabbed one of them by the hand a pulled her to the center of the living room. She turned her around and announced huffily, “SEE? Fee cases MUCH worse than mine!”

The person on display suddenly shrieked and threatened, “Ya 7maara ana awareech!”

We all started laughing and Ritaj smiled angelically, “You gotta admit, it’s an interesting way to go about an introduction!” Did I mention how much I loved that girl? “Ghala, Haifa, these are Dana, Darine and Joori.” She pointed at each of us as she said our names.

“I refuse to let this be awkward so hello, my name is Darine! I already like you guys cuz you’re short!” She said as she gave Dana and Joori dirty looks, “Let’s get started, shall we?”

My earlier thoughts were right, the girls weren’t so bad, in fact I might even go as far as to say that I really liked them. It was hard not to, we soon gave up studying and started singing karaoke to blow off some steam. While a horribly off-tone rendition of Duffy’s Mercy was being sung by Dana and Darine, I got to know Joori a little better. Seemingly quiet at first, she turned out to be hilarious and in complete contradiction to her innocent looks- she was an evil genius. We discovered that we had a mutual friend I lost contact with ages ago after I moved to our current house and she suggested that we all get together that weekend after mid-terms. I felt comfortable enough around Joori to accept this invitation and exchanged numbers with her.

At 8 the Double D's announced that they had to leave and offered to drop Joori off home with them, she politely declined and said that her cousin was going to be picking her up soon and taking her to her grandfather’s house. He had just gotten out of the hospital and the whole family was gathered there to welcome him back. Her cousin called her apologizing and saying that he might be a little late, so we took advantage and decided to bake.

I occasionally caught Joori “accidentally” putting twice as much chocolate and sugar indicated in each recipe and laughed to myself, she looked up and we exchanged conspiratorial winks signifying that it was to be our little secret. An hour later her cousin arrived, It was just me, Juju and Joori. I was a bit miffed at him, not that I didn’t enjoy having Joori around, but because she felt like she was an imposition and I hated that she felt that way, I thoroughly enjoyed her company.

We belatedly realized that the D’s had left their books, I offered to help Joori carry them to the car and she accepted. I put the books in the backseat when I noticed the silhouette of a man smoking a few meters away from the car, “It took you long enough.” He said teasingly.

I froze. I recognized that voice. It couldn’t be.. Could it? No, of course not. I glanced back in his direction anyway to make sure, and I met his gaze. Even in the dark, I had no doubt that it was him. My Mystery Man.

He looked as shocked as I was to see him, if not more so, but he quickly recovered. He put out his cigarette, put on that devastating smile that had been playing in my head all day and said, "So, we meet again.."