Foolish Games.. (7)

I had no idea where to start. I couldn’t stop looking at him, if I kept this up I wouldn’t even have to explain to Khalood the predicament I’m in, he could easily guess it all. He started walking toward us, sending my mind into overdrive trying to think of one sentence to summarize my sudden uneasiness. I debated the success of attempting to turn back time with my eyes, but after a few squints, I realized it wasn’t getting me anywhere.

“Ghala.. you know that thing you do where you talk in your head and expect everyone else to hear it and understand?”

I nodded absently, still staring back at 3abdil3azeez, “What about it?” I managed to whisper

He adopted my hushed tones and whispered back, “Yeah, it’s not working babe, you’re gonna have to use your words.”

I gave myself a mini-pep talk in my head; Alright G, words, sentences, structure, coherency, you can do it, GO!

I managed to tear my eyes away from his, hoping that I’d regain my composure and the ability to speak properly, words G, WORDS! I looked back at Khalood.

“Mmm boy..” I said unintelligibly as I subtly moved my head in 3abdil3azeez‘s direction. Right, so much for coherency. I decided to try again, “Phone fell, he stepped on battery! Pencil in hair, he pulled it out! Ritaj’s friend’s cousin!!!!”

“Right..” He said as he nodded at me, pretending he understood.

I nodded back emphatically, easily fooled and quietly thanking god for my ability to communicate so well under pressure. Idiot.

“Hold that thought, thiwany bas w arid..”

“Okay.” I mumbled, fighting back the urge to latch myself onto his leg and make him take me wherever he was going, he CANNOT leave me here alone with him, it’s a disaster waiting to happen, it’s unbelievable, inconceivable, un-

My train of thoughts crashed and burned as I saw him walking up to 3abdil3azeez with a huge grin on his face and the next thing I heard was..

“Bo S3ayed!” He exclaimed as they hugged briefly, enthusiastically clapping their hands on each other’s backs.

“7imdillah 3ala ilsalaama!” 3abdil3azeez replied, with his own grin plastered on his face.

My ears switched off as I retreated to my own thoughts again. Wait, what was happening here? What was I missing? I imagine I looked quite silly sitting there by myself, staring down at my coffee cup waiting for it to answer back.

It didn’t get the chance to utter a response. Two large figures cast shadows on my table interrupting my thoughts once again. I looked up expectantly to find Khalood’s face smiling brightly at me and 3abdil3azeez’s smiling at me.. Apologetically?

“I want you to meet my friend, 3azooz,” Khaled said to me.

He stuck out his hand, I looked at it questioningly before deciding to shake it. I hoped to god neither of them saw my sharp intake of breath. The contact sizzled, his hands were so warm and I couldn’t help but feel a little lightheaded at the mere thought of his hands on mine. I reluctantly withdrew my hand and bit back a smile. We touched. For the briefest of moments we touched and it was perfect. Snap out of it G!

“3azooz, this is my better half, Ghala.” He said teasingly as he winked at me. I rolled my eyes.

“Umm.. We’ve actually already met,” 3azeez informed a surprised Khalood.

“Really? You don’t say?” He said as he lifted an inquisitive eyebrow, “It wouldn’t have anything to do with pencils, cousins and broken phones, would it?”

I blushed and stared at my lap, pretending to be absorbed with the fabric of my dress. It’s just like Khalood to say something like that and inadvertently make me feel stupid.

I heard 3azeez’s uneasy laughter, what was wrong with him? “Yeah man, about that, I’m-”

“Hold on! Sorry, I really have to take this phone call” He said, interrupting 3azeez.

Something weird was going on, why did 3azeez look so guilty? What was he about to say? I looked up to find him staring at me, he quickly looked away when he saw me. Weird. He was different today, not teasing, not flirtatious, not the 3azeez I knew. Well, barely knew. I felt like saying something about how he found us, but I didn’t really owe him an explanation, after all, who was he to me? Barely an acquaintance, granted, my feelings might be running a bit deeper than that, but I still felt like I didn’t owe him anything. I decided to make small talk.

“So how do you know Khalood?” I asked politely.

“Huh?” He looked at me blankly. I guess I must’ve intruded his thoughts, he obviously wasn’t paying attention.

“You? Khalood? How do you guys know each other?” I repeated my question.

“Oh, sorry, guess I must’ve spaced out.” Again with the apologies, this was getting weird, “We met a couple of years back in the summer, he came down to the states, we met through mutual friends and sorta hit it off.”

Interesting choice of words. “Oh? And who asked who out?” I said teasingly, hoping he’d return to his old self.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” He said while laughing.

Better, much better. He smiled at me, flashing that dimple, when he stopped laughing, I’m glad he finally felt comfortable again, he seemed really tense. I smiled back and his smile seemed to fade almost instantly. What the hell?

“Listen, I need to apologize, 7addi miftishil madri where to start..” He trailed off.

Apologize? Miftishil? Min shino? My eyebrows furrowed as I waited for him to reply.

“Umm.. Ghala?”

I belatedly realized I hadn’t asked those things out loud, “Sorry! I was talking in my head, forgot you can’t hear me! Why do you need to apologize? Laish miftishil?”

He opened his mouth to reply and Khalood showed up, “I’m really sorry to bail on you like this G, bas il3ayla ilkareema showed up unexpectedly at our house and I can’t get out of it.”

I laughed, “It’s fine hun, shda3wa? At least I got to see you!” I said as I beamed and got up to hug him, momentarily forgetting 3azeez’s presence. He squeezed me back and kissed the top of my head. I noticed 3azeez looked away.

“You don’t wanna come with?” He asked, with his arm around my waist. Khalood had all brothers, his parents always said I was the daughter they never had and were used to me being over at his place.

“And have to deal with your pervert cousins? NO, THANK YOU!”

He laughed, gave me a final small hug and said, “I’ll call you after your exam, shiday 7ailich, haa? Make me proud!”

“Yes, mom!” I said in my most perfect little school girl voice.

He laughed and addressed 3azeez, “Shift shlon ilrespect? Yalla 7abeebi inshoofk ha?”

“Ee akeed, allah ma3ak.”

“You guys should hang out, get to know Ghalooya shway, she’s pretty damn great once you get past the brattiness!”

I checked the impulse to flip him off and decided to stick my tongue out to further display my alleged “brattiness”. He just laughed and walked away.

-Awkward Silence-

He wouldn’t as much as LOOK in my direction. I touched my hair to make sure it wasn’t replaced any snakes. Nope, still me! Not going to turn anyone into stone! I sucked in some air and decided to make the first move.

“You’re still sitting down, do I interpret that as you taking Khalood up on his suggestion?” I ventured.

“Not quite.” He clipped.

Okaay, dagra much? I looked down embarrassedly. He was just making innuendos and suggestions two days ago what happened? Inzain itha mu 3aajbik, GET UP! This is MY table after all.

He realized what he said and quickly amended, “No, I don’t mean it like that, I just don’t think it’d be very wise of us to have a friendship of any kind considering our past? Or your present.” He looked at where Khaled was standing as he said present.

I was beyond confused, “I’m not sure I understand..?”

“Look, I’m not that guy okay? I won’t be stealing my friend’s girl and I sure as hell won’t be sneaking around his back with her, alright? I wanted to apologize for overstepping my limit the other night, I had no idea you were taken, in my defense, you made no move to signify that you were. You may not have any qualms about cheating on your boyfriend but I do. I might want you, but I won’t do that to Khalood.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… WHOA! Hold your horses, do I at least get to explain before I’m branded with the scarlet letter? Or whatever letter, I’m not really an adulteress, okay maybe wrong metaphor, anyway, YEAH! Can I explain?”

He looked slightly amused but trying to hide it, “Go ahead.” He clipped.

I didn’t know where to start, what was I explaining again? Oh yeah, I’m contemplating cheating on my boyfriend Khalood with 3azeez. I burst out laughing, really? Khalood, my boyfriend? Just thinking of it sent me into another fit of giggles.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t laugh at me.” He looked so serious, it was adorable, I wanted to pinch he cheeks suddenly and the thought of doing that to the same man sitting in front of me with the stony eyes and hard jaw and beyond pissed off face was so funny, I started laughing again.

He got up to leave, “I see that it’s no use even trying to carry out a proper conversation with you.”

“No, no, no! I wasn‘t laughing at you I swear,” I quickly sobered up, “Stay, please? I‘d hate for you to leave with so many misconceptions”

I bit back a smile while waiting for his reply. He said he wanted me. He. Wants. Me.

“Many misconceptions?” He asked.

“TONS!” I replied as I bit back another smile. I knew in the back of my mind I should be offended by his implication that I would ever cheat, but I understood how it must’ve seemed like to him. And I was too busy being flattered by the fact that he wants me. He. Wants. Me.

“I’m listening.” He clipped. He needs to stop being so abrupt with me, it’s strangely making me want to jump on him.

I didn’t know where to start so I just began with the biggest misconception, “Khalood’s not my boyfriend.” I looked up to gauge his reaction, he looked like he didn’t believe me! “Walla! He’s my best friend of thirteen years. He’s the brother I never had. He’s an invaluable member of my family, but he most certainly is not my boyfriend.”

I saw a smile dancing around his lips. Yes, baby, you can do it! Smile for Ghala! Come on, come on!!! Success. He smiled. Sigh.

“You really should stop doing that, you’re tempting me to stuff cotton balls into that dimple!” I said, pretending to be mad at him.

His smile turned into full-blown laughter, now THIS was more like it. “Okay, now I really DO owe you an apology.”

“Oh, yes you do.” I said teasingly. “But I have some thoughts on how you can make it up to me.”

“Oh?” He raised his eyebrow, “How am I gonna do that?”

“Well,” I started, “I have two hours to kill before I need to be heading back to uni and I’m in desperate need for entertainment! So, story of your life, GO! Start at the womb and don’t you dare miss a detail!” I threatened.

He burst out laughing, “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

I sighed, “I’ve been told, don’t change the subject!”

“Alright, alright..” It was very informative to say the least, he could surprisingly remember a lot of details. I discovered he was the youngest of 5, and was graduating this spring. He was also studying business, double majoring in finance and accounting. Wow. He regaled me with stories from his childhood and pranks from his middle school days and , to my utter dismay, stories about girls from his high school and early college days. I glanced my watch, it was 5:10, I freaked out!

“No, no, no, no!” I said as I looked up. “My midterm is in 20 minutes! I really need to get going! I’m sorry, I lost track of time.”

“Don’t apologize, that means you were having fun. And having fun with me, even better.” He said as he smiled at me flirtatiously.

There was something about his smile that never failed to make me blush, I looked away as I got up and straightened out my dress.

I saw him eyeing my legs and raised his eyebrows at me.

“Don’t even start!” I threatened.

“Hey, I’m not complaining.” He said as he stretched. I glared at him.

I threw a sugar packet at him, where did the sudden familiarity come from? He laughed at my indignation.

“So, not with Khalood?” He asked again.

“Definitely not.” I answered smilingly.

“So, I’m free to pursue you? So to speak.” He asked flirtatiously.

I laughed, “I won’t make the chase any easier for you..” I warned.

“Afa! Inzain, how bout we start with a number?”

“Hmm, how bout we don’t? Bye 3azeez.” I flashed him a smile as I walked away.

“Come on, you have to give me something!” He called out.

I turned around, “Well, you seem like a resourceful man, I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” I winked and walked away.

That day opened up a lot of maybes. I was proud of myself for not automatically reciting my number for him, I marveled over my self control. Maybe it could in fact be this easy. Maybe it didn’t have to end in heartache. Maybe I won’t be disappointed by him. Maybe I shouldn’t put so much hope into this but maybe, just maybe, my hope’s not misplaced this time.