Foolish Games.. (9)

You guys! I'm contemplating being mean and not posting itha you don't comment, cuz I'm starting to think the story SUCKS! I heart feedback =( fa change my mind! ;p

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I laughed off the sudden chills that rushed through my spine, "You're not supposed to talk! It defeats the whole purpose of covering my eyes!" I said nervously.

He removed his hands and I turned around to face him. "I had no idea 'guess who' had so many rules for me to follow," he replied with a cheeky smile.

"It's common sense, bozo." Ritaj said from behind him, mimicking my voice perfectly.

He looked at me with the most confused expression on his face, it took all my strength not to burst out laughing. It was as if he thought i was a ventriloquist of some sort, my mouth didn't move but he was certain the words came from me. I settled on a smile and motioned for him to turn around.

"Oh! The Ritaj Ghala!" He said as comprehension suddenly dawned on him.

"The Ritaj Ghala?" Juju asked with a raised eyebrow, "Are you forming an obsession with my best friend that leads you to add her name to everyone elses?"

He laughed. "Not quite, but if i did," he paused to look directly at me before continuing, "do you blame me?"

I could feel my blushes reaching all the way down to my toes, i tore my eyes away from his and looked at Juuj instead who was looking quite impressed by his answer.

"Nicely done, my friend. You were right about him, I totally approve, G!" She said while winking at me.

He was still facing me and his smile widened into a huge grin. I mentally shot Ritaj a warning look to watch her words. I was aware of the fact that she probably wasn't going to get it but stranger things have happened, right? His standing in front of me right now was proof enough of that.

"So, you've been talking about me, huh?" He asked teasingly.

"Hey! NO! Flirt later! That's the second time I see you and we still haven't been properly introduced, you need to officially meet me so that one day lama the press comes to interview you can tell them how awesome it was and how awesome I am, followed by a "..and that's the day I met Ritaj Al-Flani.." you know?" she said with a huge smile.

"Planning to set the world on fire are you?" He asked with a smile of his own.

"No, just Kuwait! I'm going to be a wazeera some day." She informed him.

He shot me an amused look before answering her, "And you want the guy who's interested in your best friend to state how wonderful you are? The guy who you met at some random party? A mixed party?"

Ritaj looked horrified, "Riiiight.. This conversation never happened, I was never here!" She said as she backed away slowly into some guy, knocking his drink over.

"Ohmygod i'm so sorry! Here I'll get you another one!" She apologized quickly before looking up at his face, "OH inta! Hi! 3adi 3ayal Come on let's go!" she said as she was tugging on his arm.

Mshary looked at me with an exasperated look on his face and nodded a greeting. I laughed and waved back before Ritaj whisked him away.

"Who was that?" 3azeez asked curiously.

"That was the future Mr. Ritaj." I stated confidently as I smiled at him.

"You look incredible."

I laughed nervously and looked down, I didn't want him to see me blush! "That was random."

"Not really," he said as he tipped my chin up so I could face him, his expression seemed sincere, "I've been thinking it all night. My eyes have been glued to you ever since you walked in, I've just been waiting for an opportunity to say it."

My blush intensified, "Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself!" I replied lamely.

"Come on, you can do better than that," he teased with a flirtatious smile, "stroke my ego a little."

I looked at him disbelievingly, "Honey, in all honestly, your ego doesn't seem like it needs much stroking to me."

He laughed, "Am I that transparent?"

"Only a little bit!" I replied. "Wain Khalood? I haven't seen him all night."

"He left right before I came to talk to you, supplies were running low, he went to get more food for Jen."

"Oh, alright. And how do you know Jen?" I asked politely, dying to make any conversation that didn't make me nervous or blush stupidly.

"Well, in a moment of utter stupidity, I was her older sister's boyfriend back in high school. It lasted about a month? We're good friends now."

"Oh?" I asked, slightly disappointed. In the back of my mind I knew it was unrealistic for me to expect him not to have a past, but I didn't want it to be someone I could put a face to. At least that way, I could pretend she was hideous with 6 toes on each foot and warts. Lots and lots of warts. All over her face and body.

"Yeah, we all have skeletons in our closets, right?"

"Truer words have not been spoken." I replied as I took another sip of my drink.

"Oh?" It was his turn to seem disappointed now, he looked utterly dejected, I found it slightly offensive.

"You can't have a past and expect me to have a clean slate, double standards, much?" I said defensively.

"Down girl," he said teasingly, "I don't have any expectations of you, I just don't like the idea of you with anyone else, would it be to soon to admit that I'm jealous?"

I smiled, slightly mollified, "Probably, but i'm glad you are." I said honestly.

"I don't know about you, but I could use some fresh air, do you want to take a walk?"

Did I want to take a walk? Seriously? At this point I could follow him to the ends of the earth! But still, I was a little hesitant and he seemed to pick up on it.

He gave me another charming smile, "I'm not a closet rapist and I don't have a history of killing women, stuffing them in my trunk and driving off to an undisclosed location to bury them. Now will you please come with me?"

I couldn't stop laughing, "Gee, I don't know.. Your description seems a little too accurate for comfort!" I said teasingly.

"Then I guess you'll just have to take a leap of faith milady." He said with another grin.

"Alright, you charmed me into it, lead the way!"

I took out my phone to let Ritaj know where I'd be, just in case she tries to find me.


Outgoing Message

Juuj! Going for a walk with 3azeez!


1 New Message
Juju;*

Ooo don't do anything i wouldn't do ;p wink wink


Outgoing Message

lol! wiggle wiggle ;p kharaaab! ya kalba shh don't give me ideas!


1 New Message
Juju;*

I stand firmly by what i said! hmph.



We were outside now, 3azeez stopped suddenly and I walked into him. "Sorry, I have no sense of coordination whatsoever!"

"It's alright, Khalood told me a couple of interesting stories about that," he replied teasingly.

"Which ones?!!" I exclaimed, my face burning with embarrassment.

He laughed, "I'm not at liberty to say! But," he paused, "there's something I've been dying to do all evening."

"Oh? And what's that?" I asked nervously.

He closed the space between us and leaned in so that there was only an inch or two separating our faces. I stopped breathing, I wanted to ask him what he was doing but I couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence. Was he going to kiss me? Was I going to let him?

"Close your eyes." He instructed.

I looked at him incredulously, yeah right I was going to close my eyes. I shook my head. I wasn't ready for this!

He looked amused, "Trust me?"

I shot him another disbelieving look.

He laughed, "Alright then, make a wish."

I wish you'd get whatever it is you're doing over with already!

"You done?" he asked, I nodded. "Alright, which side?"

"Huh?" I asked confused.

"It speaks!" he teased and repeated insistently, "Your face, which side?"

I had no idea what he was doing, I just pointed stupidly at the right side. He brushed his finger over my right cheek, and showed it to me.

It was an eyelash.

Yes.

An eyelash.

I could've died of mortification right then and there.

He blew it away and smiled knowingly at me, "According to superstition, your wish is going to come true." He winked and continued walking.

I just stood there, staring at his back. Then what just happened hit me and I felt incredibly stupid. I didn't even have it in me to blush anymore, I gave up all pretense of feigning normalcy or nonchalance and burst out laughing. I covered my face with both my hands and just kept on laughing til I lost the ability to breathe.

He looked back at me and joined in until my laughter eventually died out, "Your laughter is very contagious but I'm dying to know what's so funny?"

"I can't believe i thought you wanted to-" I couldn't even continue the sentence and I dissolved into another fit of giggles.

"You thought i wanted to what?" he asked curiously, but it was obvious he knew what I was going to say.

"Never mind!"

He laughed, "You thought I wanted to kiss you?"

"Don't laugh!" I said as my face turned red again, "I don't know how these things work!"

"You don't?" His face lit up, "You've never been kissed?"

Mortification. "Shh, why don't you alert the media! No, I haven't, why are we discussing this?!"

"Alright, I'll let it go under one condition.."

"You're gonna make me talk about myself, aren't you?" I asked, already dreading it.

"Start at the womb and don’t you dare miss a detail!" He said teasingly, repeating the same words I said to him at starbucks.

"Aah Karma, you've got me, once again! I can't talk about myself you're going to have to ask me questions, I'll answer honestly! Pinkie swear!"

We walked for about two hours on the beach, it wasn't as awkward as I expected it to be. I felt really comfortable and safe around him for some reason, untouchable. I also felt naked, the questions he asked seemed to pierce right through all the walls I'd put up and I had no choice but to answer honestly. He laughed when I told him about the all kinds of trouble I got into as a kid with Juuj, promised to tease Khalood about how we first met, sobered up when the situation with my parents was clarified, and glowed with pride as he told me that I did a great job of raising myself.

"You implied earlier that you've had previous bad experiences with relationships.." He trailed off.

"Previous bad experience," I corrected, "Just the one relationship."

"Oh?" He seemed a little pleased with my answer, "Care to elaborate?" He inquired.

"Some other time?" I asked pleadingly, "It's just been so perfect and I'd hate to spoil the evening with talking about him."

His face lit up, "Perfect enough for us to exchange numbers?"

I laughed at his eagerness, "More like, perfect enough for us to exchange e-mails."

"I don't see any reason why we can't exchange both.." he said suggestively, "come on, how much longer am I gonna have to wait?"

"I'm not playing games with you 3azooz, but are you aware it's barely been a week? Don't you think things are progressing a little too fast?" I asked, worried.

"I know I should be, but the chemistry has been there since day one. I thought we were inevitable the minute I pulled that pencil out of your hair, and my suspicions were confirmed later on that night when I picked Joori up and reconfirmed again everytime I hear you speak, or learn something new about you. I know it might scare you, but I can't seem to get you off my mind. And I don't think I want to. I'm not going to pressure you into anything, I'm certainly not forcing a relationship on you, but everything about you seems to captivate me and I just want to get to know you better, so what do you say?"

I couldn't tear my eyes off of his, the intensity of his gaze was overwhelming and for a few minutes, I seemed to have forgotten how to draw breath. I silently held out my hand. He understood and placed his phone in it. I punched in my number and gave it back to him, never breaking eye contact.

"I hope you realize that this isn't something I do very often, or at all and that I'm trusting you with this."

"I do and I promise I won't abuse that trust." He said as he smiled reassuringly.

"Thank you." I smiled back, "Juju's been texting me for the past 10 minutes or so, she's waiting for me in the car.. So I guess this is goodnight?"

"For now? Sure, goodnight. But I want you to be the last person I hear from before I actually go to sleep, do you mind if I call to hear you say it again later?"

"Only if you stop looking at me like that, you're making it harder for me to leave.."

"I can't, but I will close my eyes for exactly 10 seconds for you to walk away without having me looking at you, how's that?"

"I'll take it!" I said enthusiastically and walked away as fast as I could. I looked back once, only to catch him looking at me and quickly closing his eyes, trying not to smile and failing miserably. I laughed, shook my head and walked faster.

I got into the car with the goofiest grin on my face and sighed.

"How was it?" Ritaj asked excitedly.

"Magical."