Foolish Games.. (23)

I know, I know, I'm sorry *pout* don't hate me! Finals in two days, so I had to post. Also, a very persuasive letter from Carpe Diem forced me to finish this post so voila!;p I didn't proofread, I have a million past exams to read through *sigh* let me know if you find any mistakes, yes? It's very rushed, I sorry!:( Love you guys :*

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"And I want French toast and chocolate chip pancakes with vanilla ice cream and hash browns and cinnamon waffles and.." I trailed off as I continued my perusal of the menu. The breakfast I ordered back at the hotel was long forgotten after 3azeez's unexpected arrival. We ended up at some diner with Khaled and his new girlfriend, who turned out to be pretty cool, I quickly let go of any reservations I might've had before.

"Is she gonna eat all that?" 3azeez asked Khaled incredulously, I stifled a giggle at his bewildered expression.

"Nope." He answered.

"Aaand milkless cereal.. Actually, could I possibly get chocolate milk instead? Thank you!" I flashed a smile at the flustered waitress.

She smiled back uneasily and turned to Mya, "What will you be having, miss?" She asked politely.

"What she said sounds good, I'll have the same!"

"The cereal part?" She ventured hopefully.

"Psh no, all of it!" She corrected, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to eat that much for breakfast.

I looked up to see 3azeez's gaze darting back and forth between me and Mya, then finally settling on Khaled, seeking assistance.

"And she won't be eating all that either." He clarified with a wry inflection in his voice. "Two coffees please." He added to the waitress who grabbed the menus and scampered off quickly before we think of anything else.

"So how does this work?" 3azeez asked, referring to the huge breakfast we just ordered.

"Well," He started as the waitress quickly came back with out cereal, "They'll both finish their cereals.. Ghala will take a bite or two out of everything before announcing she's full and she can't possibly stuff anymore in her mouth.. Mya will give it a little more effort than that but will also be full in 5 bites or so after that and she'll ask if she can undo the top button of her shorts." He said as he rolled his eyes.

"Are you calling me fat?" She asked with her mouth full of cereal and pointing the spoon threateningly at him.

"Not at all, babes." He answered sincerely and she eyed him carefully for a few moments before going back to happily munching on her cereal.

"What happens to the rest of the food?"

"Ah, well at that point, Ghala will turn to us and beg us to finish it all, saying something like, "Think of all the poor children in Africa!"" He said in a voice that was supposed to be an imitation of mine. "And Mya would say something like-"

3azeez interrupted him, "Let me guess, "Let them eat cake!"? Close enough?"

"Haha, no, more like "Let them starve!" Isn't that right?" He asked her, smiling down at her affectionately.

"Meh," She answered with a shrug, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

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We parted ways with Mya and Khaled, who had classes to get to and were walking aimlessly down the street, blissfully unaware of our surroundings and just happy to be together. Two days apart seemed much longer than they actually were. This news wasn't received well by me, not at all.

"What do you want to do first?" He asked as he reached out for my hand.

I chose that particular moment to fix my hair, "Hmm, I want to make phone calls from the red phone booth things."

He started laughing and immediately stopped when he saw my unsmiling face, "Are you serious?" He asked as he reached for my hand again.

"Yes, I'm serious!" I replied as I lightly smacked his arm. "It's just something I've always wanted to do." I added with a shrug.

"And who are you gonna call?" he reached out and put his arms around my waist this time. Dammit. This one's going to be hard to get out of.

I twirled out of his arms and spun myself around a few times, "I don't know, I'll think of something. Oh my God, can you believe we're actually here together?" I squealed a little and looked back to see if he bought my act. No such luck.

"What's wrong?"

Busted. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You've been flinching away from any form of contact between us, am I missing something?"

How do I go about this? Don't touch me? Nah, too rude. I would appreciate it if you didn't touch me? Mm, too formal. Maybe I can do it Emperor Kuzco style? Sort of like "No touchy" Or-

"Ghala? You still here?" He asked as he waved his hand in front of my face, effectively pulling me back into the current situation.

"Yeah, what's up?" I answered brightly.

"Explanation..?" He said, refreshing my memory.

"Oh right! Sorry. Guess I just have to come out with it, yeah?" I started, "Me and PDA, we don't mesh well? I'm uncomfortable with it, yeah. Uncomfortable." I nodded for emphasis and looked up to gauge his reaction.

"That's all?" He said, smiling.

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, "And my lips go insanely pouty after I eat red chili peppers?"

He laughed and repeatedly pulled down strands of my hair and watched them bounce back up, "Since you have such a strong aversion to being touched, I guess I'll just have to stick to pulling your hair." He teased, "That should help you get over those PDA issues, don't you think?"

I rummaged through the contents of my bag until I found a pencil and secured my hair in a bun. I turned to face him and smirked.

"I don't have "issues" as you so eloquently put it, I just think it's fine for us to be all gross and lovey dovey on our own time but it's completely unnecessary to showcase it for the entire world to see! I'm secure enough in our relationship to not need that type of public validation.." I looked up to see his amused expression, "Okay fine, I have issues." I conceded with a scowl.

"Come here." He invited as he held his arms open.

I rolled my eyes at him, "Did you hear anything I said in the past five minutes?!" I demanded.

"Imbala, I've just chosen to disregard it, that's all." He replied and waited patiently.

"What makes you so sure I'm going to hug you?" I asked, baffled at his certainty.

"Because, I came a the way to London for you. You wouldn't deny me the pleasure of having you in my arms, would you?" He answered with a disarming smile. Dammit.

I made my way over to him, all the while mumbling complaints under my breath and walked into his arms as they closed around me and pulled me in closer. I made no effort to hug him back, I was just happy to be standing there, inhaling his intoxicating scent and secretly smiling into the fabric of his jacket.

"See? That wasn't so bad, now was it?" He asked rhetorically as he let go and kissed the top of my head.

"I wanna go on the tour bus thingies!" I said as I pouted, "I was going to yesterday, but then I noticed a scary looking arab guy buying a ticket, so I changed my mind and went shopping instead!" I complained.

He looked at me incredulously and shook his head, "Hatha w you're an arab! What are the foreigners supposed to think?" He chastised.

"I can't help it!" I defended, "He was covering his face retardedly with his scarf and he was really skinny but had a huge jacket thing on, it could've been loaded with explosives for all I know! And he had a beanie on. You know how I feel about those."

He laughed at my deductions, "Ya3ni may9eer bardan? You had to skip to terrorism?"

I glared at him, "I'm telling you, he had terrorist written all over him! And he bought a ticket for one, who does that?!"

"You were going to!" He exclaimed.

He had a point there, but I wasn't about to let him win. "It's different, I had my reasons!"

"And isn't there the slightest possibility that he may have had his reasons too?" He asked in a horribly logical manner.

"Yes, I suppose he could have." I conceded, "If those reasons included him blowing up the bus."

He sighed in exasperation, "Then please explain to me why we haven't heard anything on the news about a terrorist attack on a tour bus?"

Dammit. I couldn't weasel my way out of this one without employing some good old fashioned phrases I picked up in the third grade.

"Oo you'd like that, wouldn't you?" I retorted.

"That doesn't make any sense!" He cried out.

"You don't make any sense!" I shot back.

I took a step back as his expression turned murderous. Oops. He closed the gap between us, tilted my head back and kissed me. I pulled away quick and took a step back.

"What was that?" I asked, surprised.

"That was the most effective method I know of shutting you up that doesn't include physical violence." He answered. "I forgot how infuriating you could be."

I forgot to feign shock and act offended and retaliated in kind, "Well I forgot how tall you are. Could we please sit down for a bit? My neck's starting to hurt from constantly looking up."

He obliged and pulled me down on the bench next to him. He took out a cigarette, lit it and watched me silently as I took it out of his hand, put it out and placed it in a nearby rubbish bin. I casually walked back to my place, sat down next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. He was surprised by my voluntary actions and tentatively wrapped an arm around me. I smiled, leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"You're not really mad at me, are you?" I asked.

"Nah, I can't be. I kinda love you, if you hadn't noticed." He said with a lopsided grin.

I looked down demurely and played with a button on his jacket, "And just because I don't feel like throwing up in your mouth when you say things like that, I think I might kinda love you too. You know, or whatever." I replied with a smile of my own.

He removed his arm from around me, took my hand away from his jacket, pressed a kiss into my palm and pulled me up.

"Yalla baby, we have a terrorist-free tour bus to catch."