Chapter 2

 A few weeks later...

      It was Hind's birthday, so we ( we as in: me, Noora, Hind, and a few of our friends) went out for an early dinner at B+F, since Noora was in town, we decided to celebrate it in the most grand way ever! ( remember when I introduced the characters I mention that she lives in Qatar) so after dinner we arranged for a limo to pick us up to surprise Hind! we were all dressed up under our abayas, and were looking to go free and wild for one night. The limo had a ma5fi after all, so why not!

     after we ordered our food, a group of guys passed us to go to their table.
Noora: look!
Hind: is that Abdullah?
Shatha: wain?
Hind: in that table right there, he's wearing a blue shit.
Shatha: I can only see his back.. ( just then he turned and our eyes locked)
Noora: *laughs* he turned around just to look at you
Hind: OMG! he just turned his face to look at you again * and bursts into laughter with Noora*
Shatha: stop laughing!! everyone is looking at us ( feeling my cheeks getting hot, tomato alert!)
Noora: he keeps on.. *laughs*.. turning his head to look at you.. * laughs*
Shatha: Noora w Hind, stop it! its so obvious that your laughing at him.
Hind: sorry but it's just too cute!
Shatha: ...


      I can't deny, after what just happened, I'm starting to like all the attention I'm getting from him. I can't admit that to my cousins!

      We paid, then we left, and the guys were right behind us! warana warana... it looked like they were following us.

Shatha: OMG you guys! I think they're following us!
Noora: this is just too funny!
Hind: ha2aaa I can't believe him!
( The girls keep turning around and laughing)
Shatha: Banat bes 3aib, they'll think we're enjoying this

      We went to the toilet to freshen up, and to my disappointment, they were gone when we were done!

      The limo was so much fun, we danced and had the time of our lives. But something happened that night, I don't know what was going on with me.. I was dancing and having so much fun, but I felt distant, my mind was some where else. I kept thinking about him, could it be? is he really interested in me? Why am I thinking about this! he's not into you, why would he be?!!


Ramadan 2009

      Ramadan family gatherings. They could get boring when its with my fathers side. Its not that I don't tolerate them, I do, I just prefer my mom's side. Am I a bad person for admitting that? Don't answer that!
Shatha: mama, can we leave now?
Mama: 3aaaib
Shatha: kilshay 3aib? 5ala9 we had dinner..
Mama: Sara is leaving soon, ask her if she can drop you off.

      At the car,
Shatha: yallah * saying it with a very impatient tone*
Sara: *raises one eyebrow* komar ana?
Shatha: la 7ashash, my beautiful cousin who was so nice to agreeing to drop me home, but what are we waiting for?
Sara: we're  dropping Maha home, so I guess I'm komar. Just for today though, I saw you get excited for a second
Shatha: *giggles*

      Maha opens the door, enters the car while apologizing for being late ( Maha is Abdullah's sister, she's 12, very quiet, very sweet, along with being the shyest person ever!). We pulled up next to her house, nazlit and we said our goodbyes. Just as we were about to leave..

















.. guess what?












yup! you guessed right!











Abdullah.





      He walked out the door, stopped mid step when he saw us, he was looking at us, trying to figure out who's sitting next to Sara. Its been a month since the whole facebook salfa, I know Sara talked to him, but she never told me how he reacted to what said. My thoughts were cut when Sara did the unthinkable.

*beeeeeb*

      I made a mental note to kill Sara. Why did she just do that? She then rolled down my window, and called him..

Sara: Abdullah.. ( he took one more step then stopped, looked at me. I guess he's not sure if its me.)
Sare: ta3al ta3al, mafi 7ad '3areeb

     So he walked to the car, w faj2a his hand is inches away from my face.. and I see Sara extending hers too..

Sara: esalam 3laikum *shakes his hand*
Abdullah: wa3laikum esalam *looks at me and extends his hand*
Abdullah: esalam 3laikum Shatha, keif el 7al?
Shatha: *shakes his hand, looks him in the eye* wa3laikum esalam, el7amdillah * pulls her hand and looks down*

      Abdullah and Sara start conversing about something that i'm not paying attention too, I was fidgeting, checking my phone, I felt so embarrassed and a bit nervous. Why am I nervous?! ugghh.. I looked up and our eyes met, I looked away.. looked back, and our eyes met again, I think my face turned into a tomato, so I made a very wise decision to look away again. I felt him staring at me from time to time. Finally!! His ride parked behind us.

Abdullah: okay Sara, my friend is here..
Sara: inzain, we'll finish this later.
Abdullah: inshallah! yallah ma3 esalama
Sara: allah ysalmik

      He got into his friend's car, and left. His house was pretty far, so the car ride home was long and quiet. Sara decided to break the silence.

Sara: Shatha
Shatha: halla
Sara: it's very rare that you find genuinely good people, you have to be careful with the way you choose to treat others, you can't always jump to conclusions, act before you think! look at everything from a different perspective before attacking peo..
Shatha: * interrupts sara* I know who your talking about, and..
Sara: *cuts me off* la ya Shatha, don't even try, you say you have all those guys on your list as friends 9a7? you think that way.. did you think about what the facebook guy friends think of you? did you think about how it looks to other people? not everyone looks at things with simplicity, something you think is just a mere innocent friendship may look like something else to others, specially guys, Abdullah knows that, that's why he came to me and asked me to take care of you, he's not judging you Shatha, look at the big picture.
Shatha: ...

      I couldn't say anything. I knew she was right. If he asked her to take care of me, that means he cares about me right? Because we're family? yeah, akeed! why else would he care, its not like he knows me, w ni7na ahil after all. the rest of the car ride was quiet.

      A few days before Eid, my brother was travelling to study abroad. Yeah I know! 7arram 9a7? Its defiantly going to be different around here without Ahmed. Let me tell you about Ahmed, I don't know where to begin..

      ... When we were younger, Ahmed was that hyper kid always pulling pranks on everyone, making jokes and laughing at everyone and everything, annoying his little sister ( in this case, that would be me), the kid that mothers couldn't control so setting them free was their only option. I always imagined him looking like a monkey, only because that's the way I saw him. He was always jumping around ruining everything. If you asked me to draw my siblings, he'd be hanging on a tree with one arm and holding a banana with the other. I hated him! I hated my childhood, I was constantly picked on by my older sibling, and I preferred playing alone! I had a huge imagination that made playing by myself so much fun. ( secret about myself: after watching Toy Story, I pretended to sleep and kept one eye open, just to watch my toys come back to life, I truly believed that toys moved when we're not looking. Sometimes, I would act as if I was leaving the room then turn around as fast I could to watch if they moved from where I left them. That's how big my imagination was!)

      As we grew older, Ahmed remained as annoying, but he was caring, sweet, and very thoughtful. Now that I come to think of it, even as kids, he always protective me. I always had a soft spot for my banana eating, monkey brother. So I was getting emotional the day he was leaving.

      At the airport, a lot of my boy cousins came to say goodbye. So basically we filled up the tiny airport. It was myself and my family, my cousins, and of course, Abdullah.

     After Ahmed checked in his luggage, he came to tell us about the girl that checked in in front of him. he was so into the salfa and everyone from my parents, to my siblings, to my cousins were so into it too, we were all surrounding him. Just then, I realised something, Ahmed is still that funny kid, jumping around, telling stories, making everyone around him smile. I smiled as my eyes got teary.
I turned around... BISMILLAH!! how long has he been standing behind me?! Abdullah was right behind me, smiling and listening to Ahmed's salfa. I quickly went behind mama. He creeped me out. LOL!

     My mom, my sister, and myself moved away from the guys to give them space while they said their goodbyes near the check in area, since they're not taking him to the gate so that we, his family could get some alone time with him. I saw Abdullah looking at me, but today was different, he didn't look away when our eyes locked, he just kept looking at me, I kept looking away, and every time I look back, i'd find him looking at me.

      I won't get to details with what happened when I said goodbye to my brother, lets just say... waterfalls. As soon as I got home, I logged into facebook, and inbox-ed Abdullah, I never learn, I always act SO FAST before thinking.

Shatha Al-x: can I ask you something?

I kept refreshing the page. until I saw a new message from him.

Abdullah Al-x: heey,
yeah sure, anything!

Shatha Al-x: why were you turning your head every five minutes just to look at us at B+F? and why were you following us?

Abdullah Al-x: I knew you thought we were following you! it was just a coincidence, I was heading to my car, as soon as I realised you thought I was following you, I took another root even though it didn't take me straight to my car. As to why I was looking at you, I don't know..

Shatha Al-x:  okay.. let me know when you do:p

Abdullah Al-x:  Shatha I want to tell you something, but I'm afraid of how you'll react

Shatha Al-x: 3adi you can tell me, I don't bite:p

Abdullah Al-x: This should explain everything...
                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0vTeaeR9Kw















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