Thursday, October 14, 2010

Him and Her 8 *Finale*

Dear Readers,
Firstly I love you all, you always make my day better with your lovely comments on my posts and I’m sorry I’ve been so bad at posting. I could list the excuses but none are good enough. Hope you enjoy this post, and tell me what you think
Yours,
Shamma



I couldn’t stop thinking of all the scenarios I would have to face when I got home and had to face my brother Faisal. I knew it was because he cared about me but at the same time it was so frustrating that he couldn’t just “trust me”. Thankfully Maha was sitting next to me, joking and trying to cheer me up.
“If your brother is rude enough to snoop in your conversations, I can send him a few of my thoughts right now” she said showing me a message on her phone.
I couldn’t stop laughing, I was imaging Faisal’s face if he read what she was typing.
“Seriously Maha, I‘ll be getting enough crap from him as it is.”
“I know 7beebty it’s just so annoying” She said giving me a mini-hug.
Mayed didn’t show up to class, which made my stomach ache even more, I needed to see him. I needed to feel reassured by him, I needed to know what he wanted to talk about, and I NEEDED him.
I went straight home after my classes were done, went up to my room and lay on my bed. My mother came into my room and sat next to me on my bed.
“Latifa ana shalait el phone 3an u5ooch” she said, putting it next to my hand.
“Mashkoora umaya” I said, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at her, I felt the tears welling up in my eyes. I hated Faisal for putting me in this situation, and the fact that he could put me in such a situation was even more annoying.
I waited till I knew he would be back from work and I went to his room, I stood in front of his door and knocked.
He opened the door with a surprised look on his face, I knew he didn’t expect me to face him, especially after my mum interfered but I had to deal with him.
“What is it Latifa?”
“Faisal I should be asking you that, before you believe what anyone has to say about me you should trust me, I’m your sister!”
He raises his hand as if to tell me to stop.
“5ala9 Latifa its over, I wont bring it up again ok?”
“La its not OK, you can’t just say such things, it might be over for you but it’s not over for me. I have to live with it! The fact that you would believe rumors about me is insulting”
“Laitifa, Mayed came to my office today, he told me he wants to propose to you. So I’m guessing those rumors weren’t based on nothing”
“What?!” I was stunned.
“I still didn’t tell mum or our brothers but I guess you should know before them, shu rayech Latifa?”
“Shu rayee? I don’t know I will have to think about it I guess” I felt so embarrassed now.
“Look I’m sorry I did that this morning but ma ar’6a 3alaich Latifa, I was so pissed that they would say that about you and I realized now that Sara is jealous of you because you’re the perfect sister and so respectable, and I hope you accept Mayed’s proposal he’s a great guy really.”
“Faisal, this conversation isn’t exactly what I was expecting”
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Stop fishing for more compliments” he said shooing me out of his room.
I ran to my room and picked up my phone to check if Mayed had sent me something, but he didn’t.
This was going to drive me crazy, I started a conversation:
L: Mayed?!
M: Halla
L: WTH did u do?
M: Did your brother talk to you?
L:Yes he did, why didn’t you say anything?
M: I don’t want to have this conversation like this, I need to see your face.

I threw the phone on the bed after that, I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked, yes I had feelings for him I couldn’t deny that but this was too fast, too sudden, too EVERYTHING.

I called Maha, but she just started screaming with excitement, I had to hang up. I went downstairs but my mother kept on shooting me sly glances, smiling and tearing up, it just drove me crazier.

I went out and sat on the swing, the cool breeze soothing my flushed face. I started swinging, it reminded me of my childhood when I used to swing to hard and wish I could let go and just fly away.
I closed my eyes and imagined what it would be like to be that free, when I opened them I could see someone standing in front of me, when I realized who it was, I let go but I was swinging so fast I flew out of the swing and landed at his feet.
“Latifa are you ok?”
“Yes yes I’m fine” I said, more embarrassed than bruised. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you I needed to see you” he said, kneeling down next to me.
“Mayed!”
“Laitifa..I love you, I love everything about you, and will you marry me?”
I was blushing, flustered and sitting on our lawn, this was not how I expected this day to end but it was the perfect ending.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Him and Her 7

4:00 AM!
It was like the alarm clock was screaming at me to sleep but every time I closed my eyes I would see Mayed's face in front of me, his gorgeous smile which made my heart ache now. I picked up my blackberry, added his pin and pressed send. I didn’t know if he would respond at this time and I had no rational explanation for why I was adding him, but I did. This was so out of character for me, I never did anything impulsively and I always put a million reasons to say no before one reason for saying yes. He accepted instantly.
Mayed: Halla Latifa
Latifa: Hi
M: About what you said, can you tell me who told you I'm engaged?
L: Is that what's important here? Who told me?
M: Yes because it's complicated and I want to know who wanted to hurt you.
L: It would only hurt if it was true.
M: So you care?
I sat there with tears running down my cheeks, I didn’t want to play mind games with him, and I wanted this issue to be over, one way or the other.
L: Yes I care.
M: My mother and sister want me to marry this girl from our family, and I always refused the idea when I was in the States but our family had some financial issues, which is why I'm back, and my family is putting some pressure on me to marry this girl so that her father would help with the family business.
L: So are you engaged?
M: No! That's why I want to know who told you. I told them my marriage wouldn’t be a business deal and I would marry the girl I love.
L: It doesn’t matter who told me, the important thing is that it's over.
M: No it isn’t over, Latifa I was thinking and I need to see you.
L: Why?
M: I need to discuss something with you face to face.

The next day, it took me a little longer getting ready for college, I hadn’t slept well after that conversation and I had butterflies in my stomach about meeting Mayed I was just putting on my abaya when I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in"
It was my brother Faisal, who never came into my room.
"Latifa, we need to talk"
"Ok inshallah, but I'm getting ready for college"
"This is important, Latifa I heard there's something going on between you and Mayed, is it true?"
I didn’t know what to say, I felt trapped and started blushing.
"Latifa? Redy 3alaya"
"Were in the same study group, feeha shay?"
"La bas feeha shay youm el nas start talking about you"
"Really? And who would that be, your psycho fiancée"
"Latetkalemain 3anha!"
"Faisal inta i5ouy el 3oud ou I respect that but I won't have anyone spreading sick rumors about me"
I started to walk out of the room when he snatched the blackberry right out of my hand.
"We will discuss this later" he said as I rushed out, wishing I deleted the conversation with Mayed, but I knew I would have to face my brother when I got home.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Him and Her 6

As soon as he saw her get into the car, he sent her an email:

Latifa,
This is my pin XXXXXXXX, add me. We need to talk

Even to himself he sounded so arrogant, he knew she was too proud to take orders from him but he was desperate.

He had known she was special since he first laid eyes on her, standing in line with the creep behind her. She was so nervous, with her hands clenched as she stood there. He couldn’t take his eyes of her, her flushed face and tense shoulders made him want to swoop in and rescue her. Unfortunately that didn’t go as planned and he felt so foolish, but couldn’t believe his luck when she walked into his class. She sat there giggling with her friend and he felt his heart beat a little faster, she looked at him and their eyes locked before she turned away blushing. He knew who she was, and that was reason enough to stay away from her but he couldn’t seem to help it. It was a long time since he felt this way; since he swore to himself he would never get attached to a girl again. Something told him this girl was different, although she wasn’t classically beautiful there was something about those gorgeous eyes of hers, which showed her hidden emotions that she tried to hide from people that he couldn’t get out of his head.

He tried to keep his relationship with her formal but he realized it want only him who was affected by these emotions, he could see she was too, biting her lip nervously and blushing whenever she was near him. He had to admit is was a refreshing change from the new style of girls he met in college who were so upfront about their interest, giving him their phone numbers, pins etc which he was shocked by since he’d been away from the country for a while.

He found himself looking forward to those classes where he would see her and even went to her house hoping he could catch a glimpse of her, but since that day she was avoiding him, he couldn’t help but send her and email. But today when she walked into class he could sense something was up, she didn’t even turn to look at him but he knew her well enough to know something was wrong. Seeing her get into the car with that Rashed guy and her friend made his blood boil, calm down there must be a reasonable explanation, he thought but still he found himself heading to his car.

He raced through the streets in the direction of Latifa’s house until he saw them; he stopped at a slight distance until he saw her get out of the car. He stepped out of his car and she turned to look at him with an extremely annoyed expression on his face.


“Salam 3alaich Latifa” he said, as calmly as he could.
“Ou 3alaikum el salam, bas inta shu tsawee hnee? Are you stalking me or something?”
“Ha? Ana stalking you? A9lan intee shu tsaween rakba fl sayara ma3a wa7ed nafs Rashed hal m’3azelchy”
“3ad intee a5ar wa7ed tetkalam, you’re engaged and sending I miss you to me, how dare you!”
He could see she was truly hurt, he ached to grab her and kiss away that hurt look, but all he could do was watch her march to her house, tripping once on her abaya and cursing.
He loved her, of that he was certain.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Him and Her 5

He missed me, ME! I felt like I was floating in a dream, I looked at my watch and realized I had five minutes to make it to class. I quickly headed to the bathroom to do some quick primping; I was a girl after all. I was just reapplying my pink gloss and making sure my mascara was in place when I noticed someone was staring at my reflection, I turned and realized it was Sara, Mayed’s sister, I turned back and put my makeup back in my handbag completely ignoring her. I had no idea why she didn’t like me but I preferred to keep a distance from people who were rude to me.
I turned to leave but she stood in my path, I looked up at her and raised an annoyed eyebrow.
“I need to talk to you Latifa, if you’re not busy that is”
“I’m actually on my way to class, is it important?” I asked, a sick feeling in my stomach, I hated confrontation and I had a feeling this would be a conversation I wouldn’t enjoy.
“Akeed it’s important, it concerns you and e7m… u’5ouya” she whispered like it was a big secret.
“Yeah so what I’m working on a project with your brother, 5air?” I said calmly, I didn’t want anyone listening to get the wrong idea.
“Laaa ana mush qasdee shay, bas I wanted to give you some sisterly advice 7abeebty. Ne7na ahal after all, I just wanted to tell you that Mayood is kind of a flirt and you should know he’s engaged to we7da mn halnah and he likes to act like a player bas hu wayed iy7ebha.”
I smiled at her, I knew she wanted to hurt me and it was working, my heart was aching but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of showing her I cared.
“Shaklech intee wayed tit5ayelain ashyaa, your brother is not a flirt bel3aks he’s the perfect gentleman ou ba3dain methl ma geltlech were just working together on a project.”
I said and quickly left the bathroom before she said something else.

I went to class even though I wanted to run and hide, but I didn’t want to give Sara the satisfaction. I walked in and took a seat as far away from him as possible, I could feel his eyes on me, my heart quickening at his gaze. I acted like I was completely engrossed in what the teacher was saying although I couldn’t concentrate on a single word he was saying. I felt like such an idiot, falling for the stupid games guys liked to play. He missed me, hah, how stupid was I? I usually prided myself on my instincts in knowing when a guy was messing with your feelings. Which is why I was one of those girls who was never in a relationship, even though people thought it was because of my overprotective brothers.
As soon as the teacher told us we could leave I was out of the class, with Maha by my side.
“La6oof, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“Mashay bas I’m not feeling well” I lied.
“Salamtech sweetie, if you want to go home we could drop you off”
We headed out of the college to where Maha’s brother Rashed was waiting to pick her up. Usually I wouldn’t go with him because of my brothers but now all I wanted to do was get out of this place.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Him and Her 4

Sorry for taking so long to post this, its just I've been feeling very uninspired lately. I hope you like it.

Things with Mayed started to improve after that day, we weren’t friends but at least he wasn’t treating me like a bimbo anymore. I tried to keep our meetings in class short and sweet since I wasn’t comfortable hanging out with him. For some reason, I would start blushing and I hated the feeling that someone could affect me in that way. I was usually very good at keeping an icy cool exterior but he just got to me with those intense eyes of his that made me feel things I didn’t want to feel.

I was so glad when it was finally the weekend and I could just ignore what was going on and sleep till noon and not think of Him. I woke up and went downstairs still in my pajamas, I didn’t even brush my hair and was wearing my furry bunny slippers. I went into the kitchen and poured myself a huge bowl of coco pops. I went into the family room and settled down to watch some TV when the housemaid came in looking around frantically. She was new and was still getting used to our house full of loud men.
“aaah you are here, your brother Faisal say he want you to go to majlis now, quickly quickly”
I raised a confused eyebrow at her but she was more scared of my brother Faisal and practically shooed me out of the room.
“inzaaaain I’m going, ufff shu yeba hatha ba3ad” I muttered as I walked to the majlis.
My brother was talking to someone who I couldn’t see as I stumbled into the majlis.
“Na3am shu teba minee that was so important that I couldn’t even finish my coco pops?”
I said standing there, but Faisal was staring at me with a shocked look on his face. I turned to see that the person he was sitting with was Mayed, who was trying to control his facial expression.
I quickly ran out of the room, but Faisal was following me. “Intee shu tsaween hnee? hay el 5adama el habla ma tefham shay?!”
This can’t be happening to me, when will these awkward moments with this guy stop occurring? Was I being punished for something I did? More importantly how will I face him in class after he saw me in my furry pink bunny slippers?
I ran up to my room and called Maha.
“9aba7 el 5air”
“Laaaaaa”
“La6oof ma feeny 3ala film hindee mn el 9b7, sh3indich?”
“It’s Mayed”
“What did he do now?”
“He came to our house and saw me in my pajama and keshatya nag3a ou …”
“Your pink bunny slippers”
“Yes, don’t laugh seriously I feel man7ousa”
“You’re absolutely right, kila wala el bunny slippers those are just a crime against fashion”
“Ma3alaaaih now you’re making fun of me!”
“La Wallah ma3arf shu agoulech try to look on the bright side”
“Which is?”
“At least he didn’t see the SpongeBob pajamas”
“I am hanging up now, oh and by the way Faisal might kill me for walking in on his nseeb”

I avoided the next couple of classes with Mayed by just emailing him my work, which was going fine but I knew I couldn’t keep it up for the rest of the semester. It was good enough for the time being.
I was sitting in college with some girls in the café, when my phone beeped with a new email,

Stop avoiding me, I miss you. - Mayed

P.S. the bunny slippers looked cute.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Him and Her 3

My alarm was beeping, telling me it was time to wake up, but I wasn’t in the mood to face another horrible day in college. I felt jinxed after the awful day I had and I kept on dreaming of Him. Luckily after the falling into his lap incident he just stayed away from me. Actually I think it was more like he was avoiding me. Maha kept on making fun of me or just bursting into laughter whenever she saw my flushed face which wasn’t helpful but lightened the mood. Sara on the other hand was shooting me evil glares all day. I groaned and hid my face under the pillow, not ready to face all the drama.

I heard a knock on my door.

“Mnu?” I asked, lifting my head slightly from under the covers to peek at the door.

A hand was stretched into the room with a cup of starbucks, I recognized Maha’s neon pink nail polish.

“Am I forgiven for being such a horrible friend yesterday?” She asked with a huge grin on her face.
“Maybe, it depends on how many jokes you’re planning on making about the events that will be erased forever from my memory”
“Oh come on La6oof it wasn’t that bad”
I just raised an eyebrow at her.
“Ok so it was Bad, really bad but you just have to move on and be the better person. So what if he didn’t accept your apology and totally hates you now and you have to work together…”
“Mush chanech you’re not helping?” I asked.
“Ok sorry but at least I’m trying, unlike some people who just want to hide from the world!”
“Shu asawee I’m not used to such things happening to me” I said “and with Sara’s brother of all people, she already hates me”
“She doesn’t hate you she’s just a moody person”
“Allah y3een i5ouyah 3alaiha” I said.
“Haha a7is they deserve each other” Maha said, laughing.
She knew how my brother Faisal was my most controlling brother, unlike Nasser who was the most temperamental and Abdullah who was the closest to me in age and my favorite brother although he had a slight controlling streak. Faisal tried to control every aspect of my life from my education, friends, phone, internet and the list goes on and on but I didn’t blame him since he was the eldest and our mother depended on him to be the man of the house. I was hoping his marriage to Sara next year would take some of his unwanted attention away from me.

Luckily we didn’t have an early morning class today and we arrived just in time for our first class. Our teacher told us to divide into our groups so he could speak to us separately. As I got closer to Mayed he pushed his chair slightly back as if he didn’t want to sit close to me.
I was about to comment that I wasn’t planning on falling into his lap but I was controlling myself and trying to be the mature one.
I pulled my notes out of my bag and started writing some of the ideas I wanted to discuss with the teacher.
“Law sma7tee L6eefa I think I should be the one talking to the teacher, ya3nee if you have anything you want to discuss pass it by me and I will help you”
As if! The arrogance!
I just smiled sweetly and nodded. I wasn’t about to let him treat me like an idiot but I didn’t want to start making problems. So when the teacher came over I sat quietly listening to Mayed ask his long list of questions, imagining myself hitting him with his stupid notebook. Finally when he was done, the teacher turned to me and smiled.
“So Latifa, do you have anything to add?”
I just smiled and told him my plans.
“That’s great Latifa, exactly what you should be working on. I’m excited to see what you will bring to the group. Maybe you should help Mayed out with his questions too, he seems to have a few.”
He just winked at me and moved on to the next group. I could see Mayed staring at me with his mouth hanging open.
I just ignored his stares and got up to leave the class, I needed to get away from him before I started laughing in his face which wasn’t a part of the “be mature” plan.
“L6eefa sme7eely shaklee I misjudged you…”
I didn’t wait to hear the end of his speech, just raised my hand and said “Mayed please just spare me the boy drama”, before I walked out of the class.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Him and Her 2

We went into class after Maha convinced me that it was ok, all I had to do was avoid eye contact and maybe he wouldn’t even recognize me. As we waited for the next class to start I noticed a guy sitting alone in the back of the class, he was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans wit his black hair causally pushed back. He had a tan and a lean muscular physique. He was so hot.
I never say that about anyone, actually I never even thought that of a real life guy. I was staring, trying not to stare since it was rude and stalkerish but I couldn’t help myself. That’s when he noticed.
I tried to break the eye contact but I couldn’t do it, it was like I was frozen in this bubble.
He was staring at me now too with eyes like melted chocolate, I could feel my heart beating rapidly as he picked up his coffee cup and raised an eyebrow at me.
That’s when it clicked that this might be Sara’s brother, please please let me be wrong, I muttered.

“Maha” I whispered “where is he sitting?”
“He’s the one in the back, staring at you” she said laughing silently.
That was the second moment today when I just wanted to disappear. Thankfully our teacher finally showed up. He started by telling us about how this course was very important and how we were supposed to take it seriously. I just wanted the time to pass so I could leave this class and end this horrible day. I was concentrating on not looking in his direction when the teacher slipped a paper on my desk, it just had a name on it “Mayed”.

I turned to Maha “Shu el salfa?”
“This is the person you will be working on the major project with”
“And who the hell is this Mayed guy?” I asked angrily.
“e7m” I heard someone clear their throat and when I looked up, it was him. Of all the freaking people in this freaking class it had to be Him.


We sat together while I was internally panicking, trying to figure out a way out of this uncomfortable situation, while trying not to gaze at his hotness. All of this made my face turn into various shades of bright red. Maha was shooting me glares across the room while fanning her face with a paper, I knew she was trying to get me to calm down but it wasn’t helping. It didn’t matter anyway since he didn’t even look at me, he was so engrossed in whatever he was writing.
“Sorry about the coffee incident” I said shyly, trying to break the akward silence.
“Whatever… 3adi” he said without even looking up from his paper.
“La mush 3adi, I’m not normally such a klutz but I ...”
He rudely cut me off, “Look I don’t need to hear your girl drama, we just need to set the tasks for us to finish this project”
Rude! It was clear now that Sara wasn’t the only rude person in their family.
“What’s your name again?” he asked, finally looking up from his paper.
“Latifa” I said, annoyed that he couldn’t even bother to remember my name.
“Inzain this is what you have to work on,” he said giving me a piece of paper with a list of things I had to research. “And this is my email if you need any help”
Help?! I’ll show this idiot that I was waaaay smarter than him, I thought to myself, before getting up and falling haphazardly into his lap.

This was So not my day...