Chapter 21

"7mdellah zain," I smiled at her, my smile became forceful once I saw Nour approach me. She took me in her skinny body and pressed herself hard against me for a hug. Her bones crushed against mine, I winced.

Nour pulled me back in before I let go, she smiled a big icey smile as she whispered the following poisonous words: "Stay away from my boyfriend, he told me that you were all over him in 360. yesterday. Face it, he's mine b*tch."

I stared at Nour in bewilderment, the hell!? I pulled her arm and guided her towards the coat room besides the living room. I shut the door behind us and she crossed her arms in front of me.

"You think I flirted with your boyfriend? Your boyfriend is a liar!" I tried to keep my voice low so I wouldn't attract any unwanted attention from the living room. Nour looked expressionless.

"Agoul, la etchathbeen. Me and my boyfriend have an honest relationship. If he was a liar, he wouldn't have told me what you did to him in 360 yesterday," Nour huffed.

"Honest relationship? You must be bullsh*tting me right now, right? Ey honest 7bebti? He thinks you're a tall gorgeous model with black hair and tan skin, all I can see is a thin girl standing right in front of me, wearing a e7jab and has skin as white as an Asian woman." I tsked in disapproval.

 I continued before she could say anything to interrupt me; "And you know what? You two have plenty in common, you both just love to flirt with other people even when you're already taken. You should ask him who he flirted with yesterday, I'm pretty sure one of the girls he was following was in our school." I saw her expression shift from strong to shocked, I knew she believed me. She believed every word I said.

"Oh and for more proof," I turned around and slid off my juicy jacket halfway to show her the purple bruise forming on my left arm, where Ali's fingers had roughly squeezed. The shape of his fingers had imprinted onto my arm, showing that it was a bruise from someone who had the intention of hurting me.

"S-shoug..." Nour took a step towards me to look at my arm closely, but her eyes quickly averted and she looked behind me. I turned around to see what she was looking at and found M7md's eyes staring hard at the bruise on my arm. I quickly covered my arm with the jacket.

"Shoug, mnu em3awrich?!" M7md asked, he seemed worried but shocked at the same time. I didn't know what to say.

"Um, I-" I started, but Nour cut me off.

"M7md, Nour 6a7at el youm bel shower w kanet ga3da etwareeni el bruise. Giltleha ena lazem et7i6 vaseline 3leeh w etha lal7een y3rwha b3ad chem youm, etrou7 el doctor," Nour lied.

"Laish ma gilteely? Tabeeni awadeech el doctor al7een?" M7md placed his hand over my right arm, the unbruised one.

"La la, shd3wa! Ma y3wr, it'll fade after a few days." I assured him. M7md looked satisfied, he connected his blackberry to a charger on the table in the room and left. He was probably looking for an outlet so he could charge his phone. I looked back at Nour, surprised that she had covered for me.

"M-mashkoura..?" I looked at her, puzzled. Nour shrugged and left the room, leaving me alone.

What was that all about? Was this her way of calling peace?

da-ding! 

I quickly checked bbm and found a new message from S3ood.

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Heeyy, guess where I am?;p

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
Weeeeein? :D

Out/S3ood Al-X:
How about you come out of that tiny room so I can see you?;p

Wait, WHAT?

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
La7tha.. shdarak ena.. wait wait, weinik enta?!

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Ga3d m3a M7md w okhouy Wahab bel 9ala;p ma et3rfeen ena your brother's friends are gonna be in this room? Your relatives ra7ow to the other 9ala. ;p

Sh*t, that's why M7md had used this room for charging his phone! I looked around for a mirror, I found a little one besides the door. I looked at my own reflection. I grabbed my lip stick from my purse and re-applied it.

No, too much.

 I grabbed a tissue and dabbed it against my lips, making the ruby colour fade a bit. I leaned my head down so my hair would flip over, I dug my fingers into my hair and messed it up so once I stood back up, my curls were even bigger and I had more volume. I patted my hair into place and took a deep breath.

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Shfeech sa3a?;p  I'm waitingggg. =))

I turned the knob and pulled the door open, the living room was filled with guys! Mohammed and Khalid were seated in the middle and I could feel every head turn as I tried to walk to the next living room as fast as I could.

I sneaked a glance at S3ood and I could see that he was trying very hard not to smile. His dimples popped out and his hair was combed back. He had the softest looking brown hair I've ever seen, I noticed that he was wearing a form fitting navy Hollister shirt and a pair of beige shorts.

I could feel my cheeks heat up at the sight of him, I finally got to the next living room and noticed that it was full of our relatives, the other living room was occupied with my brother's and guy cousin's friends.

My 19 year old cousin Shaikha approached me. She was wearing a beautiful multi coloured sun dress that reached her knees, her hair was pulled back into a messy bun.

"Wein kentaay? Waleht 3leech! Menzaman ma shiftech," Shaikha smiled widely at me before pulling me in for a tight embrace.

"Oh uhm, kent ga3da adwr sha7an 7ag telephoni bs M7md khathaah gabli," I rolled my eyes, it was becoming easier and easier to lie. I felt guilty rise in the pit of my stomach.

"Yalla t3alaay, solfeeli 3an medrisa, w ma gilteely, meta bititkharejein?" Shaikha pulled my along and sat me down besides her.

The day passed pretty quickly, we had mchbous deyay (yum) for lunch and Nour kept close with the younger cousins. I couldn't text much since I got occupied with chatting with a new relative every 15 minutes but I glanced at my blackberry every now and then, reading S3ood's messages.

Out/S3ood Al-X:
I told you that you looked beautiful today. You always look beautiful mashallah.

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Oh and laish labsa jackeit? Mu 7ar 3lech? :o

Zwara/Shoug Al-X:
Awwh ty. :$ Ma agder akelmik al7een, ome ga3da jedami. x_x Ttyl! xo

I didn't want to lie to S3ood too so I avoided his question. I wasn't lying, my mother was sitting in front of me and she had a thing about texting all the time. Her suspicions grew that way so I always made sure I didn't text so much in front of her.

I was mid-way in conversation with my other cousin, Ghaneema, before I noticed Nour approach us. She sat next to Ghaneema and included herself into the conversation. I was still confused by her behavior.

"Barou7 el 7amam, be right back." I excused myself and left Ghaneema with Nour.

Wait, the only bathroom is either the one upstairs or the one next to the living room filled with guys. And even if I did go upstairs, I'd have to pass by that living room, filled with guys! 

This was going to be embarrassing.  -.- I decided to use the upstairs bathroom, I walked into the living room filled with guys and tried to walk as fast as I could.

However, I noticed a strange and new face added to the group. I couldn't believe my eyes. Both my brothers weren't there with the guys, so I got away with sneaking another glance at S3ood until I found someone familiar sitting right next to him.

Jassim.

Jassim gave me an easy smile from far and S3ood had caught him. No, no, no, no! I turned my head away and hurried to the stairs, making my way to the bathroom.

My blackberry vibrated impatiently in the pockets of my Juicy, I pulled it out with shaky hands and read the following message:

Out/S3ood Al-X:
Hey.. why did my friend just smile at you? Do you two know each other?