Contrasting Realities 11

SUPER LONG POST AHEAD! ;)

Hope you enjoy!

Mat3oob 3aleh tra! ;)

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“French kiss…the movie…Meg Ryan…tawwk marrait 3aleha on channel 2” I clarified.

What the hell was he thinking?

“Oh, I haven’t seen that before” he said, blinking quickly and shifting his eyes away from mine, returning them to the TV. “Is it any good?”

“It’s a really nice movie, bs its kind of a chick flick, so I doubt you’ll enjoy it”

“There’s nothing else on TV, so why don’t we watch it? Atleast I’ll get to know what your taste in movies is like. I’m finding out a lot of new things about you today Haya”

“Ee wallah…same here”

“Are they all bad?”

“Not nearly half as bad as I thought actually” I said, giving him a wide smile.

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“I think so…I mean, everyone knows I highly dislike you, but you’ve been proving me wrong today”. I made sure I kept the smile on my face.

“Ahhhhh! I’m not all that bad wallah. You just need to get to know me better” he said, giving me another one of his smiles.

“I guess hatha eli ga3d y9eer now” I said.


He was just about to say something we heard a knock on the door, signaling that the food was here. He walked towards the door and I turned my attention to the movie. Moments later, he came back with a tray in his hands.

“Btakleen hnee?”

“Ya3ny ent shrayek?” I teased.

He set the tray down and threw his tired body onto the seat next to me, missing my lap only by a few inches. Then, he handed me my salad and, before touching his burger, politely offered me some.

“Laa thanks maby”

“Are you sure?”

“ee bl3afya 3alaik…I would offer you some of my salad bs a7esek bt6egny”

“Bl3aks I’m a big salad fan”

“9ij? Then 7ayyak!” I said enthusiastically, ashamed about not offering him any.

“Bs they only have one fork”

“You can use mine…3ady ma tloo3 chabdy” I said, still feeling guilty about how rude I was earlier.

He took a bite of my salad, then let out a little moan of delight.

“You have excellent taste” he said as he enjoyed my salad.


We sat there, side by side, making silly comments throughout the movie and laughing at the funny parts. When the commercials came on, he excused himself to go to the bathroom, and came back minutes later with a blanket.

“Mo bardana?”

“Ya3ny shway”

He put the blanket over me and my legs that were now outstretched on the coffee table. Then, he started moving again.

“Thanks...bs wain raye7?”

“Bayeebly blanket ana ba3ad bardan”


He went into the room again and got another blanket. While trying to fix his blanket over himself as he sat, somehow my long brown locks became tangled with his big steel Armani watch.

I screamed.

“Aww Aww Aww!! M7ammad M7ammad eeedkkkkk”

He looked over to see my head pulled in the direction of his outstretched hand, with my hair wrapped around his wrist.

“Ambaih Haya I’m soo sorry” he said, his hand suddenly becoming as rigid as a pipe.

I tried to turn my head to untangle the watch, but my hair wasn’t that long.

“Entay hold still bas..i’ll fix it”

For the next 15 minutes or so, my head was pulled to the right infront of my body, while he tried to untangle it.

“M7ammad just cut it! Its not a big strand anyway”

“Laa laa I’ll fix it entay bas hold still”

“Thahry 3awarny mn hal hold still wallah” I said through alot of neck and back pain.

“Choofay, ana I untangled most of it. There are a couple more that I think I can undo, bs I think I’m gonna have to come out a few single hairs. That’s better than cutting out a whole lock 9a7?”

A few more minutes later, he spoke once again, on top of Kevin Kline’s voice still playing in the background.

“Yeeby eedch”

“Huh?” I inquired, but did as I was told anyway.

He pulled my palm towards him and put his watch that he had taken off inside it.

“Meskay hathee…baroo7 adawer scissors bl drawers akeed ako sewing kit eb mkan hnee”

He checked in the drawers under the TV cabinet and found one. He came back and sat on the floor on both knees, taking his watch from my palm in the process. Carefully, he cut each tangled hair out. I could feel each strand becoming loose. When he was done, his fingers pulled the hair, that was now infront of my face and tucked it gently behind my ear.

“As good as new”. With his fingers still behind me ear, he used the bottom of his palm to push my head to its normal position on top of my head. My neck gave a loud crack as he did.

He laughed, and removed his hand.

“ee eth7ak ba3ad…that was painful” I said, irritated and a little self-conscious.

“Just rest it against the back of the sofa shway while you’re watching the movie, oo you’ll feel better by the time its over”


I did as I was told and we continued to watch the movie, falling silent towards the ending at the sad part. When it finished, I stretched with a huge smile on my face, surprised to find that my neck was flexible again. I looked at M7ammad to find him fast asleep next to me.

I shook his shoulder lightly.

“M7ammad goum nam da5el 3shan la y3awrk thahrk bacher”

“Ee ee” he said, turning over to my side of the sofa with his eyes still closed.

“M7ammad nam da5el…mo nam el9ob elthany” I said, keeping the tone of my voice only a little higher than a whisper. I didn’t want to wake him up.

He opened his eyes, and looked at me. A wide smile made its way to his face. A wide happy smile that is. It was the first time I’ve seen one of those from M7ammad’s lips, and even though it only made an appearance for a spilt second, it was forever imprinted in my head.

It was…breathtaking…to say the least.


“I missed the movie?”

“I don’t know at which part I lost you” I giggled. “I told you that you wouldn’t like it. It’s a girly movie”

“Hey! I liked what I saw…and if I wasn’t so exhausted from today, I would’ve seen it all” he said defensively.

“Zain yala goum 5al nam…tomorrow is going to be a long day. We need to be on campus by 9am”

“Haya bs weddy a6lb mnch 6alab, 3ady?" he said in a shy voice. It souded adorable coming out of him.

"Ee akeed shda3wa?"

"Please ga3deeny etha ma ge3adt by 8...a5af I oversleep”

“Inshallah”


He wished me goodnight before we entered our rooms. It was 11pm, and I realized I hadn’t heard from 3abboudy all day. I reached into my purse and switched on my phone.


13 New Messages


From: 3abboud
I miss you already…its only been a few hours =(
eldeera tlawe3 elchabd without you =(


From: 3abboud
7amdella 3asalama 7beebty ;**
How’s London?


From: 3abboud
Lel7een ma we9altaw?


From: 3abboud
Hayooo sh9ayer? Wainkom kil hatha?!


From: missU
You have 6 missed calls from: +96512345678 (3abboud)


From: Dad
Shlon London? Mukanich mbayen 7beebty ;**


From: 3abboud
Hayooo wainich?! Tra ana bedait a7ateech =(
Please sms me or call me as soon as you can


From: missU
You have 5 missed calls from: +96512345678 (3abboud)
You have 2 missed calls from: +96587654321 (Dad)
You have 1 missed call from: +96512121212 (Layla)


From: Layla
7amdella 3asalama =)
tried calling you but your phone was off
did Rana tell you about the new arrangements?


From: Dad
Haya 7beebty sh9ayer? Laish lel7een jehazich mu’3la8? 6amneeny 3laich 7beebty.


From: missU
You have 18 missed calls from: +96512345678 (3abboud)


From: 3abboud
Haya no matter what time it is, please get back to me as soon as you can. I’m worried sick about you. I checked with the airline oo your plane landed ages ago, laish your phone is off?


From: 3abboud
Haya ana ga3ed na6rch oo ma ra7 anam…call me when you see this oo don’t text me 3shan asma3a…I’m waiting zain?!


That last message gave him away. He was starting to fall asleep, and he set his phone to 7beebty ;** profile that only alerted him to calls from me. He never put his phone at night on silent incase I needed something, but also made sure no one else woke him up from his beauty sleep.

I smsed him just to make sure, though.


Hala 3abboudy ;**
There were a few problems hnee oo I kinda got caught up with everything here and forgot to switch my phone on. I’m so sorry 7beeby, I’ll explain later inshallah. Will call you when I get a chance, so please don’t worry if I don’t pick up. Plz 6ammen dad cz he’s worried too. I miss you like hell =(
Sweet dreams =)


Sure enough, he didn’t reply. I fell asleep hoping that tomorrow would end up being a better day.


Whether it was or wasn’t is up to you to decide...