Not That Interested

Chapter 35: The One With The Sword-Cake

"Today You are You. That is truer than true. There is no one alive, who is you-er than you!"— Dr. Suess

I am dreaming, I am sure of it. I see Simba wearing roller-blades, and dancing spinning circles around Kulsoom Nani, who is....spanking Areeb with her cane. Most strange it is. Definitely dreaming. Adiba is munching something besides me, and trying to poke me in the arm now and then. I tell her to quit it.

"You have drool all over your neck Minnie." she pokes me again.

"Ouch! THAT hurts Adiba! QUIT IT!" I frown at her.

"WAKE UP MINA!" She shrieks right inside my ear. I scramble awake finally.

"Whaa?? what the HELL?" I squint sleepily at a widely-grinning Adiba. She is dressed in comfy silk pajamas, and looks way too well-rested for 7:30 in the morning. I scowl at the analog clock on my wall, and poke her right back.

"Are you high or something? waking me up at this ungodly hour!" I try rubbing out the sleepy after-effects from my eyes. Adiba bounces back excitedly on my bed, spreading crumbs all over my bed-sheet. She was munching on one of the creme donuts from last night. Gross.

"I am high alright. HIGH ON SUGAH BAYBEE!" she squeels. I scowl some more. I hate morning people. Fine, you love waking up with the birds and the bees; no need to spread your joy to the rest of us! My best-friend and sister, is not only a morning person at the moment, she is also on a mile high sugar rush.

"When did you wake up?" I growl at her. She gets up and strides to my dressing table where she has perched a steaming hot coffee mug. EMV yawns; 'This better be for me, or I am turning on The Bitch Mode.'

Thankfully, Adiba hands me the cup, and I spend long minutes simply inhaling the creamy goodness. I feel half-way human already, as I quietly sip my venom of choice. Adiba peers cautiously at me; "Feeling civilized yet?" I grunt back.

She shrugs and goes on; "I woke up like more than an hour ago! got freaking hungry, and bored, so I kind of raided your fridge." She makes an apologetic pout.

"It's your fridge too now!" I say between sips. "Where's Ali?"

Adiba turns pink at the question. "He's uhhh, tired out. Still sleeping. We had a long night..."

I nearly burn my mouth trying to swallow hurriedly. Sputtering like crazy, I gasp out, "STOP RIGHT THERE! TMI (Too Much Information) DUDE. TMI!!!" I may have been curious if she had married anyone other than my brother, but seriously I had no wish to listen to her describe her wedding night with details, I would have to pour acid on my brains afterward.

She sticks her tongue out at me; "I wasn't going into details! we just talked. A LOT." Her color deepens at this confession and her expression turns dreamy.

I am suddenly envious of her. I try to stop the feeling, but it is so natural, and uncontrollable that I can't help it. She has something that I will probably never have; A partner who loves her as she loves him. There's a shared perfection, and comfort in what she has with Ali. It is not dramatic, or over-the-top. It is real. Without pretension, conditions and deceit. I inwardly repeat "Mashallah" (praise to Allah) and a bunch of other prayers for their eternal happiness. I want them to remain untouched from my envy.

After I got over my sleepiness, I actually reveled in having Adiba around. She had never been allowed to stay over at our house (because of Ali), even though I had gone for sleep-overs at her place. We had fun planning a brunch for today. I was treating the newly-weds from my own pocket. When Ali joined us in the planning, the whole process took all the more longer because they couldn't stop staring at each other. EMV wouldn't quit making gagging noises, even though it was kind of adorable.