Other Side

29 | Happy Medium

"And what would that be?"

She swallowed. "That our lives do belong to different parts of the world. Inshallah, your grandfather makes a full recovery, but what about the other unexpected hardships that life throws our way?" She hesitated over her next few words, not knowing if he'd intended to take the conversation this far. But not much sand remained in the top half of the hourglass, anyway. "Even if you do settle down here, I don't know if I can be with someone who could move halfway across the world at any given time. Or always be thinking about everything he misses, especially when I don't want to be the one to take it away from you."

"I'm not usually that rash of a decision maker," Zaid defended, but she shook her head.

"It's not my right to stop you either. Family goes before everything, especially in our culture. So, maybe now... Now, I should let you go, until you can figure out where you need to be—in your own time."

"No," he said firmly, shaking his head. "Don't say that, Talia."

She scoffed, knowing people were all hypocrites at heart. "I think you get why my eyes look like that, then." The last trickle of moisture raced down her face and plopped onto her shoe below. She looked up with the little resolve she had left. "But at least I mean everything I say, Zaid."

At her assertion, he came to life, closing the last of the gap between them.

"You know, I wouldn't have lied yesterday," he said, looking into the eyes he'd ruined, "if I hadn't already fallen in love with you."

Apparently, that was all he had to say for her world to become warm again. The word love felt as unnatural as this sixty-degree January day, but she hadn't realized how badly she'd needed them both until they'd appeared without warning.

And goddamn, they felt so good—good enough that she cried all over again.

"Come here," he breathed, but she didn't have to go anywhere.

Zaid leaned down and embraced her like she was his only lifeline, not knowing only then did she take in her first real breath of the day. When Talia let go, a damp spot appeared in the middle of his crisp dress shirt, an imprint of her cheek.

She tried laughing off the awkwardness. "Can I ask? Why are you dressed like that?"

He looked down, as if forgetting what he was even wearing. "Oh. I was just at an interview for a summer internship."

"Summer internship where?"

"Where else?" he asked. "Boston."

"So, wait... I thought you already agreed to work with your brother this summer?"

"Who says I can't do both? Only in college do you get four months off to do whatever the hell you want."

"Does that include seeing my face? Not through a screen, that is."

"Only if you meet me halfway," he said—literally and figuratively. "I like your idea of making this city our happy medium: a perfect blend of East and West."

"Well, technically, it's just the East."

"To you," he said.

He staved off the inevitable back and forth with a warm kiss before time became their killjoy. Begrudgingly pulling away from his body, Talia checked the time on her phone: half past noon.

"Crap," she hissed. "I have to get going soon. My grandfather will be waiting for me in fifteen minutes."

"How about I drive you, instead? I'm heading back to the city anyway."