Not That Interested

Chapter 42: The One With The Moon

"You look cute." He chuckled at my current hobo attire. I had tied off my hair with a red silk polka dotted bandanna, my loose Wolverine T-shirt was paired with a shalwar, so I knew cute wasn't even part of the equation.

"Yeah well, that's what you get when you bother a girl on Chaand raat." I shrugged. "You wanted to show me something?"

"The moon just came out. The proper Eid moon! I haven't even looked up yet."He gestures towards the sky. "I wanted you to see it with me."

Heart. Quit melting. NOW.

"Okay! where is it?" I squint up, trying to catch sight of the thin crescent.

We spend some minutes searching for the moon, while Shehzer introduced me to his cousins, Asma and Aimen. They were sweet girls, totally excited about the wedding and Eid tomorrow. I gushed over their Henna designs and tried not to stick my tongue out at Devil Spawn, who loudly proclaimed that his chicken family needed some exercise. I warily cast a glance towards the chicken coop resting on a far-corner. Shehzer was scouting out both the roofs, trying to figure out where the moon was.

"So did you really paint that?" Asma pointed to the 3-D room painting on my roof. I tried to keep my voice steady when I told them yes. That painting was my pain. I rarely looked at it.

"OMG! Super Cool! I totally have to take a selfie with it." They climbed over to my place and figured out selfie and portrait angles. If only they knew....

"I FOUND IT!" Shehzer yells from the other roof. He helps me climb over the ledge to a higher up part of Shazia Auntie's roof.

"Wow." I breath, at the tiny sliver of moon that winks back from the sky. "Do you recall the dua (prayer) we're supposed to say when we see it?"

He rattles off the Arabic from memory, and I repeat after him. The kids are also pretty excited about the moon sighting.

"You do know that this eid doesn't really require a moon sighting for the Chaand raat (Moon Night)? I mean this is the 10th of the month, the moon is seen before the first...." I whisper to him, unwilling to burst the kids' excitement.

"I know." He smirks back. " I just like the moon hunt before both the Eids...and I wanted to see you of course." his smile turns serious. "Are you okay?"

I smile back as wide as possible, "Yep. I'm awesome."

"The wedding preparations aren't fatiguing you too much are they?" He asks worriedly, "We can always elope you know."

I smacked him on the arm, "No I don't want to elope! Imagine the disgrace on my family!" His questions were worrying me, was he really that attuned to my moods? How on earth could he feel the difference?

"Oh! I almost forgot! Someone wanted to talk to you really badly....Wait I'll bring my cell phone up." He sprinted off towards the staircase, leaving me to chat with his cousins.

"Why do you hate my chickens? They are friendly." Devil Spawn interrogates me.

"Because I'm scared of them. Unless they are lying dead on my plate, chickens are super scary." I narrowed my eyes at the evil glint in his eyes.

"Maybe if you got to know them, they wouldn't be this scary." He grins his sadistic grin before leisurely sprinting back to the chicken coop.

Oh, HELL NO!

"DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT CAGE, YOU LITTLE TWERP!" I yell, scrambling for the safety of the own roof. I barely made it back before a dozen chickens came squacking out their nests. The Spawn reminded me of Tom Riddle releasing the Basilisk on poor Harry, him, with his evil smirk, and devilish intentions.