Zahra

21: Friends don't suck each other's faces

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

And had any of you people been in witness, you would have seen the sun as it rose inclining away from their cave toward the right; and , as it set, declining away from them toward the left- while they were asleep in a hollow deep within. This is of the miraculous signs of God. Whomever God guides, then he is truly guided. But whomever He leaves to stray, then never shall you find for him any rightly guiding patron. (Q: 18 V: 17)

It had been twenty two hours since I saw Zayd and Lucia kissing, and I was hating every second of it.

And I thought watching Brian and Valerie kiss was disturbing; I'd watch them kiss a hundred times if it would erase the image of Zayd and Lucia out of my head. I shuddered again at the thought of it.

After I saw them, I stood there for a good twenty seconds, my eyes wide and jaw slack. I even rubbed my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, but it was the same every time; then they shifted so Zayd's back was facing me and she transferred her hands to his hair, and I swear I almost puked.

When they finally pulled apart Lucia's eyes caught mine, she said something to which Zayd looked back, his eyes had widened and his entire expression became fearful. I had shook my head and turned to leave, hearing his footsteps behind me.

"Zahra", he had caught up to me and held me by the shoulders, "wait, I can explain"

I didn't say anything and pushed his arms off me, I shoved him aside and walked to the car, all the time he was walking behind me begging me to let him explain. But I didn't need an explanation, it was clear enough that even a five year old would understand perfectly.

I was silent throughout the drive home, and he finally gave up on getting me to talk. I didn't know what to say to him, I was pissed, angry, hurt and disappointed. Pissed and angry because he definitely had something going on with Lucia, hurt because he had been lying to me, and disappointed because I thought he knew better than to eat that damn metaphorical candy.

So I sat in my seat stewing, the only time I finally spoke to him was when we got home and we were walking upstairs. I stood in the doorway to my room and looked at him, "you're a fucking idiot", I had said before slamming the door shut.

Now I was sitting in an empty booth at Juanpa's after school, munching on brownies mindlessly. I was still giving him the silent treatment and needed to be out of the house, Mom hadn't noticed yet and I wasn't planning on letting her know; at least not yet. Especially with how exhausted she had been looking for a while now, I didn't want to add more to her stress.

I stabbed my fork into my brownie and took another bite, wondering what the hell I was going to do. I was getting frustrated, I wanted to talk to someone about it but I didn't know who, or what I was even going to say.

I huffed and stabbed at my plate again, but I only heard a hard clinking sound. I glanced down at my plate; it was empty. Ugh, my forehead wrinkled in annoyance, I wasn't satisfied yet; the sweet taste was helping to settle my mood. I got up and walked to the counter where Mateo was, I leaned against it and grabbed his attention, "hey Mateo, I need another brownie", I told him, "or cake, or anything, as long as it's sweet", I placed my elbow on the counter and rested my chin in my palm, "a whole lot of it"

Mateo laughed, he was the only one in the shop today. He said that Bella was home working on her thesis, "cranky today are we?", he asked, "I got it, just give me a few seconds"

"Thanks", I smiled at him and returned to me seat, some minutes later he came with a big chunk of chocolate cake. Just what I needed, he dropped it in front of me and I thanked him, then he sat on the chair opposite me. He smiled when I looked at him curiously, "penny for your thoughts?"