The Essence of Noah (Muslim story)

Coffee

"Yours was pretty decent."

"I blame the frother, I bought it second hand and it's crap."

"That was your technical difficulty?" He nods.

"And the sound is deafening." I pause with the mug tilted against my lips. Bringing it down, I lick my lips and stare blank faced.

"That's what the noise is? A milk frother?"

"God, I didn't think it was that loud." He pushes his hair away from his eyes as he grins bashfully. "Sorry about that." He extends the packet and I take another YoYo.

"Thanks."

It goes quiet for a moment, disturb only by the rattle of the plastic biscuit packaging in the breeze. From over the edge of the mug I steal a glance at Noah while stares through the banisters at the dimly lit zinc rooves. From his side I can see how long his hair has actually grown. When I first saw him at Tip Top, it was short, barely brushing the nape of his neck and covering his eyebrows. But now it curls slightly at his neck and falls in tousled tangles over his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Noah voices, gently eases its way through the silence and lingers before I blink and frown. "I should've told you not to tell anyone." Though he clarifies, my frown deepens. I thought this was done with this morning.

"It's fine. It doesn't matter, I won't tell." I shrug and reach for another biscuit.

"I haven't told my friends, not everyone knows."

"I get it, it's fine."

"No, I've known these guys for years, I want to tell them but I-"

"It's fine. Noah, really." I try my best to not sound annoyed or frustrated. A part of me wants to tell him that I don't know his friends and wouldn't talk to them in the first place, but the other, more reasoned part doesn't want to come off passively aggressive and ruin our newly re-formed friendship.

"Okay, cool." He smiles and lifts his mug. Again it fall silent, but Noah doesn't let this one last long. "Can I ask you something?" I pause briefly, feeling suddenly uneasy, then hesitantly nod. "How'd your parents meet?" The feeling of unease swells in my stomach and does a full flip. A sense of de ja vu follows suit, accompanied closely by confusion.

I shrug, in hopes of coming off unaffected and realistically oblivious. "I don-"

"I don't believe that." Noah interrupts, placing his mug on the ground. Irritated now, I place mine down too and pull my coat closer around my body. "I've met your mum, and from what I've heard about your dad, they're nothing alike." He gives me a boyish grin as he settles back on his palms. "There has to be a good story behind it." No, not really.

"There isn't." Noah raises his eyes brows and quirks his head to the side as he stares at me intently, then sighs.

"At least tell me if you know it." I ruffles and pushes his hair back as I deliberate an answer. I don't want to tell him the story, or anyone for that matter but I also want him to drop this subject.

"I know some of it." I lick my lips, but almost instantly, the wind blows them dry. "Can we change the subject?" Noah stares for a moment more, then nods.

"You know, you never told me if you decided which culture you prefer."

"I never decided."

"That hard?" I shrug.

"I don't see the point of deciding, I'm still going to be half of both." My response seems to be a dead end for any further enquires on the subject and for that I'm thankful.

"Your mum said you're going back to Adelaide for the semester break."

"Yeah. You?" He shakes his head.

"I've got a mate coming to stay." I nod and glance down at my drunken coffee.

"You make a pretty good coffee by the way." Noah grins widely, his laugh lines deepening along the side of his face.

"I know."

~*~

We spent another hour or so, nibbling on biscuits and talking about whatever Noah decided to bring up. I didn't mind really, Noah didn't bring up any more personal matters and kept all conversation solely focused on Uni and occasionally he'd bring up questions about Islam.

"Can I ask you another question?"

"I guess."

"You know your friend," He pauses, thinking. "E-van?" He drags out unsurely.

"Yeah?" I must've spoken too soon. My chirpy mood restored from earlier is slowly fizzling as Noah wades into murky waters.

"How close would you say you are?" I bite on the biscuit and chew slowly, giving myself time to think. I don't want to come across defensive or rude like before. It's an innocent question, and despite answering it before, I'm determined to be open this time round.

"He's my best friend." I lick the crumbs off my lips and dust my knees.

"So you're close?" Noah offers me another YoYo, but I shake my head and pop the last of the one in my hand into my mouth. I hold up a finger as I chew and Noah chuckles to himself.

"Pretty much."

"And what does your mum think about it?" His question comes across slightly hesitant, as if knowing he's pushing it himself.

"You're interviewing me." I smile and Noah laughs.

"I'm curious. I've been reading up online and..." He stops, which leaves me nervous and slightly frustrated. I know what he's going to say. It's what Baba always says, what everyone believes, everyone but me. "To put it blunt, all I've read says it's haram." He leans forward and uncrosses his legs to let them dangle between the banisters all the while keeping his eyes trained on me, perhaps monitoring my reaction.

Unwillingly, my face reddens and my heart panics in my chest. I have no answer, no response that can challenge that, because somewhere deep in my mind, he's right. My friendship with Evan is generally classified, to anyone- anyone Muslim- our friendship is not permissible, forbidden, haram, but if they knew us, like I knew us, they'd see that there's no harm in it because there are no feelings.

Noah continues to wait, and without a decent response, I shrug pathetically and avoid eye contact.

"Do you know that?" When I don't reply he answers himself. "I'm guessing you do."

"We're just friends, there's nothing wrong with that." I look up and bite tightly on my cheek.

"I didn't say anything, I'm just telling you what I read." He ruffles his hair then leans back on his palms.

"So you don't have an opinion?" I prevent myself from scoffing disbelievingly.

"Oh, I do," He smiles, "But it opposes what I've read." I can't help but smile myself. In a way I feel relieved- the fear of being judged by him for not being a perfect Muslim, instantly fades, and though it may be wrong, I feel content at having met a like-minded believer.

"Good to know."

"Would you say we're mates?" He asks spontaneously. For a second, my smile falters, but as soon as it does it returns accompanied by a rush of heat to my cheeks and a heavy beating behind my ribs.

"I guess." Noah grins lopsidedly as he sits up, circling his hands around the banisters and leaning forward. "What about you?"

"Definitely."

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So, I'm back again! I don't think it's been a week, so that's an achievement for me I guess. I personally think I'm liking these spontaneous updates more than the scheduled ones, because there's no pressure to update, so I think I'll keep updating randomly until I get back into the swing of things. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story as I am trying to pick up the pace and hopefully more will unfold throughout the next few chapters. Not long to go now, I'm actually counting down the chapters.

Unedited. 

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