The Perfect Girl

13

"He falls apart,
Opens up his heart,"

It was a while before we got an answer from Hiba.

It was funny, in a way. I thought, with the constant interaction between my own family and Hiba's that the answer would be immediate, for some reason. Somehow, I didn't realize that Hiba, like me, would need time to consider the idea, to turn it over in her mind as I had turned it over in mine.

When we finally found out that she had said yes, I was immensely relieved. But then, there were more nerves now than there had been before. I knew Hiba wanted to get to know me, which I was glad about, but refusal now would have been so much less painful than refusal later.

Now there was a chance, something I hadn't allowed myself to imagine before. Now, things could go right, which meant they could also go wrong.

It scared me.

***

The first time I saw Hiba post marriage-talk, everything was weird.

It was a Saturday, and we were over at Uncle Irfan's house. It should have been a familiar atmosphere, except there was this sort of tension between Shuayb and Amar and I, and between Jana and Hiba, and most of all, between Hiba and I. Every once in a while, Hiba and I would lock eyes, both of us awkward, and then we'd look away quickly, at the same moment, or sometimes she'd look away first and my eyes would remain on her, and then she'd flick her eyes back up at me and I would whisk my gaze away in a frenzy.

All of us--the younger ones-- sat down in the living room after dinner to play a board game.

"What do you want to play?" Shuayb asked, pulling a stack of games from the cupboard.

"Let's play Taboo," Amar suggested.

"Yeah!" Jana looked excited.

Taboo was a fairly simple game that was much harder than it looked. The players partnered up, and then they pulled out a card from the deck. Each card had a word that they had to try and make their partners guess before time ran out, as well as several related words that they couldn't use.

For example, there was a card with the word horse on it, and you were forbidden from saying the words saddle, stirrups, riding, reins, and stable.

Every time the partner guessed correctly they were given a point, and the idea was to get through as many cards in a minute as they could.

I actually really enjoyed playing it, because it was surprisingly entertaining, and the whole thing ended up being sort of hilarious.

"I'm good with that," I agreed, casting a glance at Hiba to see what she thought.

She wasn't paying attention.

"Hiba?" Amar said, "You wanna play?"

She snapped her eyes up, jolted back into focus, "Sure."

"We're an odd number," Shuayb said.

"It's okay," Jana shrugged, "I'll partner up with Khalid and you, Amar and Hiba can be a team."

Amar nodded, then shuffled the cards and placed them on the table.

"You start, Hiba." Amar suggested.

Hiba drew a card, waited for Jana to put the timer on.

"Oh, shoot," she stuttered, "I--uh-- it's--oh!-- Fe, the element."

"Iron?" Shuayb asked.

"Yes! Okay, um... Mr. Waters is our...?"

"Neighbor!" Amar and Shuayb shouted a second apart.

Hiba pumped her arms in victory, picked up another card, "Ooh, I love these! There are a bunch in my room, Shuayb like--"

The timer went off. Hiba dropped the card, sighing.

"What was it?" Amar asked.

"Books." Hiba groaned.

"Okay, Jana, you go next."

I braced myself as Jana began, "What are my earrings made of?"

"Uh, silver-- gold!"

"Good, next! Uh-- sometimes on sleepovers we have what fights?"

"Pillow!"

"Yes! Alright!" Jana grimaced, "According to Ami, all the shows I watch are..."

"Stupid?"

"No!"

"Pointless?"

"The other word! You guys use it all the ti--" she exclaimed in frustration.

"Trashy!"

"Part of that word?"

"Trash?"

"Yes!"

The beeping of the timer erupted.

"That was pretty good guys," Shuayb commented.

Jana high fived me, smiling.

"Okay, Shuayb," Amar handed him the deck.

***

"Do you like her?" Ami asked, the minute we got in the car.

"I don't know, Ami," I groaned, "It hasn't been that long--"

"You've known her 21 years!"

"I know," I grumbled, "But I have sharam, (shame) Ami. I haven't exactly been thinking of her that way."

Big. Fat. Lie.

"Gadaa, (Donkey)," Ami muttered under her breath.

"Ami," I hissed.

"Fine!" Ami said, "But, Khalid, you aren't fooling anyone. You like her, and you've liked her a long time."

"Mama!" I exclaimed.

She just smirked in the front seat, smug.