Chapter Twenty Nine - Dark Dreams
"We need to get our hair done." Leila announced on a rainy Wednesday morning.
Sabrina, immune to Leila's sudden beauty demands, looked over at her slowly and yawned. She was tired, and had been for the last week. She didn't want to look into the reason but she was sure it had blue eyes and annoyingly gorgeous hair and an even more annoyingly gorgeous face. She scowled at thinking this, which made Leila blink.
"Okay, okay." Leila huffed. "You don't have to murder me."
Sabrina blinked, wiping the disgust off her face and replacing it with a neutral expression.
"I'm sorry." She apologized. "Fine. Yeah. Let's get our hair done."
"Good!" Leila chirped, and linked her arm with Sabrina's. "It'll be a great way to get your mind off things."
Sabrina couldn't help but notice that by things, Leila meant a certain boy with blue eyes with a annoyingly gorgeous face. Who, now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen since she'd last spoken to him. Khalid had been conveniently absent and she wasn't sure if she should just move on or not. She wasn't sure if she could.
After their last class, the two girls met up at Sabrina's locker. Sabrina nodded through a story that Leila was dramatically describing to her, waving her hands and flailing her arms which made Sabrina laugh. They stopped for a moment to text Emaan but she was busy re-writing an exam so they decided to head to the salon.
* * *
A great thing about the particular salon that they usually went to was that they had a back room where ladies who covered their hair could get their hair done. Sabrina was especially impressed by this thought that allowed devout hijabis to get the same treatment as a non-hijabi could. As they arrived and walked to the back, chatting about how they could spend the weekend, Leila suddenly stopped abruptly causing Sabrina to almost run into her.
"Hey, what..." She began but trailed off when she caught sight of what had made Leila halt.
Leena.
"Oh, hi!" Leena greeted them, her eyes widening.
With a quick glance Sabrina confirmed her suspicion: Leena was their hairdresser, judging by her uniform: a navy tunic. She stepped past Leila, thinking about requesting another hairstylist. But she suddenly changed her mind.
"Hey, Leena." She tried for a smile.
"Well!" Leena laughed, not cruelly. "Sit down. It's been a while, huh?"
The two girls glanced at each other and turned back to the Arab girl before them. Leena smiled warmly.
The last encounter Sabrina had of Leena was comforting her in a bathroom after accidentally eavesdropping on an argument between the Arab girl and Khalid. She remembered being shocked that day when Leena, dripping in tears had admitted that Sabrina wasn't as bad as she had once thought. Sabrina had wondered if perhaps the blue-eyed girl was high. After that, she'd sort of disappeared, unable to attend graduation and rumours suggested she was upgrading to become a beautician.
What Sabrina couldn't understand was why she was being so damn nice.
She went over a list of possible explanations while Leena ran her fingers through her hair, complimenting its texture.
1. She was faking it for the sake of her job.
2. She'd developed an extreme case of amnesia that specifically wiped out her memory from junior high to high school. Side note: does this mean she does of does not still have a thing for Khalid?
3. She'd acquired a deadly disease and was about to die in three months and thus had decided to put her evil ways to rest and start again anew as a kind, loving person.
Sabrina was frighteningly close to convincing herself that it was the third one. She didn't want her to die. Before she could burst into apology for all the awful things she'd said or thought about her in the past, Leena suddenly paused and turned to Leila.
"Oh, I just wanted to...um." Leena hesitated and then sighed. "I heard about your mom. I'm sorry about your loss and I hope you and your family are coping well. May Allah lessen your grief."
Leila nodded silently, her eyes drifting down to her lap. Sabrina noticed that these days Leila would withdraw as soon as someone would mention her mother. But she also noticed that Leila was touched, by the way her mouth parted slightly in surprise.
Sabrina turned from observing Leila to observe Leena in the mirror.
"How did you know?" She asked quietly.
"Some of my friends attended the funeral prayer. They go to your university, too." She answered, meeting Sabrina's eyes in the mirror. "They also said something about your engagement to Khalid?"
Sabrina visibly stiffened. She braced herself for the venom in Leena's voice and eyes which she'd become so used to during high school. She wondered if she was still obsessed with Khalid as she used to be but no, holding her reflection's gaze, she saw that their was no challenge in her eyes. She seemed to be completely curious and unaffected.
"It's been postponed." Sabrina mumbled.
"Oh." Leena nodded, dropping her eyes and focusing on curling her hair gently. "I hope it works out."
Again, Sabrina was shocked and surprised. She felt as if she was in one of those cliché movies where the main antagonist teams up with the good guy and they become almost-best-friends. She wasn't sure how to respond. Or if she'd ever want to be almost-best-friends with Leena.
"Yeah," She thought, absent mindedly. "Me too."
They were silent for a good moment and Sabrina was ready to file this salon visit as one of the most awkwardest situations ever. She glanced at Leila and saw that she was on her phone, furiously texting, also something she did when she was distancing herself after a good-hearted person mentioned her mother.
"You know," Leena chuckled suddenly, breaking the heavy silence. "I probably would have given anything to be engaged to Khalid a few years ago."
She met Sabrina's eyes in the mirror and smiled. "I was so obsessed with him, huh? I'm glad I got over that."
"Oh." Sabrina nodded, relief flooding her.
"So, when I say 'I hope it works out' to you." Leena said. "I do mean it."
* * *
Both Sabrina and Leila had decided that their unexpected reunion with Leena had gone pretty well considering what had happened in the past. Sabrina was especially glad that Leena didn't hate her guts - openly anyway. When they'd told Emaan about their encounter, she was also quite surprised. But they didn't have time to dwell on the matter because Emaan was currently freaking out.
The three girls were lounging about in Sabrina's living room, flipping randomly through t.v channels. Emaan patiently listened to their salon adventure while nearly vibrating with some kind of news that obviously had her visibly flustered and yet thrilled.
"Oh, gosh you will not believe what happened." Emaan suddenly burst out after a full minute of containing her excitement. "Okay so, um, Jamaal and I were talking right and-"
"Wait, what now?" Leila stopped her, cocking her head. "Woah, back up? Rewind? Since when did you guys just casually talk?"
"No, its not like that!" Emaan blushed a violent red. "I was, uh, I was in line in the cafeteria and he was behind me and he asked if I could pass him a straw and our fingers kinda brushed-"
Sabrina mock gasped. "Oh my Allah. That's so haraam."
"Honestly? What kind of fitnah?" Leila faked a horrified expression.
Emaan glared at them. "Anyway." she continued. "Our little brothers are like friends so he mentioned that my mom had invited them over for dinner this weekend and I didn't know about this so I kinda juts nodded and smiled and booked it!"
"Oooh." Leila wiggled her eyebrows. "This weekend?"
Emaan nodded furiously and looked as if she was about to throw up. "What will I wear?!"
Sabrina hid a smile as her two friends discussed possible outfits which the grey eyed Arab girl could consider. She thought it was sweet that Emaan had a crush on the Pakistani boy who was often seen hanging out with Khalid. She wondered if they'd patched up that rift they'd fallen into when Jamaal had discovered that Khalid was responsible for his brother's murder along with other things. This made Sabrina think about where Khalid was. She shook this thought out of her mind and reached over to pick up her wandering cat. Burying her face into his neck, she sighed, letting her friends' chatter and the t.v fade into the background.
* * *
That night Sabrina found herself running. One second she's standing in an empty parking lot, the wet concrete reflecting the street lights. She walked along a line of abandoned carts, her footsteps echoing into the clear night. Somewhere she heard rainfall, even though she could not feel it on her skin. It stopped abruptly, the night falling completely silent and a figure slid into her line of vision.
She didn't stop to watch it; she turned and ran, fear shooting into her veins. She was vaguely aware that the figure felt familiar, but not friendly. All she focused on was running away. But then she was yanked back, as if a cord had been tugged and she fell back. A hand closed around her mouth before she could scream.
She saw the figure's face now and it was all too familiar. Osama.
But his face was blurry and then it was contorting, his nose twisting into his forehead, his eyes enlarging and bursting out of his face. It was no longer Osama's face.
It was Khalid's.
The hand on her mouth was gone and she felt his hands on her face, his fingers brushing aside her hair, brushing away her fear. His mouth parted and moved to shape words.
Just three words.
I love you.
* * *
;-;
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