Note from Tara:
Hello my pretties <3 (Assalamualikum to all ya'lll muslims out there)
Just some clarification: Laila hasn't seen the Khans in 2 years.
She hasn't been friends with Mavish for 1 1/2 year.
Therefore the last time the Khans were here when they lived back at their house, they saw Mavish at thanksgiving and other stuff since her and Fiza and Sabrena and Laila were al best freinds and hung out a lot and the Khans saw them on birthday parties and other functions. Just a few months after the Khans moved, the whole "day" happened.
I dedicate this to themysterygurl786 cause i've been PM'ing her for like ever and became quick freinds! She's totally amazing! Do check out her amazing stories! I hope you like this story Taz :P
anyways, enjoy and pweeeeze comment and vote if you liked it :)
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Recap
"It’s about Mavish." she said quietly.
"What did she do? I SWEAR I'll KILL HER THIS TIME. I KNEW WE SHOULD'VE NEVER TRUSTED HER. I TOLD Y-" she cut me off
"No no! That's not it. Actually it's exactly the opposite.” My mouth turned into an 'o'
"Come again?" I said taken aback.
"She...she really has changed. I mean...I think we really can trust her now." she said completely serious.
"How can you be so sure?" I asked curious.
"I didn't even think so, like you, till Fiza told me about it. And she was talking to Marie. They both started to talk about sensitive stuff and the next thing you know Marie starts telling her complete honest things trusting her completely. She really trusted her. She would never tell us all of this unless she really trusted us. Plus. We let her in on a couple of stuff. She didn't say a peep."
"What are you trying to say?" I wanted her to get straight to the point. She took a deep sigh.
"What I'm trying to say is... just let it go Laila."
"What!? How could you thinking could just "let it go" so easily! It was me that had to witness the scene that tore our friendship apart. Not to mention our best friend Fiza! Remember her?" I started to get angry.
"Laila. calm down. Of course I remember her. She's the one who put me to this. She's the one that started it all. She thinks we should forgive her. Just give her a second chance. She used to be your friend at one time you know? Plus. This is her last year of high school, our junior year. We’ve already wasted half our freshman year and all of our sophomore. Let's not waste this shall we?" she waited a few seconds.
I breathed out loudly. "Fine. I'll try my best. To...to let it go. Give her a second chance. For Fiza’s sake." I Finally Admitted. But even I wasn't 100% sure of my words.
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Chapter 8
Finally Friday arrived. The day whether I could try to put everything Aside for real.
The sun was setting and the chicks should be making their way anytime soon. I had "Mean Girls" picked out and ready to go for voting plus a pack of movie theater butter popcorn just waiting to explode.
I was just lounging in my long Navy Blue elbow length tee that read "Be the peanut butter to my jelly" and black yoga pants, which could also make shift into pjs if the others vote on some stupid movie and I fall asleep while their all gushing tears out of their eyes. I was vacuuming the carpet while singing and swaying to the radio blasting out of my iPod. I always have to do all the chores since my brother Adil's all the way in a different state in his third year of college. Though now Hamza and Zaiyaan offer my mom to take out the trash and Samina helps us and all that it still doesn’t fill the hole of my brother. I mean he’s annoying but I love him! At first I thought him moving away would be like heaven for me and Fiza, Sabrena, and Mavish (at the time) could come over all the time without having to deal with his teasing and comments. It's like I've been an only child for the past few years. I tried not to let sad thoughts get to me and belted out to "Chammak Challo". Music always makes cleaning better. (and maybe a little SRK) It makes the atmosphere not so silent and creepy anymore. It was weird how the house was a bit quiet. When there were 4 loud quarreling kids living here. Usually it's louder whenever Fiza, Sabrena or any other of their friends are over. Something’s probably up. I think Hamza and Zaiyaan were either at late classes at college or just hanging out with friends. I bet 10 bucks Hamza was out at that candy shop he saw on the way back from Uni once. Who knows? The adults were out visiting someone that I barely know like they normally do. And Samina was probably studying for her midterm exams. She was always the responsible one.
With my hair up in a ‘get-the-heck-out-of-my-face’ bun I was alone in my cozy basement trying to tidy it up a bit and put blankets and pillows on the floor. After popping not 4, but 5 bags of popcorn since I snacked on a bag because I was so bored. I heard the doorbell ring and jumped up, dropping pieces of popcorn that were sitting on my lap straight onto the freshly cleaned floor. I scowled to myself.
“Fudging Pickles.” I mumbled under my breath along with other random words I use for curse words as I made my way upstairs.
“Stupid popcorn, flap jacking door bell, just cleaned the fluppin floor. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” I let out my anger and clenched my fist as I made my way to the door only to bump abruptly into something hard. What's with me bumping into people lately?
“What the FOB!” I said as I jerked back. I felt a pain in my shoulder and pouted. Ow that hurt.
“I know you are!” said the deep voice of the person that shoved into me. Zaiyaan. Ergh! I could punch this guy out but you know I’m not gonna ‘cause I'm a good Muslim with a lot of self control. Well, when it comes to these types of things. Sorta. I was already slightly angry over the crummy popcorn situation. And now he rudely rams into me. He should NOT be messing with me right now. Just seeing his face puts a frown on my face when I recap all the teasing and insults and arguments we get into.
Actually you know what. That’s going to change. At least slightly. I mean it wouldn’t be fun if we stopped arguing but it should be cut down a bit.
These past few days have been all about letting go of grudges and forgetting the past. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to be a peacemaker…
Okay! Okay! So maybe it has a little to do with me wanting to mess with him and freak him out. I tried to hide my smug smile. Can’t wait to see his reaction!
“Oh my, you say the silliest things. Sorry about running into you, young man. Pardon me…” I patted his hard red Nike t-shirt covered shoulder , gave him a sugar coated smile, and walked around him to swing open the door. I swear I heard the loud thud of his jaw hit the floor. I stifled my giggle as best as I could but almost choked on my spit as I failed. Of course that only made the atmosphere more comical.
“Do I really look that funny?” Fiza said outraged and offended as I opened the door. She was wearing gray sweat pants and a black cardigan with a red shirt inside.
“I told you so! I told you so!” Sabrena rubbed in her face.
“No I was just laughing at ...something.”
“I AM NOT A THING!” Zaiyaan yelled from behind me snapping out of his confused trance. I grinned. Muhuhaha!
“Could’ve fooled me. “ Sabrena said stepping inside giving me a view of her purple jeans and Beatles T-shirt. I shook my head, only Sabrena could pull this look off. I giggled at her comment and gave her a fist pump. Ah I love backup.
Mavish caught me off guard with her outfit. She was wearing a completely sequined pink top with black skinny jeans and black sandal wedges.
I raised an eyebrow. Jeez. It was just a plain old movie night. I think we all know that means show up comfortable and dressed like a lazy bum. No need to be so fancy.
“Hey Mavish. Welcome back. That tops cool and all but Isn’t it ...you know...a bit ...umm uncomfortable?” I asked. It was kind of weird seeing her come inside my house after 18 months. That uncertainty in my chest was back. I shook out my head, trying to shake the thoughts away. I really need to stop being so stubborn and let things go.
“Hah oh you know. I thought I’d dress up a bit since it’s a special Friday.” She convinced me. Her voice was a tiny bit anxious as she said that. A bit uncertain. I guess she's still a little worried about if we all really did accept her back or not. The doubt in my gut was as present as a rubber ducky in lake full of geese, but I tried not to let it show. She handed me “The Notebook” .Oh gosh if we vote on this I’ll be letting some tears fall. What can I say? Old people love is the cutest!
“What’s good Z-dawg?” I heard Sabrena, bumping fists with him as well. Wow. She just had to act all ‘ghetto’ didn’t she? I rolled my eyes.
I turned around at the gesture. Just to see a weird dude. Okay more like a dude that was wierded out. Why was Zaiyaan all still and his expression all confused, surprised and eyebrows raised. Sabrena looked at me and gestured her heads towards him which, in our language, interpreted out to say ‘what’s crawled up his knickers?’ Fiza gave me the same look and let out a loud dramatic cough. Finally he snapped out of it and the corners of his lips turned very slightly upwards, but it never metthe rest of his face, including his eyes.
He shook his head n cleared his throat. “Umm" he coughed." Err right. What up... Fizzy and um Sabrena the teenage witch!” Zaiyaan said sitting on the stairs drinking coke and nodding at both of them.
I remembered that Mavish might be confused as to who is the dude sitting on my stairs, so I gestured to the beast himself. "Oh and Mavish." at the sound of Mavish’s name his jaw dropped open and he again looked puzzled and shocked. But it looked as if though he suspicions were clarified.
“ I don't know if you remember him, though you'd be lucky if you didn't,” I added the last part towards Fiza and Sabrena and they chuckled.
"I heard that!" he said giving me a pointed look but , still I could see he was curious as to why the person I told them wasn't our best friend anymore is now coming over for a Friday Night Movie time.
"Anyways this is..." she cut me off filling in the name for me.
"Zaiyaan." she finished with a smile and looked at him, taking him in. I blinked. She did remember. Though they met maybe at most 10 times more than 2 years ago? And he has changed a lot, maybe not on the inside that much, but even I couldn't recognize him.
"Um I mean. What brings you back, Zaiyaan? Long time no see." Mavish composed herself shrinking her beaming smile to a polite grin. Okay that was weird.
"You know. Practically family with the Ahmed’s, staying here till we get our own place. The twins and I wanted to go to college here and my parents wanted to come back so here we are.” he answered briefly.
Awkward pause.
"It's Friday Friday! GOTTA WATCH A MOVIE ON FRIDAY!" Sabrena screamed belting out the lyrics of the overplayed song. Can this chick. Not quote and sing random songs just for one day! Especially this song!
"That reminds me!” Fiza brightened. “What’s this? Zaiyaan got no plans on a Friday night?" Fiza cooed to him like a baby. He looked the tiniest bit embarrassed but put a tiny smirk on his face.
"I thought I'd chill at home to keep an eye on the house incase Laila was home alone. Just to prove to my parents that I am responsible from last week. And it turns out…SHE WAS! Like the loser geek she is!" he laughed pointing at me.
I scowled at him. At least Hamza and Samina’s weren’t here or they would've just made me feel more like a baby that can't take care of herself and treat me like I'm 5, not 15. Well then you enjoy the company of your loneliness Zaiyaan. We’re going to have a movie party downstairs that you wouldn't be interested in. Let's go girls!" I grabbed their hands and ran downstairs. I shut the door to drown out the noises from upstairs. Who knows if the adults or Hamza, Samina showed up later.
"OMG!" Sabrena squealed as she jumped on the couch in excitement once we all sat down on my makeshift pillow and blanket contraption.
"What?"
“Huh?”
“Shut up!”
We all chorused at the same time… She was grinning from one cheek to the other... Doesn't that hurt?
"Okay. So I'm pretty sure before you dragged us down the stairs I heard Zaiyaan mumble 'who said I wasn’t interested!' hence my OMG" she squealed at the end aching my ears.
I screamed and Fiza blushed but soon brushed it off, as if snapping herself back into reality. She started toying with the ends of her cardigan. Something she did out of a habit of nervouseness.
"It was probably your wax filled ears Sabrena." she said shaking her head. But we all caught her looking to the side with a small smile on her lips, probably thinking its true just for a moment. Mavish was smiling too. Kind of …smirking. Like …like she just found out something was going her way. Maybe she knew about Fiza’s huge crush on Zaiyaan. Who was nonchalantly drumming her fingernails against the pillow.
Something clicked as I realized something.
"OHMYGOSH your in denial!" I turned to her with wide eyes,
"What! Laila no I'm not!" she defended.
"Denial" Mavish sang. I smiled at her. It was starting to feel like old times.
"You know what that means?" Sabrena said with a grin. Fiza was as red as a sun ripe tomato. She bent her head low and her red tinted dark hair fell onto her eyes. In hopes of hiding her face. I never thought I would see the most extroverted and confident girl I knew become shy and embarrassed!
"She’s falling in love!" Sabrena said in a sing song voice.
What? I blinked, surprised and shocked. Love? The legit ‘L’ word? That was a first. She..she really was serious about him? Mavish’s face almost mirrored mine. But her lip glossed mouth broke into a mischievous smile. That same one that was on before. Oh she was probably really happy for Fiza and wanted to hook them up. Naughty naughty! But I knew Zaiyaan or Fiza wouldn't do anything.
"How can you be so sure?" I asked.
"Well... Fiza. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about him?" Mavish looked over at her. Fiza opened her mouth to instantly deny it.
"Tell the truth." I narrowed my eyes at her. she looked back and forth from all three of us searching for some escape route. But all of our raised eyebrows changed her mind,
"All the fricken time." she sighed. Sabrena and Mavish squealed. I small smile found its way to my face. I studied her face closely to notice if she really felt this way. I noticed dark circles under her slightly tired eyes.
"You haven't been getting sleep have you?" I stated. She didn't argue.
"Kyun aaj kal neendh kum khwaab zaada hai..." Sabrena sang. Fitting with the situation.
"Fiza. Just admit it already. You can't stop thinking about him. So much you don't even get sleep." Mavish stated.
"And I have noticed you smiling all the time, getting nervous around him. Not to mention sneaking a few glances and blushing." I teased.
"Kya mujhe pyaar hai!!!!" Fiza sang trying to play it off as a joke but the truth hid behind those lyrics.
"Yup. That's settled. Fiza Javeria Saiyed. You are officially falling in love with Zaiyaan Uh..." Sabrena raised her eyebrow at me looking for help.
I rolled my eyes. "Ali." I stated his middle name.
"Zaiyaan Ali Khan." Sabrena finished clapping her hands. We all joined her and said our congratulations.
I was happy for her. Happy she actually let someone in. And let herself fall for someone. I thought that would never happen because of before. She has made it as clear as day. My chest twisted slightly. It's probably my realistic side. I just hope she won’t get hurt. I pushed that thought aside as I thought of something to make this new timid Fiza squirm and blush. My newfound specialty.
"And with that comment that Sabrena heard it seems as though he might feel the same way!" I waggled my eyebrows.
"Well keep in mind we don't know who he was talking about." Fiza reminded us.
"Well it definitely wasn't about me!" I said laughing and quickly plugging in mean girls before we could even vote.
"Hey! I thought we were supposed to vote?" Mavish said frowning at her movie.
"Shh it's starting!" I said and shoved a handful of popcorn in each of their mouths to keep them from arguing with me. Mavish stuck her tongue out at me and I smirked evilly, works everytime.
About a half hour into the movie we all had shut up and started paying attention. Not including occasionally mumbling comments and inside jokes under our breath.
Mavish moved the bowl of popcorn off her lap and stood up quietly. It seemed as though I was the only one that noticed since Fiza and Sabrena were too into the movie. I gestured my head up with my eyebrow raised. 'Bathroom' she mouthed. I nodded.
"I just wanna live in a world with butterflies and rainbows!” Confessed the weird girl with mental issues on the TV screen. I fell into a fit of giggles as Sabrena and Fiza both took turns imitating her. I shushed them with a death glare as my favorite part was coming up.
"Psst." Someone hissed at me. I ignored it and took a sip of my juice box.
"Pssssttttt!!" this time it was closer to my ear. I ignored it again and found myself getting eager as The part neared. Wait for it…wait for it….
"She doesn't even go-" my favorite part in the movie was rudely interrupted by a ‘PSSSST’ someone practically screamed in my ear.
"WHAT!" I jerked my neck around crushing the popcorn in my hand from anger. Sabrena flinched back in fear and nudged Fiza to speak. Since my death glare had her scared.
"Where’d Mavish disappear to?" Fiza questioned after rolling her eyes at a cowering Sabrena. I looked around the room with the light flashing out of the TV screen. No sign of her.
"I thought she was back. She said she was going to the bathroom...." I glanced at the clock ."Almost 10 minutes ago?" they both looked at each other with confused looks. I brushed off the crumbs off my yoga pants.
"It must be the popcorn." Fizz scrunched her nose in disgust but held an amused expression. "I better go check." she began to get up but I laid my hand on her lap pushing her down.
"I'll check it out. You already ruined my favorite part anyways.” I told them as I tossed the remote towards them and walked upstairs slowly with them wrestling over the remote behind my back.
As I made my way up halfway, all I heard was sounds of shooting and yelps from the TV, most likely Zaiyaan playing video games. Sounded like Halo:Reach. I frowned. That was the one videogame I loved to play, and they never usually played it since they were busy playing COD. He decided to randomly play it when I wasn’t there. That meanie head! His excuse was probably that it was a ‘mere coincidence’. Typical.
Suddenly, the noises stopped. As if he paused the game. "Umm Do you need something?" came Zaiyaans voice.
I stopped.
I was ten stairs from the top. I slowly and quietly creeped up, careful not to make a noise so they wouldn’t know I’m here. Yup I’m eavesdropping. But I want to know what’s going on.
"I just came, um came here for the bathroom." Mavish said innocently. So far nothings out of the ordinary. I have no idea why but I thought I would find out some deep dark secrets of Zaiyaan and see whether he’s really the same as Hamza said.
"Oh. Okay." his voice said. And resumed the game and the shooting noises filled the air again. A few seconds later I heard the game pause yet again. What the pug?
I heard him rudely speak "What do you-" he was cut off by her sudden burst.
"Stop.” I froze in my steps and my shoulders tense.
"No! STOP!!"
What the heck is going on?
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Muhuhhahahaaha! *looking up at the cieling while laughing evilly and doing that weird finger thingy* i love giving cliffhangers! vote and comment if you want the next chapter up :P
and remember
TARA LOVES YOU!