After much deliberation and hours filled with laughter, Ameerah finally decided to hold her 22nd birthday party in Dubai. Well I have never gone on vacation and now that we're at home and we have nothing else to do, Tayibah pushed in the idea of us going to Dubai on Wednesday to celebrate Ameerah's birthday.
We left for Juwairiyah's place around 5PM, and here we are, 8pm already. Sharing ideas with Ameerah is honestly interesting, she makes sure she considers the good and bad sides of things before going for them and boy, she's wise.
Very wise. " I'll invite my close friends as well " Ameerah says while twirling a pen in her hands.
The celebration is going to hold at The View by Dusit, an outdoor terrace. Daddy helped us reserve a spot and apparently they have a team that can help decorate the whole area, so yeah Daddy paid. He also paid some caterers for the food, refreshments and birthday cake and all we have to do here is to invite guests, I'm obviously going with my besties and the celebrant is also tagging along with hers. The celebration won't be choked up and we'll be so free to do what we like, cause it's going to be a girls thing. I'm 80 percent sure Ameerah doesn't have male besties, and I'm sure he's going to feel awkward being around girls so he'll gladly stay behind.
" Uhmm Zakiyah, I'm going to take a tricycle to my friend's place, it's not far from here. I'll talk to them about our plans then I'll meet you at home"
" Oh okay, be careful on your way" I say while peeling my eyes away from my screen to stare at her. She says goodbye to Juwairiyah and Tayibah and finds her way out of the room. " I never knew she was this interesting honestly" Tayibah says, with her head resting comfortably on my thighs. " Yeah, she's actually very nice" Juwee backs up and begins to look at I and Tayibah weirdly.
" Girl speak up " I snap and watch her giggle. " Fareed asked me out" she says and both I and Tayibah spring up from our comforting positions to look at her properly. " Let me be sure, Reedo finally asked you out" Tayibah asks for confirmation as Juwairiyah walks over to sit with us on her bed.
Fareed is a good friend of ours who didn't complete Ss3 with us, he instead wrote waec in Ss2 and left to study Robotics in New York. He was our class captain in Meadows and also one of the popular hearththrobs the junior girls were dying for, but he had eyes for only one girl and that's my pretty bestfriend that's happily staring at us right now.
Juwairiyah had a crush on him back then but it died down when he began to constantly tease her about her chubby cheeks. Juwairiyah has flesh in the right places, she and Tayibah are a constant reminder of how I could've had features of a drop-dead gorgeous model but instead, I was blessed with a short height and a thin physique. Yay!.
I always knew Fareed liked Juwee cause everytime he teased her and watched her reaction, he smiled like a goat and actually blushed. It was cute honestly, Reedo is so nice and he's a genius. " Shebi I told you, I told you he liked you but you were always like no no, he just hates you. Now how stupid do you feel for not realising this sooner?" I tease and watch her cheeks redden.
" Well he used to always look for my trouble, you can't blame me for thinking that he hated me"
" Sure sure, but what did you tell him?" Tayibah asks.
" I wanted to let you guys know first so I told him I'll think about it. I'm not sure I'm ready for any long distance thing"
" Do you even like him?" Juwee likes every cute guy that walks past her. " Honestly, I guess I do. No, I love him. He's just so far away and I want my first boyfriend to be here with me, not far away in New York" believe it or not, even with the massive amount of guys Juwairiyah has liked, she has never gone for any one of them that asked her out. They were all either too cocky, too arrogant or yeah, brats.
" If you say you truly love him, the distance won't be a problem" Tayibah answers. " Yeah, it won't matter and Fareed is an honest and trustworthy dude, if he says he likes you, I assure you he won't look at someone else. Did the guy even look at any other girl apart from you in School?" I add and watch Juwee smile, I honestly have beautiful friends. " Now that I think about it, he didn't socialize with any of the girls apart from the three of us"
" I remember how I almost punched him in the face one time for calling me a tooth pick he could use to pick out dirt from the teeth of people that smoke cigarettes...." Tayibah starts and both I and Juwairiyah burst into a fit of laughter. We were having an exam in Accounting in Ss2 that particular day and we all finished early, so before school closed, I, Tayibah and Juwairiyah sat alone, talking in an empty class but Reedo and our headboy came to join us.
Tayibah teased him by calling him a penguin, just cause she's a bit taller than he is and he in turn, replied with the toothpick joke. It was funny really. " and he ran behind me to protect him from you" I add, amidst laughs.
" The guy is cute abeg, please say yes to him. He has to come visit his people here from time to time ai, so you guys will get time to meet" Tayibah speaks up as I and Juwairiyah clear our throats after laughing. " Yeah, and he's truthful and sincere" Juwee answers.
" Well, I always knew you were going to be the first among us to get a boyfriend. I can't believe it's finally happening" I squeal and my two besties giggle in return. " and I'm sure Tayibah will be the last, since y'know, she's the ugly one" I tease and a pillow ends up being rudely smashed onto my face. I should have seen that coming.
The drive back home was a quick one. I devoured a satisfying meal of pounded yam and egusi soup with Daddy by my side, took a bath and here I am watching the pretty stars from my balcony. The cool evening breeze smells fresh and is also soothing my skin. I won't say I have the most amazing view of my area from my balcony cause that'll just be a blatant lie, instead, all I can see is a dark environment with few lights from the street lights around. The whole area doesn't have electrical power right now cause of course, it's NEPA's duty to give us light whenever they wished. We're currently using our solar panels for electricity now.
My phone's default ringtone begins to resound in my hands and I take a look at the caller ID, an unknown number. " Hello?" I answer and my lips form a huge smile after hearing the voice that replied to me. " Yes, Zakiyah the courageous queen"
" When are you seriously going to stop calling me that name Saleem?"
" Maybe never or yeah, maybe when we finally get married" he just dropped a giddy bomb on me right now. I'm doing the world's craziest happy dance in my head right now. " You and who are finally going to get married?" I ask calmly into the phone and I receive the most surprising answer in return.
" Me and you. Well Zakiyah, I'm not someone who beats around the bush about my feelings but I've been hiding this for too long so it's best I let my heart out now"
" For too long?, we met the day before yesterday"
" No, we met 5 years ago" oh he noticed me.
" Oh yeah that's true"
" Can we meet tomorrow?, I'm free tomorrow" I'm honestly doing my best to stay strong right now and not scream at the top of my lungs, it's hard. "Uhmm, I planned to go to Sidi and Sons to restock on my cookies and some other stuffs and to also collect some orders I made from Jumia tomorrow, so I don't know how tomorrow will be like"
" You'll be heading out early like around 1:00pm right?"
" Yeah"
" Okay, how about you meet me at Sidi and sons by 2:00pm"
" Oh okay then" I can work with that. " I can't wait to see you again. You know you've grown cuter than that last time I saw you in school with your over sized uniform" he comments and a laugh escapes my lips. I was so small and short back then, they didn't have uniforms my size then so I had to wait for them to make mine after resumption and I wore the baggy ones they had for me to manage.
It's a struggle to be small. " I honestly can't believe you remember that" I answer and the lights around suddenly come back on, NEPA. " I remember everything that has to do with you" He answers .
" Well don't be a creep about it"
" Of course not. So I have some things I need to prepare for, I'll call you tomorrow. Do you mind?"
" oh no I don't" I answer and a car's headlight, parking in front of our gate draws my attention. That's probably Ameerah's friend bringing her back home. " good, don't forget to pray before sleeping okay?"
" Sure Saleem, you also"
" I won't forget too"
" Cool, good night"
" Rest well"
" Sure, bye"
" Byee" he answers and I end the call feeling all excited. We're going on our first official date tomorrow, I honestly can't wait and I really can't believe that he noticed me back then while I was seriously crushing on him. He was my first and only legit crush, the rest were just infatuations.
I notice a man standing beside Ameerah who's doing her best to avoid eye contact with him. She meets my stare and sends me a small,shy smile, maybe he's her boyfriend. Someone as pretty as she is can't be single. His back is facing me so I can't actually get a proper look at his face, I bet he's super cute, but not as cute as my Saleem. I quickly take a look at the time on my phone and it's already past 9:00pm, I need to get my beauty sleep. I take a quick look at the stars above me and as I walk back into my room, I send my besties a voice note, informing them about the new update with Saleem.
Tomorrow's going to be a great day.
Stretching my arms and legs around me while yawning, I open my eyes to meet my glow in the star lights shining above me, reminding me of my mother. She was an astrologer and she loved stars, she glittered just like they did. My mother was an angel that had to leave my side at an early age but Allah knows best. She knew everything about stars and all the planets, how they influence us and stuff.
I miss her so much, every single day.
We were the perfect family, even though I was an only child, I wasn't over pampered. Luckily for me, my parents knew how to slowly turn me into a good morally and religiously driven independent woman.
" Hey baby" I hear Daddy call from my room door, turning on the lights as he walks in. " Good morning Daddy" I greet and sit upright on my bed. He happily lifts all my curtains and opens all the windows, making the rays of the sun fill my room and also letting in fresh air.
" Did my baby sleep well?" Dad asks and sits beside me on my bed, throwing his arms around my shoulder and resting my head on his shoulder. He still treats me like the helpless eight years old that couldn't leave his side when she lost her mother. " She did, did my handsome Daddy sleep well too?"
" Of course he did"
" Great"
" your reservations in Dubai are set, I even rented a small condo and a car for you girls to move around freely there. Please have fun. You've never travelled abroad even though you had the opportunities to so I'm more than happy that you're going now, I'm even happier that it's for a splendid cause" Daddy says and places a small kiss on my forehead. " I knew you and Ameerah were going to end up getting along"
" Well it just happened and I'm glad that it happened. Do you know that your wife was seeing other men while she was with Ameerah's Dad?" I ask and watch him nod. Of course he knew. " I know, that's the reason why I legally took them in, so she can have someone to call her father"
" But Habeebah might still be cheating on you right now"
" She is, but I really don't care" That's just unbelievable. " She's tarnishing your name Daddy" I answer and watch him burst into a fit of laughter. I glare at him until he finally puts himself together and continues talking. " Trust me, she is not. Habeebah is going to pay for all the pain she has caused everyone she came across eventually, so I don't want you to worry okay?. Your handsome daddy is taking care of things and In Sha Allah, everything will go smoothly" I have no idea what's really going on but as far as Daddy is trying to handle things, I'm sure that truly, everything is going to go smoothly. I legit have the best Dad in the entire world.
" Sure, I trust my Daddy" I say happily and hug him tightly. " Yauwa, Daddy do you remember Saleem?, my crush in Jss1?" Since I didn't have an older, close female to ask advice about my crushes from, Daddy was my only option.
My best option.
" Yeah the sports prefect"
" I saw him again a few days ago, remember the last work I did?, it was for them and he dropped by to collect it. He looks more handsome now Daddy and he's so tall, nice, and straightforward. I also saw him again on Saturday, during that event, he's bestfriend's with that rude Haneef guy. So we talked, I gave him my number and he called me yesterday. He kinda said he likes me, but he didn't actually say ' I like you'. He also asked if we could hang out today and I guess I agreed" I lament to Daddy's rapt attention.
" How can he say he likes you when he met you only a few days ago?"
" well he actually noticed me back then in Jss1 and I guess that's when he developed feelings for me too, but he hasn't actually said anything about that yet, I just suspect it"
" Well, don't be in a haste to be in a relationship with him. I know your crush can make you do crazy things but just be careful okay. After your date, drop by my office, I'll like to have a talk with him" well I hope he agrees.
" We'll see daddy"
I had to carefully select my outfit for today, I have to look good. I ended up choosing a pair of white palazzo pants, a pink wrap top, a white cap and stoned veil for my head and yes, my cute pair of white leather heel slippers. It's comfortable and not so high. I head out without looking twice at my jewelry box, I'm honestly not a fan of jewelry.
Driving to the Jumia branch that's right beside the famous 10-storey building here in Kaduna was quick. I ordered more caligraphy pens, wrapping sheets, drawing sheets, more paint and gold and silver glitter. Luckily, it's what I ordered for I received.
It's already 1:30pm and I'm here at Sidi and Sons, shopping for cookies and all kinds of snacks. I also need to stock up my sanitary pads. I message Saleem that I'm already at our meeting point and he replied saying he's on his way. I flip packs of different cookies into my basket and take out my phone from my bag, to take some cute snaps.
While taking my last selfie, someone pops their ugly head into the front of my camera and I quickly back away from the least expected person to see at a grocery store.
Talking to him will just result to us attacking each other so I hastily turn around to walk away from him, but his hold on my arm tightens and he pulls me back to face him almost instantly.
" Please, I don't want to fight with you again. What do you want?" I say with a firm voice and he in return smiles at me widely, flaunting his extremely charming set of white teeth and deep dimples.
Look away Zaki, look away!!
My inner voice screams to me and I swiftly obey. " I don't want to fight with you either, I want to make things right between us, for friends and family's sake" He replies with his big smile. I look up to meet his gaze and instantly look away, I'm not even close to this guys shoulder, my head stops a little way above his waist.
I honestly hate standing beside tall people.
" You should have considered that when you tried to slap me" I snap back and watch him sigh. His lips form a pout and I struggle with my eyes to look away from him again but they fail me this time. " I'm sorry for being inconsiderate and not treating you right, I tend to not know how to control my anger sometimes" He answers with a tone of sincerity and I feel my heart slightly waver.
" I'm honestly glad that I found you here today, I was seriously praying to meet you again so I could apologise in person for the way I talked to you those two days we met" Part of me wants to believe his nice act but another part of me believes that he's trying to get something out of me by acting all nice.
" It's fine"
" So you accept my apology" let's see how nice he can be. " No I don't, it didn't feel sincere" I answer and watch him scrunch his thick brows in a frown. " I am so sorry" he says again, actually sincerely.
" You're just saying that. Prove to me that you're sorry and sure, we'll be cool..." I say, " For family and friends sake" I add, this time making sure I imitate his voice. I turn around with a proud smirk and walk away from him, not waiting to listen to his response.
He's going to drop his act eventually, I'm sure that the sides of him I saw two days ago are the only true sides of him that exist.
Arrogant and vile.