Three: Attaching a Name to the Eyes

"eftishalt saroo" Zeina whined to her best friend on the phone; it was later on that night and she had crawled into bed wearing an oversized sweater over her cotton pj's. Her laptop was sitting a few inches away from her crossed legs flashing brightly with orange bars indicating all the people that were talking to her on her MSN, but Zeina was ignoring them. What had started out as an innocent passing in a parking lot had turned into a full fledged obsession within hours.

"saroo lazim a3aref shesma... shlon a6al3a? 7atan ma fakart a7fith raqam sayarta!" Zeina smacked the covers with regret.
"3adal bet3arfeen shay if u got the number...i have a great way of finding out mino ihwa etha tabeen bes how willing are u to degrade urself?" Sara laughed. Sara was much better at these kinds of things than Zeina was. Zeina would much rather lock herself in her room and fantasize about what her ideal guy COULD be like rather than going out there and finding out what he REALLY is like.

"I'm listening mama..." Zeina pouted
"eshraych bacher il 9ib7 embacher na5eth sayartiii o neftar bil nezha inshoof ib ay bait safe6! then en6ali3 min baita o khala9!"
"wetha mu saken bil nezha?" As she said this Zeina sent a silent prayer that the man with the black eyes actually lived in il Nezha and didn't have a closed garage.
"it's worth a try..." saro shrugged. What Zeina loved about her best friend was that she was up for anything and what would sound like weird requests to any other person sounded completely normal to Sara.

"Fine, pick me up as early as you can" Zeina gave in.

They hung up the phone and butterflies filled Zeina's stomach as she thought of hte prospect of finding out who the mystery guy was.

-------

Zeina awoke to the sound of her mobile ringing; groggily she picked it and tried to make out the name on the screen:
Sara Calling....

"Alooo" she managed before throwing her head back onto her pillow
"yala gomay khanshoof fares a7lamich wain saken..."

On any other occasion Zeina would have hung up on Sara and gone back to sleep but the excitment of finally putting a name to the mysterious face brought back the butterflies of last night and she sprung up out of bed. As she washed up, she tried to think of the perfect outfit for such an outing. She knew she'd have to cover herself up as much as possible; even though Sara's car was nothing like her own, she didnt want to risk him seeing her stalking his streets like a psycho. She finally settled on regular jeans and a long sleeved tshirt with a huge scarf to cover her head and large sunglasses that definitely hid her face.

Within fiteen minutes Sara was parked outside; she gave Zeina a missed call and waited patiently for her to come down. Zeina didn't take long to join her and laughed at the two cups of starbucks coffee Sara had brought with her. She couldn't ask for a better best friend if she tried!
"So..enbalesh min awal qe63a lai akher qe63a ok?" Sara said matter of factly; Zeina had the feeling that this wasn't the first time Sara house-stalked a man before.

Sara drove slowly and patiently down one street and up the other while Nawal sang heartbreakingly on the radio.
"Enzain etha legaiteeh sheno betsaween?" Sara asked
"a6eg il bab wakh6eba ... eshdarani .. what can i do a9lan?" Zeina whispered focusing on each house's garage as they passed them.
"Ashwa ina el Nezha 9gheera .. tadreen law saken bil jabriya aw shay chan entay al7ean rakba taxi ga3da et7oseen" Sara joked
"hatha etha saken bil nezha! Maybe kan maar a7ad?" Zeina sighed. She was beginning to lose hope, they had gone past almost half the houses in the area and still no Bentley. What if its parked in an indoor garage? What if he was just passing by this area? What if people are noticing us driving around at such a slow speed? These thoughts began to pass through Zeina's head and just as she was about to tell Sara to turn back and head home something caught the corner of her eye.

There on the end of the street, inside the biggest house of them all, was a white Bentley parked behind a black GMC Tahoe; "SAROOOO" Zeina screeched and Sara hit the breaks with fear..
"Shfeech shfeech?"
"Shoofay dakhel hathak il bait bil garage.. mu china Bentley baitha?" Zeina was barely making sense. Sara eased her way up the street slowly and parked in front of the very house Zeina was pointing at.
"Yal maynoona eshga3da etsaween!!" Zeina covered her face and smacked Sara on the arm.
"3adi 3adi chini ba3adel sayarti o barja3 a6la3 the other way..." Sara began to pull her car into reverse and slowly took off in the opposite direction. For anyone who was looking it was an innocent scene, with two girls clearly lost and going back the same way they had come in.
"Kanat bentley baitha 9a7?" Zeina asked already starting to doubt what she had seen,
"ee ee bentley! o il bait ib isim Mohammad Al Flani...et3arfeenhom?" she asked.

Zeina felt like an idiot; she had gotten so excited about seeing the car that she forgot to even look for the name-plate near the gate of the house.
"et9adgeen ma fakart 7atan ashoof il isim!" Zeina laughed
"enzain mit2akda ina nafs il bentley?"
"yeah it's the closest one possible...nafs il loon wel model o kelshay!"

Heaving a sigh of relief Zeina leaned back into Sara's passenger's seat and began to fantasize what kind of a person weld M7ammad Al Flani was...
She made a mental note to ask her mom about his family the minute she woke up. The neighborhood was small and she was sure her mom would have at least some information on his family.