26: Nostalgia

7ag all il commenters ili dazeenli rude comments.....moootaw o mu ela tegroon liblog etha mu 3ajebkom my schedule..I don't recall being hired for this job!

O plz don't go to my other blog and tell me to continue the story...I have two separate blogs for a reason!

7ag il baji il 7elween ili you waited so patiently wala a7ebkom o ya36eekom alf 3afia..o sam7ooni lana wala these past two weeks have been hectic! Hope you enjoy the post.

love you ;*

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Chuckling inwardly at Mano’s embarrassing exposure Zeina had spent the entire meal thinking of different scenarios in which she would bump into Mano and laugh in his face or tease him about his lie. As her father ordered the check Zeina glanced at her phone for the time, blinking next to the digital clock on the screen was a tiny mailbox; she hadn’t heard her phone beep. Flipping it open she immediately scanned Manaf’s name in the title. Her heart began thudding as she contemplated what he would say to her; would he tell her he didn’t want to speak to her? Would he tell her that things had gotten so confusing and messed up that it looks like it’s not going to be worth the trouble to keep what they had? Instead of all the things that ran through Zeina’s head, she read four short words:

I miss you wayed.

Zeina’s heart began filling up with emotions as she herself began to long for Manaf and more specifically for the way things used to be between them. She hit the reply button and her fingers took over for her:

“Wala…walah il 3atheem Manaf mu kethri.” She replied, it took him seconds to respond,

“Can I call you?” He asked

“La ana ma3a ahali now. When I get back to the hotel I’ll call” She replied and immediately started nagging to go back.

“Yala mama ta3bana” She whined as her father took his time looking over the check and answering her mother’s annoying questions about the table cloths and the shapes of the spoons on the table. “Earth shattering observations” Zeina thought to herself impatiently.

Finally they got up from the table and began heading back to the hotel, naturally Zeina in the lead. When she had finally thrown on her pajamas she dialed Manaf’s number; to her delight his warm voice picked up on the second ring.

“7abeebti” he told her, acknowledging her before even saying hello.

“9ij? 7abeebtik?” Zeina replied stupidly, immediately wanting to take it back. Manaf chuckled at her alarm.

“Ee shlon mu 9ij” he replied. Zeina noticed that his voice was husky and she realized that she must have woken him up. She beamed to herself, realizing just then how much she had missed that word coming from him.

“Wana?” He asked, taking advantage of her silence.

“Wenta shino?” Zeina replied finding herself beginning to become a bit shy in his presence.

“Ana 7abeebich wela la2?”

“Ee. Akeed you are” Zeina replied, her voice slightly lowering with embarrassment. “Shlon Ma9er?” she attempted to casually change the topic to something less heated.

“Laish omy, ma9er hamitich?” He teased her.

“Madry!” Zeina replied flustered.

“Shfeech metwahga?” He continued to taunt her, his voice becoming more and more teasing by the minute.

“Manafo bes!” Zeina whined, admitting defeat. She was too embarrassed by his forwardness and nervous to keep it up and she knew that she was bound to say something stupid very soon if he didn’t stop.

“Enzain enzain khala9 awagef, ma3ina ma kent ga3d asawii shay!” He replied innocently.

“Of course you weren’t” Zeina smiled.

“Enzain…fe majal nerja3 mithel gabil?” He asked her in a more serious tone. It took Zeina a few seconds to recover from his forwardness and to think about what he was asking. She wanted to go back to the way things were but she also didn’t think that Manaf was going to let the whole Faisal thing go without another explanation. Or was he willing to let everything drop?

“Bes chithee?” She asked him, this time Manaf didn’t reply immediately; the pause grew longer and Zeina began playing with her hair nervously, had she said something wrong?

“Ee.” He finally replied. Zeina exhaled slowly, letting go of her hair and wiping a fearful tear that had formed at the corner of her eye.

“Ok.” She whispered back, her voice slightly choked up, but not enough for Manaf to notice. “Be wait…” Zeina almost shouted remembering something very important.

“Shfeech?” Manaf asked.

Zeina slowly began telling him about Dalal, starting at everything she had heard about them to the last encounter with her when she had shown Zeina the message. Manaf kept quiet for a long time, and Zeina nervously listened to his breathing which had gotten heavier and more violent.

“Sheftay tareekh il message?” He finally asked her. It hit her like a slap in the face; she hadn’t even considered that.

“La2” She said quietly.

“Lana mosta7eel ykoon new message” He told her, his voice remained calm and she couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling.

“Okay” Zeina replied deciding to let it go, unless he had anything else to add. He didn’t.

After a few seconds of silence he spoke; “3ayal solfeeli 3an your break are you having fun?” Manaf asked her, his tone getting much softer and friendlier. Zeina began telling him about Italy and everything she had done, careful to leave the lovely Mano out of the conversation. After about an hour of talking Zeina excused herself to go to sleep; “adezlich message awal ma agoom min il noom” Manaf promised her as they got of the phone.

That night Zeina slept more peacefully than any night in the past few weeks and she knew it was because things between her and Manaf were finally back to normal.

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The next morning when she awoke she found a message from Manaf just like he had promised her:

“9aba7 el khair yal 7elwa….9arli fatra 6weela an6er el yoom ili ared a9abe7 3alaich feeh”

Zeina reread the message a dozen times not believing the effect it had on her every single time; as a large smile formed across her face she knew it would last all day from that short message.

“9aba7 el noor yali a7la min el 7ilo!” She texted back, she knew it was gushy and ridiculous but she and Manaf deserved a few days of extreme maleqeen-in-love style messages after what they had been through. Manaf texted her for the next hour as she took a shower and got dressed to go out with her parents again. When she was finished she realized that her parents still had a long way to go before they’d be ready for lunch and so she took it as an opportunity to do some more shopping and talk to Manaf on the phone.

Their conversations remained on light topics as Manaf told her about how after meeting with his advisor and clearing up all his paper work and such he had found out that if he took an extra few classes he’d be done by the next semester.

“Shino your favorite color?” Zeina asked Manaf casually, when he had finished telling her about his derasa.

“hmmm…abyath” He told her

“Maliki” Zeina muttered to herself going through the racks of designer men shirts and sweaters.

“Laish?” He asked.

“La bes as2al” she replied innocently already picking up a few white colored articles of clothing.

Manaf brushed it off and continued talking about other random things, from soccer to Kuwaiti politics.

“Enzain Manafo meta bashoofik” Zeina whined pouting slightly as she paid for the clothes she had picked up for him, realizing she wouldn’t be able to see him in them when she got back to Kuwait.

Manaf thought for a second before realizing when he’d be back to Kuwait “3ers ikhoy!” He said shocked that he had forgotten.

“9ij? Meta 3ers ekhook?” Zeina prayed silently that it would be soon.

“Ba3ad shahar” He replied. Zeina’s smile turned into a pout again as she realized that he wasn’t going to say next week, as ridiculous as that seemed she wished it was possible.

“Enzain.” Zeina replied showing the sadness in her voice

“Waaih shfeeha Zayoon ba3ad?” Manaf asked.

“Tabeek etyey next week mu next month” she told him

“Entay a9lan betkooneen bel kwait next week?” He asked her

“La2.” She replied laughing

“7elwa minich 3ayal” He laughed with her.

A beeping interrupted their conversation as Zeina’s father’s name flashed across the screen.

“Manaf 7abeebi I have to go, iboy ga3d edig 3alay”

“Okay 3omri, deeray balich 3ala nafsich o I’ll message you later” He told her before getting off the phone.

Zeina answered her father and told him she’d come to the hotel immediately so that they could go out for lunch. When she got there Zeina quickly headed to her room to put away Manaf’s new clothes and made her way back down to meet her parents.

The rest of the trip in Italy flew by with every minute spent either at fancy restaurants, boutiques, or at the hotel talking to Manaf until the long hours of the night and before Zeina knew it she was walking through the airport in Kuwait.

She watched the screen of her phone brighten up as it came to life and she waited patiently for a list of the missed calls. She smiled to herself as she saw Manaf’s number in the Missed Call list with the number 3 next to it. She was also happy to see Sara’s number. Finally both of them were in Kuwait and would get to see each other after what Zeina would consider one of her longest summers ever. She called Sara back and excitedly invited her over for dinner.

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“Tell me EVERYTHING!” Sara stated in all seriousness as she pulled the covers they had brought to the living room around her body. Zeina and Sara were in their pj’s and were having one of their usual slumber parties; around them were bags of chips, an assortment of chocolate bars, and a bowl of popcorn, There’s Something About Mary was muted in the background.

Zeina considered for a second how much she would like to tell Sara and deciding to keep the latest events with Manaf a secret still she told her about Faisal and her trip to Italy trying her best to make sure she didn’t slip up and mention anything to do with Manaf. After she was done, Zeina listened intently to Sara’s summer and by the time the sun began to rise they were both passed out on the couch.

They didn’t wake up until late into the afternoon and only because of Zeina’s mother’s ranting “laish ma nemtaw bil daar, mu zainlikom!” she muttered trying to push Zeina further back onto the couch so that she didn’t fall off.

“Hmpfff” Sara muttered looking up from under the covers “waini?” she squinted up at Zeina’s mother.

“La o hathy etgool waini ba3ad!” Zeina’s mother complained walking away without answering Sara. Sitting up Sara began nudging Zeina with her foot “goomay goomay” she whined.

“Haa shfeech?” Zeina muttered getting up. Both of them looked around at the junk food that covered the tables and other couch and then back at each other.

“wai3 thahrii” Zeina whined getting up and throwing the covers off of her. Sara got up and followed Zeina upstairs to the bathroom to wash up. When they made their way back downstairs, washed up and dressed they found to their relief that the living room had already been cleaned up.

“Adry ina we ate a lot last night and we shouldn’t be hungry for a year…bes yo3ana” Sara sighed looking around for leftover junk food.

“Tabeen ne6la3?” Zeina asked her looking for her mobile under the couch finally finding it next to Sara’s.

“Ee yala aby Johnny rockets pancakes!”

“Alah yzeed il ni3ma” Zeina muttered checking her phone, there were two missed calls from Manaf and one from Dalal. There was also a message, quickly flipping through to the inbox she saw Manaf’s name.

“Tara Dalal ebta3zimich 3ers ekhooy…O aby ashoofich ihnak. I have a surprise for you.”

Zeina told Sara to go outside and start her car while she went to talk to her mother and as soon as Sara left she quickly called Dalal.

After accepting her generous invitation to her wedding Dalal ended the conversation on a teasing tone, “3ad mu takshiteen…ra7 eta7asifain lana sam3a ina be9eer shay wayed 7elo etha you came!”

“Sheno??” Zeina asked the curiosity almost killing her.

“Ta3alay o ra7 etshofeen” And with that Dalal hung up.