Not That Interested

Chapter 20: The One With The Guitar

Shehzer's smiling eyes rove all over my face. "You look beautiful" his deep voice sending all sorts of zings to my brains, and other unmentionable parts. EMV is shaking her head in disgust at my weakness.

"Thanks. Come in?....Why didn't you bring my girl Rania?" I ask extra chirpily.

"She went with my cousins to see some animated movie in cenima. I did bring some drinks though." He hands me two enormous bottles of coke. My favorite. I can't help a tiny smile at that.

He chats with Adiba and Ali for a while before following me to the living room. As soon as the dragon spots him, I want to kill myself.

"Boy! come here." She orders to Shehzer immediately.

He gives me a confused look before saying salaam to the dragon.

"Hmmph...curious. Most curious. I couldn't have imagined you'd grow up so well. A scrawny little kid you were, with that awful long hair. Hmm...must say I am very pleased by this. You'll be perfect for—" Her beady eyes are sparkling with interest.

"KULSOOM NANI! THIS ISN'T AREEB!" I almost yell with panic. Trying to stop her from saying something regarding my almost-engagement.

She tuts disappointingly; "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place. Good looking kid he is. Strong jawline. I always say you can judge a man's mettle from his jawline...." she rambles off. Leaving me to deal with a slightly dazed Shehzer.

Before I can apologize for my scary relative; Tania decides to introduce herself to my Hot neighbor. Actually she decides to do a lot more than just introduce herself it seems. I leave them alone, to put away the coke in our deep freezer.

My eyes keep traveling back to Tania and Shehzer. He seems to be politely answering her questions. She on the other hand, was downright flirting with the man. EMV was in bitch-mode; 'Wow. Hair-finger twirl, eyelash batting, the whole lip-tilt thing....This girl is pulling out all stops for him.'

'I don't care' I inform her. She snorts back; 'And Pakistan just won the cricket world cup'

I debated leaving them to their talking, but Shehzer catches my eyes, and it seems that he is wordlessly pleading me to rescue him.

As soon as I'm within hearing range, Tania loudly laughs at something Shehzer says, making me grit my teeth in annoyance.

The Dragon rescues Shehzer before I can; "TANIA, Leave the poor boy alone. It is quite obvious he is only tolerating your conversation because he was raised by a good mother. And go fix your face....did you do a face-plant into makeup? It looks hideous." She barks at Tania, who turns pale underneath her heavy makeup. I shouldn't want to laugh at her humiliation, but BOY am I glad to have Kulsoom Nani around sometimes.

"Thanks" I whisper into her ear.

"Hmmph. That girl gets on my nerves every time she opens her mouth. I haven't known anyone who talks so much, yet says so little....shallow little chit." She huffs, before waddling off to terrorize someone else

My Mom and Dad are ecstatic at meeting Shehzer. Naturally; his polite tone, and genuinely impressive listening skills work wonders on everyone. I roam around socializing with everyone, making sure the snack table is replenished once in a while. Ali, and a couple of male cousins have already started the grill upstairs; and I saw Shehzer excuse himself from my parents to go assist the guys with all the manly activities that roasting steaks entails.

Adiba is still in a shocked-type daze so she isn't much of a good company.

"So, are you truly gonna marry my brother?" I ask her as I stack some plates on our table.

"Yes. If my parents accept him of course." she smiles dreamily at me.

"You look like a total dork right now. But I love you for this. Adiba we'd be sisters for real now! Imagine that!" I hug her tightly.

.......

Areeb was late. His family had a prior engagement so they couldn't be here today, but Areeb had promised me that he'd come. I was secretly glad that he wouldn't meet Shehzer, however naive that it seemed.

My mom shooed all the young people to the roof, so we could enjoy our dinner in open air. The roof looked quaintly charming at dusk. I had draped fairy lights around the floor cushions and rugs we had scattered. The delicious coal with steak smell wafted through the warm air.

Dinner went without a hitch. With lots of laughter and good food. I saw Ali bring food for Adiba, which made me cheer inside. After dinner, my brother picked up his guitar, and started strumming. He was no Jimmy Hendrix, but he played a decent tune. So we ended up jamming and crowd-singing to some really old tunes from Nazia Hassan, Vital Signs and Strings. My brother loved Pakistani rock, and he sure kept us entertained with all the favorite songs.

Shehzer looked like he was enjoying immensely, even though he didn't know half of the songs. It was hilarious seeing him try to make up lyrics on his own, when he couldn't understand the Urdu at points.

We were sitting in a circle with Ali jamming his guitar in the center. So I didn't see someone join the party from behind me. I was laughing at Ali's attempt to make us sing along to "Pak Pak Pakistan" (The hugely annoying and kiddish commercial jingle for an anti-bacterial soap).

When the hooting and the howling began, from my cousins side, I was confused at first. Everyone was grinning at me, and something behind me.

I glanced behind me to see Areeb clutching his acoustic guitar, and sheepishly grinning back at all the attention he was getting.

I couldn't breath.

My breath was stuck somewhere near my kidneys.

I was intensely aware of Shehzer sitting two feet away from me, smiling politely at the new-comer

"Hey babe, sorry for being late. I overslept. Jet-lag y'know" He nudged his way into the circle to sit beside me. "Forgive me princess? i come bearing gifts!"

Princess? I almost hit him at the corniness of his endearment.

Everyone in the circle is either grinning at me, or smirking knowingly at the tiny box clutched in one of Areeb's guitarless hand.

"I forgive you. you didn't have to get me anything." I mutter quietly, unwilling to create a scene Areeb seems bent on creating.

"It's the least I could do for the girl who agreed to marry my ugly self." His serious confession elicited some more howls of appreciation from my idiotic cousins. But I only had eyes for one person.

Shehzer's face is stony hard.

He knows.

A/N:

Nooooo!!!!..... well... Yessss.. because the story is getting somewhere. ;)

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