Last First Chance (Al-Ameen Family Spin-Off)

Approve

Ten Years Ago

"So you will do the invites yes?" Mom asks again for the hundredth time.

"Yes Rabia," I groan and she chides me for using her first name. But I know she never actually minded. My mom was my best friend, no matter what I called her.

She wanted to throw an 18th birthday party for my brother and left me in charge of most of it. His birthday was still like a month away but she wanted to do it before the summer ended.

I spent the next two weeks helping my mom plan and get everything together. I had invited all our cousins and as many of Rayyan's friends as I could.

On the day of the party, Mom sent Rayyan Bhai into Bradford to pick something up for her as an excuse to get him out of the house for the day. I let her know Hasan would come over, as well as my other cousin to help set things up.

Hasan and my mom were talking in the kitchen. Or rather, she was talking and he was listening patiently like a good boy. I hear her talking to him about India.

"Be careful mom, he's Pakistani. Don't tell him any national secrets," I joke.

"Oh hush Maheen. India ho ya Pakistan, hai toh ham sab Allah ke bande (Indian or Pakistani, at the end of the day we are all God's children)," my mom smiles at him softly.

Of course she was so nice to him.

"Okay Rabia, set him free. I need his height to hang up the streamers," I usher him back to the living room.

"You call your mom by her name?" he balks, taking the streamer roll from my hands.

"She's not just my mom. She's my best friend, and she doesn't care. She's used to me now," I brush off his concern, going back to my banner.

"You're very close to your mom and your brother."

It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact.

"You wish you had siblings?"

"I do, but my cousins are almost that for me. I was happy we moved here closer to them all," he says absentmindedly, taping the edge of the streamer down to the ceiling. 

I watched him for a second, kind of struck by his words. He never talked about his life before he moved here.

"Well I'm glad you're here too. Who else would I find to annoy so much," I smile, throwing a little ball of tape at him.

He grabbed a balloon off the ceiling, untying it and letting it fly at my face- fart sound and all. It lands in the mop of hair on my head. 

"You loser!" I throw the deflated balloon back at his ugly face, both of us snickering. 

We got done decorating much faster with the two of us and my mom. Hasan went home to change his clothes and come back with parents who also were invited.

My mom and I sat on the sofa, taking a breather before we got up to get ready too.

"So..." my mom looks at me with a secret-filled grin.

"What 'so'?" I turn my head to face her.

"Look Maheen, I was once your age too. I know it's natural to develop feelings for-"

"Oh my God, mum!" I bury my face into a pillow, mortified. "What in the world are you on?"

"Oh come on honey, I'm your mother. I sense things," she elbows me playfully.

"Mom," I sit up, facing her with a mix of pain and embarrassment on my face. "There is nothing, and I would like to emphasize nothing between me and anyone. Especially not Hasan. We are just friends. In fact, we became friends because of Bhai only. Nothing else."

"Okay baba, okay. I of course believe you, and I trust you my chand," she wraps her arms around me tightly. "I just want you to feel comfortable talking to me about anything. I trust you and I know you will never do anything to upset me or break that trust."

"Thanks Mom," I mumble into her chest.

"But if you did like him, I very much would approve," she laughs giddily.

I make a sound close to a whale crying and pull out of her arms. "I'm going to get ready. We are never talking again about anything. Ever," I point a finger at her.

She laughs, waving me off to go do my thing.

---

The party went off without a hitch. My brother was surprised but as usual, had the time of his life with everyone.

After the party, some of us kids went off to get ice cream and sit in the park to enjoy the last few days of summer.

"His mom's scary as hell," Rayyan says to me quietly and I nod.

"I complimented her on her bangles and she gave me a whole essay about the importance of women wearing accessories to emphasize their femininity, all while glaring at my kurti and jeans," I chortle.

Rayyan and I were sitting on the grass, eating our ice cream and talking about the party quietly while the others kicked around a football.

"I get why Hasan is so quiet now. Who could get a word in edgewise with someone like her," he snickers with me.

"What are you two laughing about here?" Hasan walks over to us.

"Nothing," us siblings say at the same time, looking at each other with the unspoken promise that this stays between us.

"You guys chill, I'm going to go play," Rayyan gets up, shoving the rest of the ice cream cone in his mouth and running off.

Hasan sits down beside me, stretching his legs out in front of him. We both watch our friends. 

After a long silence, Hasan speaks. "Sorry about my mom, I know she was talking your ear off at the party."

"Oh. Not a worry," I almost choke on air. "I don't think she likes me much though," I admit.

Hasan sighs, almost so quietly that I would have missed it if I wasn't looking at him. "Yeah she's... I don't even know," he grimaces.

"I get it. You've met my dad," I chuckle to lighten the mood. "But you better not get any girlfriends Hasan, she seems to have a pretty high bar," I joke, tapping him with a dandelion I just plucked. "Or I mean, you're going to have to find some supermodel with a doctorate so you better start working on that personality of yours because the looks department is a lost cause."

He smirks, playing with my dandelion in his hand.

"I'm not too worried," he shrugs one shoulder. "I think I've got your mom on my side. I'm sure I can convince her into forcing you to marry me if I can't find anyone else," he raises an eyebrow, almost evil with humor. 

My jaw drops. "Excuse me," I push my ponytail over my shoulder. "You would be so lucky." I turn my nose up haughtily but then laugh at my next thought. "Also your mom would have a heart attack if it was someone like me."

I almost double over laughing. He laughs with me but then it trails off as he gets lost in thought.

"I don't know," he's looking down at his legs but he watches me from the corner of his eye. "I think you're pretty great as you are."

My face warms up and I look at anything else but him. Thankfully he walks away before I have to respond but not before throwing my dandelion back at me.