Don't Remind Me

Chapter 21: The Two Laylas

"Breaking News: IBSA grounds are haunted by elves. For real. Now most of you are familiar with our campus pond? yeah, of course you are. Especially if you're male, and friends with neanderthals. (FYI: Pond-dunking is a health hazard, have you seen the inside of that pool during normal days? It's a veritable petri dish. It's a buffet of AIDS, mixed with a dash of salmonella, sprinkled with Naegleria...) But all this changes whenever we have VIP, foreign guests visiting the campus. These mysterious elf-beings magically transform the pool into a gleaming body of water. It is sparkling overnight, outlined with suspiciously young-looking flower blooms. It's so subtle, as if the pond is saying; "That's right bitches. I woke up like this." - Nitty Gritty (Issue No: 901, March '15)

It's not a good time for "Love" these days apparently. 

Maria introduced us to her new friend Yasir, and let's just say Mama isn't too impressed with him. She isn't out-rightly booting him out of her life right now, but I wouldn't put it past her to actually make sure he disappears permanently. To be honest, he never appealed to me much, but I was polite and courteous to him because of my sister. To say that she is smitten would be an understatement. To his credit, Yasir is unerringly gentlemanly, and is always looking out for Maria. He even started learning sign language for her sake, and he is decently talented with his designs that he always seems to be pushing on Mama...but something about him just rubs me the wrong way. 

The way he looks at my sister. I don't like it.

And if my opinions aren't enough, Chum Chum positively loathes him. The cat makes this half-hiss-half-yowl sounds whenever Yasir tries to pet him. Which is actually, a step worse than the indifferent sniff he throws my way...

Life in University is getting a bit complicated. 

For one, Pareeshae is trying hard to make it known that she doesn't care about Faris' secret lady interest. Too hard. Unnecessarily so, I'm afraid. Yet she is failing miserably. 

"I bet she is a regular Man-hunter." She whispers to me during an accounting lecture. I grunted in agreement. "I bet she isn't as tall as I am...is she?" She narrows her eyes at me, daring me to disagree.

"Uhh, I don't--"

"Of course she isn't. I'm 5'9''. It's an above average height.... I bet he dwarfs her. He is sooo tall! Do you know how rare that is around here?...Ugh...I don't get it. If tall guys start going for midgets, what is left for giraffes like me?" She angrily jabbed at her calculator for no reason at all. "Not that I care, you know. I. Don't. Care."

I just stared blindly at the teacher explaining Inventory Valuations. I don't know how to be a supportive friend to Shay at this point. She is getting overly sensitive about little things, and I have no idea how to respond to that. In all honestly, I have no idea how or why she'd ever develop feelings for someone as sullen and bad-tempered as Faris. Even looks-wise, Shay is definitely out of his league...or maybe it's just that I don't find Faris' overly macho-dark-brooding looks quite that appealing. 

Love is blind, y'all. 

"He is really quite sensitive under all that tough-guy exterior." Shay had confessed after my probing. "You know my roommate likes to bring her friends to our room for late-night parties and stuff, so I usually study at the library instead. The place is often deserted by evening, and it makes me anxious, to walk back alone. I mentioned it to Syra, and somehow Faris must have overheard me. He never spoke one word to me, but all during exam month, he'd stay in the library as long as I was there, studying on his own... then he'd wordlessly walk me back to the hostel." her eyes lit up when she recalled that. "I'd chatter his brains out during these walks, talking about nonsense; trying to get him to talk to me. I mean, most guys would have jumped at that chance. Not him. He just ignored me, like I was a buzzing wasp or something. Then one late evening as we walked back to my hostel, he saw, in my hands, my copy of The God Of Small Things. He raised his eyebrows at me, and drawled; "Poetry disguised as prose, no?". That's it. Five words. And I couldn't help it, Layla. I fell in love."