Confessions of a Muslim Girl

Chapter 13 - That Awkward Moment When You See the One Person You're Avoiding

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"Zakariya, seriously, stop sounding like a bad teenage romance novel." -- Adam Ali from Confession of a Muslim Girl

Chapter 13

That Awkward Moment When You See the One Person You're Avoiding

☻Noha Ali ☻

            “Rubina, have you seen my cell phone?” I holler, looking back in the general direction my sister went while still walking forward. Bad choice, because I don’t turn in time to stop myself from slamming face first into the wall.

            I moan whilst clutching my nose and stagger into the kitchen, my head ringing at the sound of my feet padding on the wood floor. Adam is standing in the kitchen, Dawud sitting on the counter next to him.

            They both stare at me as I clutch my nose and make my way over to the sink. “What are you guys staring at?” I ask.

            Adam and Dawud both cough to cover up their laughs. “Nothing, Noh-Noh. We’re just looking at your pretty face.” Dawud smiles innocently.

            I take my hand away from my nose, and see that there is very little blood on my hand. My nose still has a burning sensation, so I grab a paper towel and wet it, holding it against my nose.

“So how did you slam into that wall?” Adam asks, a slice of bread in his hand, jam spread on half of it. He finishes spreading jam all over the slice, and proceeds to take another slice of bread and spread peanut butter on it. He slaps the two slices together and hands it to Dawud, smiling. Dawud throws his arms around Adam to hug him and begins to happily munch on his sandwich.

All three of us hear the front door open and we freeze. Dawud stops mid-chew; his sandwich is in one side of his mouth, making one of his cheeks look much bigger than the other.

Maysa’s happy voice floats into the kitchen. “Salamwalaikum, everyone! How are you all on this beautiful Saturday morning?” Maysa half dances gracefully into the room, Rubina and Nazia right behind her.

“MAYSA!” Dawud screams. He starts wriggling around, which is Adam’s cue to let him down from the counter. Adam does so, and Dawud runs towards Mays. She grabs him in her arms and hugs him, kissing his cheek.

“Hey, handsome! How have you been?” Maysa asks.

Dawud beams. “I’m good, ’humdulillah! Hi, Nazzy!” He calls out. Nazia beams and walks over to give Dawud a hug of her own.

Maysa exchanges a glance with Nazia and they both clear their throats awkwardly. “So what time should we tell Zakariya to pick us up? He…waiting outside.” Nazia asks. The room suddenly adopts an awkward and tense atmosphere.

“Tell him that three is fine. If you guys staying longer, that’s fine too.” I say.

“Wait!” Dawud shouts. We all look at him. “Zak-Zak is here! Dam-Dam, let’s go! We gotta go tell Zak to come inside! Come on!” He starts pulling on Adam’s hand. We all freeze and Maysa’s eyes are wide as she looks at Adam. He is looking back at her with an unsure and dreadful expression on his face.

I open my mouth, but no words come out. I have no idea what to say. Adam shakes his head at Maysa when she reaches for Dawud to calm him down from his excited state. He walks out of the room slowly as my little brother tries to get him to go faster. Rubina, Maysa, Nazia, and I stand there frozen as we all attempt to figure out what to do.