The Unexpected Future

•CH 8: Date?•

"A set of eyes that could easily fade into the sky and float besides the sun."

-Maya Cooper

••••

Aliah's POV

"I'm coming over, I took the day off," I said holding my phone firmly.

Harris and I talked, we were convinced that Saïd wasn't going to tell his wife about this, so I decided to go to his place to talk about his options, what he could possibly do next.

Maya's POV

I took a small bite from the sandwich Daniya shared with me as I was carefully listening to what she knew about Sameed. We finished some homework first before we started talking about Sameed and ourselves.

"So his father is a Muslim but his grandfather was not, so that's why his last name sounds so 'American'."

She placed her arms on the table, crossed them and continued.

"His mother was Christian but she unfortunately died 2 years ago"

"Wow seriously?" I replied. I was in total shock, he never told me about his mother. I mean I didn't know him for that long, but that's a pretty important part of his life to not tell.

"Yeah crazy right, so he grew up Muslim but some people think he switched paths because of the things he has done and maybe, still does," she continued. "After his mother died, everything went downhill from there.. He never got over it."

I listened closely and didn't utter a word. His life was so interesting, nothing compared to my boring existence.

"That's the important part really, he has dated a lot of girls and some of them claim he never was looking for anything serious," She finished while continuing eating the rest of her sandwich.

Of course he has dated a ton of girls, I mean just look at him. Perhaps he just doesn't know what to do with his life just yet. Maybe I was brought into his life to help him figure that out, to help him get back onto the right path. I didn't know how I could possibly do that but I guess I could give it a shot.

I was traversing the maze of deep thoughts until Daniya's high pitched voice pulled me out.

"Can I ask you something Maya?" She asked, her eyes widened as she leaned in closer.  

"Sure," I replied, somehow scared for her question.

"First off, your name, It doesn't sound Arabic"

"Well as you already know, my dad is American and my mom is from the middle east. They wanted both cultures brought back into my name, so instead of naming me 'Maryam', as they wanted to do at first, they shortened it and named me 'Maya'." I responded. "Maya Cooper," I added.

"Oh okay, got it and then secondly," I saw how scared she was to ask me the following question.

"Do you- erm - like Sam- I mean-Sameed?" She asked, lowering her gaze to her fingers.

"What? No of course not, he's just a friend," I replied, my cheeks burning out of shame.

I don't like him, but that someone actually thought I was interested in a guy made everything super awkward.

"Okay sure, Sameed is just a friend got it," she winked.

"What am I?" A familiar yet unknown voice remarked from behind. As I turned around, I saw two bright blue eyes stare into my soul. Blue eyes that could fade into the sky and float besides the sun.