The Unexpected Future

•CH 10: The date•

"Everything is a competition, unless I lose"

-Maya Cooper

••••

Maya's POV

We were inside the car, quietly sitting next to eachother. Sameed was driving to God knows where and I was nervously waiting for him to finally pull over and tell me where we were.

It felt as though he was a bit nervous. He was holding the steering wheel quite tight and didn't take his eyes off the road, as he should of course.

A subtle smile appeared on my face as I looked out of the window. It was a beautiful day in Chicago, blue sky, birds chirping and people minding their own business.

I looked back at Sameed and saw that his grip on the steering wheel relaxed. He leaned back into his seat and made eye contact with me, "so tell me something about you," he said, breaking the silence.

I smiled, "No, tell me something about you, you know already a lot about me," I replied.

"Fair enough."

His jaw clenched as he repositioned his hand on the steering wheel.

"What do you wanna know?" He asked.

"Your family," I replied, shortly.

"So my Father is half American and half Yemeni. My mother is Fully American but died 2 years ago," he licked his lower lip before continuing.

My eyes were glued to his face the entire time.

A corner of his mouth turned up, giving me a half-smile while his eyes were focussing on the road.

"My Grandfather was fully American and my Grandmother was Yemeni as you might have figured out already. That's why my last name sounds so American."

I leaned back into my seat, glancing up at the sky.

"I love it," I replied.

"What?" He asked, giving me a quick look.

"That your family is so unique."

He also leaned back into his seat and lowered the speed as there was a lot of traffic.

I caught him staring at me, pointing at my scarf.

"I'm Muslim too, you know." He said.

"Oh you d-" I tried to reply but he cut me off. He didn't need to justify himself, what he believes in, is up to him.

"I know a lot of people are talking about my religion, but I'm Muslim. Not acting like one all the time but I definitely believe in God."

His face looked so relaxed and peaceful. I could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth, that he was indeed Muslim and proud to be one.

I broke eye contact and closed my eyes for a few seconds before facing him again.

"I'm sorry about your mother." I said.

He repositioned his hair with his fingers while fighting back tears.

He cleared his troat, "Thanks," he replied.

"I'm sure your mother would be proud of you," I smiled.

He nodded, "yeah she would," he whispered.

I also cleared my throat as I we passed traffic light after traffic light, each somehow managing to turn red as we approached.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked while we were waiting for the light to turn green.