What You Wish For: A Jordan love story

CHAPTER 1: Page 5

Elle felt a twinge of hopelessness as she power walked across the courtyard. The scammer incident had scared her enough to have her fish her iPhone from her bag but not enough to call Talal to pick her up. She reasoned with her racing heart that she had already come this far and there was no way some shady guy and his grandmother would deter her from an enjoyable night.

"They're probably scamming everyone walking through the door, I'll just stick to the booths at the back of the room and everything would be fine." Elle now realized that she had been so flustered by the elderly woman that she could not remember what the guy looked like. She tried to replay the scenario in her mind but could only remember how the side of the guy's face looked when he reached from behind her to shake the elderly woman's hand.

Elle began going booth to booth browsing the array of pamphlets they had. Many of the booth attendants did not speak english but she took her chances at the trivia games, failing miserably. These trivia games made Elle realize just how little she really knew of Jordan, its culture and its people and how important it was for her to start socializing, afterall what use was learning the language if she was not going to use it with its native speakers.

"I am not a scammer by the way." A familiar voice said from behind. Elle whipped around to see a handsome gentleman standing in front of her. She knew that his face looked familiar but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Excuse me?" She said, turning around to fully face the man.

"Earlier today, with the old woman. Heavy is the crown." The man said amusingly.

"Oh, it's you. I knew you looked familiar. Are you stalking me?" Elle said, trying her best to sound intimidating.

"What? Absolutely not. I'm here for the festival just like you. I just thought I'd clear up the misunderstanding. I'd hate for someone to believe I'm a stalker."

"Misunderstanding huh." Elle said layering the statement with a thick suspicious tone.

"Yes. Misunderstanding. Look I was trying to help you, if I wanted to scam you don't you think I would've asked you for money by now?" the guy said tilting his head to the side as though he found the accusation ridiculous.

"Well...isn't that what you're trying to do now?" Elle said matching his head tilt in hopes of letting him know she would not back down.

"WHAT? NO! You Americans. Always so arrogant." he said, shaking his head in disbelief and letting out a loud scoff. He wanted to walk away at that moment, but he felt drawn to the seemingly stuck up girl.

The accusation slapped Elle back to reality. She did not mean to be rude, she had her guard up to help comfort and protect herself.

"I didn't mean to come across arrogant, I'm just trying to be safe." Elle said, relaxing her domineering stance a bit. She wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, after all if he truly was a scammer the venue would have kicked him out by now and if he was to try anything sketchy there would be at least twenty witnesses.

"Hussein." The guy said, outstretching his hand to the odd girl. He figured her knowing his name would help relax her a bit. He knew what being alone in a foreign country felt like after spending four years at Georgetown university in Washington D.C.

"I'm Elle, nice to meet you Hussein. Thanks for the help earlier by the way, I really didn't know what to do until you showed up" Elle said shaking Hussein's hand.

"Trust me, I could tell. You looked like you wanted to melt into a puddle just to get away from the situation." Hussein teased.

"Trust me, I did." Ellle said with an embarrassed laugh.

They both had a good laugh, grateful that the earlier tension was now gone.

"Are you here alone? That's brave considering you don't speak the language" Hussein continued, only half teasing this time around. From the moment he spotted Elle he could tell she was a tourist, and her conversation with the elderly woman only confirmed his suspicions.

"Hey! I speak the language thank you very much. Do I speak it well? That's a question for a different day." Elle said, raising her chin to feign confidence. Hussein enjoyed Elle's sense of humor, it was a refreshing twist from the seemingly stuck up girl he met twenty minutes ago, "And yes I am alone unfortunately. It wasn't an easy decision but I couldn't do another night alone in my room so something had to give."

"Why unfortunately?" Hussein said, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I....am not the best at the language and life is always better with great company." Elle rambled hoping the tables did not turn, making her the one to be run away from.

"You sticking around for the movies?" Hussein found Elle intriguing and he hoped that they would talk a bit longer.

"I hope so, I'm just killing time here before I head inside." Elle said, checking the time on her phone.

"Which movie are you going to see?" Hussein said, taking a look at Elle's lockscreen hoping the picture would tell him a bit more about his new muse.

"I was going to watch the one about the little boy, but after everything that happened earlier I think I'm going to watch the one about the old lady. I figured serendipity and all that jazz" Elle said, doing a little shimmy with her shoulders.

"What happened earlier? You mean you thinking I'm a scammer and running away from me like I had the plague? You mean that memorable event?" Hussein said jokingly, raising his eyebrows as though he caught her with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Yes that event and don't get too comfortable, we haven't established that you aren't a scammer just yet" Elle said bursting into a fit of giggles, "are you working a booth here or are you killing time for the movies too?"

"I had some business to do here earlier and decided to return as a customer" Hussein said putting his hands in his front pockets. He was enjoying the conversation and he could tell Elle was too, "I haven't decided on which movie I want to see yet, I told myself I'd look at the lines to get in and whichever line is shortest that's the one for me."

"Are you seriously deciding which movie to watch based on which line is shorter? Why not the line that's the longest? Wouldn't that mean that movie is the best?" Elle said.

"Yea the longest line might mean the best movie but I guess I have a thing for the underdog." Hussein said, shrugging his shoulders, "beside, who wants to stand in a long line anyway?"

"Good point," Elle said, checking her phone again, "we should actually go check out the lines, they should be letting people in now"

"You go ahead, I have to talk to someone first" Hussein said looking up from Elle. He did a quick scan of the room, landing on two men who looked like they were bored, "I'll catch up with you later. Nice to meet you Elle."Hussein gave Elle a quick arm touch and walked toward the two men.

Elle felt disappointment settle in her stomach. She was hoping Hussein would join her at the movie but it seems like the potential friendship she felt blossoming was not meant to be. Elle watched Hussein as he walked up to the men hoping he would turn around but he didn't. Elle secured her bag on her shoulder once again and made her way to the theater entrance.