Chapter 5: Lunch

x HIRA x

"Hira can come in our car if she likes." Khala Khadija said, a cheerful smile covering her face as she stood in front of their car.

"Oh, no, uh..." I began, swallowing visibly as I tried thinking of an excuse on the spot. "I still need to change and stuff. It'll be a long wait." I chuckled forcefully, gesturing to my outfit and then forcing myself to smile politely.

"Nonsense, you look beautiful, mashaAllah. Come on, it's only a ten minute drive." She denied me of my basic human rights.

Ten minutes would seem like ten hours in your car.

No offence.

I had hardly talked during breakfast since Amo Musab was busy getting to know my dad and Khala Khadija was getting to know my mum and vice versa.

Now, if I went into their car, I'd be the centre of all attention and there would be absolutely no one to save me.

"I really don't..."

"Please?" She cut me off, placing her hand on my arm softly. "Just this once."

I gave her a small smile and turned to look at my parents who both gave me encouraging looks.

Whose side were they on, honestly?!

My smile faltered but I looked back at Khala Khadija and nodded. "Okay, Khala." I breathed and she thanked me before linking her arm through mine and walking me to the car.

Amir got out of the passenger seat and held the door open. It would've been chivalrous if I hadn't seen the stern nod and look his mum gave him to make him do it.

I got in first and slid to the end of the seat, Khala getting in afterwards and sitting beside me as Amir got back into the passenger seat, next to his dad.

Bismillah. Here we go.

"So, which school do you go to, darling?"

Oh jheeze.

My heart rate increased and my breaths became louder. Great.

Now she was going to know that we go to the same school and all that was going to do was open up a door that would lead to more questions.

Perfect.

"Just a local one." I said with a small shrug and a nervous chuckle.

"Which one exactly?" She asked me and I sighed.

Give it up, khala.

"Hillside High." I said softly, knowing what was to come.

Her eyes widened, gasping as she looked at me.

"Senior campus?" Amo Musab asked and I nodded as I caught eye contact with him through the rear view mirror.

"That's Amir's school! So you've both seen each other before?" She asked, completely shocked.

Should I say we have?

When I stayed silent, Amir stepped in. "Yes, mama. We have. It's not a big deal." Amir muttered, probably rolling his eyes.

"Well, have you spoken?" She asked.

By this point I was probably as red as a tomato. Literally.

Why did I feel like they were going to get the wrong idea if I said yes?

"No." I answered quickly before Amir could say anything else.

Yeah, real nice. Just lie to your possible future mother in law.

Okay, one, she's not my future mother in law and two, it was a white lie so shut up conscience.

I saw Amir straighten up in his seat and he looked out the window, his left dimple visible to me as he smirked.

I found myself almost smiling as well at the fact that I had lied to her, but I stopped myself.

"Oh, well okay then." She said, her smile faltering as she looked ahead.

The rest of the car ride was silent. Pin-drop silence. You know that sweet, welcomed, comfortable silence that you have sometimes?

Yeah, well this was option D: None of the above.

This was a 'you can tell everyone is thinking of something to say' kind of silence and it was not fun!

Alhamdulillah, the roads were empty and so we arrived at the lunch diner fairly quickly.

We piled out of the cars and Waleed came straight to me, throwing his arm over my shoulder as he led me to the entrance.

"What happened?" He asked. "You look relieved."

We walked through the entrance, the rest of the family following close behind.

"Reservations for Hamid." He said and the waiter led the way to a circular table.

"It was just awkward." I mumbled as he moved his arm to sit in the chair.

"Silence?" He assumed as I sat next to him and I nodded as we both chuckled.

"I don't know why she called me honestly." I whispered as the rest of the families came and took their seats around the table.

Hassan sat to the other side of me, my mum next to him then Amir's mum, Amir, Amir's dad and lastly my dad next to Waleed.

Food was eaten eventually and while everyone was just reclining and chatting away, I felt a little bad for Amir.

I was speaking with Waleed and Hassan, my dad with Amo Musab and my mum with Khala Khadija, leaving Amir by himself.

He didn't look too concerned. He was typing away at his phone screen, leaning back in his chair.

His serenity was short-lived and ruined when his mum hit him on the shoulder.

"Stop being so anti-social." She warned.

"Why don't you and Hira go for a walk outside?" She suggested.

Wow, she really wasn't giving up, and what was with this non-mahram interaction that she was encouraging?

He stared at his mum with narrowed eyes for a couple of seconds and she tried to secretly pinch his arm, making him exhale stand up.

Why weren't my parents saying anything?!

"I'll join them." Waleed said, standing up also, making me sigh in relief.

Alhamdulillah at least there was one other sane person on this table.

I knew that my parents would eventually tell him to go after us anyway, knowing that I couldn't just go on a walk with Amir alone, but it still caused me relief regardless.

We walked out, Waleed leading the way with me following him and Amir behind me.

As we walked down the pathway, the cars zooming past the road beside us, Amir shoved his hand into his pockets, looking at the ground as he walked and lightly kicking bits of rocks that were on the floor.

"Do you have a job?"

'Oh hey, Dad! Didn't even see you there.' I thought as I narrowed my eyes at Waleed.

"Me?" Amir asked, causing for Waleed to roll his eyes.

"No, I was asking my sister, who I live with, if she has a job or not." He said sarcastically.

"Relax, dude." Amir muttered, straightening his shoulders. I wasn't expecting him to answer Waleed's question to be honest, but to my surprise, he did. "No, I don't."

"So why do you wanna get married if you don't even have an income?" Waleed scoffed.

Oh, God.

I exhaled and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to make eye contact with Waleed so I could tell him to shut the hell up.

"Who the hell said I want to?" Amir countered, narrowing his eyes at Waleed.

"Then why is your mum acting as if you're already engaged?" Waleed scoffed angrily as he stopped walking.

Ya Allah, help me.

I stood still, closer to Waleed as Amir narrowed his eyes even more and clenched his jaw, making him look even more intimidating.

Despite being very built, he still wasn't close to Waleed's build.

My brother was very much into sports. He'd play soccer, swim and body build as well as box every now and then.

Even so, Amir didn't seem afraid of Waleed at all. He didn't refrain from standing up to him.

"Why don't you ask her directly instead of speaking behind my mother's back?" He challenged.

"I'm not saying anything about her. I'm asking you why she's acting the way she is." He said, taking a step forward as I held his sleeve.

"And I'm saying ask her, because I'm definitely not the one who wants to marry her." He said loudly, giving me a look of complete disgust.

Wow, okay.

"What are you trying to say!?" Waleed seethed, taking another step forward, preparing to punch Amir as he clenched his right fist, but I stepped in front of him, trying to prevent this from escalating any further.

"Relax, Waleed. It's not like I want to marry him either." I shrugged, trying to look completely at ease.

I really didn't want to marry Amir, but even so, no one, male or female, would be so completely unaffected if they were given the facial that he had just given me.

"You'd be lucky to marry someone like my sister." Waleed said through clenched teeth as he held my wrist and moved me behind him.

I rolled my eyes and exhaled. Was this process of 'getting to know the family' always this hard and stressful or was it just me?

"You think?" Amir scoffed with a smirk. "Seems a little biased to me."

Okay, now he was getting on my nerves.

"And you seem a little big-headed, don't you think? Didn't your mum ever teach you how to speak to a woman?"

"You calling yourself a woman now?" Amir smirked.

Wow. Conceited, rude and disrespectful.

Waleed squared up his shoulders. "Don't you..."

"Waleed, leave it, please." I begged, cutting him off and pulling at his arm to drag him away. "He's not worth it." I muttered.

They stared each other down for a couple more seconds before Waleed obliged and let me drag him. We walked back into the cafe and sat at our chairs.

Amir walked in a few seconds after us and sat down in his seat roughly, his frustrated and angered facial expression was the exact same as the scowl Waleed was wearing right now.

The parents looked at the pair with questioning gazes, but Alhamdulillah no one chose to comment.

Lunch was over in the next five minutes, thank God, and after saying a fairly awkward goodbye to Amo Musab and Khala Khadija, who actually both seemed like nice people, I got into our car with Hassan, Waleed, my mum and my dad.

"So," My mum began as soon as the car was out of the parking lot, twisting her body around to look at me. "What do you think?"

"No, mama." Waleed answered, saying exactly what I would have.

I nodded, showing my agreement as her face fell.

"But laih!?" She said, looking completely shocked as if she was expecting me to say, 'mashAllah he's a very good boy, get us married asap.'

"Mum, he was being very rude." I mumbled, leaning my elbow on the window sill and placing my hand on my cheek.

She turned around and faced the front. "I think you're misjudging him because you don't want to get married." She said.

"Yeah, mum, that's gotta be it." I mumbled, rolling my eyes, then smiling when Hassan leaned his head on my shoulder.

"All of you relax. You can not decide whether or not you want to marry someone after one meet-up." My dad said sternly.

"I think you can." I heard my brother mutter to himself.

Once again, I nodded my head in agreement. You got that right, Waleed.

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