Bookstore Girl | A Novella

four

Sura decided to go out to the balcony adjoining their bedroom and look at the stars.

"I'd get out my telescope but..." Zain stretched up his arms and yawned, knocking off his glasses in the process.

"We should go to sleep," Sura suggested, feeling her already tired eyes weighing her down.

The two lay on other sides of the bed, wide awake and pretended like they had gone to sleep. Despite the fatigue, they both realized that they were still full of adrenaline.

Sura stared at the ceiling, counting the number of lights in his bedroom. Her mind wandered, reminding her that she had forgotten to properly hang up her dress and that it still lay at the end of the bed. Glittering in the moonlight.

All day she had prayed that it would rain, maybe even a slight drizzle.

"You're crazy, you know that?" Her sister told her. "What girl would want it to rain on her wedding day?"
"I would. I love rain."
"But it makes everything all moody and depressing," one of her cousins countered.

Sura couldn't disagree more. Rain had a special place in her heart. It took her back a few months, to the day she said yes.

Sura had to pull the covers over her face to hide her smile. Her cheeks still hurt from smiling since the moment she had woken up this morning. Sura's best friend, Fajr, who had known her just as long as Zain, was documenting the entire day on the phone.

"We have a cameraman, you know?" Sura had pointed out.

"Yes, but this is more personal," Fajr added, pulling her phone up to her face. "More up close." Sura's best friend started smacking her lips to spread her lipstick. "The cameraman would never get to capture this."

Sura snorted, crossing her arms playfully. "Right, because everyone wants to get an upclose shot of you primping."

"I'm not primping."

"You primp when you're nervous," Sura pointed out with a smirk and then shook it away quickly. "Wait, why are you nervous? I'm the one getting married."

"I'm nervous because you're nervous."

"Thanks?" Sura shrugged, looking around for a mirror. "Did I mess up my teeka?" Sura fidgeted with the accessory dangling on her forehead.

Fajr turned towards the bride with a gasp and exclaimed, "Don't move so much!"
The headpiece had been hard to pin under Sura's hijab but they had made it work. 

"Ugh, that is the fourth time some aunty has asked me when I'm getting married," Fajr said, turning away from some elderly woman with a forced smile.

"When one of your fictional characters comes to life," Sura said loud enough for Fajr to hear.

"Look who's talking," Fajr shot back. "You have a great love story. You met the guy in a bookstore and he was drooling over you."
"Ah, yes," Sura swooned, turning as red as her dress.

"When you have kids, I'm going to babysit them and I'm going to tell them about how their parents met," Fajr decided, staring off imagining the future.

"You're going to be the cool aunt who travels and talks about her research."

"That sounds great," she replied. " But I don't want to be single forever."

"What are you waiting for?" Sura started scouting her arden full of wedding guests

"Someone like me," Fajr replied but Sura sensed she meant more than she said.

"Are you okay?" she questioned.

"I'm fine. Promise. I'm just scared...about my classes."
Fajr had graduated from their local university not long ago and Fajr had decided to take classes on Horology at the Kipmal University which was hours away from their small town Asali.

"Maybe you will find someone who's like you, Fudge," Sura said. "Someone who loves time and clocks so much that they would travel all the way into the city to study them."

"I doubt that."

"I wish I could freeze the moment."

"Do you want me too," Fajr said with a chuckle. Dabbing at the tears of joy.

"What?"

"Huh?"

Zain furrowed his brows. "I think you've had too much soda."

"Oh, no, no. I meant that I could take a picture to freeze the moment," she suggested, smiling. "No other reason."

"Okay," is all Zain could say. Sometimes Fajr acted clandestinely and her friends suspected she had something on her mind she would like to share.

A/N: those of you who read A Single Lifetime first: how'd you like Fajr's cameo? let me know in the comments<3 

for those of you who don't know: Fajr is the main character in A Single Lifetime which is also a novella(although it's much longer than this one.)

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to comment and vote! The story is also available on Inkitt. My username is: MariamShakaib

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