Closer To You

𝟓. 𝐀𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐚'𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬

It is Monday morning, and the birds are chirping. The sun is beaming upon my and Afifa's hijabs as we both happily inhale a breath of beautiful, fresh air.

Do you think that?

You think wrong.

Reality is that British weather is gloomy. It's dark and depressing. Afifa and I coincidentally crossed paths outside school, and we now stand in the long queue going into the building in this very dreary weather. But seriously, what is up with the student traffic in the morning? Our school needs to invest in wider doors.

I cringed as I looked down to see the bottom of my abaya touching a puddle of water. I slightly hiked up my abaya with my hands. I peered to look at Afifa and saw she was doing the exact same as me, a grimace on her beautiful face.

"So, how was your weekend?" Since we're stuck stranded for a few minutes, I thought I'd start a conversation. I am surprised to see a weirdly large grin marry her features at my question.

"Spectacular—" Which means it wasn't...

"My brother and his lovely cousins were at the house, and they were oh so lovely—" I think she already said the word lovely.

"A wonderful set of boys they are, I tell you—"Hang on, it's coming...

"So respectful, kind, gentle and caring—" Uh oh.

"I was the only female in the house, and they respected my boundaries—" Is it only me, but is there more bite to her words now?

"When I said, 'Don't come into my room; I'm studying,' they stayed away—" OK, she's going to combust any second now.

"And when I labelled my beautiful peri-peri chicken burger with fries and placed it in the fridge, they definitely didn't eat it—" Ahh, I see the problem now. If you ever come between Afifa and her one true love (which is food, if you didn't realise), I'm afraid it's goodbye for you.

"And not only that!" My eyes rose to hers as this seemed like the peak of her anger. Her voice lowered to a harsh whisper: "They. Definitely. Didn't. Steal. Layla."

"WHAT?" I am the one to shriek. We are near the back of the queue, so only a couple of people give us weird glances. I give a sheepish smile before turning back to face Afifa wildly. "What do you mean they stole Layla?!" I whisper-shout.

"Exactly what I said," she wails. "They...those criminals...those thieves...bloody. Cat. Thieves." her voice becomes progressively evil towards the end.

I shake my head in confusion but still manage to pat her arm in what I hope is a comforting manner. "How could your brother let that happen?" My brows furrow. From what I know about him, despite how much Afifa cusses him out, her brother seems like a really good guy. So why will he let this happen? Why would he let his cousins steal my best friend's cat?

"Because he's an idiot! And he was a part of the whole thievery, I know it!"

....

"Also, you do know that when you said your brother and his cousins were 'lovely'...they are your cousins as well, right?" I remind her.

"Not now, they aren't!"

***

It is lunchtime, and despite not sharing any of the same classes all morning, my and Afifa's conversation continues where we left it off back at the school entrance.

We are currently sitting on the floor in the designated prayer room for females in our sixth form, indulging in some yummy food. The room is free to use during lunchtime, but not many people seem to use it.