amsterdam ( central cee )

29

The last year of medical school is beating my ass in every possible way. And trust me, that's an understatement. My neck muscles cracked as I rolled my head on my shoulders. I heard a shift beside me, followed by a snore. Rolling my eyes, I reached beside me and gave his shoulders a shake until he jumped awake in his seat.

"The thesis is not gonna write itself, you know?" Mohammed's eyelids fluttered, and a tired, soulless blink greeted me.

"I can't," he whined.

Blinking my vision over the busy library of our school, I shook my head. "Me neither," I pouted.

"All this just to get another fucking degree.. just to get underpaid, man. It doesn't feel worth it. Why would we do that?" Mohammed sounded like he was on the brink of tears as he cracked open another Redbull.

"Girl, I don't know, okay? I guess you'll make your parents proud or something."

He whined again and dropped his head on the keyboard of his laptop again, earning disturbed glances from other students. "Nah, fuck this. I have to go home anyway; Dina's waiting on me," he mumbled.

I laughed. "Whatever, Mo. Keep procrastinating, but don't come crying to me." There were a few minutes of silence, it lingers like a ticking time bomb.

"What are you doing later?" he asked, while Word fired up on his laptop.

"Oakley and I are planning to visit a house that's up for sale this afternoon. It'll be the sixth house we've checked out so far."

"Sixth? What? Make up your mind, Hanne."

"I can't, okay?" I snapped back. "I want to buy just one house in my life, and that's it. I don't want to move in like ever again."

"That's stupid," he commented. "You have a millionaire boyfriend, millionaire dad, millionaire bestie." I frowned.

"Bestie?"

"Yeah, you're looking right at him." I rolled my eyes. "My point is, you can have houses all over the world. Don't think too much about it."

"Yeah... Whatever, Mo."

*

I slammed my car door shut and fired the engine. Racing through the streets of Amsterdam, I turn up the volume to Fluorescent Adolescent by the Artic Monkeys and press the window down. The wind is flowing against my hair while my mind is racing.

The very thought of leaving Amsterdam again stirs at a sense of nostalgia but Mo's right, I could live wherever I want; for example closer to Oakley's family,  where this story started and maybe it should continue there... But I could be all over Europe...  Like in Spain, near the sea like I've always dreamed of. Maybe in LA, I could fulfill my secret fantasy of being a superstar. But my fantasy of being a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills would contradict my plans of becoming a pediatrician.

I head up my parent's driveway, and as I approach our front garden, I catch Mom in the act. She's watering the plants with her hose, multitasking like the green-thumb magician she is. Meanwhile, Marielle is doing what she does best—running through the water stream my mom's creating, giggling and squealing with pure childhood glee, I wish I could be that happy every day.

I lock the car when I get out and my mom gasps happily. "Marielle look who's there!" Mom points at me and Marielle's -already - big brown orbs widen to their full capacity.

"Auntie Hamma!!" - she can't say Hanne yet- A smile creeps up my face so big it almost hurts. Her short legs carry her toward me in excited skipps. I scoop her off the ground and she giggles when I sugar her face with kisses. I cringe at the way her shirt is wet against mine as she tries to wiggle out of my grip. In her spirited two-year-old way, full of hyperactivity, she skipped away from me, darting through the water stream. I stood back, letting her lead the way as she proudly showed me the path she kept running through.