The Badboy, the Catfish & Me

Thirty-One

Later that night, with our bags packed, I stepped out of the house and into the family car. While the girls of Maxwell High were still dancing under pounding music, I was buckling my seatbelt with a Polaroid camera on my lap.

My family of three, plus one aunt, found ourselves talking over each other as we loaded our luggage into the car. We would fly to Buffalo since Baba didn't want to drive six and a half hours straight to the Canadian border. Aunt Naomi was in the backseat next to me so she could drive our car back from the airport to park it in the house's garage.

The drive took well over an hour, and it wasn't long into the trip that I found myself sighing. No matter how many times I told myself I'd done the right thing with Valentino, my chest felt empty. I kept remembering the coldness in his eyes. The sharpness of his words. It hurt to breathe.

"Inaya, have you started your salutatorian speech yet?" Mama asked from the shotgun seat.

Aunt Naomi lifted an arm as I rifled through my hand luggage and opened the small book, grateful for a possible distraction. Clicking my pen, the blankness of the pages intimidated me. Neither Salah nor Ameena applied to Cornell—Salah was aiming for colleges farther away, and Ameena was going for a gap year to consider possible career options as an artist while managing her upcoming wedding—which meant this was part of my goodbye to them, too.

I put the notebook away. Aunt Naomi didn't say anything, offering me a shoulder to take a nap on instead. I whispered a thank-you but knew I wouldn't get any rest.

* * *

Unpacking our things with tired eyes, I glanced at the time on my phone to see that I had gotten a few texts earlier. It was a message from Ameena and Salah in our group chat.

I sat on the bed beside my open suitcase to see a picture of Ameena with her prom date. Blurred in the background was the entrance of the prom venue. I willed myself to be happy.

👑 Queen Salah 👑: yesssss girl

You and your man look sooooo cute

Match made in heaven!

Can you tell us now if he goes to our school? I've never seen him before

👑 Queen Salah 👑: That's because you only have eyes for Valentino

So you're telling me you've seen him around??

👑 Queen Salah 👑: He looks familiar

I swallowed the rising pain at the mention of Valentino. If only they knew...would they hate me like he does, too? I took a deep breath and tapped Ameena's picture.

"Mama! Look at this," I called my mom over. "This is my friend Ameena. Her parents are planning to get her married to that guy."

"Really? Masha'Allah." Mama observed the picture with wide eyes. "They look happy. Yusuf, come look."

I tilted the phone to let both my parents see the picture.

"Yeah, they look good," Baba agreed.

"What do you think about marrying young, Inaya?"

I looked away. "No. Well, I don't know. I like my life the way it is," I added, hoping to convince myself it was true. "Plus, you said no boys until the end of college."

"I just wanted your opinion," Mama said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Stop giving her ideas," Baba said to her with a serious frown. "I'm not ready to let go of my princess yet."

"Don't worry, Baba. I'm not going anywhere," I laughed. It echoed painfully between my ribs. "I haven't even gotten my driver's license yet. You guys are going to be stuck with me for years!"