The Wedding

Epilogue Part 1

SIX MONTHS LATER

A Saturday evening

"Laila where are you?" the panicky girl asked "He's here and you're not! I don't know what to do"

"Sorry I made an unscheduled stop after dropping the cupcakes. I'll be there in a few minutes" Laila then rolled her eyes "And for God's sake he's just a boy, talk to him"

"He's not just a boy!" Yasmin snapped something she would never have been able to do if not for waves of nervousness crashing on her "Oh my God Laila he's walking towards me. WHAT DO I DO?!"

"Yasmin" she paused "Breathe okay. Breathe"

"I'm going to pass out"

Laila tried not to laugh "You're not. Calm down. Do it like we rehearsed. You're not the junior girl he left last year, you're a senior girl. Act like it"

"Uhuhh"

"You'll be fine" Laila assured her again "I'll be there soon"

Laila ended the call and laughed, tucking it into the purse slung over her shoulder. She had a fond smile on her face as she continued to walk across the quiet school. It was Saturday and the compound that she remembered as always noisy and full of life seemed so devoid of it.

So this is what school looks likes on a Saturday

Her thoughts of Yasmin gradually shifted out as she came to stand in front the large tree. They were replaced by that of her brother.

Laila had been beyond surprised at what had transpired between them in the last six months. And by what had transpired... she meant what had not transpired. He kept to his plan; barely talking to her, when he did talking to her as though he was talking to some distant relative he was obliged to talk to. He gave her little details of what he was up to, what was going on or even how he was doing. Their phone calls which happened as little as once or twice a week lasted no more than three minutes. She tried hard to talk to him and he tried harder to not let them talk. She'd given up trying in the last month. She didn't call him anymore, because most of the times it went unanswered. Presumably because he was busy doing what she didn't know because he would not tell her! and when he called back... then the timer set at three minutes would begin to count down.

She had applied her energy into something more resourceful; his family. If she and Yasmin had been good before; they were the best now. She went to the house as often as she could without looking like a lunatic. She did all she could to get in Mamma's good graces and though the woman wasn't keen on display of emotions... Laila was sure she liked her. She was on good terms with his brothers; especially Nuh. Unlike Yaseer who couldn't handle Nuh's natural teasing; Laila could not only handle it; she could outdo him. They had a weird relationship/friendship going on. Not the type to be alarmed about, it was the type of relationship Laila would hope to have with her boyfriend's brother (if you can call their relationship dating).

She tried not to push it. By visiting Uncle Rasheed's house and meeting his wife and children like she wanted to... that was borderline crazy so she stuck with Yaseer's immediate family. She knew what she was doing. It wasn't much of trying to make everyone like her before he came back no... it was just finding his presence where she could; with his family.

She missed him; missed him a lot and she had run out of tasks to do to keep herself from thinking about him and she had relapsed. That brings us to why she's here. She knelt down; so she could see it up close. She'd seen it once; but then it meant something different. Now....