Anything Could Happen

Not Again...

Chapter 22.

The sports store smelled like new running shoes and gym equipment. This gave me a headache and my mood worsened despite the fact that I usually loved this smell.

"Delnaz, just relax. Don't do anything rash, okay?" No matter how much my friends tried to comfort me, I couldn't help but allow the sinking feeling to tear me down further.

"Whatever." I walked ahead of them, in search of the boys. Apparently all of them were at the mall. This was not going to be pretty but it had to be done. I pushed passed a group of kids and got stopped by a shop assistant.

"Good day, ma'am. Care to look at our range of latest swim suits? With summer in swing, you'll do yourself a favour by buying one and we're having a fifty percent off sale!" The sales assistant was a young boy. His name tag read Kerim.

"Hi, Kerim. I'm not looking at anything in particular. Say, if you could help me find a group of boys, I'll take a swim suit."

Allah... When did I learn to bribe people...

Kerim looked hesitant but agreed to help me anyway. He said he had seen a few boys looking around for soccer boots earlier. I knew that this had to be them. Kerim lead me to a corner of the store. The boys were looking at soccer boots but Fuad wasn't there.

"Are these the boys?"

"Yes..." I looked around for Zulfiyya and Yıldız but they weren't around either. I tried to leave the store before anybody saw me but I was too slow.

"Hey, wait! You said you'd buy a swim suit!" Kerim called after me. His loud calling probably attracted Rizvan's attention.

"Delnaz?"

I turned around. Rizvan was smiling at me. "Hi, I muttered shyly."

"Hey. How come you're here? I mean, not that there's a problem with you being here or anything. I just didn't think I'd see you here. Okay, I'm gonna shut up now." He laughed.

"I was um... I was..."

"She was going to buy a swim suit." Kerim came up behind me again. The rest of the boys stood around Rizvan and I. I felt so short. They all towered above me, except for Kerim. He was tiny.

"Fine, fine. I'll buy the damn swim suit. Let's go."

Fuad's POV

What would I do without friends like Yıldız and Cihan? If they hadn't warned me that Delnaz was on my case, I would have been in heaps of trouble. Cihan and I speed walked to the car park and flagged a passing taxi.

"Hi. Where to?"

"Where are we going, man?" Cihan and the taxi driver stared at me. I just needed to get away from MarkAntalya.

"The pharmacy down the road. I need to get my mother's medication, then... I don't know. Are you sure you want to come with, Cihan?"

"It's ok, Fuad. I'll stay here. Yıldız will be worrying about me."

"Ok. I'll see you around some time." I motioned for the driver to go. I exhaled sharply and squeezed my eyes shut. I needed a place to get away from everything. I needed to clear my mind. Was Delnaz really that desperate to get away from me? I had feelings too. The things she did and said hurt me too. She probably didn't understand that I'm only human.

Delnaz's POV

"I think the dark blue would bring out the colour of your eyes."

"Thanks, Kerim but I'll choose my own colour." I walked past him and picked a white swim suit with copper-coloured loops at the waist and on the straps. Perfect.

"Deli! We were looking for you everywhere!" Zulfiyya and Yıldız ran up to me and stopped to stare at Kerim.

"What is he doing here?" Yıldız chuckled.

"My name is Kerim. I'm a sales assistant here. Care to take a look at our swim suits? We're having a 50% off sale on these only for today!"

"We'll look around thanks," My friends walked around the clothes rack and started to rummage through everything. Once we had gotten our swim suits, we paid for them, thanked Kerim and headed out the store. The boys were nowhere to be seen.

"What are we gonna do with these? We don't have swimming pools," Yıldız whined.

Zulfiyya stopped to think, "I have one but my house is under renovation so we can't use the pool. Why don't we go down to the lake?"

Yıldız and I were not keen for that. I whipped out my phone and searched nearby water parks.

"Guys, I found something. It's been right under our noses all along!"

"What?" Zulfiyya and Yıldız burst in unison.

I grinned at them mischievously, "Antalya Aquapark, anyone?"

My best friends cheered. We left the mall. I was happy and I knew that we needed a bit of free time. That meant, time away from boyfriends and time away from studying.

Fuad's POV

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Hm?" The driver leaned back and turned to look at me.

"Do you think you could just stop a while. I'll be in and out of the pharmacy in a flash," I looked through the glass doors, "See, it's not too busy." I stared at the man hopefully.

"Yeah sure. You'll have to pay me when you make your final stop, boy."

I walked into Antalya Apothecary. Shelves of medicines and toiletries filled the space. The pharmacist at the counter looked extremely board. I smiled and greeted her.

"Selam."

"Selam. How can I help you?"

I handed the woman my mother's prescription.

"I'll be right back." She said, and walked through a door that I failed to notice.

"Here's you go." I was handed a metal cage with a seal on it. Mother's medication was inside. I walked to the cashing till, paid for the medicine and left.

"I'm back. Thanks for waiting."

"So where are we going now?"

"Do you know of any places where girls of my age don't usually hang out?"

~●○●~

I sat in front of a restaurant, munching on brownies. They were so decadent and just really satisfying. The weather was peefect for a swim and I was in the mood for one. The problem was that I was focused on Delnaz. I feared that she would stop loving me and would obviously leave me. I didn't want to live without her, though. She, on the other hand, seemed fine without me. The wind blew through my hair and broke my train of thought. While my food was digesting, I decided to buy a pair of baggy shorts for the water slides. The swimwear shop was next to the restaurant I was sitting across. I picked up my backpack and went to explore.

The walls were covered with posters of people enjoying the park's water features. There was a little water fountain for tiny kids to splash around in, slides of different lengths, heights and some twisted around while others were just straight. The highest slide of all was the scariest. It was called Antalya's Giant.

The shop assistant was a chilled out guy with shaggy blonde hair and sunglasses on his head. He had an extreme tan and ate a granola bar while eyeing me, lazily. "Can I like, help you, sir?" He drawled.

"Yeah. Got any baggy shorts?"

"Sure do. They're over there at the back. You can call me Cem, by the way."

"Thanks Cem. I'll be right back." While looking through the clothing items at the back of the store, I noticed a beautiful sound. The sound of laughter floated from the main seating area of the water park, right up to me. I looked up to see who it could have possibly been but nobody was around the entrance of the store. I brushed it off and went to pay for my shorts.