Mikaal

28: Mikaal

"Red is definitely your colour," he said.

The song 'Riptide', blared through his phone speakers.

He tapped and swiped on his phone screen.

'Typical - it takes so many taps and swipes just to put an Android on silent,' she said to herself in her head, a smirk on her face.

"Dalia, I'm sorry, there's something urgent I have to sort out," he said with a frown.

"Sorry about that," he said, pulling out his seat. "So where were we?" A small smile tugged at his lips as he said, "Oh, that's right, your dress..."

Dalia's heartbeat quickened as her cheeks flushed once again.

"So Dalia..." he began, his tone now different as he glanced into her eyes, "hope you haven't made too many birthday plans?"

She found her voice this time, having been asked a straightforward question her mind could more easily process."I usually have dinner with my family," she said.

"Are you doing anything in the day?"

Dalia picked up her iPhone.

"Do you have to consult your calendar? Am I not important enough yet?"

In spite of his feigned hurt expression, she knew there was some truth in his undertones. "Hey, it's not like that," she said, peering into his eyes with sincerity, "you know I just don't like breaking promises with people."

He reached over for her left hand, covering it with his, its warmth matching his smiling eyes that said he understood.

Abruptly, both their heads jerked up at the sound of the restaurant speaker system going berserk, the music that was playing in the background growing louder and louder to the point of becoming deafening, causing all the diners to block their ears in unison.

"Ugh," Dalia said aloud, turning on her left side, burying her head into her firm, bouncy, latex pillow covered in a purple pillowcase at the realisation that it was her phone's melodic alarm going off. "Damn it," she said with a groan - to be waking up from the same tiresome dream!

'At least they've been less frequent,' she thought to herself, as she felt for her iPhone in the space between her two pillows on her double bed, before silencing its persistent sound by tapping the 'Stop' button on the display.

She couldn't help wondering if her dream meant something - didn't people say that dreams sometimes weren't just random but had meanings? But what was she supposed to take away from being reminded of Blake? Or could it be more symbolic?

Maybe the dream was a reflection of her sense of incompleteness since not having a guy in her life? And so, could the dream be recurring to somehow help fill that void? So perhaps it has been appearing less often because of the fact that there was now at least one guy clearly interested in her?

As Dalia's mind settled back into the present moment, her eyes refocussed on her phone screen, noticing she had received a few messages from Meagan overnight. She swiped one of the grey rectangle boxes with rounded corners to the right, that took her straight into the Facebook messenger app.

When she noticed that Meagan was online, she slightly regretted checking the chat now while still feeling a bit groggy from restless sleep, because thanks to the wonderful Facebook, Meagan would know Dalia's read her messages and expect a prompt response to her enquiries over the boy situation.

As if on queue, Meagan added to her string of messages, saying, "Don't you dare ignore me D!!! I've been patient for like ages!"

"Can you give me just 5 mins to properly wake up? Please?" Dalia didn't wait for a response, putting her phone back down to the left of her pillow before pulling the covers higher up over her head as she stalled for time - uncertain just how much to share with her best friend.