Hennaed Hands

Chapter 14

Dhia

I rise up to consciousness and breathe in the scent of my hair that is stuck underneath my cheek. As my senses adjust, it feels like something is off.

Noise.

The house seems too quiet for this time in the morning.

Frowning, I reach for my phone and I jump out of bed with a start when I see the time. Crap, I'm unbelievably late for school. Within the span of ten minutes, I'm completely dressed and am combing my hair with my fingers when I get out of the room. Umi is standing in the kitchen, washing the dishes and startles when I speak up.

"Where's Keturah?"

"Oh, she left earlier." I frown at the stupidity of my sister.

"Why didn't she wake me up?"

"Baba wanted to let you sleep in. Now eat something before you go."

I stuff a muffin in my mouth and smile at her, to which she sighs heavily before I zoom out of the apartment, taking the stairs instead of the elevators. It's a warm day and while walking, I braid my long hair down my back while the soft wind brings out all the baby hairs at the front. I tuck them behind my ears and when I look up, my eyes catch sight of red hair.

He's walking along the same sidewalk, but in my direction, a cup of coffee held in one hand.

"Christian?" I call out.

The sunlight that caught the muted shine of his fiery curls move onto his cool blue eyes as he brings his head up from his phone.

"Dhia? Why are you so late to school?"

"I slept in," I answer, "Why are you walking this way?"

He stalls before answering, as if cooking up a response, "I'm taking a mental health day," by now, we had reached each other and are walking in the direction of school, "So what happened last night?"

"Huh?" I stutter, my attention pulled away by a golden retriever puppy that passes. He notices and chuckles to himself before repeating the question.

"After I left, what happened? With your dad?"

"Ohmygodthatdogwastoocute!" I compose myself and play with my hair in embarrassment, "He just asked me who you were and all that. He wants me to bring you over for dinner one night."

His dark blue eyes widen and his lips part, unable to form words.

"He wants to meet me and have dinner?" He manages to stutter out, "With him?"

I nod and take a moment to look at his reaction, "Have you met him before?"

"What makes you think that?"

"It's just, last night when we saw him, it looked like you recognized him."

He shakes his head, his eyes turned towards his shoes as they scuffed against the pavement.

Before I can ask him something, the wide building that is my school comes into my line of sight.

"And here we are," Christian declares and shoots me a small smile, almost pusillanimous, "Want me to walk you back after school too?"

A simper rises up onto my lips and I let out a small giggle.

"Yes, I'd like that."

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On the whole walk back, as the blue-eyed boy rambles on, my mind suddenly strays off to conjuring images of how it would be if we ended up in a relationship.