Miles Apart

I.

"Till there was you..."

It was around 8 PM, with Hannah, Lana, & Eileen staring at each other blankly. They were all sick of their electronic devices, the television, UNO, and just being trapped at home in general,

"Huffffffff!" Hannah groaned loudly as she buried her face into the couch pillow. What am I doing here when I could be at Uncle Kareem's going out, Eileen thought to herself. She loved Aunt Maria and her daughters, but the only problem was that her husband hated going out, so once you stay over at her house, you never get out. She hoped maybe Uncle Kareem would call and say he's coming over. Lana then began to talk,

"Oh yeah. Uncle Noah just arrived today. We might have to welcome them." Eileen totally forgot about Uncle Noah,

"Oh yeah.. I should go sleepover at Uncle's then."

Lana wasn't happy, "You're always at Uncle's house! Stay here pleaaaaaaaase. Besides, what are you going to do there? Play with their little son?" She hadn't thought about their son,

"Is he really that young?"

"Yes! He's like Malik's age or something."

"But it wouldn't be nice, Lana.. Besides, I like meeting new people in the family. Who knew we had Russians on our side of the family!" She said excitedly. Eileen felt weird. Why am I in a happy mood all of a sudden?

Aunt Maria came in to the living room, telling us to get dressed, "Uncle Kareem is bringing Noah and his wife just for tea. Eileen if you want to stay over at Kareem's, then pack your stuff early." Eileen nodded, "Hader."

Soon later, she got up and walked to the girls' bedroom to grab her small suitcase. She then began to contemplate whether to stay or to leave,

If I stay, I get to stay up longer and gossip with my cousins who are my age. Yet I'll be stuck home and get bored again. If I go to Uncle Kareem, I get to leave the house everyday! Plus more food! And another plus is meeting the new people.

"Eileen, don't you dare think about packing your suitcase and leaving me for those Russians!" Lana yelled, grabbing the suitcase away. "Hey! Hayawana [female animal in Arabic]! Give me that back! Why can't I meet my relatives?" Eileen questioned her. Lana squinted her eyes, still clutching the suitcase. She stared at her cousin until she threw the suitcase on the ground, "Fine. Go. Leave me all alone then." She stormed off. Eileen rolled her eyes, laughing. Lana came back, stomping,

"This is my room, ahem." She grabbed clothes to wear from her closet. Eileen laughed at her,

"Habla."

"Oh shut up."

"They're here!" Aunt Maria shrieked, "Girls, go make tea and prepare the cookies!"

Eileen made sure her suitcase was ready to go by the door, checked herself one more time in the mirror, and left.

A deep voice was heard throughout the whole house, "Assalamu Alaykum [normal greeting in Arabic]!" Her aunt, aunt's husband, Uncle Kareem, Omar, mother, grandmother, and a couple were in the living room. She went and shook hands, greeting everyone. Her grandmother then pointed out, "Say hi to Uncle Noah and his wife Aaliyah." Eileen shook hands and said hi. Auntie Aaliyah was sitting quietly next to her husband, shy of the environment. She guessed maybe Auntie Aaliyah didn't know much Arabic. Uncle Noah beamed at Eileen, like she got accepted into Harvard University,

"Praises to the one above, you've grown so much, Eileen! I remember the last time I saw you, in Palestine when you were.... Erm, six?" I don't even know this man...