Delusions of the Innocent | ✓

[13]

Amara's POV

"Let go of me." I say in a serious tone.

"Peter, let go. You're making her uncomfortable." Munir grabs my arm, trying to unlink Peter's grasp on me.

"I need to talk to you." His grip on my wrist tightens.

"This is not how you ask to talk to someone." I say, trying to twist my arm out of his grasp.

"Let her go, man." Munir urges. "You're freaking her out."

"Okay." Peter drops my hand.

But the second Munir drops his hand too, Peter grabs my wrist again and breaks into a run.

"Ya Allah! Peter! You're scaring me and on top of that, you're making me run! I hate running!" I yell.

Once he realizes we lost Munir, he stops. I lean against a wall, trying to catch my breathe. I haven't ran since gym class in high school. That was years ago. So right now, I want to kill Peter for making me pass out from the lack of oxygen and ,oh, you know, for kidnapping me.

"I'm going to kill you for this." I say breathlessly.

"Are you now?" His tone sounds... flirtatious.

I look up to see Peter way too close to me, with his hand resting on the wall beside my head. My heart is thumping out of my chest.

"W-what are you doing?" My words stutter.

"What am I doing?" He questions back again.

"Why are you questioning all my questions?" I ask.

"I'm not sure, why do you think?" He asks with a playful smile on his face.

"I'm going to call the cops on you, Mr. Peter Bilal." I try to joke but my tone came out all too serious because of how nervous I am.

"Try, Ms. Amara Mahmoud." He says, as he moves in so close that if I move an inch to grab my phone from my pocket, I'll be right up against him.

I can hear the music from the house but it's faded, making this situation more heated than I'd like.

Imma get your heart racing in my skin-tight jeans. Be your teenage dream tonight.

"Do you hear that? Katy Perry has a message for us tonight." He smirks.

"Stop messing with me, Peter." I whisper while staring at the floor.

"I'm not." His time changes to something more serious.

"You are and you know it. This is just fun and games for you." My voice trembles.

"Amara—"

I push away Peter and he easily moves aside.

"I'm not interested in you the in way the other girls are. I have to go, I'm sorry." My throat feels constricted from feeling overly emotional.

What did I even apologize for?

I walk away at a fast pace.

When I finally find Zoya, Dina, and Beena, it looks like Munir has already hit it off with Beena. The way she's looking at him fully gives away her feelings. That girl is an open-book.

"Did Peter say anything?" Munir asks.

"No, he was just trying to mess with you." I try to smile.

"I had enough faith in Peter to know he was not going to do anything stupid to you." Munir sighs out of relief.

Well, technically, he did hurt my feelings... but Munir shouldn't know.

"You were kidnapped by Peter and you didn't tell us?" Zoya sounds upset.

"It was a joke to freak out Munir." I lie. "Nothing serious."

All three girls squint their eyes, suspiciously looking at me.

"Jeez guys! I'm here in one piece, aren't I?" I roll my eyes.

I will tell them, just not in front of the guys.

"Is it cool if we go home? I'm stumped and I have a million pages of textbook readings to do." I pout.

Beena nods. "I've had a long night as well. I think it's best if we go home."

Zoya, Dina and I look at Beena in shock. She's almost always stubborn about staying longer at a party.

Daamir walks up to us and twirls a piece of Dina's hair, making her jump. "I guess I will see you ladies at school."

Zoya pulls Dina away and brings her close to herself so Daamir doesn't try making anymore advances.

"Uh, yes. Bye, guys. Enjoy the rest of your night." I say, as we leave.

• • •

"Maybe there's a chance Peter likes you. It seemed like he was more interested in you rather than me when I spent time with him." Beena shrugs her shoulders.

"Or maybe he's just a manwhore, trying to get into a virginal girl's pants so he can brag about it later?" Zoya says furiously.

Dina sighs. "I'm with Zoya on this one."

"Gross. But I agree too." I say.

As much as I would like my prince charming ending, Peter isn't a prince, he's a player.

I would be delusional to think we could ever work.

"But you like him and we can't change anything about that until it naturally fades away. Don't be ashamed to continue telling us about it even if we might not approve of him, okay?" Zoya pats my head.

"Wait, you like Peter?" Beena squeals.

"Oh, shit." Zoya realizes I haven't fully told Beena yet.

I stare at Zoya with laser beam eyes as she mouths 'sorry'.

"Oh my God! Why didn't you say anything? This makes me such a shitty friend, I couldn't even tell the mystery man is Peter!" She face palms.

"Beena, Beena, Beena! Calm down! I didn't tell you because you looked infatuated by him. Your feelings were more important than mine." I explain.

"Yeah, I was infatuated by him because I was horny, not in love. I could have easily shut that shit down." Beena scolds me.

This comment made Zoya and Dina burst into laughter.

"This can't get any weirder." I murmur, more to myself than to the girls.

"Damn right, it can't." Beena agrees. "I'll murder Peter if he hurts you."

"Murder is a sin but I'm sure it can be excused if a douchebag acts out." Zoya jokes.

"Does that mean you'll help me hide the body and erase evidence?" Beena asks.

"You know I will." Zoya grins.

"I'll use my societal power to make sure the news never reaches the surface." Dina says.

"Wow, even naive Dina's got some tricks up her sleeves." I giggle. "I'm glad all of your murderous psychos have my back."

"But seriously, if Peter pulls any stupid tricks, he won't make it out alive; whether that's theoretically or in reality." Beena grins, almost evil-like.

Ah, I love my friends. What a blessing they are.

- - -

A/N: sorry about the slow updates! I didn't realize I'd be so busy this summer! 🥺

Next Update: Wednesday, July 10.

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