How I Met Mr Jinn ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Two

Can't Tell

"Who the hell is Kabus? And what's his problem?" I asked him, pacing around my room.

He shrugged, but I knew he knew more then what he wanted to share. I was used to his secretive nature, but I also knew how to deal with it. Just about the same way I deal with everything. I gave him a look, "I have the right to know, grecio." I told him, taking a seat beside him on my bed. "It wanted us dead no less."

"Well, would you believe me if I told you that Al-Kabus, The Gray Jinn is, in fact, my grandfather?" He questioned, in a sarcastic tone.

"I... I'm not sure," I stuttered. "Isn't he supposed to be old or something?"

"We don't age as you do," He sighed, burying his face in his hands.

"Right.."

There was something about an awkward silence that lured us towards it. We always found ourselves falling between cracks or in this uncomfortable- yet lustful silence. The kind of silence when you feel like your words are stumbling down a hill along with Jack and Jill before they can reach your tongue. It wasn't like we were thinking, in fact, the concept was far more immature. It was about avoiding eye contact, looking down, playing with fingers and staring at shoes to notice a new scratch. It was a famous and frustrating lover's silence.

"How are you?" I asked him. "Did your injuries completely heal?"

"In 40 minutes? Yeah."

I nodded with a small and shy smile, something I hardly did. God, he made me do a lot of things I didn't usually do.

Then we returned to that foggy cloud of thought. Where you reach in to hold something but you remember what your looking for maybe too deep in to grasp. After I had hugged him, he turned back to his normal self. I call it normal because that is what I'm used to. Long locks of brown hazel hair and bright blue eyes. The freckles on his nose, the blue headphones, and his iconic white shirt were now normal.

I liked this new kind of normal.

He tossed back the stone into the lake, and we watched it sink like it had taken years to do so. Then, we walked back home. During the walk, I called Marisol to check up if my mother had called. Luckily, she hadn't. That was at ten. Now its forty minutes past that.

The walk was long, tiring so we hardly spoke. Though, Grecio shared a story about a hilarious highschool couple where he had watched their love letters getting mixed up. The popular boy was set on a blind date with the smart girl from the chess club, while the girl thought she was seeing the guy from her math class. In the end, they graduated and vowed to never speak of it again. It was a petty they didn't get together in the end. That walk reminded me of how our friendship first started, his storytelling. He would tell me miraculous stories that took place fifty or so years ago. Some were centuries old, but he didn't get into the unknown because he thought the details were boring. He loved exaggeration not documentation.

I'm just glad he agreed to write me that essay- even though it got me to detention thanks to Nick.

Come to think of it, I miss that jerk. The winter break has gone far enough. School starts in about three days.

"I'm well aware that this isn't the best time, but may I ask you something?" He asked. "Earlier today... what was that? I mean, what exactly are we?"

I blinked. "Um.. not birds that's for sure." I awkwardly laugh, glancing at the robin as he ate some corn flakes.

"Yeah.."

I watched him fall back into that silence, but something inside me couldn't hold it any longer. I bit my lip, but I wish I had bitten my tongue instead. "Grecio," I began, "To be honest I'm not sure what we are either."