under the covers [hs au]

chapter one.

"Are you enjoying it so far?"

"It's not bad."

Samira and Tasneem walked down the patterned trail. The sun reflected off the waters of the Robert Albert Dock, making it look as if it were glistening with sparkles. It was windy, so all that was heard was the harsh air thrashing against their ears. Their throats ached from speaking over the wind, so they leaned close to each other in an attempt to save their voices. Samira's curls were ticking her forehead as they continued their walk, but Tasneem had no such issues as her beige hijab was tucked beneath a hoodie.

"Do you miss your family?"

"I mean, yeah," Samira answered, "I lived with their chaos and got used to it."

Tasneem smiled, her pearly teeth aligning beneath her lips. Samira lowered her gaze to meet Tasneem, her eyes finding the dirty blonde lock of hair peeking out her hijab. Samira felt lucky that she found a friend as soon as she moved in, this tiny Palestinian hijabi with a lot to say, especially about the city. Tasneem's humorous remarks made the tour more enjoyable.

"I'm the youngest. All my other siblings are married and my parents no longer cared what I did."

"Oh, I know," Samira scoffed, "I'm the oldest daughter, so you know, there were more rules for me than my younger siblings. I always got a second thought from my parents, so sometimes I wonder how the fuck I was allowed to come here."

"Aw." Tasneem beamed. "You close with your parents?"

"Yeah, especially my dad." Samira's steps slowed down. "We have our ups and downs."

Samira missed her dad, very much, even if he wasn't always the best. Her father was right on basically everything and she wished she had the same wisdom like him. There was no question on where she'd be if she never took his advice. She giggled to herself about how it would be easy for her now if she had a pocket-sized version of him to keep on her shoulder.

"Is he overprotective?"

"One hundred percent. Just for me, at least, when I'm at home," Samira chuckled, "I was always supposed to come home before Maghrib. But if my younger sister, Surat, came home after midnight, no one would care."

"Are you close with your younger sister?"

A nod. "Practically my best friend."

"Aw. I get that."

The two of them made it to Liverpool One. There were lots of people walking around the shopping area, different people from all sorts of cultures. Samira was astonished by the amount of diversity there was; she expected it to be primarily white until she researched the population. It was welcoming.

"When do you plan to get married, Samira?"

Another laugh. "I love how Muslim girls normalize this topic."

"I blame our parents."

"I agree. But I plan to get married after I get my Master's. My dad will do the dating for me, though."

Samira followed Tasneem into a large store with all sorts of clothes. "I would say this is one of the only stores in England with affordable hijabi-friendly clothing," Tasneem mentioned.

Samira swiped her hands through a rack of warm-colored sweaters. "I see that. Even I need it sometimes."

Samira dressed modestly, too, well, most of the time, when she was obliged to. But she could admit she'd been a bit of a hoe. The shorts, the tanks, the teeny dresses, she wore them when no one judgemental watched. Surat knew, however, but if her parents found out, she probably wouldn't even be here in England.