Heaven From Here

twenty six

Saif leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes. If he concentrated hard enough, he could catch a whiff of the perfume Hanna wore tonight. It was heady mixture of sweet and spicy, just like her. It made him think of hot tropical nights with ice cold lychee cocktails, skin flushed with sweat as they touched in the most intimate manner.

In his minds eye he could still see her as she walked towards him, barefooted in her all black outfit. She had on a sheer black polka dotted dress over her black turtleneck long sleeved t-shirt and black skinny jeans. She had wrapped her hair up completely with a nude colored turban that knotted at the slope of her neck. Her face was immaculately made up with her skin glowing with health, but his eyes were arrested by the deep burgundy that painted her lips. He was also caught by the fluttering of her lashes as she blinked.

Hanna had looked at him imploringly as she gave him the details of the venue and contact numbers of Sana's and Fatima. He knew she had wanted him to agree into following her but he felt like he would be imposing on their girls night. Sana had mentioned that they were going out 'like the good old days'. Hanna had asked him again, if he was sure that he didn't want to follow as she put her shoes own.

Saif had smiled softly at her and shook his head. He watched as she stood up and twirled in front of him; the sheer dress doing nothing to hide her curves that were all covered up in black. She had cocked her head as she stood in front of him and asked how did she look. He did a slow sweep from the tips of her toes, to the top of her head. The glint of the wedding rings on Hanna's left hand left a strange sense of satisfaction settling in his belly. It took all his will power to keep the word 'edible' off his tongue as he told her that she looked beautiful instead. He loved the flush that seeped through her make up covered skin, it was the prettiest shade of pink he had ever seen.

Running his hand through his hair Saif huffed out a breath. He knew he needed to stop thinking about her like that. He looked down at his joggers and t-shirt and decided that he needed to shower. His eyes lingered on the piece of paper with Hanna's handwriting that she placed on the coffee table as he stood up. Shaking his head, Saif switched off the tele and trudged up the stairs to his room.

It was dark, a bit crowded, and oddly smokey; Hanna was not enjoying herself. There were already three random people who had tried to touch her turban as she had walked through the club to get to the VIP section. All that and she hadn't even hit the dance floor yet. She looked over at the throng of people dancing and concealed a sigh. No, it was most definitely not happening. She pasted on a smile as someone patted her on the knee and she turned around to see Sana leaning in to her ear and in an almost shout say, "They are bringing out the cake."

Hanna watched with fascination as the servers brought out a three-tiered cake complete with sparklers going off at the top. The whole club stopped and the deejay started playing Happy Birthday. Everyone sang along loudly, and Hanna lost herself to that moment laughing loudly and smiling along with her friends. She continued watching as the crew quickly took the cake back in and started sending out slices in paper plates to all the guests in the VIP section.

Hanna felt a sharp pinch on her thigh and turned around with a start. "What, Lala?!" she said loudly.

"It's our jam!" Layla squealed as a club mix of Ariana Grande's Thank You, Next blared through the speakers. She pulled Hanna by the arm, but Hanna refused to budge.

"You go, these shoes are killing me," she lied looking regretful. She watched as Layla rounded up Sana and Fatima and they started dancing in a circle on the dance floor. It annoyed her how the guys close by eyed up her friends, like they were meat on display. Was it so far fetched an idea that some women literally wanted to have fun with their friends only? That they weren't on display for the men around them?