Part 27- Boys will be Boys

So this is how it went down. Laeeka and I also decided to have lunch at Jimmy’s where we bumped into Arshad and his Faseeha. Arshad “begged” us to join them much to Faseeha’s very visible disappointment. Apart from the squealing and excessive talking she wasn’t such a bad girl. But every time she opened her mouth, Arshad had a constipated look on his face. Laeeka kept elbowing me to shut up whenever I asked Faseeha a question because the answer to every question was done in the form of an essay! It was just so funny to see Arshad stuck in the mud like this! And if the day couldn’t get any better, Nemo called and asked where we were and shortly after that he too had joined us. Just by the way, I had texted him about what was going on here when he told me he was on his way. This was going to be hilarious!!

Nemo was very good-looking and he knew it. He probably had no right to be this handsome and if you didn’t know him, you would 9/10 feel very intimidated by his presence. And right now was not one of those 1/10 times. Faseeha shifted uneasily in her seat as Nemo greeted us and sat down at the table.
“Nemo this is Faseeha” Arshad said
“Salaams how you Aapa (big sister)”
I couldn’t help but choke on a king prawn I had been enjoying until now!
“Hey I’m not big enough to be your aapa!” And she laughed and continued”but if everything goes according to plan, I may just end up being your sister-in-law”
“Whose plan?”, Nemo asked with a straight face as he scooped a calamari ring off Arshads plate.
Faseeha was quiet for a second and then quickly chirped “the universe’s plan..you know.. destiny”
“Well there are two types of destiny, one that’s written for you and one that you make so which one is it?” Nemo asked..straight face again
“Both,I hope” she smiled
“Well done! I must say I’m very impressed. Sorry for the awkwardness I just wanted to grill you for my Arshad here you know see if you really suitable for the ou” laughed Nemo as he playfully punched Arshad.

I looked at Nemo as he did that, what was he doing? Arshad clearly doesn’t like this girl in that way!!”
“Although Arshad”,Nemo continued ” it’s just so hard to believe that after everything, you’re getting married to a girl”
Arshads face turned every shade of pink that ever existed!
“What’s that supposed to mean?”,Faseeha asked clearly caught off guard.
“Oh no its nothing dear don’t stress I’m starving”

But the reaction Nemo wanted had happened. Because Faseeha was already thinking and to add extra spice to it Nemo suddenly grabbed Arshad’s hand and said ” I really am going to miss you”. Arshad was loving it and placed his hands over Nemo’s and said ” nothing will change I promise you”

“C’mon guys not here also!” I said trying hold back my laughter.
Nemo and Arshad withdrew their hands with a very reluctant “oh okay” but Faseeha’s face had question marks written all over it.

After lunch everyone decided to watch a movie and as expected Arshad sat in between Faseeha and Nemo. Nemo candidly put his arm around Arshad and kept it that way throughout the movie while motioning for Arshad to feed him some popcorn! As you can imagine, Arshad was only too happy to oblige! Throughout all of this, Faseeha looked like she was about to cry and I have to admit I started feeling bad for her…

After the movie Faseeha said she had to go home and lied that she had a wonderful time. “I’ll walk you to your car” Arshad said and she smiled. “I’ll come too”, said Nemo chipping in. ” No no its okay, ill manage thanks guys…arshad I’ll call you..” She said as she walked away.
“Hopefully not at 1am “he mumbled under his breath.

“Guys I really felt bad for her, you guys shouldn’t have gone so far”,Laeeka said as she put her arm around my waist.
“She must be a nice girl and I hope she finds what she’s looking for but really I cannot imagine waking up next to her for the rest of my life! There’s got to be something, some kind of attraction something that makes you look forward to each other, not dreading the next time she’s gonna open her mouth” Arshad said as he sat down on the bench at the fountain. ” You know sometimes I wonder, will I ever find someone who will love me for me? If it’s already written for us, why does it take so long before it happens”
“I hear you bro”,said Nemo as he sat down beside Arshad, “sometimes its there all along, and you just don’t see it. You take it for granted and when there’s someone else in the picture, you realise how stupid you’ve been and hope against all odds that it isn’t too late”

Laeeka and I looked at each other at the same time..it didn’t take a genius to figure out who Naeem was talking about…

Should I not have brought Zoheb into our group? Should I not have paired him with Aara? Did I unknowingly hurt one of my best friends?
Laeeka squeezed my hands reassuringly as though she were reading my thoughts…”It will be ok” she said with her eyes.

I hope so. I really hope so…