Karma's a Bitch* #21

Shamma’s P.O.V

I sighed heavily, letting my fingers thread between my hazel strands. I stared blindly ahead at no particular thing. I felt an unexpected slight tap on my shoulder which made me jump up to attention.

“Umeeeeh!” I screamed as I half-jumped in the air and turned around to come face to face with no other than Meera, “Meeerooh hay enty!”

“Bsmellah shu feeech?!” she said as she took a seat next to me on the bleachers.

“Ya5e zaya’3teeeenii!”

“Hahah 7asha!” she laughed, “kel ha cause of this light tap.”

We sat in silence for a moment, just watching the empty football field, until Meera decided to speak. “So..”

I cut her off before she had a chance to speak any further, “Meeroh am I self-centered?”

I slowly rocked myself back and forth, hugging my denim-covered legs against my chest.

“Akeeed la, laish ts2leeen?” Meera frowned.

“La mashay.” I shook my head and returned my gaze to the green field that spread before our eyes.

“Shu esalfah? Shu mstwe?” she looked at me with questioning eyes.

I rested my chin on my knees, my eyes never darting away from the view ahead of me.

“Enzain what about heartless and stubborn?” I asked again.

“Where did you get that from? Shammoh, 7ad gayelech shay?”

Finally, I turned to look at Meera, “be honest.”

“Well...” she hesitated for a moment. “You can be a bit... harsh sometimes. Especially if you’ve been hurt,” she admitted.

I closed my eyes for a few moments and then stood up.

“Oh god. Mayarii I gotta go... do something. I’ll see you later.”

I looked for him in the entire university and the only place left to search was the library. It was useless. He had left. Despite that, I decided to give it a try. My eyes widened as I entered and found a familiar figure sitting in the back, carving the sleek wood of the tables with his sharp pocket knife.

“Hey,” I whispered as I approached him.

I look at him, but he doesn't look at me.

One glance out of those coldly indifferent eyes and no more.

That look in his eyes... Gosh, I wish I'd killed myself before I opened my mouth earlier.

“5air?” he said coldly, “do you need anything?”

I was just about to sit down, but the moment I bent down he was up and walking over to a wall covered with books. I sighed and walked after him.

“Ok I guess I deserved that,” I grumbled apologetically, but he wouldn’t hear of it as he moved along the corridor, pretending to look for a book.

“Saaif!” I called out a bit too loud and was immediately shushed by the librarian. “Saif!” I hissed pulling at his polo shirt, but he continued to pretend I wasn’t even there, staring up at the shelves.

Having no other choice, I moved between him and the bookcase. My back was pressed against the shelves. I held my breath as I realized that my simple motion had put me in a very dangerous situation. My heart was racing and my palms were sweaty. Only a few inches separate his body from my own!

“Will you please move?” he asked looking straight through me.

“Not until you talk to me,” I managed to say as I stared up at him.

I nearly gasped as he looked down at me, never bothering to move away. “What do you want?” he asked coldly.

I blinked wildly for a few seconds as I tried to get a hold of myself.

What the hell is happening to me?

“I-I’m sorry,” I managed to stutter.

He eyed me suspiciously, not uttering a single word.

“I realize enah I can be a pain sometimes...” I said.

“Bas sometimes?” he said sarcastically, raising his eyebrow.

“Yala 3ad I’m apologizing here. Give me a break.”

Saif stood still waiting for me to continue.

“And you just caught me in one of those... sometimes. So I’m sorry for saying eli gltah, ok?”

I waited for an answer but he simply stared down at me.

Ma gdart at7amal the closeness between us anymore. It was becoming unbearable.

My breath hitched in my throat at the sight him.

I’ve had enough of this tension. “Enzain 3ade you just step back a little? My blood oxygen levels are becoming an issue here,” I hesitantly said.

**********************************************************************************
Saif’s P.O.V

Nodding slightly, I stepped back but remained silent.

“So...” she started, trying hard to break the stillness between us, but failing miserably at it. Eventually, she gave up and let out a loud sigh before asking, “are you giving me the silent treatment? Cause it’s really starting to freak me out.”

“You talk too much,” I said simply.

I continued to search the shelves for something. It was obvious enah I wasn’t actually looking for anything.

“Shu tsawe hne a9lan?” she finally asked after a few moments.

“You just can’t keep quiet, can you?”

“I don’t like silence. It makes me uncomfortable.”

I shot her this weird look. “What?” she asked defensively.

“Nothing,” she said as I continued my meaningless search.

It wasn’t long before she spoke once again, “you never answered my question. What are you doing here?”

“Reading,” I stated the obvious, my eyes still wandering over the mountain of books displayed before me.

“You read?” she scoffed.

“Ever since I was six. Isn’t that just amazing?” I said with sarcastic enthusiasm.

Shamma forced a plastic smile on her face which instantly crumbled. We continued to slowly make our way down the corridor, until I reached for a book and started skimming through it aimlessly. She simply leaned on the bookcase and waited for me to finish whatever it is I’m doing when we heard two whispering voices coming from the corridor next to ours.

“What do you mean mat9adgeen? Of course they’re together.”

“No they’re not. I mean, one minute they hate each other and the next they’re walking down the halls holding hands and sitting together. Come on, it’s so fake! Ybayen!”

“Who are those shitheads?!” Shamma mouthed to me, as I put down the book and was now eavesdropping on the conversation going now.

“No way. They are so together. The never-ending arguments and teasing each other all the time? All a façade to hide the undeniable attraction that pulls them together,” some girl argued, “and now that they’ve realized it, they’re on their way down major make-out lane.”

Shamma cringed at the statement, her facial muscles twisting up.

“A-ha!” the other girl cried out, “a9lan there was no make-out. Ever! And that is my point. If what they have is ‘undeniable attraction’ then we should have witnessed some major smooching by now. But all we got was pathetic holding hands and sitting together.”

“Maybe Shamma wants to take it slow. You know, maybe she’s still hurt because of Khalifa.”

“Shamma? Taking it slow? Ha!” they laughed, “I bet she’s just doing this 3sb tba Khalifa y’3ar. That girl would do absolutely anything. It’s pathetic.”

Her eyes instantly widened and anger flashed in them. “Shu hal 5aysa! Mnu tt7ara 3mrha?!” she growled.

Shamma began to storm down the corridor, when my strong hand caught a grip on her arm. “Calm down,” I hissed pulling her closer, “beating the crap out of hal 5yas is not going to solve anything.”

“They think I’m... I’m... easy!” she snapped.

“Believe me when I say that you are not easy. There is nothing easy about you.”

She stopped for a second trying to figure out if what I had said was a compliment or not.

“I told you no one would believe it. I mean, we didn’t even fool the nerds back there.” I tilted my head towards the bookcase that separated us from the nerdy shlah.

She let out a deep sigh, pulling her arm out of my grip. “What do you suggest we do?”

I paused for a moment, even though I already knew the answer to her question.

I just hadn’t figured out the best way to inform her of it...

“Well, we...”