Bittersweet 21

I was awakened the next morning by the sound of someone's fist banging on the door. With my eyes barely open, I walked to the door and opened it.

"YALLAH BSR3A GET DRESSED!" Man9oor screamed in my face. He was wearing swimming trunks, a black Nike T-shirt, flip flops, and his

sunglasses pulled back his bangs from his face as they rested on his head. I'm guessing he was going to the beach. THE BEACH!

I slammed the door in Man9oor's face without a reply, and opened the curtains to wake 79a up.

"AAAAIIH!" She complained pulling the covers over her face.

"Yallah! Beach!" I reminded her, pulling the covers away. 79a quickly sat up at the sound of the word beach. We both raced to the bathroom and got

dressed.

I put on denim barmooda pants and a 5feef oversized white shirt with a red tank top underneath. Makeup was nothing but mascara and cherry Labello.

I slipped on my red flips flops and threw my hair in a high ponytail. I looked at 79a's reflection in the mirror, who was wearing yellow leggings, and a

lime green fitted top. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she wore two yellow and green studs on her ears.

Once we got outside, we spotted two makshoofat Jeep Wranglers. 79a and I peeked from the top of our aviators and raised our eyebrows in shock.

"Ana bawadee el banat." Mayed offered and hopped into one of the Jeeps. The problem is, sitting shag el 7alj on the passenger seat of that Jeep was

no other than…

Rashid.

With his feet on the dashboard and hands behind his head looking completely relaxed. I couldn’t help it. I smiled. Wide.

My parents and Man9oor got into the other Jeep, we got into ours, and took off. Driving in a roofless car is certainly one of the experiences I'll never forget.

My hair was flying everywhere, and 79a and I were falling all over each other singing "DYNAMITE". The guys just laughed at the sight of us. Mayed finally

started driving mthel el nass, which allowed me to gaze out the window.

Lost in my own world watching the people of Long Beach driving by, my eyes wandered over to the side mirror in front of me that reflected Rashid's face.

I couldn’t tell if he knew that I could see him from behind his dark sunglasses. I hope he doesn’t see me, because my facial expression was probably

extremely embarrassing. He wasn't smiling. He looked lost in a daydream or something. Sar7an. The Californian sun hit his tanned skin creating a

glowing aura around his entire body. I don’t know how long I've been staring at his reflection in the mirror, but soon enough it changed. His cheeked

glowed and his lips curved into a smile flashing his killer smile.

CHAFNY!

Embarrassed, I immediately turned my head away from the mirror, and faced 79a who was in another world taking pictures of herself. Typical 79a.

"Why are you laughing? '6a7kna wyak" Mayed glanced over at Rashid. My heart started beating at like 150 miles per hour!

"Chft shay y'6a7k." Was Rashid's only response. My face got redder. FASHLAA!

Bittersweet 20

Okay let's face it. 79a tends to over exaggerate sometimes. After we finished our meal, she kept rambling on about Rashid's behavior at the restaurant.

"Nooroo he's sending you signals! It's SO obvious!"

I rolled my eyes and giggled at her intentions towards the whole situation. A9lan it was nothing. Just a small conversation at dinner with the guy sitting

at the next table. No biggie.

We walked back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby for a while. After giggling and talking, the lobby doors swung open and Rashid walked in,

carrying… shopping bags? The dude shops!

He spotted us as soon as he walked in. He widened his eyes and immediately lowered his head, as he made his way to the elevator. As he passed

us still looking down, I said;

"Laish mst7y?"

He stopped. Blinked his incredibly long eyelashes a couple of times, and then turned to face me.

"I'm not." He said so quietly, almost a whisper.

"Yes you are." I said, with a chuckle in my voice.

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No…I'm not." He said even quieter than before.

His eyes so deep I felt I was going to fall into them. His face only inches away from mine. I gazed up into his gorgeous eyes, not able to look away.

My heart beating faster and faster each second, goose bumps forming all around my body, my throat becoming so heavy that I could barely swallow.

Rashid finally broke the moment with a smile. That killer smile that made heads turn, and hearts stop. He flashed it so wide I had to back up a few

steps and blink a couple of times. I couldn’t help but feel a little dazed.

"In that case…I'll see you tomorrow." He said with wink, backing up towards the elevator.

I just stood there, still dazed. All I managed to do was nod and smile.

As soon as he stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed, 79a, again, let out a huge…

"OH MYY GOSH!!!!"

I bit my lip in humiliation, but it was the good kind of humiliation.

"Nooroo the guy LIKE like's you! WAYED! And he's making it SOOO obvious!" She said smiling a mile wide. Why's she so happy about it?

"You think?" I asked, obviously knowing the answer but I just loved hearing her say it.

"YEAH of COURSE! He's CRAZY for you Nawari believe me!" She rambled on.

I smiled the whole way upstairs, down the hall, into our room, and the whole night.

Bittersweet 19

It was obvious by the way he stupidly smiled, that he had spotted us. Probably waaaay before I knew he was sitting there. How could I not notice him?!

His table was SO close to ours. My face turned completely red, and I kept nervously tapping my foot. 79a wanted to laugh at me so bad. I bet Rashid did

too. He just sat there sipping his lemonade in his white Polo shirt looking pleased with himself. Does he have to show up everywhere?!

As if it wasn’t bad enough, 79a had to make it worse!

"Hii!" I suddenly heard 79a's high pitched voice. Oh no no no…

"Hey." I heard Rashid's sharp manly voice say back. I gave 79a several looks, including a kick under the table but she ignored me.

"What are you doing here?" 79a smiled innocently at him. I covered my face with my hands.

"Having dinner, what else?" He replied.

Stalking us! I thought.

"Mayed's sister 9a7?" He asked. Oh so now he's trying to make a conversation…

"Yup!"

"Yeah tshbheena."

79a smiled kindly.

"Noora ba3ad wayed tshbah Man9oor." He added. Lazm yda5lni fil salfa?

I peeked from in between my fingers. I could see Rashid giggle.

"Laish msta7ya?" He asked with a giggle in his voice.

What was I supposed to say to that? I pulled my hands away from my face.

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

Yal yahel! I tried not to laugh but I can't help but chuckle.

"We're taking you to the beach tomorrow 3a fkra." He said, dragging his chair closer to our table.

"Whose we?" I asked him.

"Man9oor and I… Mnu ya3ni? We're going to take you guys to see Long Beach."

I LOVE the beach! Rashid noticed my face lit up.

"Ra3yat ba7ar ha?" He said. We laughed.

We kept talking until they brought our food. I was starving I hadn’t eaten anything since we were on the plane. 3ala 6ool I dug in my spaghetti.

79a took her time eating her salad.

I got so caught up in my spaghetti I forgot I was eating like a cow in public! I quickly glanced over at Rashid to see if he was watching. He was. Oh crap.

He pointed at his nose, which this time, I immediately understood and wiped the spaghetti sauce of my nose with a napkin. Like old times!

"Enjoying yourself?" Rashid asked when he noticed my cheeks glowing red.

"Yeah, hehe sorry I tend to get too caught up in my food." I said in humiliation.

"3adi, that's the first thing 7baita about you." He replied… WAIT WHAT?

I widened my eyes at him. I could see he regretted what he had said by the way his face turned red, and he couldn’t look at me. He just looked down at

his plate, and fiddled with his fork.7araaam est7aa! I wanted to laugh wallah he looked to embarrassed. Did he just admit that he likes me?

I looked over at 79a whose face screamed OH MY GOSH but she stayed quiet. I continued my meal in silence with a stupid smile on my face. Rashid

paid his check and got up to leave before we did. When the restaurant was Rashid-free, 79a let out a huge;

"OOOH MYYY GOSH!!!"

Bittersweet 18

The car drive wasn’t that interesting. 79a and I thought it would be cooler to ride in the car that was carrying our luggage instead of riding with our family.

But whatever it wasn't that exciting.

After blasting our favorite songs from my iPod speakers and singing along at the top of our lungs, 79a finally asked;

"So what did Rashid say?"

My eyes widened, and my heart skipped a beat at the sound of his name.

"Nothing…"

"CHATHABA! You weren't smiling like a monkey for nothing, Noora! A3rfch, something happened. Now spill!"

I sighed at 79a's craving for information. Then I decided to tell her, with details.

"OH MY GOSH!" She shrieked. "And I had to ASK to find out! Or you wouldn’t have told me yal 5aysa!"

"Laa! I was just…Embarrassed!"

"Yeah right, you're looking really embarrassed smiling a mile wide for the past 10 minutes." She said sarcastically.

I just chuckled at 79a's sarcastic remarks.

To be honest I thought 79a would be a bit annoyed or confused since well, I'm engaged to her brother! But it didn’t seem to bother her at all. Thank god.

We finally arrived at the hotel, and my family piled out of Man9oor's car, and we jumped out of ours.

So my dad checked us in.

And gave us our keys.

And took us upstairs.

And delivered our bags.

And we finally sat down and took a breath. Well for me it was pretty much a lay down. I plopped on my bed, and kicked off my shoes. I looked around the

room that 79a were I sharing by ourselves. We had a balcony, bathroom, and a little kitchen. Without realizing it, I dozed off to sleep.

A couple hours later I woke to the sound of Jessica Biel's voice on TV.

"Finally!" 79a jumped up and switched off the TV.

"Yallah!" She clapped her hands to get me to get up. "We're going out."

3kaifha?

"Shu?" I squinted my eyes.

"I told your mom that you and I were going out for dinner, so yallah!" She pulled the blanket away from the bed, when I realized what I'm wearing.

My grey Juicy Couture tracksuit that was now a complete mess since I slept in it. 79a raised her eyebrows and ordered me to change before we left.

With only 7 minutes given to me by 79a, I pulled out a pair of skinny jeans, black stilettos, and an off-white ruffled top. I retraced what was left of my liquid

eyeliner on my eyelid, quickly dabbed on some blush, and applied pick lipstick.

"For seven minutes of getting ready, you look really good!" 79a said as she scanned me from head to toe.

She didn’t look bad herself, in her white skinny jeans, navy Armani shirt with matching navy peep-toe heels.

Each grabbing our bags, we rushed out to the elevator.

It's a good thing we stayed in a very busy neighborhood, that way we can never get bored. There were a couple of good Italian restaurants down the

block, and I LOVE Italian.

So we walked down the block, looking great, and having a good time.

We chose to sit in an outside table so we can watch ely sayr ow ely yaay.

3gb ma we sat down and ordered, I looked over 79a's shoulder and immediately widened my eyes.

"Can we leave? Please?" I tapped my foot impatiently.

"What?! No! Why?!"

"PLEEEEEAAAAASE!!! I just don’t want to be here right now!"

"But you LOVE Italian!"

"There are more Italian restaurants on this block!"

79a still refused to get up. Ya allaah!

"Noora, you're so weird!" She rolled her eyes. I was glad she rolled them, because if she hadn't, she wouldn't have spotted Rashid sitting by himself at

the table next to ours!

"Ooooooooooh." 79a finally realized and smiled a stupid smile. "We're not leaving 7abeebty. This could get interesting."

Bittersweet 17

The plane ride wasn't that bad. 79a complained, as usual, but eventually got over it. Dad and Mayed went to go pick up luggage, while Mom, 79a

and I went outside to find Man9oor.

I put on my sunglasses, as 79a and I grinned from ear to ear of excitement.

After finally exiting the luggage claim, and outside into society, my mom spotted Man9oor in the crowd of people waiting for their friend's and family

to arrive.

I smiled and waved at the sight of Man9oor, but then my smile faded and my eyes widened behind my sunglasses.

"Awaih!" 79a shoved my shoulder. "Choofi mno wyaa Man9oor!"

Yes, I see him! Why do you think I'm in complete shock right now?

Behind Man9oor, wearing a bright yellow A&F shirt and khaki shorts with messy jumped-out-of-bed hair stood Rashid.

"Halla Umy! Noora hey! Sh7alch 79a?" My brother looking like an idiot smiled excitedly as her greeted us.

"Sh7alch 5alti?" Rashid pretending to be a gentleman greeted my mother and offered to pull her carry on bag.

"Mashkoor Rashid, mashallah 3laik stwait rayal!" My mother continued to tmda7 him. I rolled my eyes behind my glasses when he said to me;

"3a6enee your bag bashlha 3anch. Shaklch ta3bana."

Okay… Seriously? I stood there looking around pretending that I didn't hear him over the loud noises of the airport.

"Noora?" He called my name. The sound of my name 3ala lsana sounded so sharp, and manly. It was as if he were the only voice I heard out the

millions in this airport. It completely blocked out all the other voices, and echoed in my ears.

I quickly snapped out of it, and shook my head.

"La 3adi." I clenched my bag, intending that I was capable of carrying it myself. I looked at him from the corner of my eye as he shrugged his broad

shoulders.

"Ana baroo7 ayeeb el sayara." Man9oor announced and walked away.

"7abeebty Noora, trayay Baba ow Mayed eyeebon el shna6 while 79a and I got get some coffee. Tboon shay?" She offered Rashid and I. We both

shook our heads and they took off.

Leaving me standing there, with Rashid. Alone.

I looked up from my sunglasses to see Rashid smiling a mile wide, flashing his white teeth perfectly arranged in two straight lines. What's his problem?

"Is this your first time in California?" I heard his sharp manly voice say. I peeked my eyes from the top of my sunglasses, since he was too tall to fit in

the frame.

"Um...yeah." I shyly answered, clutching my handbag even harder. I think he noticed how shy I was, so he smiled even wider.

"Why are you hiding your eyes behind those sunglasses?" He asked, still smiling.

"Shams." I answered straight away, immediately regretting it when I realized that we weren't even outside yet. "I mean…bss che." I could feel my

cheeks getting hot, and my hands getting clammy. 3ala 6ool I thought he would laugh. Instead;

"You have beautiful eyes. Don’t hide them." He slowly and calmly said. Waaaih waaih waaih! Hatha ystahbal? Beautiful mara w7da? Shway shway

ya wld el 7alal. He could tell I was nervous by the way I kept running my hand through my hair, and switching my bag from one hand to the other, and

constantly checking my turned-off phone as if I'm expecting a call. While he stood and just kept smiling that stupid smile, folding his arms as if he's

watching his favorite TV show or something.

Oh how much I wish my dad and Mayed would arrive any minute now.

7mdellah! Baba appeared carrying a big black duffle bag that looked quite heavy. My dad dropped it in front of me, took a breath and salam 3ala Rashid.

"Wldy wadoo hal shan6a el sayara, ana ow Mayed beneeb the rest." And he disappeared back into the luggage claim. Ohoo.

I looked back at Rashid whose muscles tensed as he lifted the bag from the ground with one arm tossing it over his shoulder, and calling Man9oor

with his free hand. Awanaaaa. Show off!

Ashkera it shows that its extremely heavy 3ala his shoulder by how hard he was breathing. Still trying to keep a straight face, he walked outside to

find Man9oor and put the heavy bag in the car.

"See you back at the hotel." He said on his way out, still struggling to keep smiling. This time, I smiled back, only because he looked extremely funny

pretending he can handle carrying a bag that heavy on his shoulder.

"Balach Shaga el 7alj?" I heard 79a's voice from behind me. I turned around to find my mother and best friend carrying a Starbucks cup in each hand.

Embarrassed, I shook my head, indicating that it was nothing.

Soon Dad and Mayed appeared with the rest of the luggage, and we headed out to Man9oor's car.

Still smiling…

Bittersweet 16

"YALLAH YALLAH BT6EER 3ANNA EL 6AYARA!" I shrieked, as I picked up my duffle bag, 
and iPod.

My mom, dad, 79a and Mayed picked up their stuff as slow as possible, and followed me to the 
gate.

We've been in the airport for 3 hours, sitting in Starbucks and shopping fil Duty Free.

I LOVE airports! They're so exciting!

So we g6a3na our tickets at the gate, got into the plane, escorted to our seats, and sat down.

"Ufff a5eeran!" 79a said, closing the overhead locker. I however, couldn't sit still. I was jumping up
and down in my seat and looking out the window and pushing buttons on the screen in front of me.

"YALLAH when is this stupid thing going to move?!" I whined. 79a already had on her eye mask 
thingie that you wear when you sleep. She put on her socks, and wrapped herself in her blanket. 
3anaboo the plane didn’t even move yet!

We were finally airborne. Then I realized. We were going to be stuck here for 16 hours!!! The 
plane was direct so we weren’t going to stop in London.

I lost all my excitement, and got terribly BORED.

I watched a couple of movies, ate food, the works.

"Excuse me?" A high pitched voice from behind me said. I turned around to find a little blonde girl
that looked about 14 years old squeezing her head between our seats.

"Yeah?" I answered her.

"I think I dropped my book under your seat. Do you mind grabbing it for me please?"

She was so cute! I could tell from her accent that she was American. I smiled and reached under 
my seat and grabbed the book. I looked at the cover and chuckled.

"Twilight?" I read the title out loud handing it to her.

"Yeah! Have you read it?" She asked.

"No, I haven't but I've seen the movie."

"The book is way better! There's so many details!" She beamed. She was so adorable! Like 
those American girls on TV with the braces and the shorts!

I noticed the seat next to her was empty. Immediately she asked;

"Come here! I'll tell you all about it!" And she smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen. I couldn’t 
resist so I got up, squeezed through 79a and sat next to her. Mashallah 3alaiha ejtema3ya.

"I'm Jill by the way!" She stuck out her hand and I shook it.

"I'm Noora. Nice too meet you."

"Noora! That’s such a pretty name! You're like, really pretty!" She couldn’t stop smiling. CUTE! 
I just wanted to squeeze her freckled cheeks.

"How sweet of you! You're pretty cute yourself! How old are you?"

"I just turned 14 last month!" She exclaimed. "I'm travelling alone for the first time to visit my 
grandparents in California! It's really exciting! I've lived in Dubai for a couple of years now! It's 
really great!" She babbled and babbled and I just nodded and smiled. She must've had a lot of 
sugar. She seemed really hyper.

"Who're you travelling with?" She asked.

"My parents, my best friend, and her brother, who is also my fiancé, are going to visit my brother 
who goes to University in Long Beach."  I explained.

She widened her big blue eyes.

"FIANCE?!" She exclaimed. "You're like sooooo young! Where is he? Is here?" She looked 
around. Wallah enha t'6a7k. I giggled and pointed at his seat.

"OMG that is SO cute! Are you in love?" She asked fluttering her eyelashes.

"Well, not exactly." I smiled. "That's not how it works where we're from."

Jill's smile faded.

"But it's okay." I tried changing the subject. "I don’t mind. So…"

"Have you EVER been in love?" She asked with her eyes wide open. Bsmlah! I looked at her 
trying not to laugh.

"Not exactly." I shrugged.

"So like, just a little crush, ha?" She smiled devilishly. "Ooooh you're bad!" She laughed loudly. I 
laughed with her. Maynoona wallah. I was hoping she would change the subject now. She didn’t.

"So is he cute?" She raised her eyebrows curiously. I felt like a little girl wyaha wallah! Who else 
am I going to talk to about this?

"Very!" I answered intensely. I described to her every feature in Rashid's face, and his firmly 
sculpted body. We giggled for what seemed like hours about him.

"So what are you going to do?" She asked seriously. Strangely it was the same question I ask 
myself sometimes.

"Marry Mayed I guess. I'm probably not even going to see Rashid ever again."

"But he likes you! It's SO obvious! He'll do anything to run into you again! Trust me! You're 
gorgeous! He won't be able to stay away!" Jill said excitedly.

Jill's opinions made me happy for some reason. For a 14 year old, she makes a lot of sense!

As hard to believe as it may seem, Jill eventually fell asleep. Wallah hal bnt '3areeba. I got bored, 
so I woke up 79a.

"UFF mat5ali el wa7d ystamta3 fii rgada! She's always more important! Wallah! Nooo… the fact
that I'm completely tired didn’t even cross her mind…"

79a tamat tet7ar6am.

Great! Entertainment.

Soon, the cabin crew came around with dinner. I LOVE airplane food. You never know what it is, 
but it tastes good. 79a on the other hand, ate nothing but the little chocolate bar they put on the 
side. She gets completely disgusted and threatens to throw up if they made her eat it.

Rgadna ow nashaina ow chfna movies ow took walks around the plane, ow read magazines ow 
circled all the places 79a and I wanted to go to,

and finally…

"Passengers please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened, cabin crew take your seats and prepare for landing."

Bittersweet 15

It's been weeks since I've seen Rashid. Everyday I went on with the same boring lifestyle. 
But from the moment open my eyes in the morning to the minute I shut them at night, I haven't 
stopped thinking about him. I don't know what's wrong with me! I jumped into conclusions and 
now I can't stop thinking about the guy! Shu ha! Uff!

I've been so caught up in my internal issues, I almost forgot about our trip to California! I finally 
had something to look forward to!

Our trip is in a couple of days, and 79a and I have been shopping nonstop for the trip! Everyday 
she would pick me up and we would go to every shopping district Dubai has to offer. Good 
thing there's a lot of those here!

The day before our flight, 79a and I spent the entire evening at the 9alon. Getting out hair cut 
and colored, nails done and painted, facials and massages, the whole package!

Bzzzz Bzzzz !!

79a's phone vibrated

Incoming Call

Mayo0od i5ooya <3

"ALOOO?!" She answered as she clicked the speaker button so she can enjoy her facial 
instead of holding the phone up to her ear.

"Halla 79a! Wain enty?" Mayed's deep voice blared from 79a's phone.

"Ana fil 9alon wya Noora." She answered him innocently.

"Haih enzain latet2a5roon bacher warana safra."

"Enzain enzain 3gb shway '6ahreen."

"Sha6oora! Ow salmi 3ala Noora hehe." He giggled. I blushed. 79a and everyone at the 
9alon laughed.

"Shu hal 7ashra 79a? Laykoon I'm on speaker?" He gasped. Everyone still continued to giggle.

"Hehe Mayed mafeenee ayawd el phone! I'm in the middle of a facial!"

"Awaaih yal f'6ee7a! Yallah bye bye achoofch 3gb shway." Ow he hung up.

My face turned all shades of pink.

"Shu 5ajlanehh!" The Lebanese 9alon lady giggled. "Amoorah enti shu 7lweeh." And she 
squeezed my cheek like I'm some kind of kid.

"3a wain msafreen bukra?" She asked. Malgoofa!

"Bnroo7 California 3nd i5ooha." 79a answered, pointing at me. La ba3ad hay tsoolf wyaha.

"Masha2allah! Ento 5awat moo?"

"Laa Laa, rfee2ty." 79a awanha 3ad Lebanese accent.

"Kteer 7low msafreen ma3 ba3ad."

79a continued chatting with the Lebanese lady…

I was so excited about tomorrow! I love travelling! Especially wya my best friend! We're going 
to have so much fun, Rashid won't even cross my mind.