Bittersweet 50

After we showered and cleaned up, Amoon had a great idea:

"Shraykm we go on the roof, and roast marshmellows!" She said with a gleam in her eye.

We were just as excited as she was, so we got the fa7am, and a bunch of pillows and iPod speakers

and set it up all on the roof. It was dark; bright glistening stars lit the sky instead of white florescent

bulbs. The breeze was slightly cooler creating an amazing sensation as we sat around the warmth of

the fa7am. Even though we each had on cozy tracksuits, we still snuggled against each other under a

huge fuzzy blanket as we roasted our marshmellows.

"I like mine burnt." Amoon said, pushing her stick closer to the fa7am.

"A3! Its black!" 79a said disgusted.

"Wallah 7low! Min da5l che melted ow gooey ow yjanin!" Amoon demonstrated, lighting her

marshmallow on fire until the whole thing turned black. Once it stopped flaming, she bit into it exposing

the molten pink interior.

Bzzzz Bzzzzz (my phone rang)

Incoming Call

Man9oor Bro

"Hey." I put on my sama3a so I can enjoy my marshmellow.

"Halla, wainkm?" He asked.

"On the roof. You?"

"3al ba7ar. Listen, shu tboon 3sha? We're ordering Burger King."

"Ummm.. Wait I'll ask them…GUYS! Shut boon min Burger King?" I glanced over at them.

"Ma3rf! I don’t know el menu mal Burger King!" Amoon shrugged.

"Wala ana. We're McDonalds people!" She fluttered her eyelashes.

" *Sigh* fine, alo Man9oor? Ma3rf. Order what looks good." I said to him.

"Uhhh.. Okay sure. Yallah I'll send the order over as soon as it gets here." He said.

"Thanks. Bye."

"Bye."

"Lets play chubby bunny!" I announced as soon as I hung up. 79a and Amoon looked at me awkwardly.

"Shu ba3ad ha chubby bunny?" 79a raised an eyebrow at me.

"It’s a game! Its so much fun, choofoo, you put a marshmellow in your mouth." I explained, "and

say CHUBBY BUNNY! And then you add another marshmellow and say CHUBBY BUNNY. Then

keep adding marshmellows until you stuff your entire mouth while still trying to say CHUBBY

BUNNY without spitting any of the marshmellows out!"

"Ew." 79a's eyebrow was still raised at me.

"3ajeeeeb!" Amoon beamed, and reached for the marshmellow bag. Mashallah she got up to 8

marshmellows while still being able to say CHUBBY BUNNY, but when she tried to go for the ninth,

we experienced a marshmellow spit bomb, and it wasn’t pretty.

"Dooori!" 79a grabbed the marshmellows. Mskeena she could only go up to 5 marshmellows before

spitting. I however managed to get to 6 marshmellows, leaving Amoon as our CHUBBY BUNNY

champion!

"This stupid game made me thirsty!" 79a complained.

"Nooroo seery yeebeelna juice, pleeeeeease." Amoon fluttered her eyelashes at me.

I grabbed my iPod and headed downstairs to get Their Highnesses Shai5a 79a and Shai5a Amna

juice. I bobbed my head to Ke$ha's "Take it off" as I grabbed the lemonade from the fridge and

poured it into 3 glasses.

Apparently, I was so mindamja fi Ke$ha that I didn’t hear the repetitive knocking on the kitchen's

glass screen door. The redundant knocking kept going but the music was blaring so loud from my

headphones that I still didn’t hear it. As soon as I placed the 3 glasses on a tray, and turned around

to carry it upstairs, Rashid randomly appeared in my face!

"AAAH!" I screamed, dropping the tray, spilling the juice all over the floor, and shattering the glass

into a million tiny pieces.

"I'm so sorry!" He panicked. "Don't move!"

He moved the glass across the floor with his shoe since I was standing there barefoot. He then

grabbed the mop and wiped a clear path to the barstool.

"Careful not to step on any glass." He said, continuing to mop.

I just stared blankly at him, before finally walking to the barstool that was high enough to lift my feet

off the floor. I was so shocked I was unclear of what to do or say first! Why was he in my house?

Why was he mopping? And HOW did he get in here?! Where's Man9oor?

"I'm sorry." He repeated, not looking up from the ground.

"What are you doing here?" I managed to say.

"I came to bring you guys this." He pulled out a Burger King bag, setting it on the counter.

"Man9oor asked me to give it to the nanny, but… you know."

"Why didn’t you just knock?" I asked.

"I did." He chuckled, eyeing the iPod in my hands. I immediately blushed.

"Well, it's okay, I can take it from here." I said, about to get up.

"No! Sit! There's still glass everywhere and you're not wearing shoes." He said. "Besides, I

wanted to apologize."

"It's okay, it's just glass."

"No not that, about earlier today, on the beach." He said, looking embarrassed.

"Oh." I completely FLUSHED with embarrassment.

"Look, wallah I honestly didn’t know you guys would be bara3." He explained. "I didn’t see

anything, I swear, but I really was pushing the daraja back into the garage. We were going to fill it

up with gas and take it out but el muhm, I just wanted you to know ena I truly respect you and I

didn’t mean to put you in that position."  

Awkwaaard! What was I supposed to say to that?! Why does he feel so comfortable around me? Like

he can do or say anything, and I'm so numb and speechless?! It wasn’t fair!

"Shfeech?" He smiled. Oh god…

"Hm? Oh nothing. Its okay, I guess. It wasn’t your fault." I couldn't look at him. I don’t know why!

He's coming closer… OH GOD! Why's he doing this to me?!

Bittersweet 49

Yes, I was awakened the next day by Amoon, matga9er. Yes, I got dragged across the floor to the

bathroom and yes she did turn off the lights when I took too long. Good thing I've gotten used to it.

By the time I came out of the bathroom, 79a and Amoon were already in their bikinis.

"Have you seen my towel?" 79o asked, tossing anything that got in her way in the air.

"Who cares about your towel! We need music! Where's the iPod?" Amoon franticly searched the room.

"Enty! Get dressed!" 79a said, tossing me my bikini. "Go!" and pushing me back into the bathroom.

I changed 3al saree3 into my neon yellow bikini and threw a short purple chiffon wrap dress over it.

"LAST ONE OUTSIDE IS A ROTTEN EGG!" Amoon said, rushing down the stairs.

"WAAAIT!" 79oo screamed, running after her.

"Wallah a'3beya!" I laughed, racing down after them.

Surprisingly, I was the last one down but the first one out the door. I swung it open with all my might,

as the sunlight reflected my newly tanned skin. As soon as stepped (well more like jumped) outside,

I froze in my place to the astonishment of the appearance of Rashid on the middle of the shore!

"AAAH!" I screamed.

WHAT WAS HE DOING THERE?

He was pushing our daraja across the sand to get to the boys' beach house. YA3NI MA LGA ELA

NOW TO DO THAT? He immediately lowered his head and looked away, pushing the daraja even

harder and faster until he was finally out of sight. I however stood there completely flushed of any

warm blood in my body. Amoon and 79a raced towards me.

"OH MY GOSH NAWARI!" 79a shrieked, unsure whether she should laugh or tet7ar6am. That wasn’t

a problem for Amoon though. She was already on the sand rolling like an idiot.

"YOU SLUT!" She managed to say between breaths. "YOU WERE LIKE *GASP* AND HE WAS

LIKE *SHIT* HAHAHAHA!"

"Mskeena choofi she's not moving!" 79a giggled.

"Nooroo breathe!" Amoon said when she finally stood up.

SHO BREATHE?! Ento staw3abto what just happened? I WAS COMPLETELY EXPOSED TO A

TOTAL STRANGER! And she wants me to BREATHE?

"7abeebty it's okay he didn’t see anything." 79a said, holding in her laugh.

"Haih 9a7 3ala 6ool nasal rasa, ma chaf shay." Amoon added.

Haih 9a7 ma chaf shay right? I saw him but he didn’t see me, right? Ow it was just an accident ya3ni

it wasn’t like he knew we would be swimming NOW 9a7? 6af 6af…

"Do not ever repeat this incident, mafhoom?" I said seriously.

"Mafhoom!" They both repeated. "YALLAH before the water gets cold."

We all raced out into the ocean, soaking ourselves with the salty water, diving from the deck, and

dancing to the music that blared from the iPod speakers. We swam far into the ocean, until our toes

couldn’t reach the bottom anymore. The water started getting cold, and we were getting really wrinkly

from being in the water too long. So we sat on the deck and enjoyed some fruit cocktails and sliced

up green apples to complete the "tropical" essence. We were lying down on our backs, gazing at the

clouds, enjoying ourselves until Amoon decided to speak:

"You should've seen the look on your face!" She giggled.

As soon as I heard that sentence, without anything holding me back, I kicked her off the deck, into

the ocean. Literally KICKED her with my foot. She rolled off the deck and fell over creating a loud

SPLASH as she fell into the water.

"Oh my gosh!" 79a gasped, standing up.

I just lay back down and smiled to myself. A few seconds later, Amoon made her way back to the

shore, and climbed back up on the deck. She angrily marched towards me, dripping wet.  

"Yal 7mara!" She yelled, and grabbed my legs and literally SWUNG me into the ocean.

We continued this for hours, pushing each other off of the deck, as if it was the best thing in the world.

We're so lame xD

Bittersweet 48

"Banat! Yallah 3sha!" My mom called from the deck.

The girls and I walked back to the house to find the table on the deck filled with all sorts of our

favorite foods; Spaghetti, club sandwiches, warag 3nab, fried chicken, and fries. We literally dug

our faces into the food.

"Samoo bsmlah ya banat! Shway shway maby6eer el akl." My mom giggled at us.

As soon as we were done we decided to take a long walk on the beach. We each grabbed a

sandwich and took off.

"So tell me." Amoon began. "Which one is he?"

"Beg your pardon?" I asked.

"Don't act stupid I know there's something between you and one of Man9oor's friends!" She

laughed.

"Laaaaaaa2." I rolled my eyes.

"Chathaba! I see the way you look at them when they were playing. So tell me. Is it the bu kisha

guy who always gets smacked in the head, or the tall 5agag guy with the broad shoulders?"

"What do you think?" 79a smirked.

"79a!" I elbowed her.

"Tall 5agag guy it is! I don’t blame you! That's a piece of work you got there." She said glancing

over her shoulder to get a good look at him.

"Careful," 79a said. "Nawari could rip your head off." She laughed.

"Shut up 79oo." I tried to hold in my laugh.

"Seero laaa. He's yahel! Besides, I have S3eed!" Amoon said fluttering her eyelashes.

We walked around the house a few times before finally deciding to go inside. My mom was on

the phone with my dad, so we decided to hang up the hammocks. Sleeping in beds is so mal

awal! Hammocks are more fun!

"Awaih." My mom said into the phone. "Enshallah ma stwabha shay? ........ 7mdlaah allah salamha

…….. how bad is it? …….. tsk tsk tsk ……… la la lazm aye …… haih Amna hni wyahm…… yallah

bagoolhm ow bayee ." And she hung up.

"Banat." She came over to us. "5alatkm Sara 6ay7a ow mnawmeenha fil mstashfa. Her back is

pretty hurt ow lazm aseer achoofha as soon as possible." She said worriedly.

"Okay bnii ma3ach 5alty!" Amoon insisted, being caring and all…

"La la ma3alaih braykm hnii mstanseen ento. Maba a5arb 3laikm your eejaza."

"Mt2akda 5alty?" Amoon said.

"Haih haih mt2akda. Yallah ana a7een rada Dubai wya el driver. Amna 76ii balch 3ala gom Noora.

Make sure they don’t get into any trouble. Enty el adult." Mama said grabbing her purse.

"Don’t worry 5alty. Nawari ow 79oo 3ala 3ainy ow rasi. Ow salmi 3ala 5alty Sara." She kissed my
mother goodbye and she left.

As soon as she walked our the door, Amoon said;

"Do you know what this means?" She looked at us, while we grinned widely.

"PAAARTAAY!" She jumped up, untying her ponytail waving her kisha as I plugged my iPod into

the speakers and blasted "I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FOURTH".

Hazaina el bait kla. We sang so loud trying to top the sound of the speakers. Min zeen our voices,

ely ysma3 ygool a group of 3anz. I'm surprised the dining table was still standing since we've been

walking on it for hours pretending to be Rihanna. We were having such a blast, I didn’t notice my

phone ringing a zillion times.

"TURN OFF THE MUSIC!" I yelled.

"WHAT?" Amoon yelled back.

"I SAID TURN IT OFF!"

"TURN IT UP?" She said, going for the speakers.

"LAA LAA! OFF!" I said, pulling the wire off from the iPod.

"Party pooper!" 79a remarked.

"Man9oor called 6 times!" I waved the phone in her face.

"Oooooooooooooh." They both said.

I called Man9oor back.

"Ha Man9oor." I said as soon as he answered. 79a and Amoon leaned in on either side of me

to listen.

"Nawari shu hal 7ashra?!" He snapped.

"Ummm… Msha'3leen speakers." I stuttered.

"3anaboo hazaito el dnya! Yallah either ga9roo 3laih or bandoo!" He said.

"Okay sorry." And I hung up.

So that night we stayed up late in the upstairs bedroom lit by the TV light on American Idol and

eating leftovers. We all sat on the floor facing each other with a lamp in the middle awana fire.

"Amoon…" 79a began, "how's married life?"

"Sexy." Amoon answered instantly, popping skittles into her mouth.

"I mean I have to admit I miss being around my family and all," she continued, "but 9ara7a fakaa."

"Really?" I gave her a look.

"Ok I really did miss you, but dude I spent the past 23 years with my family! I deserve a break." She

pointed out.

"What about kids?" 79a asked.

"What about them?" Amoon said popping more skittles.

"Are you thinking of having babies?" 79a restated her question.

Amoon suddenly froze and coughed uncontrollably, as a result of choking on her skittles.

"Bsmlah Amoon shfeech?!" I panicked.

"I *cough* just choked! *Chough* DUH!" She said between coughs.

"Oh I'm sorry!" 79a said.

"Don't scare me like that!" Amoon ordered. "Shu kids! I'm still young and sexy and I intend to

remain like that, thank you very much!"

We got into our hammocks that were bombarded with a million pillows and swung ourselves to

sleep. Tomorrow we were going swimming!

Bittersweet 47

Man9oor came back down knocking over everything that got in his way. Wow he was seriously pissed.

"Man9oor 7abeeby shfeek?" My mother rushed into the living room after him.

"Mashay." He said coldly and sat down.

My mom looked at me for an answer.

"Mt'6ayg shway." I mouthed.

"I need to get out." He said. "A7taj aseer mkan b3eeed."

"In that case shu raykm nseer el beach house in Ras Al 5aima?" My mom suggested.

Actually that wasn’t a bad idea. In Ras Al 5aima we have 2 beach houses 3ala ar'6 w7da. One for

the girls and one for the guys since it's usually the younger generation who mostly like to go there.

We all agreed to go but Man9oor insisted he bring the guys with him and I suggested I bring 79a.

I got so excited I ran up the stairs to start packing right away.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. (the house phone ringing)

"Alo?" I answered.

"Halla Nawari." The voice said.

"Amoon!" I screamed into the phone.

PAUSE!

Amna is my beloved 24 year old cousin who has been married for a year so far. She acts like the

sophisticated adult in front of the adults but is a crazy maniac with the rest of us. I love her to death

and I miss her even more. Since she got married we haven’t seen her as much as we used to.

PLAY!

"Haha sh7aalch? Sh7al 5alty ow Man9oor?" She giggled.

"7mdlah klna b5air enty sh7alch? How's S3eed?" I asked

"7mdlah b5air bss S3eed msaafr on a business trip to London, and I'm BORED!" She complained.

"Yeah we've always been here but you just notice when S3eed's gone ha?" I teased her.

"Hahaha la wallah! Bss seriously I really am BORED!"

"Fine, make it up to us. Come with us to Ras Al 5aima tomorrow." I suggested.

"Ras Al 5aima? Who's going?"

"Ana ow mama, 79oo, Man9oor ow his friends."

"Well in that case I'm coming! Yallah tomorrow morning akoon 3ndkm!"

"Cant wait!"

"Me neither! Yallah 7abeebty take care, bye!"

"Bye."

I ran back downstairs to tell mama Amoon was coming with us. Of course she was thrilled because

she adores Amoon (the sophisticated adult). 79a's parents of course let her come with us. She and I

stayed up all night on the phone planning out our week from tanning to swimming to dancing. We

stayed up till athan el fayer and then finally dozed off.

"NAWARIIIIIII!" A high pitched scream awakened me.

 A bright light was blinding me. But eyes were blurred. I couldn’t see anything but random figures.

When my vision cleared out, I saw a bright face smiling widely at me. It was Amoon el habla. She

was sitting on top of me, still in her 3abaya with her shoulder length brown hair tied up in a messy

ponytail on the top of her head.

"AMOOON! Mb wagtch!" I pulled the covers over my head.

"Nawari yallah goomi! Bnseer!" She bounced on my bed.

"I didn’t sleep!"

"That’s your problem! Yallah 79o's going to be here any minute!" She said pulling the comforter

away from me.

When I refused to get up, she decided to take it to the next level. She grabbed my arm tightly, and

pulled me out of my bed causing a loud THUMP once my head hit the floor.

"Yal 7MARA!" I yelled, but it was no use. She dragged me across the floor all the way to the bathroom.

I reached for the blanket to try to stop her but all I did was drag it all the way with me.

"You better get used to it. You're going to be waking up to this every day for the next week!" She

laughed.

I finally surrendered and got up. I gave her an evil glare before walking into the bathroom. And her

being the lovely cousin she is, if I took more than 5 minutes in there she would turn off the lights and

leave the room. When I finally washed up and got dressed, 79a had already arrived.

"9a7 el noooom!" 79a greeted me.

"You're finally awake! Min el 9b7 we're waiting for you!" My mom complained. "Mashallah 3laiha

Amna came over min 9ba7 allah 5air because she knows ena 3ndna r7la lyom!"

I just nodded and drank my tea while everybody was putting our bags in the car. As soon as I was

done with breakfast, we all grabbed our sunglasses and iPod's and headed to our car. We got in

with the driver, and Man9oor drove the guys.

The car ride wasn’t that bad. We had good music and snacks to entertain us on the way to Ras

Al 5aima. As soon as we got there, we piled off and sat by the beach while the nannies unpacked.

Today we're just going to "chill". Tomorrow we start having fun. 79a, Amoon and I sat on the cold sand

facing the ocean as the waves crashed against the shore. We took off our sunglasses to enjoy the

warmth of the sun in contrast to the cool breeze. The guys however were kicking a soccer ball back

and fourth a short distance away from us.

I could already tell this week is going to unforgettable!