The Perfect Girl

18

"And they say they care,
But they're never there,"

Despite my concerns, however, when Khalid actually showed up, things weren't at all weird.

Khalid was good at being normal. He talked to my dad and brothers and teased Jana and greeted my mum and me, and it was all so simple.   Khalid never seemed to find it hard to talk to people. He was never awkward or accidentally rude. He talked easily, and it seemed easy for him.

I liked this about him. I liked that when I talked to him and I messed up, he didn't look at me strangely or scoff or give me a condescending look or do anything to show scorn at my stupidity. He just brushed past it, and he seemed genuinely unbothered by my mistakes. It made talking to him simple and actually enjoyable.

"So girl," Jana said, slinging an arm around my shoulder, "What's up?"

I unwrapped her arm from around me, "That was so weird."

"Me, weird?" Jana scoffed, "Never. You must be mixing me up with you."

"Sure," I laughed, "Says the girl who eats dips her chips in Nutella."

"It's delicious!"

"It's gross and incredibly unhealthy."

"Unhealthy, my foot," she said, "I can still remember all the times you'd eat nothing but fries for lunch."

"Fries," I stated, "Are a perfectly acceptable lunch. If I dipped said fries in Nutella, however, that would be a little strange."

"Your middle name should have been fries."

"Leave my fries alone, okay?"

She raised her arms in surrender, "Whatever." she paused, "You talked to Safa lately?"

Why did she have to bring her up?

"No," I answered.

"I've been speaking with her a bit. She messaged me after the thing at Mountain Lake."

"Great," I said with little enthusiasm."

"I forgot how nice she is. You don't wanna get in touch with her?"

"We had a bit of a fall out after high school." I admitted.

"But you guys never fought!"

"She told Yusra that I had a boyfriend." I deadpanned, "So, like, yeah."

Yusra was a friend of ours.

Jana's jaw dropped, "What the hell?"

I shrugged.

"Why?"

"She was mad at me. I can't even remember what it was about. I don't know if she ever got angry around you, but she had a horrible temper. And not like mine, she never shouted, she was just, like, spiteful, I guess. She'd find a way to get revenge. That was what she did to me."

"Did you ever confront her?"

"I did," I said, "and she lied about it. Wasn't the first time she'd lied to me, either."

"Crap," Jana hissed, "So now I have to beat her up."

"No, you don't. Why would you?"

"Because you're my best friend, and she hurt you!"

Best friend?

It sounded nice.

"It's okay." I shook my head, "I'm fine, and she's fine, and everyone's fine."

"Yeah, I'm still beating her up."

"I'm not kidding, Jana. Don't do anything."

"I still think I shou--"

"Look at the falls!" I cut her off before she could protest.

She shot me a glare, but turned towards the water anyway.

I stifled a gasp at the sight. Dark water cascaded down a sharp cliff, sending mist into the air. The force of the rapids always took me by surprise, no matter how many times I saw these same falls. I wondered what it would be like to be in that water, how it would feel to drown. The thought was dark and I pulled myself out of it as fast as I could, but it left a lingering feeling of fear in me.

"Do you wanna get ice cream?" Amar asked everyone.

"Let's get it from the place further down the hill," Abu said, "This one is really expensive."

"I think it's the same price," Amar furrowed his eyebrows, "I remember looking at the bill."

"And I remember paying it," Abu grumbled.

I snorted at the reply.

We lingered by edge overlooking the falls for a while, then made our way down the slope. Shuayb and Khalid went into the restaurant to get our ice creams and the rest of us just sat outside.

"I have a bit of news," Jana said.

"What?" I asked.

"I--um--" she stuttered, looking uncharacteristically nervous, "I may have met someone."

"As in, like, a dude?" I might have been gaping.

"Yeah," she nodded, "We have a few mutual friends and he's a part of the MSA at our university."

"What's his name?"

"Ali."

"You..?" I didn't complete the sentence.

"I...?"

"Do you like him?"

"I do," she murmured, "And he... he wants to talk to my father."

"Oh my God!" I grinned, "This is good, right?"

"I guess."

"What's wrong?"

"My father is going to grill him," she groaned, "Abu's going to scare him away."

I laughed, "I'm not even going to deny it. But if he seriously has feelings for you, he'll be fine. Don't worry."

"This is so much easier for you."

"How?"

"Khalid already knows your family!"

I think I was blushing, "True. But I'm sure Abu will grill him anyway."

"At least your brothers will be chill," Jana muttered, "He's going to pee his pants when Khalid talks to him, just watch."

I was smiling again, shaking my head.

I turned her words over, and I realized she might be right. Shuayb and Amar probably wouldn't do anything, but not because they knew Khalid. They just weren't super protective. I guess I should have been glad about that, but instead it kind of made me sad. I wanted to know my brothers had my back, and it felt like them threatening Khalid a little, as embarrassing as it would have been, would be proof that they did.

The boys came out a minute or two later, each holding several ice creams. It was actually a small miracle that they had managed to balance all of them.

"Chocolate for Ami," Shuayb said, handing it to her, "Here's yours, Amar."

"Jana, you had strawberry, right?" Khalid said.

"Yup." he gave it to her, "Thank you."

"And you got vanilla?" Khalid asked, smiling at me.

"Correct."

"Here you go."

"Thanks." I said, returning his smile.