Last First Chance (Al-Ameen Family Spin-Off)

Textbook

Vote, comment, share, and enjoy!!  💜💜

"Okay you can't avoid me any longer. Tell me what's the deal between you two. I've asked Hasan a thousand times this week but he will not budge." Naina says. I was having lunch with her and Nazeeha on this very lovely Sunday afternoon. They had just finished telling me the story of how both of them met-with Nazeeha almost getting kidnapped by the mob- and how Nazeeha and her husband Ali helped Naina and Armaan get married.

"Didn't you just get married? Shouldn't you have better things to entertain yourself with?" I groan. It was nice being able to spar with Naina like this. She still intimated the crap out of me, but like 10% less now.

"Did you guys date in the past?" Nazeeha asks bluntly.

"No! Astagfirullah, of course not," I look down at my pasta salad embarrassedly.

"So then?"

"If I tell you, you have to swear on your husbands' lives you won't say a word about this in front of Hasan. Spare me the awkwardness, please," I beg.

"Yes, yes, I won't, now go on." Naina says. Her lunch was all but forgotten.

"We were best friends for a few years in high school. But we had a falling out and then my mom died and I moved to the US for most of the last eight years so we lost touch."

"But you like him. Or he likes you? Which is it?" Nazeeha leans in eagerly.

I hesitate but then give in to their earnest curiosity. "I might have had a little bit of crush. He was my older brother's friend first before we became really close. Guys and girls really can't ever be friends. Because how do you not start to like someone when they become your closest friend, you know?" I was rambling.

The girls give each other a knowing look, telling me they definitely agreed.

"So did you tell him that?"

"No, of course not. I was 16, it was just a stupid crush. We were only ever best friends, never more."

"I don't know Maheen," Naina leans back in her chair, crossing her arms across her chest as if we were discussing a serious case. "Hasan is different around you. And if there's one thing we've learned, men don't act the way around everyone the way they act with their girlfriends or wives or whatever. And if they do, that's a red flag. I've heard Hasan speak more in the last month to you than I have in the year I've known him."

"It's just residual friendship feelings," I shake my head. "Nothing more."

"Did he ever indicate anything from his end?" Nazeeha asks. I shake my head again. "I don't know. I'm with Naina on this one. He likes you. I saw the way he was around you at their wedding," she points to her sister-in-law. "That's definitely more than residual friendship feelings," she chuckles at my phrase. "Seriously Maheen, you don't like him even a little bit anymore? I find that very hard to believe."

"She roasts him like a chicken. Constantly," Naina snickers.

"Then I definitely think you like him. That's textbook," Nazeeha raises a pretty eyebrow at me.

I cover my face with my hands, hoping to disappear somehow.

"Admit it Maheen, you still kind of like him," Naina is grilling me with glee.

"Sure, he's good looking, but I don't like like him," I insist. "Me and him would never work out so I have never gone down that road."

"Why wouldn't you work out?" Nazeeha asks with genuine concern. "Physical attraction is important. And especially for girls like us who don't get into relationships outside of marriage, physical attraction can be an positive indication of your compatibility with that person when it comes so naturally."