Journal of A Single Gal In Q8 - Episode Seventeen

From last episode...

"As she walked up to her car, she noticed the red rose that was tucked away under the wipers of her car. She picked it up and read the note attached to it. "Now that you've seen the price list, am I worth it? Love you always, Me."

She couldn't help but get into her car and smile. Regardless if things hadn't turned out the way she wanted, she appreciated his gesture. She could recall other men that had past through her life who found the whole flower issue a cliche. She was an old fashioned girl and any man who bothered to bring flowers, definitely gained brownie points with her.

Driving down the Gulf Road and listening to the music, she started to sing with the chorus. "It must've been love, but it's over now, it must've been good but I lost it somehow..." Her chain of thoughts traveled to what her next move ought to be. She didn't want to just jump back into his arms. He needed to suffer more. It wasn't that she liked revenge it was more like her right that he made her suffer and it was his turn to know what it felt like.

Her mobile rang and it was a long distance phone call. She grabbed it quickly, afraid that it would get disconnected.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hi habeebti, it's me!" said Hala, her closest friend. She was calling from the U.S. where she had decided to do her Masters. She missed her so much and was ecstatic to hear her voice. She had the kind of voice that soothed any heart.

"Habeebti! It's so nice to hear your voice!" she replied.

"Are you ok?" Hala had the tendency to see right through her and knew when something was up. She would often have dreams about her and call her up to ask her if things were ok. It happened so often that it no longer surprised them.

"I'm ok, habeebti, just having man problems!" she tried to sound cheerful.

"Habeebti," she said sympathetically. "I miss you so much. Yalla, don't you want to come and see me? I could use the company."

What a perfect way to get away from all of this. Her mind went into planning mode.

"Walla, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Let me see if I can take a break from work and I'll email you the details."

They finally said their goodbye that consisted of blown kisses and terms of endearment lasting longer than the usual. It made her all emotional and teary eyed. She really missed her friend and it would be great to see her.

She hadn't been to the States in a while and was getting excited. The smell of the malls, the laid back feeling. The lifting of a heavy load on one's chest that suddenly disappears the minute one landed was the perfect anecdote. She made up her mind, she was leaving.

Two weeks later, she found herself flying on BA already adjusting to the foreign world. His messages and songs that he sent during the past two weeks were already making her weak and the timing of her flight was impeccable. She was doing the right thing.

At the airport, she finally picked up the phone when he called her. She was traveling and she had learnt to keep the peace with those important in her life. It was a hard lesson she would never soon forget learning, thanks to her experience during the invasion of Kuwait. She remembered wishing that she'd spoken to everybody she cared about before traveling during that awful summer. She had suddenly found herself stuck in Europe and everybody else including her family were scattered all over the place. Along with over packing everytime she traveled, this was the one thing she always did; call her loved ones before she got on a flight.

She told him that she was leaving. He went quite first but then quickly asked her if she would email him as soon as she got there just to let him know that she arrived alright. She told him that she would.

Arriving in London airport for her transit made her very nostalgic for the days that he had been with her. She switched on her mobile and instantly heard the beep that she'd received a message.

"You should be in London by now, how's the weather?" he asked

"The usual...:)" she replied

"Can I have your friend's number so I can check up on you while you're there?" he asked.

It took her a while to answer back and then finally messaged him the number. She knew her friend was not going to mind. They were old family friends and the girl was a mirror of her so she knew her well.

Arriving in LAX airport was a joke in and of it self! Just when she thought, she'd left everything behind her, including the Arab World and its issues. She was seated right smack in front of a not so famous Lebanese singer that she recognized. It was typical of being on a flight heading to L.A. Celebrities were everywhere. She had been over listening to their conversation, not by choice, the man was loud. She giggled as she heard him complain to what appeared to be his agent sitting next to him, "Khayee, hayda kil mara eb ye3mil feenee haik." She realized he was complaining about his competitor who was more famous than he was and kept stealing all his shows! He'd bashed up his competitor so bad that when they landed, she couldn't help but turn around and tell him "7amdilla 3ala al salama!" His face was worth millions. She was sure his thoughts begged that she wasn't a journalist who'd recorded his conversation with all those horrible things he'd said. The headline would've been simple "Waleed Tawfeeq's bashes Ragheb Allama on a flight to L.A.!"

Outside the gate, she saw her friend standing excitedly trying to find her in the crowd. They both screamed in the middle of the airport as they ran towards each other and hugged.

They were both the same height and one would think that they were sisters. She was tanned with pitch black hair with eyelashes that seemed to curl till there was no tomorrow. In her opinion, she thought Hala was prettier than her and more genteel so when people said that they looked alike, she always took it as a compliment.

Driving down the highway and seeing the typical building of any American downtown from a distance, she knew that she was far away from home.

"So?" asked Hala, "tell me about him?"

"Is it that obvious?" she asked.

"I know you," she stated as a matter of fact, "you look like you're in love."

Trying to change the subject, since she wasn't ready to talk about him, she said "You know what I hate about us women, why do we always talk about men. Why can't we be more like men? They talk about sports, about politics, about their work. They hardly ever talk about us. Why is it that men are priority one in our lives while everything else is priority one in men's lives, except us?" she asked.

"Don't get philosophical with me now! I'm dyeing to know more but if you prefer to talk about politics, we can! So, do you think Saddam Hussein is an agent of the US and we are all part of a chess game?" said Hala as she giggled. They did tend to go into long talks of politics but it never lasted as long as their men issues.

"Oh my God, not Saddam, please let's not talk about him!" she answered back laughing.

They had finally reached her apartment and were struggling to get her suitcase up the stairs.

"These are the moments that you wish Mary the maid was here to carry my suitcase!" she said jokingly. She realized that she hadn't laughed so much in a long time. Her body began to relax and the tension was slowly melting away.

"Looks like I have a message!" declared Hala as she walked into her apartment.

"Sorry to bother you but this message is to check up if your visitor has arrived safely. I will call back later, I guess I calculated wrong that she would've arrived by now."

She smiled. Hearing his voice from miles away and sounding so worried about her made her heart all soft.

"That's so sweet of him," said Hala. "He's worried about you."

"I know, that's the problem, it gets me all confused!" she replied feeling suddenly very sleepy.

"I have class tomorrow, would you come with me? I'm dyeing for you to meet all my friends," asked Hala excitedly. "Unless you'll still be jet lagged?"

"We'll see," she said as she yawned. She will have to fight her sleep until evening commenced and it was still early in U.S. time.

During the next few days, they had gone shopping, lounged at cafes and on occasion she would pick up a Kuwaiti cook book and actually cook for her friend while she was in school. She was never into cooking but when it came to those she loved, she did it wholeheartedly and was always pleasantly complimented.

Tonight she was finally going to meet up with Hala's friends. They would be going out for dinner at a famous Moroccan restaurant in Westwood.

"It's nice to meet you," she said, as she shook hands with the entire group. Hala's group of friends consisted of various nationalities. A married couple from Bahrain, some single Bahrainis, both females and male, Lebanese, Palestinians and a mixture of Saudis and Kuwaitis.

She ended up sitting next to a Saudi guy that looked like a professor. During their conversation, she realized that he actually was. He was a T.A. at the University that Hala went to and was doing his PhD. Even though he was being nice, something about him kept bothering her. Maybe it was the way he kept looking at her. True, she appreciated being admired but this guy had a look that he was actually drooling. She couldn't stand it. She felt like she was on display.

He looked the eldest and had a mature streak about him, compared to the mixture of freshmen at least. He was tall, dark skinned, curly black hair with a well built body. He oozed education; one could tell his occupation by merely looking at him. He was your typical teacher/professor looking guy.

When she found herself conveniently sitting next to him, she couldn't help but feel depressed. She would've rather have sat next to the fun Bahraini couple who were saying jokes. She just wasn't in the mood for that kind of socializing. He looked like he wanted to sum her up and she didn't appreciate being tested. Who the hell did he think he was, PhD or not!

"So Hala tells me that you've studied in the States too?" he asked.

His confidence was irritating her. Must be the way he's holding his cigar, she thought to herself.

"Yes, I have," as she continued staring at the Bahraini couple envying their sense of ease.

The evening went slower from there on as she threw threatening looks to Hala until she finally made an excuse that she felt sleepy and Hala was quick to pick up on cue and left.

"No chemistry?" asked Hala.

"None, zero, zilch, nada," she replied as she began describing his irritating behavior throughout the night. When they'd finally reached Hala's apartment, they were in tears laughing.

"I know internally you're feeling depressed even though you're trying really hard to cheer yourself up, I just want to say don't worry, everything will be fine." she told her. "By the way, if you want to check your email, just let me know and I'll log you on."

She hadn't checked her email in ages, afraid she'll find an email from him and she would miss him even more. "Actually, I think I will, thanks!" she replied.

She scanned through her inbox till she saw his name and clicked on it. "A hallmark greeting card for you" said the subject.

She clicked on the card link and it began to load. Slowly the music began to play "and I miss you, like the desert miss the rain.."

A bouquet of a dozen red roses on a black background with the text "Can't stop thinking of you, please forgive me, I miss you."

Just then, Hala's telephone rang and she picked it up. It must've been a personal call since she took the phone to the bedroom and closed the door.

She stared at the greeting card and took a deep breath to stop herself from crying. She hadn't realized that falling in love at an older age was even harder than when one was a teenager. It hurt more since mind and heart fought constantly with each other and logic struggled to play a role. As a teenager, logic had nothing to do with love!

A few days later, they were on their way to the airport to pick up a friend of Hala's. Hala was acting funny and she hoped that it wasn't another of Hala's brilliant ideas to introduce her to more of her Professor friends.

Standing at the airport feeling shy, she decided to move away from Hala so she could greet her friend privately once they came out. She stared at the people coming out of the gate when her heart skipped a beat. Wearing a red cap, a white T-shirt, a pair of faded jeans and carrying a carry on bag was what appeared to be someone extremely familiar. She blinked, her heart was playing games with her, she thought.

He was walking towards her, Hala came to stand next to her and he took out his hand to introduce himself to Hala.

"Thank you so much for keeping this all a surprise," she heard him say.

She stood there in a daze not fathoming the whole scene.

"Wake up!" said Hala "I hope you like the surprise, it was his idea and I just couldn't resist it!" Turning towards him, she said "Welcome to L.A. I'll go get the car. Just before leaving, she whispered in her ear, "I just couldn't stand seeing you so depressed habeebti."

He finally turned around to look her. She remained standing, still in shock.

"I hope you're not mad at me,I missed you!" he said, quite embarrassed. He struggled searching for something in his carry on. "I got you this," he said finally as he took out a box of Mozart chocolates he must've picked up from Lufthansa airport.

Still in a daze, she took the chocolate box from him and then on impulse pinched him hard.

"Ouch!" she heard him say.

"Sorry, just had to check if it was you, besides, you deserved it!" she teased.

To be continued...