Don't Forget Me (6)

Day seven of the trip;

The next couple of days were as amazing as the first, even if it was repetitive:

-Breakfast

-Museum or some educational place

-Lunch

-Afternoon break (we usually went walking around the hotel area)

-Dinner next to the hotel.

Then repeat. The places we went to were boring and we had to take pictures at almost every place for school documentation, add in the unnecessary attendance check every ten minutes, but the people I was with made it fun!

"Bard iff!" Sarah complained as she hugged herself in her coat.

"Khashmich a7mar," Lulu told me.

I pulled my beanie down to my ears, it was freezing. Sarah and Lulu huddled together for warmth, and I tucked my hands in my pockets.

"Yallah bring the food!" Sarah said aloud so the waiter could hear us. The students laughed at her, she was really the fun person in our table full of girls.

I could tell they've been to Paris a lot of times as they were all bored and on their phones. Lulu and Sarah gossiped at the sleepover yesterday (sans Asmaa as she wanted to sleep in her own bed), that there was some drama going on with some guys and girls, almost getting caught. I suddenly felt jealous but ignored that feeling; we were not the dating type at all.

"So shbitsawoon el3a9er?" Lulu asked me and Sarah.

We shrugged.

"Shakly banam o mara7 a6la3 min hal bard eli e7na fee, wallah," Sarah said. Lulu agreed and I agreed with her.

The waiters finally got our food, and we eat it while it's hot just to warm ourselves up. I had a fillet mignon while Lulu and Sarah shared a large veal escalope.

My eyes accidentally fell on Zaid's, who was sitting at the other table.

He smiled as he slowly chews his food, but his smile was a bit mischievous. I smiled back, almost the same way and he chuckled before returning to his food.

Lulu nudged me and I nearly choked on my fillet, had she seen what was going on?

"Yuma shfeech ikhtara3tay? Tabeen bu6a6ich?" she asked, hovering her fork over my roasted potatoes.

"Ikhthee," I said in slight annoyance.

We didn't order dessert as we were all full, the guys did (some also had ice-cream in this cold) so we had to wait for them to finish, some girls even begged them to eat faster as they were still freezing.

"Abi arid frashi!" Sarah complained again and Lulu put a hand on her chin.

The boys finally stood up and the girls nearly jumped out of their chairs to leave the restaurant so they'd go to the bus across the street. The teachers did a hasty head count, again, as they caught up with the students at the bus.

As usual, I waited for Zaid to walk with him. It became an unintentional habit that thankfully no one but my friends seemed to pick up on. Zaid always left last anywhere because of his medical condition and I hated seeing him try to catch up with us, so I just walk beside him to keep him company, unlike his jerk friends who only were his friends when they went out to eat or something where it was "fine" to wait for him and not holding them back.

We didn't usually speak, and I walked a couple of steps away from him while pretending to look at my phone (which is mostly why no one seemed to notice), but it was just to let him know that he didn't have to push himself to catch up with us.

For some reason I actually liked having him around, there was something comforting about being around him, but I wasn't sure if the feeling was mutual.

"Omniyah," he said. I never heard him say my name before. I didn't even think he'd know my name.

"Na3am?" I said.

"Yaya ihni mn gabl?" he asked as he walked closer to me.

I shook my head.

"Shrayich feeha?" he asked. I furrowed my brow in confusion but then I realized he meant Paris.

"Wallah 7ail 7lwa, a7la mn ili twaqa3ta," I said.

He stopped in his tracks, almost disbelieving.

"9ij?" he asked before continuing to walk again.

"Ee, laish?" I asked.

"Ilamakin ili wadona iyaha '6aim, ma3rifaw iwadoona ilamakin ili 9ij 7lwa," he said.

"9ij?" I asked this time.

He chuckled. "Ee, ba6la3 ilyom azoorhum, tabeen ityeen?" he asked.

I kind of froze, was this a test to confirm his impression of me in Starbucks? Was this a dare from his friends?

"Umm, ma3tiqid, sorry," I said.

"Oh, la afham. Sorry bas le2ana ma7ad wida yrou7," he said, glancing at me to see if he's guilt-tripped me.

I placed my tongue in my cheek.

"Tara wayid greeb oo m7na m6waleen, wallah," he promised, not giving up on me. He looked serious.

"Madri, Zaid," I said.

"Kaifich bas a7isich 9ij yaya ihni tabeen tshoofeen ildeera, mu nafs ba3'6 ilbanat. I3tabree a thank you," he said, placing two hands on his cane as he stopped. A thank you? For me keeping him company?

The teachers began to call us now, we were really making them late.

"Okay bas lazm nsari3," I told him, and I knew he'd make us more late if he begged one more time, let alone moved unless I'd said yes. He smiled and we split up from each other.

"Oh, lobby ilsa3a 3:30," he called out. It was almost 2:45 now. I nodded.

I couldn't tell anyone, not even Lulu or Sarah.

***

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