My Handsome Cousin

permission to make out with me

Today is Thursday, we finished school at 4.20pm as usual and I'm on my way home to take Nachma home.

She talks to me about her favourite anime and shows me photos of her favourite anime, Kilari. I'm very subjugate in what she has to say. And I say to myself that I'd like to see some one of these days.

Before I met her, I didn't even know what anime was. It has to be said that I don't watch much TV and I spend too much time reading books. But I don't mind. That's what having friends is all about : learning new things with new people.

We make the journey, chatting about whatever comes to mind, until we get to the point where we have to separate.

- Are you sure you're not going to be late for the bus? Nachma asks me

I just shrug before answering:

- To be honest I don't really care.

It's not like I'm in a hurry to get home.

She looks at the time on her phone before rushing me.

- You'd better hurry up to go.

I act as if I can't hear what she's saying and tell her, gesturing to the phone in her hand.

- First show me what you wanted to show me.

- Seriously, it's not much. They are just sounds I recorded from TV, and I really like listening to them.

She takes her headphones out of her bag and plugs them into her phone before handing me an earpiece. She starts the music on her phone and I can't help but express my amazement.

- It's so beautiful, I say. You could imagine putting any lyrics behind this music.

- What I love about music are the instruments, Nachma says. I can even recognise all of them.

And she starts telling me the names of the instruments we're listening to.

- Do you recognise any of them? Nachma asks to me.

- No, I reply simply.

I'm not very good at recognising musical instruments. Mainly because I rarely had the opportunity to listen to them. I spend most of my life reading, so I haven't had many opportunities to learn about instruments.

Nachma checks the time again and sees that it's ten to five.

- What time do you catch the bus again? she asks me.

She seems worried about it, but I answer her casually.

- Five p.m sharp.

- Then you'd better get going," she says. You've got only ten minutes to get there on time.

I shrug again and say.

- I don't mind.

I don't really feel like going home tonight.

- Maybe, but I've to go. If my dad finds me here, he'll kill me.

I tell myself she's lucky to have her parents around. I don't even know what mine looked like any more. My father died when I was about thirteen and I haven't seen him since I was two, and the last time I saw my mother was around the same time. So I'm pretty sure I wouldn't recognise her if she was standing in front of me.

We say goodbye and I start running, because even though I don't want to go home I have to, otherwise my aunt might start panicking and maybe even accuse me of spending the night with a man. What a shame!

I arrive right on time and grab one of the last two free seats on the bus. And Daimon got on the bus just after me and sat down next to me.

Honestly, of all the people in this tin can, he had to be the one to sit next to me!

As I couldn't get up and move around, I decide to ignore him. All the way, he talks to me but I ignore him. And as soon as the bus stops, I hurry off towards my home before he gets the crazy idea of following me, because he seems to be the sort of person who would turn up at my house to ask my family's permission to make out with me.

Eventually I get home and bump into Damir at the front door, but I don't feel like talking to him. I say hello and goodbye immediately, then open the door and enter the house.

The house isn't very big. It only has three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. My aunt occupies one of the bedrooms with her husband and we share the other two. So I share a room with Sumaya and Mira. The others, I mean Faourha, Leticia and the three little ones (Sonya, Samir and Samuel) share the other room, which is bigger than ours.

I'm hot, so I'm going to take my clothes off straight away. I really need to go and have a shower. And that's the pleasure of living in a house without man, you can walk around as you please without risking offending anyone. And I'm enjoying it while the boys in this house are still small.

I'm wearing tights and a long-sleeved top, over which I've put a white mini-dress. I'm undoing the ribbon when I notice the man lying on the bed opposite to mine.

Where the hell did that one come from?!