Before the Sun Rises

As soon as I finished putting Zee to bed, I returned to my bedroom to find Kye waiting on the edge of the bed in her pajamas, which consisted of a pair of boxer shorts and a salmon pink cami that showed off her muscular shoulders. She looked sheepish, her eyes averted and her strong arms crossed protectively over her chest. I realized it was the first time I had seen her in less than long pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt. I lingered shyly in the doorway, plucking my nightgown off my dresser and draping it over one arm.

A smile grew on her face when she glanced in my direction, “Mouse, you’re blushing.”

I giggled, caught red-handed, and whispered, “You’re beautiful.”

She gave a dismissive shrug, “C’mon, I don’t even shave my legs.”

I softly strolled over to her and planted a kiss on top of her head, “Breathtakingly beautiful.”

I glanced down to see red blush spread over her warm beige cheeks.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, “I need to put my own pajamas on.”

“Okay,” she grinned up at me and brushed a hand across my cheek before I disappeared to the bathroom to change clothes.

When I came back a few minutes later wearing my calf-length nightgown and carrying my clothes in my arms, Kye responded by excitedly running her hands over her short, messy hair and exclaiming, “Masha’Allah! How did I get so lucky?”

I flicked off the light and tossed my dirty clothes in the hamper before taking a seat beside her, immediately burying my face in the curve of her neck, “I’m the lucky one.”

She lovingly buried a hand in my mane of long, curly hair, which was no longer constrained by its usual ponytail. I shivered as her fingers grazed my neck. After a while, she spoke up, “You sure you’re okay with me spending the night, tonight?”

I nodded into her shoulder, “Mmhm.”

She didn’t seem convinced, “Absolutely sure? ‘Cuz the last time…”

“This time’s different,” I assured her, “This time we planned it. We’ve been together almost 10 months. I’m ready. It’ll be fine.”

“As long as you’re sure,” she said, caressing my shoulder.

“Oh,” I added, “and this time, I get to be big spoon!”

“Oh, do you now?” she chuckled.

“I do! It feels safer.”

“I can get on board with this,” she nodded, “I don’t get to be little spoon very often, seeing as I’m not very… little.”

“I’m a whole half-inch taller than you, Fishy,” I smiled into her shoulder and reached up to trace her collarbone with my fingers.

“Oh, wow,” she breathed, “Wow. I… can we maybe not do that right now? I don’t think I can… yeah.”

I pulled back and looked up in concern.

“No no, not like that,” she hurried to explain, “You didn’t do anything wrong. That just felt… really good. Like… a little too good.” Her red face made her point clear.

“Okay,” I murmured, relaxing, “Sorry.”

She kissed my forehead, “No worries.”

“Should we get to sleep?” I said, glancing worriedly at the time on my phone, “Zee’s pretty excited about going to the zoo tomorrow. Who knows how early he’ll drag us out of bed.

Kye chuckled, “Probably not as early as my alarm’s gonna drag me out of bed. Speaking of which, if you hear my phone buzzing at early o’clock, it’s just telling me to pray Fajr. I turned off the obnoxious sound effects, but I know you’re a light sleeper, so… yeah. After I pray I’ll probably crawl back into bed and sleep until Zee wakes us up.”

“Okay,” I nodded, “I’ll do my best not to panic. Sorry in advance if I do.” With that, I hefted my legs up onto the bed and crawled into my spot, lifting and arm and beckoning for Kye to join me, “Alright, bedtime. C’mere, Fishy.”

She immediately took her place as my little spoon, curling around the arm I placed around her belly and pressing her back against me. I suddenly felt very small�"I may have been a measly half-inch taller, but Kye had at least 50 pounds of solid muscle on me. I smiled and sleepily pressed my nose between her shoulder blades, “I love you, Kye.”

She brushed her thumb over my forearm, “Love you, too, Aqui.”

~*~

I expected to wake up to Kye’s prayer alarm, but instead I awoke to my body being squished uncomfortably between Kye’s back and the wall beside my bed. When I sat up to try and persuade Kye to scoot over, though, my breath caught in my throat: curled up snugly in Kye’s embrace was Zee, his thumb in his mouth and his blankie and stuffed lobster in his arms. 

I felt tears well in my eyes as I scrambled silently for my phone, not wanting to wake them. I turned on my phone, confirming that it was just after 3am, and went to text Lupio, “Oh my God, guess who joined Kye and I in bed.”

To my surprise, he responded almost immediately, “Y’know, if you and Kye weren’t you and Kye, I would have inferred a threesome. But since it’s you and Kye, I’m gonna guess Zee. Am I right? Do I win a prize?”

I figured I wouldn’t question what he was doing awake at 3am. Instead, I simply responded, “Yes! Zee! They’re snuggling. It’s precious. I’m going to cry.”

“Pics please?” Lupio replied.

“Sorry, can’t. No hijab. Also, taking pictures of people in their sleep is kind of rude?”

“Oh, right. Pajamas,” he responded. Then, before I could reply, he added, “Wait, I thought Zee didn’t recognize Kye with her scarf off?”

I stared at my phone, stunned. I hadn’t even thought of it until Lupio pointed it out. “Oh my God,” I said in an almost-silent whisper, glancing over at Zee swaddled in Kye’s arms, then up at Kye’s unruly dark hair, “you do recognize her.”

After gazing down at them in awe for a little longer, I turned back to my phone and typed, “Looks like he figured it out.”

Lupio responded with a smiley face, followed by, “Well, I’m off to bed. Have fun playing bed Tetris with the two loves of your life.”

“Okay, sleep well!” I responded, then set my phone down and huddled back into the crevice between Kye and the wall, slowly snaking my arm around Kye and Zee’s midsections.

~*~

I had just begun to doze off when Kye’s phone began vibrating furiously, waking all three of us up. Zee sat bolt upright and immediately began signing “Zoo! Zoo!”

Kye sat up much more reluctantly, turning her alarm off on her way up. She yawned widely and placed a hand on Zee’s head, ruffling his wispy blonde hair, “Just prayer time. Not wake-up time for real. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Zoo?” Zee signed again, still hopeful.

Kye yawned again and repeated in a hushed voice, “I’ll be right back. You keep Mommy and Clicky Lobster company until I come back, okay?”

I stayed silent, watching their interactions with one eye open and a smile on my face.

As Kye stood up to head for the bathroom, Zee grabbed Clicky Lobster and followed. I heard giggling and splashing emanating from the other end of the hall and wondered what was happening. 

When they returned a few minutes later, Zee looked like he had just come back from a water balloon fight and Kye looked like she was holding back laughter. Trying hard to keep a straight face, Kye pulled her prayer rug out of her backpack and laid it out facing the sticky note she had stuck on my wall several months prior to mark the direction of Mecca. Zee mimicked her, grabbing his blankie and laying it beside her prayer rug. As Kye got into position to start her morning prayer, Zee sat down cross-legged and set Clicky Lobster up to pray alongside her. The lobster, controlled by Zee, mimicked each of Kye’s movements with surprising accuracy as she completed her prayer, then shook her hand with his claw at the end.

As Kye was folding up her prayer rug, Zee explained in rather improvised sign language that he is Jewish but Clicky Lobster is Muslim. Technically, what he said was more to the effect of “Clicky Lobster says scarf prayers,” but given his limited signing vocabulary and 7-year-old knowledge of religion, his point was fairly clear. I made a mental note to translate for Kye in the morning. I also made a mental note to share this story the next time one of Zee’s teachers insists that he can’t empathize.

Finally, Kye made her way back to bed, followed by Zee and Clicky Lobster. I welcomed them back with a groggy group hug, then whispered in Kye’s ear, “I think you have a fan.”

She responded with a drowsy smile as she drifted effortlessly back to sleep.