Incredulity comes at a price- 8

Dear Alex,

It has been a few days in Dubai and it looks like we will be staying here for over a month. A month can be a long time, hence the need to find something to keep us occupied. Reyna is over the moon, I can see her dancing around the room, ecstatic about finding a summer job.

I remember my first job, selling lemonade with you. Even though we had Pedro make them for us.

Maybe I'll find a job after all, just the way you wanted me to �" all on my own.

A pale hand tucks a soft blanket under her chin as Reyna turns in her sleep, tugging the cream clothe closer to her chest. Tori freezes in her place, her toes edged right next to the squeaky board they had found out in the last few days. It had been five days in this sun-kissed city and Astoria Rister just couldn't have enough of its bright glory. She had traveled to a few chosen places, but every destination had been precious like the trinkets hanging from her bracelet on her left hand. Dragging her arms through the cold air, she stepped back, measuring her steps with care, trying not to wake up the sleeping figure of her best-friend.

Since the day at the beach, Tori had slipped back into her silent closed shell, looking at the world around her with her eyes and etching every line in her heart, but never speaking her words. This was the safest way to deal with anything, that conclusion had been reached by Tori long before. Given the fact that Sam was quite used to the quiet and restrained Tori, he never noticed the change. Nobody, not a soul watched her step outside the comfort of her dark room, even if just for duration of a sunrise, but she stepped back just as soon as she had stepped out.

Tugging the Grey knitted beanie lower on her head, she wrapped the scarf around her neck, slipping outside the hotel gates and into the icy crisp air. The sultry heat of the sun had been slowly retreating itself to a growing chill in the air, as winter sneaked its way into the heart of the city. She had learnt the way of the roads, looking out like a hawk every time the cab driver made a turn and chirped his way through the commentary of his beautiful city. Every person in this city, native or not, had taken pride in giving them directions and guiding them around the golden city, that was the best part about seeing the world; there are always good people out there, like little birds in the sky. They may be few, but they are always there.

The familiar tune of her favourite song poured into her ears, the thumping of her feet against the concrete pavement hidden in the beats of the drum. Bobbing her head to the notes, she looked out at the empty roads ahead. Dubai was a rather quite city, everybody went on with their ways. For a city that throbs with life and light at night, it can be rather lonely. At 6 am in the morning, the roads were sparse, two or three cars lazily snailing down the road at their own pace. She saw some pedestrians waiting at the crescent-shaped bus stops, waiting for their daily ride to their work place. She shoved her hands into her pockets, wiggling the tips to bring back their feeling, as she pushed the door to the little cafe she had found.

Few night ago, as she escaped from the company of a rather enthusiastic Reyna and a cheeky drunk Jeremiah, she had found this run-down coffee house cramped in between a vintage clothe store and a shut-down book store of sorts. The familiar tingling in her stomach had told her that she had just found her escape for the next few nights, early morning included. The musical bell rang over her head as she unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and looked around for a booth to occupy. Nodding in acknowledgment to the old man behind the counter, she slid into a booth tucked right at the end of the cafe, enveloping her in the aroma of roasted coffee beans and delicious cheesecakes. She slipped into the comfort of the old won out cushioned seats and slid out a tattered book with yellow pages out of her messenger bag

“What can I get you today Mrs. Rister?

She looked up through the rims of her black thick glasses tat covered her face and smiled at the gracious man standing in front of her. A smile was forever etched on his scruffy chin, adding a different beauty to his face that father time had tried to wash away.

“The usual Mr. Edger”, the coffee shop owner, tucked his notepad in his coat pocket and walked away smilingly.

Looking down at the notebook sprawled in front of her, she scribbled down the words swimming in her head for the past few weeks. This was her escape. From the real world, from the tough spots, sometimes even from herself.

Words had always meant the world to her, letters strung together to scream out the biggest of secrets, all in a jumble. A pattern so intricately constructed that no one could ever work out its true meaning, but everyone could understand. She had been fascinated by music and words, ever since she heard her first melody, ever since her nimble pale fingers flew across the black and white keys of the giant piano in her aunt's mansion. Symphonies could tell stories so easily, transporting the listener to such a place, where emotions could flood them, but they were out of reach from the grasping hands of the world. Isn't that most fascinating thing about music?

The sound of a bell jingling from the far corner of the cafe reached her ears, she kept her head down and continued to work on her masterpiece. Just as the dirty slanted handwriting reached the end of the black line on the marble white paper, a shadow loomed over her, blocking the light from the gas lamps hanging around the cafe.

“Didn't expect to see you here”, the gruff sound seemed all too familiar to Tori, she crooked her head from behind her hair and looked to meet chocolate brown eyes swimming with genuine happiness. A well-built figure of the native she had met on the beach on her first day was standing in front of her, and she was at a loss for words.

“Faizal?”, the words rolled out of her tongue, before her mind could salvage it. He smiled once more and slipped into the booth, positioning himself strategically across her.

She was still gawking at him, her mouth hung open in shock, as a pretty lady danced through the room and right in front of their room. She smiled generously at Faizal, giving him a peek of far more than just her pearl-white teeth. Faizal threw her a look from under the hair falling over his eyes, and a set of giggles tumbled out of her mouth. Finally the girl's eyes landed on Tori, her mouth faltering with the smile and soon a frown took its place, as she stared into Tori's face and then back at Faizal. Faizal hadn't seen the look though, he seemed far more interested in reading the notebook thrown on the table, the notebook containing all the lyrics that Tori had ever written.

Watching his eyes quickly skimming through her words, she snatched the book away from under his nose and glared at him for good measure. He raised his hands in defense and turned to the waitress again, who was waiting patiently for his attention.

“The Usual, Fatima”, he winked at her, and she flitted to the counters with a dreamy smile plastered on her face. Tori looked back at the waitress supporting herself on her elbows on the counter, such a sad creature.

“Why are you looking at her like that? Its not good to stare”, Faizal said with a reproachful tone playing in his voice. He had his face cupped in his hands by now, hands that were far too large, now that tori looked at them.

Tori reeled back into her seat at the accusation, a few seconds passing before she realised the brown eyed boy was staring at her incredulously.

“Are you following me?”, she whispered offhandedly, she didn't want to seem like she was accusing him of something, but he was turning up in places unexpectedly.

Faizal had been staring down at the same pair of Grey eyes which looked like orbs robbed of their happiness, it wasn't fair, but who was he to say things were or weren't fair in life. He shrugged his shoulder in response and tapped his fingers restlessly on the marble covered table, a little old jukebox sat on one corner. He had repaired that dusty old thing for the cafe owner so many times, he had lost track, but he loved this place more than words could compare. The cafe shop had been around since as long as he could remember, he had always ended up here on a rough day, or on the early mornings when Aaaliya woke him up too early.

Two steaming mugs of black tea stood in front of their faces, while Faizal thanked the familiar waitress graciously. He couldn't help smirking as he saw tori throw her a glance of disgust.

“What are you doing up so early?”, he looked back at the thin black strap curling around his wrist. 6:15 AM it read, why would a rich tourist like Astoria be up at this unearthly hour?

Slipping her little finger through the hole, she lifted the cup between her two fingers and brought the cup close to her face, the steam rising up from the mug clouded her thick-rimmed glasses and a smile slipped from her lips, lighting up her features in a matter of minutes. In that minute she seemed like a kid at a toy store, enjoying the little things in life, showing no care of what would come tomorrow, but as her eyes met his smiling ones once more, the mask slipped right back into place and she turned to her tea, not a trace of emotion left on her face. It was like the hunting grounds on the mountains after a snow storm.

“I came...I couldn't sleep”, she ended abruptly, her sentence cut off mid way as she cleared her throat and sipped her tea, the notebook slipping back into her bag once more and out of Faizal's sight.

He nodded thoughtfully, minutes of silence ticking between them as the morning sky grew lighter around the edges. Her eyes flitted from time to time to the sky as she watched the few birds flitting about on their daylight missions. She hadn't said a word about it. Now that Faizal jogged his memory, he realised she had never said a word about her, unlike all the other girls he met on the beach.

“What are you doing after this?”, he questioned her as he leant back into the soft cushion of the chair and watched a stray strand of hair slipping from behind her ear. The mugs of tea had been taken away minutes ago,as both of them rose to pay for their morning sips.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said”, he answered. Her lips fell flat as she glared back at his cheeky answer before crumpling the piece of paper in her hands and shoving it into the leather bag.

“Nothing. Not that you need to know about it”

“Good”

She turned to peek at him, he tugged his beanie over his ears and grabbed her wrist before flagging a cab and opening the door out for her. Her eyes fluttered in confusion, all in the span of minutes she had gone from confusion to how-dare-he to utter confusion again. Faizal could be a handful.

“What are you doing?”, she all but hissed as her hands tugged out of his vice like grip, a thousand pin pricks lighting the place their fingers had contacted

“I'm trying to be a gentleman and trying to get to know you better”, he said, a sigh heaving out of his lips as he stared down at her with irritation flitting through his brown irises.

“This is not a romance novel Faizal, that's not how chivalry works”, she spitted out and sped away from the boy in the green scarf. Not turning back to see him shutting the door of the taxi hotly, or running his hands throw his hair in frustration. If Faizal could be tough, then Astoria was not going to be anything else.

Feet thumping out the frustration at the sudden meet and greet, Tori stormed up to her apartment, the doormen giving her looks of concern. She probably looked like she had gone through hell, but contact with Faizal was far too close to that. How dare he? Simply because all the other girls at the beach threw themselves at him, didn't mean he could get so used to the generalization that all girls longed for him. Oh no, he needed to learn some self-control.

“Well somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed”, Reyna let out a chuckle, before rushing off to catch the bag that was flung across the room, making a straight shot for the expensive vase standing on the side-table.

“Ooh Girl, Feisty”, she teased as the petite figure of Tori plopped down on the cushion, her arms folded across her chest tightly. Even though amusement was clear in her green eyes, Reyna tip-toed across the room and sat down next to her best-friend who currently had fumes rising from her head. Anyone who had done this to Tori deserved an award, hell she could buy the person a year's supply of Nutella. Because Tori was angry, and that was not something Reyna had seen for quite some while.

Colourful words of accusation flew out of her mouth as her lips tightened into a thin line and she thre her hands in frustration. Tori couldn't hold the anger any longer, it seemed to bubble out of her pores, running through her very veins, it was almost unreal. Then she remembered that all knowing smirk painted on Faizal's face as he held the door of the cab open for her, the emotion burst through her mind once more and the urge to push the boy down a very very steep hill almost took over her body.

Reyna decided it was finally time to be alarmed when her friends' hands tightened into fists at her sides, this was serious matter. Not knowing what to do, her hands edged to the nearly white knuckles, trying to break the hold before her bones broke from the force of it all.

“Okay. Woah Tori, are you going to tell me what's happening here? 'Cause all this Hulk behaviour is freaking me out”, her hands tugged deeper into the closed fists, as Tori blinked her eyes in succession. Her mind cleared immediately and she looked at Reyna beside her, her hand stuck inside Tori's palm.

She withdrew her hand immediately, like burning coal had marked her. She looked at the nail-marks in the center of her palm before huffing out a heavy sigh and getting up on her legs. Reyna still stared at her friend, not understanding what was happening to her.

“Maybe some good news will cheer you up huh?”, she tried. Years ago when she had witnessed Tori switching through emotions like she had a split personality, she had been instructed by the therapist to distract her from her feeling. Although it doesn't do much for the emotion, it gave her mind the split second time needed to comprehend and make amends. When Tori's eyes flitted from the floor to meet hers, she knew she had their attention.

“What news?”, the girl mumbled, her hand playing with the bracelet around her left hand, the tiny charms making sounds that didn't reach her ears, but she knew they were musical.

“I just got us a summer job”, Reyna chirped, doing an excited dance as she grabbed Tori by the wrist and forced her to match her movements. A tiny smile cracked through the shell masking her face as Tori spoke again.

“Where?”

“Aaliya's”, Reyna threw her hands in the air, hoping for the scream of joy or just a grateful smile from her equally enthusiastic friend.

But instead she was met with a gaping tori, her eyes filled with fury that couldn't match the high heavens. Oh boy, she didn't know who that was directed to, but whoever that was, they better run.