Chapter Text
They didn’t talk about meeting today but Amira couldn’t resist when she passed by the door. Just the way she’s done so many times before whenever she’s brought the kids from Labass she stands behind the little fence and watches the practice, though this time instead of kids she’s watching the team play. Her eyes find him immediately, he’s running from one side of the field to the other yelling at his friends to pass him the ball. Amira can’t help smiling when she sees him and she realizes she’s actually nervous, he’s always the one surprising her and now she came here unannounced. She checks the time on her watch, practice should be ending soon, and just then she sees the players stop running and walking towards each other to hug and congratulate each other for a good practice. Amira sees Dani and his friend Rubén picking up some bottle of waters from the side of the field. While Rubén takes a big sip of his drink, Dani simply pours it on his head to freshen up. Amira notices the exact moment Dani realizes she’s there, his smile can’t go unnoticed. The moment Dani’s eyes connect with Amira’s his lips curve into a smile that lights up everything around him. Amira is sure she’s never seen him smiling this big. She sees Dani saying something quick to Rubén and he starts running towards her, leaving his friend behind and stopping on the other side of the fence.
“Ami! What are you doing here?” Dani’s smile is even more beautiful now that he’s nearer and Amira feels like her heart skips a beat.
“I just got out of the library and when I walked by I remembered you had practice and well…yeah.” Now that he’s in front of her she feels a little bit embarrassed admitting that she’s only come to see him but Dani’s smile is uncorrupted, he looks very pleased with the idea of her being there.
“Are you free then? Do you want to go for a walk?” Dani asks right when Rubén approaches them.
“Dude, you ran away and left all the mess for us to clean” Rubén says playfully bumping his shoulder against Dani’s. “Amira, how are you?”
“Hi, Rubén” Amira greets him and this time Rubén doesn’t try to give her two kisses, which Amira is thankful for.
“So, then, do you have something to do now?” Dani asks Amira.
“Hanging out with you” Amira says biting her lip.
“Perfect, give me five minutes to take a quick shower and we can leave, alright?”
“Perfect”
Not wasting any time Dani leaves running to the locker room.
“Dude, hey, save me a spot!” Rubén yells after him starting to follow him
“Rubén, wait!” Amira asks though she’s spoken before thinking. The thing is that there’s something that’s been bugging her since Friday and now that she has the chance to ask Rubén directly she feels she has to. However, she’s not sure if she wants to know the answer to her question.
“Tell me” Rubén waits a few seconds for Amira to say something but when she doesn’t he frowns in confusion “Amira? Did you want to tell me something or…?”
“Yes, yes” Amira finally reacts “I mean, I wanted to ask you something but…I don’t know…I just…I don’t know how to say it…”
“I know what’s going on”
“You do?” Amira says with wide eyes, maybe things are worse than she thought.
“You’re mad because we behaved like shit on Friday, and you’re right, we were such dumbasses with you and I know you were uncomfortable. I’m sorry. Dani was really mad at us on Saturday and I just wanted to personally say I’m sorry. That’s what you wanted to say, right?”
Amira takes a few seconds to process what Rubén just said, he’s right, Friday was very awkward and she’s glad Dani said something and that Rubén is apologizing, but that’s not what she wanted to say.
“It’s okay, really. Thank you for apologizing but don’t worry. I actually wanted to ask you…something else.”
“Oh okay, sure, yeah, go ahead, tell me.”
“Well…” Amira takes a deep breath before deciding to just go ahead and say it “Has Dani talked to you about us? I mean, if he’s having doubts about us, if he’s overwhelmed. The thing is…I heard Patri and Ester talking on Friday and…yeah.” Amira looks at the floor, she doesn’t dare to look at Rubén, she’s very embarrassed right now.
“Wow, I was not expecting this…Uhm…I don’t know Amira I think you should be having this conversation with Dani” Rubén doesn’t feel he should be having this conversation but at the same time he doesn’t want to lie so he decides to tell Amira the truth. “I mean, yeah, Dani came to see me to talk about you and well the guy had his doubts, I mean, I think it’s pretty normal, he needed a few days to process everything before you started dating”
Amira looks up so quickly she almost feels dizzy.
“Wait, did you just say before we started dating?”
“Yeah, of course. I mean, Dani and I met like two weeks ago. He told me he had told you he liked you and that you told him what you needed in your relationship and that he was okay with that, that he wanted to be with you but he wanted an outsider opinion that confirmed him that he wasn’t being blinded by his feelings. I don’t know, I think it’s logical, he needed to process everything before making a decision”
“Dani had doubts before we dated? And then you didn’t talk about it again?” Amira feels like a weight is being lifted from her shoulders but she wants to be sure before she can fully relax.
“No, I mean he texted me to tell me you were dating, that he had done something with a paper and your name. And we didn’t talk again until he told us he wanted to introduce us to you. And well…on Saturday…he was really pissed at us and told us that he was very serious about you and that if we had a problem with you, we also had a problem with him.” Rubén explains, then he adds. “We don’t have a problem with you. Or at least I don’t. Really.”
“I can’t believe I’ve been so dumb” Amira says more to himself than to Rubén, who looks at her not understanding what’s going on.
“Look, Amira, I don’t know what’s going on but I can assure you one thing. Dani is very in love with you, he’s serious about you and he has no doubts about your relationship. I’m sure of that.”
Amira is about to answer when Dani arrives running, his hair wet and his sports bag almost falling.
“I’m here, I’m here” He says completely breathless making Amira and Rubén laugh. “Dude, what are you doing here still?” He asks his friend, then he looks at Amira. “Everything alright?”
“Yes, Rubén was apologizing about Friday.”
Dani can’t help smiling at that, he’s happy that his speech on Saturday worked, thought he knows that apologies don’t matter if they don’t change their behavior.
“Well, I’m going to go have a shower already.” Rubén says waving goodbye.
“Rubén!” Amira calls after him. When he turns around she thanks him, they both know what she’s thanking him for.
Rubén nods and finally enters the locker room. When Amira turns to Dani he’s rising his eyebrows at her trying to figure out what’s going on. Amira would take him seriously if it weren’t for the mess of his hair.
“What?” Dani asks when Amira starts laughing.
“Your hair is damped, you’re a mess” Still laughing she raises her arm and tries to comb Dani’s hair with her fingers. Her eyes look into Dani’s and the tenderness she sees in them makes her breathless for a moment. Trying to pull herself together she takes a step back and lowers her arm. “That’s it, much better.”
“Well then” Dani says also taking a few seconds to pull himself together. “Where do you want to go?”
“Hmm…I don’t know. Do you want to go to the park?”
“Sounds good to me”
Amira would be lying if she said she’s not more calmed now that she’s talked to Rubén. But still, she’s not feeling quite alright, something inside her is telling her she has to be honest to Dani. That’s why once they’re sitting on the swings at the park she decides to speak up.
“Dani, I have to tell you something”
“Did something happen? Did you talk to my sister? Or Dounia?” Dani asks worried. Lately Amira’s been very sad and even though he tries to be there for her and make her laugh he knows she needs her friends.
“No, no it’s not that. It’s just…” Amira tries to find the right way of telling this. “You know how lately I’ve been having…doubts about if you were okay with me, if you were overwhelmed by the situation.”
“Ami” Dani stands up and stops in front of Amira a few steps from her. “I told you, I’m very sure of this, I don’t have doubts.”
“I know, I know…the thing is that I insisted so much for a reason. “Amira looks up at Dani and he nods for her to continue. “On Friday I heard Patri and Ester talk about us in the bathroom” Amira notices how Dani clenches his jaw but he stays silent and lets her talk “They said you’d talked to Rubén about how overwhelmed you were about our relationship”
“What the f…” Dani starts saying but stops before he finishes. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before looking at Amira and continuing. “Ami that’s not true. I mean, yeah I talked to Rubén but that was before we started dating and it wasn’t because I was having doubts about my feelings, I can assure you that.”
“I know” Now Amira is the one that stands up “When you went to the locker room I talked to Rubén and he told me everything. I’m sorry I doubted you, I should’ve told you sooner.”
“Ami…” Dani says almost whispering “You don’t have to apologize. I get it, this is as new for you as it is for me. But please believe me, I’m sure about this, I’m not overwhelmed, I know what I feel and I’m happy with you, I don’t need anything else.”
“I believe you” Amira says looking into his eyes and the truth is she does, she believes him and she can finally say goodbye to the doubts she’s been having since Friday or maybe even before, since her conversation with Cris. “And I’m also happy with you”
“Well now that we’ve talked about it” Dani starts saying checking the time on his phone “Do you have to go home or can you stay so we can break the fast together?”
“Hmm, yeah I can stay, let me warn my parents I’ll be coming home lat…”Amira doesn’t finish the sentence because she realizes there’s something in the way Dani worded the question that feels weird. “Wait, what did you just say?”
“I asked you if you want to eat together, we have enough time to order some pizzas and go to the place we went to on Monday, since you said you wanted pizza” Dani says not understanding Amira’s surprised tone.
“No, you haven’t said that. You’ve asked if I can stay so we can break the fast together. We. Plural. You mean if I want to break the fast with you, right?”
Amira notices how Dani widens his eyes in surprise and bites his lower lip as if he just realized what he said. Slowly and not looking away from Amira’s eyes he shakes his head.
“Are you…are you fasting?”
Dani nods, still not saying anything.
“Why? For me?” Amira’s mind is going a mile per hour trying to process what she just heard, trying to look for clues like Dani not drinking water after practice or stopping himself from cursing.
“No, I mean, yes, but no. Not for you, but thanks to you.” Dani is trying to find the right words to expain himself to a very surprised Amira. “I just…after hearing you talk so much about Ramadan and seeing you so happy on Monday on our little Iftar I…I don’t know…when I came home I did some research on the internet, I watched some videos of Muslim people talking about their experiences in Ramadan and…I don’t know Ami, I don’t know how to explain it but something clicked, it felt like something inside me was telling me that doing this was the right thing for me.”
Amira doesn’t know what to say, the last thing she thought she’d be hearing today was this.
“Are you mad? I wanted to tell you sooner but, I don’t know I guess I wanted to confirm that I am capable of doing this, that this is really for me, I didn’t want to disappoint you if I couldn’t do it but…I don’t know I’ve been fasting these past two days and it felt…it felt really good Ami. I don’t know how to explain it but I feel like I’m doing the right thing for me.” He makes a pause and decides to asks her something that’s been bugging him from the beginning “Is it disrespectful? A non-muslim fasting during Ramadan, I mean. I wasn’t sure if it was disrespectful, maybe I shouldn’t be doing it but…”
“No, no…” is all that Amira can say before being able to pull herself together. “It’s not disrespectful, if you’re doing this for yourself, if you feel it’s the right thing for you. I…I don’t know what to say. I’m freaking out right now”
“Believe me, so am I but at the same time…I don’t know it just feels right.” Dani says shrugging and smiling shyly. “I know I still have a lot to learn and I still do a lot of things the wrong way but I don’t know…I think that maybe, step by step…if I keep researching I might…I might find my path.”
“You will, whatever your path is, you’ll find it.” Amira says trying to hold back the tears. She’s not sure why, or maybe she is, but Dani’s words really moved her.
“So…after my confession…do you want those pizzas or what? I’m starving”
“Of course I do”