Permanent Markers

Last thursday drove down to agami and as usual the bastards-known-as-my-friends screwed me over.
Well, let's be honest: I screwed myself over.
I had to be all chivalrous and sacrificial and offer to pick Sarah up from King Mariut, even though it was past twelve and we were meeting at Cinzano in thirty minutes.
No, I couldnt have told her to drive her own bloody car, and no i couldnt have told her soon-to-be-boyfriend to pick her up an hour later on his way, I had to do the dumb act and drive like a maniac in shitty traffic half an hour there and half an hour back, only to have her tell me she wasn't in the mood to go out.

At that point, still in maniac mode, i slammed the brakes and told her to get out, to which she laughed a little hysterically, probably because of my wild-flashing eyes and scary hair. In fact, i think i was driving so crazy that even the lunatic minibuses were stearing clear of me, then driving past me, hurriedly yelling "CRAZY WOMAN!" at me, but i couldnt hear them cause Bob Marley was too loud.

To make matters worse, once we got into Agami we then had to find a parking. When we find one, Sarah says it's too far away for her to walk to the place (man, just writing this is making me mad all over again!) so i have to drive around for half an hour and then get persuaded by random strangers on the street (if you're egyptian, you understand how strangers are always telling you to park your car) that it's a great idea to park the car up on a pavement, coz poor Minty has an identity issue and thinks she's a big 4x4 when in fact she's just a little car, so a lot of loud and painful scraping followed as i forced her up on the pavement, followed by random strangers yelling at me to stop and denying it was their idea in the first place.

Was close to tears by the time we actually got into the bloody place, only to discover that:
a. Cinzano was full
b. of drunk people
c. who were mostly underage
d. and i recognised some of them as kids i used to babysit
e. hence minor heartattack and impending 23rd birthday weighing heavily on shoulders

it's not that it wasnt fun, i've just discovered that i never enjoy myself around these so called friends. maybe it's because they couple up and spend the whole night gazing into each others eyes and dancing while i sip my drink and try hard not to look stupid. Maybe it's the fact that i got no thank you and no gratitude for the ride to and from king mariut. Or maybe it's the fact that they decided at 3:30 that they wanted to leave and go back to king Mariot, even though i'd barely had time to get started.

But since none of my other friends are here, I sigh and follow them out, only to stop to say hi to a Cairo friend.
Next thing i know i'm standing on the street in my little top and tinier miniskirt, and they're nowhere to be found.

Fine, I think. Screw them, i huff.
then i walk ten minutes to my car (3:30 alone on street is not cool) get in and drive home. Watch 5 minutes of Arrested Development and then go bed.
At five i get a message from my so-called best friend saying "R U ok?"
Gee.

Friday: Shady (who somehow has managed to have a better social life than me)tells me they were hanging out at Manouchah, a lebanese takeaway just five minutes from my place, till 6AM.
Nice. So they werent in King Mariot, which meant i could have been there with them, but they didnt bother telling me. Oh apart from the RU OKay message.

So i get mad (i've been doing that a lot lately) and try to call my friend and bitch her out, but then she doesnt pick up so i feel even MORE stupid.

Fortunately, Macho (bless his bald head) calls me up and we go crash a pool party which turns out to be an engagement party, but we only find this out three hours later and by then we've jumped into the pool and eaten the food, so it's too late to feel out of place.

By then i'm laughing with everyone like we're old friends and i watch as they sing and clap for the new couple; and it hits me that I dont have friends who would do the same. Kind of an ugly moment, but oh well.

Was totally compensated by fit boy appearing at my table and telling me he sees me at the pool all the time, so we start talking and apart from his amazing sixpack (it's a pool party. he was shirtless. You cannot blame me for this one!) we actually had a lot in common. He's a health freak; doesnt drink, doesnt smoke, loves partying, loves swimming, and at that point (while still contemplating his glorious shoulders) i think: that's it, i have to marry a swimmer.

So then Sarah the Ungrateful shows up with Sherif attached to hip, and when i mentioned Glorious Shoulders to her; she screwed up her face in horror and pointed out that he was the infamous ex of Sherine.

Now i know sherine and i like her, even though we're not at all close, but i think that getting married and having a baby gives you enough closure to get over an ex, and given her current position as mother, i doubt that she'd have justification to object to my going for her ex.

Summary? I dont care.

You're married. He's no longer your territory.

So even though i bit my tongue from asking him for his number, i think he liked me back, because we pretty much stuck together till the end of the night, when he said we should meet up in cairo sometime, since he's moving there too.
Eheheheheh. My, the things i will get up to!

You're probably wondering about Gleaming Biceps. Well, even though he was at the pool party (and 60% of my reason for crashing it), we didnt really talk that much, although i did get to watch him dance ballady (made me almost cry with laughter).

Only on our way out to the car did he say
"So when are we going to do all those things you promised we would do?"
So i walked towards him, saying,
"Sweetie, you're too scared to do those things with me"
whereupon he pulls me towards him and instead of some kiss or at least some nuzzling, he hooks his arm around my neck and semi-wrestles me.

Smooth. Very smooth.

In the car on the way home, even my BettyBoop pout got nothing but a caress of my hair which he quickly changed into Oh-I'm-Just-Tucking-Your-Hair-Behind-Your-Ear.
This guy is lame. And i'm losing all patience.
At night went to Tijuana with Mai and her friends, where the only highlight was running into Seif, a moderately hot guy i used to have a moderate interest in but things never worked out cause he thought i was uptight and i thought he was a slut.
But Seif seemed really happy to see me, and it doesnt hurt to be told that you're hot and sexy five times in every sentence, so i gave him my number and told him to take me dancing sometime.

Left at four AM because was a little freaked out by Nadine dancing dirty with her step-brother (WHAT THE?) so decided to pass by Macho, who tried to warn me tactfully, but tact usually flies over my head, so jaw fell open when i showed up at his cousin's place and found a pack of chicks lounging on couch in various inviting positions. Something about them had Ho shouting out loud.

Dragged Macho into a corner ("I TRIED to warn you!" he said) and asked if they were for rent, and he said they only do it for fun. Voluntary service, huh?

i think the peak was when one UGLY chick with a serious case of bad hairdye started playing with GB's hair and feeding him peanuts, to which he giggled like an idiot.

Had me thinking: "if you're not going for me, at least go for someone classy."
Totally turned off, especially after hearing the girl's talk: "And i spat on him the biggest spit i could find and called him a son of a bitch in front of everyone on the beach..."
Which had me running for my car, trailing Macho after me ("I WARNED YOU!" he bleated), and drove home, for once, willingly.

Made me realise, i have too much class in me to hang with such chicks. And GB just went way down my list. Not only a ho, but a cheap ho.
Have decided GB is no longer a worthy project.
Mission terminated.
Yeah.
(would probably take a grin and a shirt off to change back my mind)

On Saturday woke up at three to have fish for breakfast (yeah!) and was sitting on balcony with parents, when a car pulled up, and out jumped Hala and Maya.
I ran (RAN) down the stairs and hugged them so hard, epecially Maya, my first ever best friend (Age three and onwards). Hala went up to sit with my parents and introduce them to her new boyfriend (cute but terrible in tight swimshorts), while Maya and i just kept hugging each other, she started crying and i tried not to, and the dogs howled around us in perfect unison.
And then we tried to cram two years of no phone calls into five minutes, as she told me about her life and the move to lebanon and the boyfriends and the engagement and the adventures.

"So how about you?" she asked when she was done.

"Me? Oh same, same," i squeaked, overwhelmed by the fact that once again,
Maya was way ahead of me in life.

When we were twelve, we stopped connecting, probably because she was in such a hurry to grow up and be cool, and i still wanted to play in the sand.

But now.
Maya read me her poetry, still as bad as ever, but so heartfelt and eager, and i felt so proud.
She was the first one to write on my wall, and even though i tried to scrub it off years ago, permanent markers never really fade, just like our love and the fact that she still dreams about me and the house and the garden we used to run around in, and the tree we used to jump off tarzan style. And i still think about her and her sisters, no matter how far and how long apart we are, they are the sweetest most caring people i have ever met.
and i miss her.

She's made me promise to come visit her in beirut, and has even offered to pay for my ticket, but i won't take it, i dont want to be yet another friend who's used her for her money, but beirut sounds very good, especially in the winter....
Funny how some people stick to you, no matter how many years go by?

Ha. Seif messaged me last night. How he knew I love Sushi is beyond me, but apparently we have a date to celebrate my return to Cairo.
Hmm.

While i am not one to reject free sushi, i'm surprised he actually asked for a date.
i thought he was only dance-at-a-party-and-flirt material.
Interesting.