Mariam's POV

"Congratulations. You've passed the test. You have now earned your provisional license."

As soon as the driving instructor said those words, my face broke into an ecstatic grin. "Really?"

The instructor nodded with a smile as she scribbled something on her clipboard. "Yes, really. You did well. I trust you will be a responsible driver on our roads."

It was only when she said those words that the reality of it really sunk in. I was going to be a driver! Like, a responsible, adult driver. Whoa. "Thank you so much! I won't let you down!" I shook her hand a little too excitedly, but I couldn't contain this new feeling of power inside of me. Alhamdulillah. I also couldn't forget to thank the One who granted my success.

"You did it?" Yasmine was the first to receive me with Nasr, Zeinab, Immi and Baba behind her in the waiting room. They all insisted on coming to support me for my test, and I was glad they did.

"That's right, I passed!" I exclaimed, squeezing her with all my excitement. "And now I get to drive you home."

"Whoa, I can't believe you have your license now, that's crazy!" Zeinab cried.

"You know you could start getting yours soon too," I reminded her.

"No way. I don't want to yet, I'm too scared," Zeinab bit her lip. "What if I crash?"

"You won't, habibti, and neither will you, Mariam," Immi slung an arm around my shoulders, kissing my cheek. "I prayed you would pass, and it worked!"

I laughed. "Alhamdulillah." I turned to Nasr, who had his arms folded, his car keys dangling from his fingers. "Hand them over, bro."

Nasr hesitated. "Do I have to?" he whined.

"Yes, you have to, Nasr, let your sister drive," Baba commanded, and Nasr sighed, chucking them over to me, and I caught it with flair, jangling it like a little kid.

"Don't worry, Nasr, I won't let Ronda come to any harm," I assured him with an angelic smile as we approached the carpark.

"You better not," Nasr grumbled.

While Immi and Baba got into their own car along with Zeinab, since I wasn't allowed to carry more than one passenger under 21, I took the wheel of Nasr's, with him in shotgun and Yasmine in the back.

"Now that you can drive, we should go on a road trip!" Yasmine suggested.

"Is that even safe?" Nasr asked.

"Of course it's safe, because I'm driving!" I responded chirpily.

"That's exactly why I was asking," Nasr retorted.

"You know, Nasr, you need to learn to trust your little sister more," I said, both hands firmly on the wheel. Being in control of the car wasn't completely new to me, but the only new thing was the fact that I could do it on my own, whenever I wanted. Freedom.

"I will when you start listening to me," Nasr replied.

"I listen to you," I claimed. Nasr cocked an eyebrow at me. "Most of the time," I added.

"That's more than I do with Yusuf," Yasmine contributed with a chuckle. "I would've gotten into less trouble if only I had taken his advice."

"Or if you listened to my advice," I teased. "I'm a wise owl, Yasmine. Hoot, hoot."

The light turned yellow, and I slammed the brakes, jolting us all in our seats. "Yeah, very wise," Nasr rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell me you're going to be one of those annoying drivers that stop at yellow lights," Yasmine groaned.

"We're not annoying, we're careful," I insisted.

"More like stupid," Nasr muttered. "Cars could hit you from behind. It's still dangerous."

"I agree with Nasr. Plus, red is stop, not yellow," Yasmine said. "Get it right, sister."

"See? Even Yaz has my back," Nasr glanced at her over his shoulder, sending her a secret smile that was both heart-warming and sickening. For me, anyway.

"Just get married already," I murmured under my breath as the light turned green. The two of them became very quiet after I said that, which was great because the silence helped me concentrate.

"So about that road trip..." Yasmine broke the silence.

"In Sha Allah," was all I replied.

"That's a yes, right?" Yasmine whispered to Nasr, and he just shrugged.

Truth was, I was on Easter break, and I had a lot of work to do for uni. A road trip would just be inconvenient right now, plus where would we go? Yeah, I wasn't very adventurous. But it was hard to be when it risked my religion. If only I lived in a Muslim country...

***

Damian's POV

"It's getting worse?"

I was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"The cancer has spread to the liver and the pancreas," Dad informed me steadily, and I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair as we stood in the hallway of the hospital. I was in class when Dad called me, and I just knew it was bad. "The doctors are going to have to keep her in here to do a biopsy, and work out whether the cancer is removable or not." The more he spoke, the lower my heart sunk in my chest.

"But she was fine," I choked, and for the first time since I arrived here a glimmer of emotion flashed across Dad's features. It was as if he was restraining himself from showing any feelings, not just to protect him but to protect me. "She was fine..."

"Your mum is a strong woman. She doesn't complain," Dad stated this as if to remind me what kind of person my mother was. As if I had forgotten this fact. "She wants us to believe she's fine."

"That's not how these things work," I groaned. I couldn't believe it. Actually, I could. All this time I had been living in a false illusion that everything was going great, but I knew nothing lasted forever, and maybe I should start praying instead of playing.

"No one knows how these things work, son. It's just life," Dad said, patting me on the back. While he went off and got coffee, I slipped into Mum's new hospital room and watched her sleep. She had been doing a lot of that lately, and we let her, even encouraged her, to rest, though she said that whenever she relaxed she felt helpless, like she was a bad mum. I told her she had every right to relax. Mums were there to raise their child, and I was all grown up now. But I still needed her around.

I fumbled with my phone, contemplating whether I should call Mariam or not. She was the first one I had told Mum about, so she should be the first to know this time, but I was reluctant to. I didn't want to burden her with my problems. I had done plenty of that last year. She had her own problems to worry about.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed in my hand, scaring me slightly, and I looked down to see a text from...Subhanallah. It was a text from Mariam.

Passed my driver's test today! Finally I can drive :P

An involuntary smile crept across my face, and I texted back, Congrats 😊 Took you long enough.

Sure did, but it was worth it! I no longer have to depend on my bro as a chauffeur.

She sounded happy. Why wouldn't she be? I could only hope that she stayed that way.

Seeing those words pop up made my throat close up in a sob. I blinked back the stupid tears and felt slightly guilty as I texted back, Great. Very relaxing.

And your Mum?

It was like she knew. I glanced up at Mum for a moment, her face peaceful and breathing steady, the sight of her in a hospital bed all too familiar now, it was saddening. I couldn't pretend this wasn't happening anymore. No amount of trips to the beach and the park were going to erase the fact that Mum was still sick, and all those smiles she smiled were like boats floating on turbulent water. It wasn't long before they all sunk.

She's good, Alhamdulillah.

I felt bad for lying. But maybe it wasn't a complete lie, because she was good. And by good, I meant alive.

***

Mariam's POV

Driving to uni had always been a dream of mine since I started, but the only problem was I didn't have a car. No way was Nasr lending me Ronda the Honda, so I was stuck with my usual mode of transport: the tram.

Good thing Amy and Priti, my university friends, caught the same one, so we all sat together, catching up on what we did Easter break.

"Every year we have a family gathering on Easter," Amy said with an eye roll. "And we don't even celebrate it! We just stay up late and sing karaoke."

"Sounds like my ideal family gathering," Priti chimed in, sipping her tea from her thermos. She was a tea addict, and so was Amy.

"How about you? What'd you get up to?" Amy asked me.

I grinned. "Oh, nothing special. Just got my provisional one license."

Amy and Priti's eyes widened. "Really? That's amazing! Congratulations, girl!" Priti wrapped her arms around me, sharing my excitement. Amy opted for a high five.

"Damn, you beat me. I still got thirty hours left," she said. "I don't have much time since I got a job at the gelato shop."

"We gotta go sometime and get free gelatos," I suggested.

"Yeah, totally," Amy smiled.

"God, now I'm craving ice cream," Priti groaned as she sipped her tea. "And this isn't satisfying my cravings at all."

"How about we all go together in the afternoon? I've got my shift today," Amy offered.

"Awesome!" I exclaimed.

"Do we have to wait that long? Why can't we just ditch class today and go now?" Priti whined, but of course she was just joking. Mostly.

"Because that would be stupid and irresponsible and not right," Amy reasoned.

"But we're young! We're meant to be stupid and irresponsible and not right," Priti proclaimed.

"There's plenty of time for that after class, Priti, now let's go," sure enough, we had reached our stop and we all hopped off the tram, facing the large building before us that would build our futures.

"One day we shall live our potential, Mariam, you just wait," Priti continued. "We shall be young, wild and free!"

"Yeah, when we graduate," Amy snorted.

"It never ends, does it?" I sighed. "We thought we were free when we graduated high school, but now look at us. We're still trapped."

"It's a dystopia!" Priti gasped dramatically. "The government is controlling our lives and barring us from our freedom to live!"

"You read way too many books," Amy laughed.

"Hey, that's a good thing," Priti shot back.

"Exactly," Amy smiled.

"Isn't it ironic that the same thing that's trapping us is also our way of escape – books?" I stated.

"You and your irony," Amy tutted. "But you do have a good point."

"When does she ever not have a good point?" Priti put an arm around me with a grin. "This girl is smart."

"This girl says thank you," I laughed. "Now let's get to class. It starts in less than five minutes!"

"Run!" Priti hollered, and as we did, in those breathless moments, I did feel young wild and free.

***

"A job?"

"Yeah, why not? There's a spot open, and I don't want to hire some random stranger," Amy said as she served us our gelatos. Priti had mango and passionfruit while I had lime and pineapple, a bittersweet combo.

"I'll think about it," I replied, dipping the plastic spoon into the cold creamy texture of my gelato and moaning with delight. "You know what? I don't need to think about it. This is proof enough that I should work here."

Amy beamed over the counter. "Awesome! You start tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Wow, so soon," I remarked.

"The sooner the better," Amy smiled.

"You know, if I wasn't already working at my parent's Indian restaurant, I would've totally accepted the offer," Priti said as we took a seat. The place was pretty crowded today as it was a little warm, and the majority of the customers were also students.

"How's that going for ya?" I asked, licking my spoon.

"I used to hate it, because whenever I served the food the guys would give me creepy stares, but I guess it isn't so bad," Priti shrugged.

"What, the guys giving you creepy stares?" I smirked.

Priti's eyes widened with horror. "No! I meant, the job itself. Of course, I will never get used to that. Indian guys can be so creepy sometimes. But I don't blame them for checking me out, I mean, just look at me!" Priti flicked the end of her braid pompously, and I laughed.

"Typical Priti," I muttered.

"They call me pretty Priti, actually," Priti winked.

"Of course they do," I rolled my eyes with a smile.

I watched Amy serve the customers, scooping gelato from the tubs and bidding them all to have a nice day and enjoy. Had I really just got a job at a gelato store? You bet.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed, and I smiled when I saw Denise's contact flash on the screen. "Yellow," I swiftly pressed the phone to my ear, my lips curling into a smile.

"Green," Denise replied, a little joke we had whenever we answered the phone. Sometimes we'd go on until we said all the colours, but today we cut straight to the chase.

"Where are you now? I'd love to see you," Denise said, so I told her where I was, but not after telling her about my new job here.

"That's great! So does that mean I get free gelatos because I'm your bestie?" I could practically hear Denise batting her eyelashes and pouting her lips slightly.

"We'll see," I laughed. "Is Theo with you?"

"No, why does everyone always think we're together 24/7? Seriously!" Denise pretended to sound exasperated but I could hear the affection in her words when speaking about Theo. I swear, they were on the road to marriage, but it was a long road.

"You guys are high school sweethearts, I wouldn't be surprised if you were together all the time," I teased. "But is he really not with you?"

"No, he isn't," Denise sighed sadly. "He's got a class, while I'm at home, chilling."

"I'm literally chilling right now with my gelato," I joked.

"I knew you were going to say that!" Denise exclaimed.

"That's why I said it," I smirked. "Anyway, I'll see you –"

I stopped short, for someone just walked into the ice cream store. Someone by the name of –

"Hello? Mariam, are you still there or did you hang up on me?" Denise's voice pulled me back to reality, but the reality was that Damian and a blonde girl were here, and I couldn't believe it.

"I'm here, it's just...so is Damian," I answered.

"Really? Say hi to him for me," Denise said before we said our goodbyes and hung up.

Damian and his cousin Tracey stood in line, and I watched them carefully from our seat. Priti noticed where my gaze was at and cocked an eyebrow.

"Who's that hunk of a man?" she then noticed Tracey beside him. "Damn, he's got a girlfriend."

I snorted with laughter. "That's his cousin."

"Well, damn." She then narrowed her eyes at me. "How do you know that?"

"He went to my high school," I shrugged. Priti still looked suspicious, so I added, "And he's my friend."

"Boyfriend?" she said slyly.

"You know I can't have a boyfriend," I snapped, feeling my cheeks heat up. Why were they doing that so much lately?

"I know, but it was worth seeing the blush in your cheeks," Priti grinned mischievously. "Why don't you go say hi to him?"

For some reason, doing that sounded daunting. Going up to someone you haven't seen in ages and saying hi? How terrifying!

It's only Damian, he won't bite, my mind assured me.

Thanks, mind.

"Ooh, he's coming this way!" Priti whispered excitedly. Even though she'd never met the guy, she seemed more pumped than I was for this encounter. And to think of all places, we reunited in a gelato shop.

"Mariam?"

I turned to the source of the voice, and as soon as I did, his features lit up. "It is you!"

"See, I told you," Tracey nudged him while sending a smile my way. "Hello, Mariam. Long time no see."

"Yeah, it's been a while," I returned the smile, feeling a little uneasy. I briefly glanced at Damian, who seemed to be staring at me until he flitted his eyes away, clearing his throat.

"How are you?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"I'm good, you know, just enjoying my gelato," I held up my half-finished tub to emphasize this, and for some reason Priti smacked a palm to her forehead, so I thought I'd introduce her.

"Priti, this is Damian and Tracey."

After all the formalities were down, Damian and Tracey joined us, with Tracey sitting beside Priti and Damian...next to me. I was fully aware of his presence, of his breaths, and his cologne. Stop smelling him, Mariam!

"Out of all the gelato shops, we chose this one. What a coincidence, huh?" Tracey chuckled.

"A good coincidence," Damian added, shooting a smile at me. "We've been apart for so long, it's almost a crime."

I laughed, unsure of what to say to that, until Priti asked, "How long have you two known each other?"

"Long enough," I muttered, while Damian replied, "Since year seven. But I didn't really know her until last year."

Priti was smiling weirdly at the both of us, and I shot her a look while slightly inching away from Damian so I had enough elbow room to finish my gelato.

"Would you believe this girl converted me to Islam? What an influence," Damian recounted the story to Priti, who was on the edge of her seat with interest.

"Wow, so you're a Muslim? I never would've guessed," Priti raised her eyebrows.

"No one would've, that's the beauty of it. I'm full of surprises," Damian winked.

"You sure are, Dam-Dam," Tracey teased, and Damian glared at her, while I laughed.

"Dam-Dam? Is that a nickname or something?" and all this time I thought my nicknames were ridiculous.

"It was my pet name for him when we were kids," Tracey told me while Damian continued to seethe, until he eventually cracked a grin too.

"I was sure she had forgotten about it, but I guess not," he exhaled in defeat.

"I will never forget, Dam-Dam, and it'll haunt you forever," Tracey said ominously.

"Dam-Dam, it's so cute," Priti giggled. "My nickname is now the name I go by on a daily basis, but Dam-Dam..."

"Okay, enough with the Dam-Dam! Gosh, Tracey, you just had to embarrass me, didn't you?" Damian scolded his cousin with the twitch of a smile.

"It's my specialty," Tracey winked.

"Did your friends know about it?" I asked him.

"God no, if they did, I wouldn't have been cool," Damian replied in appalment.

"You weren't cool," I teased.

"Oh, that's right, because I was hot?" Damian arched an eyebrow, and I groaned.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"You sure did."

We continued to talk for another ten minutes, and then Damian and Tracey had to leave.