#i found a handful of eid jokes last year and i do have my one fasting joke i might bring back eventually...

[buryam-soul]

(Sinks to my knees) Where's the Sumeru Ramadhan nonsense... Where's the Sumeru Eid nonsense.... Must I do everything myself around here or am I not looking in the right places......

[whippedkoalas]

Hello everyone! I’m late, because I forgot my computer last night and I posted it on the wrong blog this morning (lol), but here is the promised fic for Christmas.

I hope all of you are spending these holidays like you want to. Thank you for always being lovely to me. I’m sending big virtual hugs to every single one of you.

Take care.

Christmas time is always special. You hear about Christmas on TV, the streets and shops are decorated, you might even be on holidays. It’s the time where the year ends, too.

A lot of people associate family time with Christmas times. And that’s where it starts being complicated for people who aren’t in touch with their families.

For the past 5 years, Noora and William have spent Christmas time on their own. Just the two of them. Their friends all have family gatherings to attend and they really don’t want to spend time with their respective families. The first Christmas they spent together they went to New York. The second one they stayed in Norway, but went to Flaam. Then they stayed in Oslo the year after. Last year they went to Prague.

This year, they’re staying in Oslo because they just bought a house in the suburbs of the city and do not have the budget to do anything fancy.

Furthermore, Vilde organized a party with everyone.

All the girls will be there. Isak and Even, Jonas, Chris, Yousef, Elias, and Eskild as well.

It’s not something they can do a lot because they all have their own lives now, but this year they really wanted to do something special.

They’re having a Christmas Eve Brunch. Vilde has been sending forms and messages and emails to organize this for months now and it was her idea to meet in the morning so that Chris, Jonas, and Eskild could come.

They all have been sent a list of things to come with.

They decided to organize a Secret Santa as well.

MONDAY 24TH 09:07

Vilde doesn’t live too far from their new house, and the weather isn’t terrible this morning, so Noora and William arrive early. The whole house is decorated already.

Noora and William were in charge of fruit juices.

“Vilde?” Noora shouts, entering the house.

They hear noise in the kitchen, probably the reason why Vilde didn’t hear them knocking.

Vilde accepted to host the Christmas brunch in her grandmother’s house. She has been living in this house for a while now, since her grandmother’s death.

When they get to the kitchen, they find Vilde cooking.

“Hello, Vilde ?”

Vilde turns her head instantly.

“Noora! Oh is it 9:30 already?” she looks at them in panic and only relaxes a bit when they tell her no.

Soon, Vilde gives them tasks to do. Before they know it, everyone has arrived.

They all settle in the living room. The decoration is outdated and even terrific but Vilde swears on her life she hasn’t had time or money to redecorate the whole house.

MONDAY 24TH 10:18

The whole table is full of different food everyone has brought. Everyone is talking and laughing. Only Vilde is a bit stressed.

“it reminds me of Sana’s Eid party,” Noora says to William, who nods in agreement.

“do you want some orange juice?” he asks in response, even though he has a glass for her already in his hand. Noora nods.

Chris is not far from them, chatting with Elias and Eskild. Eskild is trying to get the number of one of Chris’ co-worker.

In a corner, Yousef and Sana are arguing about the table decoration. Yousef is smiling fondly at his fiancé who is struggling with the napkins.

Vilde and Even are in the kitchen, trying to hide the birthday cake for Sana.

Isak and Jonas are chatting together with Eva, like old times.

Christina is sitting on the floor, playing with Vilde’s cat.

Noora watches them all doing their own thing but together nonetheless, tears in her eyes.

William takes her in his arm.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Noora shakes her head and snuggles against him. “I’m just emotional. It’s a great gift to have them still in our lives even five years after.I can’t wait for them to open their gifts.”

William smiles.

MONDAY 24TH 10:43

Vilde asked them to sit down around the living room’s table again. She and Chris have organized a game.

They are playing “two lies and one truth, Christmas with high school friends edition” according to Chris, which means that they have to find situations that happened (or not) with someone who is in the room or at least during their high school years.

They decided that Eva was the first to go, even with her protests because she doesn’t have any ideas.

“okay. 1. when we were in middle school, Isak discovered that Jonas and I were together because he found us making out in the school’s toilets.”

Isak chuckles.

“2. Christoffer and I actually dated for the first six months of our last year but we didn’t say anything. Or at least I didn’t.”

Eva smiles cheekily at Chris.

“3. Christina and I went to a double date once. It was shit, I ended up going home alone, but Chris got luckier and went home with my date.”

“There is no way those stories happened and you didn’t tell us.” Sana points out. “no way. They are all lies”

“You didn’t date Chris” William says.

“it’s for sure the first one because Chris would have spilled the tea about the double date on the group chat, while she was banging Eva’s date” Vilde adds.

Chris starts laughing out loud.

They all start giving argument to guess what is the truth when William says in Noora’s ear “Jonas and Isak are quiet. So the first is the truth.”

Noora gets one point.

They continue sharing stories about each other. They learn that Yousef had a crush on Sana since basically forever according to Elias.

Chris reveals that William had a discount on their russbus because he slept with the girl who was selling it. (“That’s prostitution,” says Noora.)

Jonas’ truth is that his mother asks him every time she sees him if he’s going to marry Eva someday. (No.)

Vilde reveals she still sees Magnus once in a while.

Chris tells them Sana and she sold their russbus for much more money than they should have.

Noora says she lied about Eskild’s birthday to Eva’s to go on a date with William. (Eva hadn’t realized.)

While Eskild tells everyone he used to steal everything he needed from William and Noora back when they lived together, Noora snuggles into William’s embrace and tells him “you’re next. Do it now”

Trying not to get the others’ attention, he replies “are you sure?”

She nods. “I would have laughed. But you won’t. So do it.”

When it’s his turn, William tries to be as serious as possible.

“1. Chris and I spent a night in our school. By accident, but we did.

2. Noora and I are having a baby.

3. Last year, when we went skiing, the boys and I lied to you girls, and we went to drink something instead of skiing like we told you”

Chris, who is the only one who knows what is the truth, still takes a few seconds to register what’s happening.

“Holy fucking shit! No way!”

Everyone else is silent, trying to guess if William is joking or not.

Then when they realize that he’s not and yes, William and Noora are having a baby, they start talking and screaming and cooing all at the same time. Noora just nods, shyly. She’s still sitting almost on William’s lap. He kisses her forehead.

“so yes. We didn’t plan on telling you through a game, but I haven’t spent the night with Chris in Nissen and we really went skiing with the boys last year…” he says, while the others are watching him with wide eyes.

“but I am definitely pregnant” Noora tells them, wiping tears from her eyes.

“fuck hormones” she adds, which makes everyone laughs.

MONDAY 24TH 11:33

After congratulating the new parents, they decide to give the secret Santa gifts. They all receive a copy of Noora’s first ultrasound as a special gift. That’s how Noora and William had planned on telling them.

They had agreed not to give anything too fancy or expensive, but not one of them has followed the rule.

They all laugh together and try to guess who is their secret Santa.

Some gifts are funny, like the sweater with dicks on it Christina found for Eskild, some of them are more personal, like the necklace William gives to Noora, with “in love since 2015” written inside of the heart. she tries to mock him because it’s a sappy gift, but she immediately started crying when she opened the box so she lost credibility.

Some gifts are surprising, like the beautiful purse Christoffer gives to Vilde, making sure she knows William did not help him.

After the distribution, Vilde suggests they could take pictures and they spent the next hour taking pictures of each other to be sure to keep those memories with them forever.

MONDAY 24TH 12:58

They all sing Happy Birthday to Sana. She didn’t really expect to have a birthday cake because she’s throwing a big party in two weeks, but she’s very happy to be surrounded by all of her friends for this special day. She makes a wish, as always. And Jonas makes a speech, as always.

“today, I wanted to tell you how much I am thankful to have an amazing group of friends. We’ve been friends forever and we still are.

But I feel like I should tell you that I am glad to grow up and grow old with you. I am happy to be able to see you going for new adventures, like parenthood. I think what we have is precious. We might not be able to see each other every week, or we might not all be the best of friends, but we care for each other and we are here for each other and I think that it’s a very rare bond that we have. So happy birthday, Sana. I can’t wait to see you blow out the candles every year”

[stressedoutteenager]

Happens Every Time (part two)

A Yousana AU in which they grow up together and are friends. However, the older they get the more complicated their friendship gets.

(inspired by this music video)

Part 1

Also on ao3 if you prefer that.

His 16th birthday Yousef decided to celebrate in a small circle. He doesn’t like that much attention on himself so that’s why most of Elias’ suggestions were shot down. As his best friend, Elias just wanted Yousef to have a nice 16th birthday but that made his ideas come out very extra.

“Elias, I just want to invite some friends and eat and play FIFA or something. Nothing big.”, Yousef finally says, not wanting to hear more about the ten thousand different plans Elias has already made. Yousef appreciates the dedication a lot, and he is the same on Elias’ birthdays, but being on the receiving end of this is not the best thing for him.

Elias sits on the table in front of Yousef and rummages through his school bag to find something to write on. They’re chilling in one of the empty classrooms since it really doesn’t bother anyone.

“Okay, your call.”, Elias answers, “So who do you want to invite?”

Yousef leans back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and thinking for a moment. Who does he want to spend his birthday with? His family will be there on his actual birthday, and the following weekend he’ll invite his friends. That was the plan he had in his mind so far.

“Well,..”, Yousef begins talking and with a smile on his face continues when the first two faces pop into his head, “You and Sana, obviously.”

Elias grins at his best friend. Of course these Bakkoush siblings need to be mentioned first because they’re Yousef’s closest friends.

“The boys, too.”, Yousef continues. He furrows his eyebrows in concentration and while he thinks, Elias writes down the names.

Mikael, Adam and Mutta. Elias and Yousef met these three boys on the first day at Elvebakken. And it didn’t take more than one break to become really good friends with them.

“The dance crew.”, Yousef lists and keeps mentioning a few more people he wants to see on his birthday.

-

When Sana got ready and packed Yousef’s present she didn’t think much of it. Going to Yousef’s house is nothing too special. Sometimes Sana finds herself there without Yousef or Elias with her. She really gets along well with Yousef’s mother and one of his cousins is always at his house and Sana gets along really well with her, too.

The thing is Sana didn’t realize one big thing.

She’d be the only girl at his birthday party. She didn’t realize it until she stepped through the door and found herself surrounded by boys, all at least two years older than her.

That alone wouldn’t have been a problem. Thanks to Elias and their older brother, Sana is used to being surrounded by older boys that hang around her house a lot. This time though, as soon as she steps in the living room, Sana feels all eyes on her. And they follow her every step.

What’s their problem? Haven’t they ever seen a girl? , Sana thinks.

She finds Yousef in the kitchen and immediately gives him his present. She knew what he wanted so it wasn’t hard to find it. Of course he didn’t tell her. Yousef would never tell her or anyone that he wants something for his birthday. No matter how often you ask. The only exceptions are his parents.

Yousef’s eyes follow Sana’s movement as she reaches out to hand him the bag. For a moment he is incapable of gripping the bag. He is distracted.

Sana started wearing the hijab some time ago. To Yousef it’s like he has never seen her any differently. The light grey hijab she is wearing now is making him smile involuntarily. The last couple of months she’d been wearing almost exclusively black, and that’s her choice obviously, but Yousef can’t deny that she looks beautiful.

He would never deny that, anyway.

His friend is a very pretty girl. Not that this is his main focus. Sana is his friends for many reasons.

“Yousef.”, Sana calls his name softly, waving her hand in front of his face.

Getting pulled out of his thought Yousef chuckles slightly, trying not to show what he was thinking. He once dared to tell Sana she looks really pretty when she wore a pink dress for Eid and she wouldn’t look him in the eyes for the next hours. Although Yousef still doesn’t get why that was a big deal, he keeps a note at the back of his head. He compliments all his friends, all the time. Being positive and friendly is underrated, Yousef thinks.

“Yousef. Snap out of it, whatever it is.”, Sana laughs, shaking her head at him. “I got you something and I hope you like it.”

Yousef narrows his eyes at the bag and lifts his eyes to meet Sana’s. Looking at her accusingly Yousef says: “Didn’t I say I don’t want a present from you?”

Sana gasps at that, also narrowing her eyes, mimicking him in everything he does: “You just don’t want a present from me. Okay, I get it. And I thought we’re friends.”

It’s obvious in her tone that she’s just joking. Yousef knows that. He has been bickering and fighting with her over stupid little things for the past years. Still, there is a small nagging feeling in his stomach that makes him want to ask her if she really is just joking, whenever she uses this tone. That doesn’t happen with Elias, or any other friends of his.

Grabbing the bag out of Sana’s hand he makes a point in opening the bag slowly while looking at her. Rolling her eyes, Sana just waits. She is almost certain he’ll like it. So she can’t wait for him to open it.

But he doesn’t get to now.

“Yousef, the boys are here!”, Elias’ voice can be heard.

‘More people?’, Sana thinks to herself. The living room was already pretty full. But Yousef is a likable person so it’s not surprising at all.

.

“So you’re Elias little sister?”, Adam, a boy with very bright eyes asks Sana.

Sana nods and asks: “And you’re Adam, right?”

The boy chuckles and grins at her. “So you heard about me?” Why is he so cocky again? And even though he’s cocky like that, Sana can’t help but like him already. He is very similar to her brother. She can see how they get along with him so well.

“Not much, really.”, Sana shrugs. She didn’t know another person was listening but when Mikael turns to them and hold his hand out for her to high-five her, she looks at him confused. What even is going on with these boys?

Sana has to admit though, out of all the people in here Adam, Mikael and another boy named Mutta are the most likable ones. These three don’t look at her weirdly when she does .. well, anything.

As an answer to the confusion on Sana’s face, Mikael smiles at her crookedly and explains: “You’re not letting his ego get awfully big. That’s amazing. High-five for that.”

.

“I guess, she is only here because she’s Elias’ sister.”

“She’s a kid. Doesn’t matter whose sister she is.”

“I don’t get why Yousef didn’t want to invite some other girls from class but invited her.”, a blond guy with curls says.

Sana wishes she wouldn’t have walked into the kitchen. She didn’t think she’d hear something that makes her chest tighten and breathing hard.

Yousef’s house is a safe space for her. Usually. Especially with what’s going on in school. These things are not the same things Sana gets to hear every day at school, but these are things that are similar enough.

Being compared to the ‘other girls’ and them being preferred is just one of the things.

Instantly something moves in Sana. She swallows the lump in her throat, takes a deep breath and walks back into the living room. Her brother is playing at the PlayStation so she walks up to him, leans down a little and tells him she’s going.

“What? Why?”, Elias instantly asks in a hushed voice, since Sana was talking in that tone too.

Sana just shrugs and tells him she’s going one more time and leaves the room.

-

Elias slept over at Yousef’s that day. The next morning, being a Sunday, Mama Bakkoush invited the Acars over for breakfast.  

As soon as he steps foot into the house, Yousef asks where Sana is. When told she’s in the garden, he doesn’t even take his shoes of and walks out again. His parents don’t care much; their kids have been hanging out since they were little. It’s the usual.

Elias knows better. When Sana left the day before, Yousef noticed about five minutes later. He couldn’t come up with a good reason why one of his best friends would leave his birthday party so early. So he wants to ask her.

“Sana?”, Yousef calls out for her. “Sana!”

He finds her in their backyard, at the basketball hoop. She has headphones in her ears and looks so concentrated and so still for a moment that he can see the small age difference clearly. And somehow that bothers him. He doesn’t care how old his friends are.

It takes Sana a moment to see Yousef and when she does, she takes off her headphones and smiles at him. Of course he smiles back but then goes to take the basketball out of her hand and dribbles it once or twice.

“Hey! What was that for?”, Sana asks, walking closer slowly.

Yousef holds the ball in front of him and shrugs. “Why did you leave so early yesterday?”

Sana takes two quick steps and almost is able to get the ball but that height difference makes it impossible for her to get it. Yousef is being a little shit by holding the ball up over his head.

“I just didn’t want to bother with your friends and all.”, Sana answers, not really looking him in the eyes. Yousef knows this behaviour. Sana is not scared of confrontation, ever. But somehow this is the third time, as far as Yousef can remember, that she doesn’t tell him things.

“Bother with my friends?”, Yousef asks incredulously. “ And what are you? I thought you’re my friend too?”

He doesn’t move further away, in contrary. He takes a step forward. Sana on the other hand stops. She doesn’t move closer, she doesn’t try to grab the basketball.

The sun is shining into Yousef’s face and he can barely look at Sana properly. He shuts one eye and lifts his free hand to shield the other one. Somehow, this moment makes Sana take a step back. Yousef’s dark hair falls onto his forehead and his furrowed eyebrows twitch shortly.

“Yeah. I am.”, Sana finally brings herself to answer which was harder than it should have been.

“Good.”, Yousef answers with a smirk and throws Sana the ball. She doesn’t expect it and is caught off guard but still manages to catch it.

She glares at the tall boy and is about to say something when Yousef starts talking before her.

“You’re one of my best friends and I’m not sure why you really left yesterday..”, Sana opens her mouths but Yousef knows Sana well enough so he just continues talking, “… but thank you for your present.” He unzips his coat and shows her the jumper with his favorite band on the front. “Even though I told you I don’t want a present.”

“You’re welcome.”, is all that Sana says with a smile, showing her dimples, before turning away and throwing the ball into the hoop.

The wind blows the dark fabric of her hijab over her shoulder and Yousef’s eyes can’t help but follow it. She’s back to black but it’s Sana. Everything looks good.

And even though Yousef knows there must have been something to make Sana leave early, he wouldn’t push her to tell him.

He can’t help but remember the disappointment when he realized she was gone the day before. Not long before she left he had seen her talk to Adam and Mikael and she seemed to have a good time. He should have paid more attention to her. Or invited more girls so she doesn’t feel left out. But he couldn’t really think of any girl but Sana that he wanted to have there, at that day.

When Sana keeps ignoring him and shooting hoops, he runs over to her and catches the ball before she can and with it in his arms he walks away, without saying anything. In the direction of the door to get inside.

“Yousef, what’s wrong with you?”, Sana asks and he can hear her laugh which makes him smile.

“Nothing. Just thinking if I should leave your birthday party early too.”, Yousef answers, looking over his shoulder.

Quickly Sana catches up with him. She opens the door and holds it open for him.

“Who says you’re invited?”, she says with a smug grin.

“Wow, Sana. No way. I’ll show up even if you don’t invite me. What are friends there for? To invite them to birthday parties.”, he shakes his head and looks at her disappointedly, “And you call yourself a friend.”

[elizabethsharmon]

Now life is smiling

 "Why?" Vilde asked Chris, Noora and Eva. The four of them were sitting outside the school, enjoying the sunny afternoon after one of their last days of school.

"Why, Vilde? Because it's Sana!" Noora said "We need to do something special for her!"

"I know that, Noora, but this is special" Vilde tried to defend her idea although she already knew that girls have already decided.

"Yes, it is" Eva agreed. She tried to do everything to keep the peace among them. "But we're not saying we won't do this, right Noora?"

"Of course not. I already started thinking about what to write, I think I might even actually start writing it tonight. And I agree that it's going to be amazing and heartwarming to say in front of everyone how much we love Sana, but I'm just saying that we have to buy her something, too! Just so she could always remember us and this day, even after many years go by."

Vilde knew that Noora was right. She wanted to give Sana something, too, but she was completely broke right now, she already had to borrow money from Chris or otherwise she wouldn’t be able to pay the rent and she and her mother would be kicked out of their apartment. Money - or more like no money - were the only thing that stopped Vilde from buying anything for Sana. She saw that Chris is looking at her and when their eyes met, Chris smiled and it seemed as though she was silently saying "I got you, man. It'll be alright." Vilde smiled back at her and hesitantly looked at Eva and Noora.

"So what would you like to give her?" she asked.

"Aaaah, that's the thing." Noora sighed "We have absolutely no idea."

"We only know that it has to be something really cool." Eva said "Something that would remind her of us."

"I know this store that makes custom-made bracelets." Chris remarked while eating her yogurt "Like you can for example pick a charm in the shape of the heart and write something on it."

"Wow, that's cool! We could write there something for her and she could always wear it. That's such a cool idea, Chris!" Eva said excitingly and high-fived her. "What do you think?" she asked Noora and Vilde

"Yeeeaaah, but how long we'd be waiting for it? Will it be ready for Saturday?" Noora asked and the girls could hear the doubt in her voice.

"I don't know, I'd have to check it." Chris said "But I think it's doable? It should be."

"Yes, but is it appropriate to give jewelry for Eid?" Vilde asked

"Why wouldn't it be?" Eva frowned

"I don't know, I'm just asking."

"Well, you are the one who did the research so ??"

"Yes, but there wasn't anything written about it so I don't know."

"Aaaah, see and that is why we need to ask a Muslim to tell us." Noora said and it seemed as though she wanted the conversation to go into this direction from the beginning

"But who should we ask?" Eva asked. All the girls started to think about it and suddenly Noora clapped her hands and exclaimed:

"I know! Vilde, write to Sana's brother!"

"Elias?"

"Yeah!"

"But I ... Magnus and I talked and..."

"You said you explained everything to him? And that you trust each other completely?" Eva asked. She was genuinely concerned, especially that she knew how trust issues can ruin the relationship.

"Yes, we’re fine, but still I'm not sure if Magnus would like me to chat with other men..."

"Vilde..." Noora started "we're doing it for Sana. No one says you have to chat with anyone ever again if you don't want to, we just need you to ask him what we can buy her. Or if you can't do this then just give me your phone, I'll do this. You can tell Magnus later that I stole it from you or something."

They were staring at her, waiting for her to finally do something. Vilde again looked at Chris and after seeing her reassuring smile, she took her phone out of the bag and started typing a message to Elias.

"Okay, I did it" she said while pressing the button ‘send’.

The girls were impatiently waiting in silence. After a minute or two, they heard a signal indicating that he replied. Vilde looked at her phone and frowned.

"Is it Elias?" Eva asked her

"Uhmmm yes..."

"And??? What did he say?" Noora asked, but Vilde was still staring at her phone "VILDE!" She looked at them and finally said:

"Yousef"

Now it was Eva and Chris that had the same look on their faces as Vilde had a moment ago.

"What does he mean?" Chris asked

"But isn't Yousef in Turkey?" Eva inquired just as Vilde got another message from Elias.

"He says: ‘just kidding, you don't have to give her anything. The only thing she wants is you to be there with her.’"

"Okay so we're in the starting point again." Eva muttered. They were all upset again. All except Noora, who was smiling from the moment Vilde read Elias' first text. When Eva saw the look on her face, she frowned and just said "No. Noora no. You're not serious, are you?"

Vilde and Chris didn't have a clue what was going on and just looked at the other two with a strange look on their faces:

"What is it? Noora?" Vilde asked

"I've got to go!" Noora shouted excitingly. She grabbed her things and started walking towards the street. When she was about to leave the school area, she looked at girls and screamed: “Don't worry, I got this!"

After Noora came back home, she did the research and it was just as she thought. She was right, it's totally possible. She made a new group chat with the girls and the boy squad and the balloon squad. She also added Eskild and Linn to the chat since she knew how much they both love Sana, especially Eskild who could go around talking about her for ages since Eva’s birthday party.

She told them everything and even though some of them doubted it's even possible, somehow she managed to convince them that indeed it is. Now all she had to do is convince one more person... a person without whom this whole plan simply wouldn't work. She asked everyone to keep quiet for a minute, she needed to talk with him alone for a second. Obviously the small icons indicating there are over 10 other people in the chat weren't helping at all, but she hoped he wouldn't find it unusual. After all, the group chat's name was GIFTFORSANA.

Noora: hi!

Yousef: halla

Noora: so have you heard Sana is doing an Eid party on Saturday?

Yousef: yeah, she wrote to me about it. It's gonna be pretty cool, I think

Noora: yeah and we wanted to give her something special and we were wondering if you'd like to chip in?

Yousef: of course!!!

Noora: great, but we need 273 kr*

Eva: We know it's a lot but that's for Sana

Vilde: and well, you're soulmates and we are sure this gift would mean a lot to her so pretty please ❤

Yousef: what? What are you talking about? NOORA

Noora: oh my god, I told you to be quiet! can't you just let us talk alone for a minute??

Yousef: Noora I can't believe you told them

Vilde: awww don't worry, we all think it's very cute

Mikael: awwww yes we do

Yousef: does everyone know now?

Elias: yup bro

Mikael: your life is totally over now

Yousef: does Sana know????

Vilde: yes but she thinks the same about you! Don't worry!

Noora: okay, everyone shut up or I’ll remove you from the chat!

*Adam Malik has changed the group chat name to YOUSEFHASASOULMATE*

Noora: I’ve warned you!

‘God, I knew making a group chat with these children is a bad idea’, Noora thought and removed everyone from the chat except Yousef.

Noora: I’m so sorry for them.

Yousef: that’s okay… but Noora, does Sana really know about it?

Noora: Yes. But don’t worry, she’s okay with it. She feels the same about you.

Yousef: Are you sure?

Noora: Oh my God, of course I’m sure. And more importantly you should be sure about it. She is always on the phone chatting with you these days. We hardly ever saw her this week.

Noora: So Yousef. How is Turkey? What are you doing there? I never asked you this and Sana hasn’t told me either.

Yousef: I'm looking after kids on the summer camp

Noora: that’s so cool! so you must be really busy L you work there 24/7 or you have some breaks?

Yousef: no, I work there from Monday to Friday, I managed to get my weekends off so I can go sightseeing 

Noora: oooh that's so cool!

Noora: okay, so here you go: you have a flight to Oslo from Istanbul at 10:25am on Saturday. You'll be in Oslo at 1:30p.m., we'll have someone to pick you up from the airport. You're going back on Sunday, you should be at 7p.m. in Istanbul so you'll have enough time to go back to the camp and tell the children goodnight

Yousef: Noora what?!? 

Noora: what do you mean: what?

Yousef: I don't understand a thing

Noora: what don't you understand? 

Yousef: the gift for Sana...

Noora: you are the gift for Sana. See you on Saturday?

Yousef: YES OF COURSE

Noora: ❤

                                                             ***

Sana has never realized that something like this might ever happen to her. But it did. After years of being bullied, having trouble with fitting in in the society, always thinking she is not good enough, she finally had it all. She looked around and saw all her friends laughing and chatting in her backyard. Her brother and his friends were talking to Magnus and Mahdi; next to them Sana’s father was grilling vegetarian skewers for her friends. He was saying some things to them from time to time and now he must have told them some joke because all the boys were dying from laughter. Eva, Jonas and Emma were standing awkwardly next to each other; not so far away from Sana so she could hear that Emma literally just started talking about weather. Sana thought that William and Penetrator Chris will also come, she knew that Noora and Eva invited them, but they were nowhere to be seen. Noora and Chris were hanging out on the swing set and they were having fun with Linn and Eskild. Sana was so surprised when she saw these two: Linn, wearing a beautiful, light green dress and a veil, and Eskild in a beige kurta. It was such a small gesture, but it meant the world to Sana. Eskild has told her that he also wanted to wear a veil because it looks so pretty, but when he found out that he shouldn’t, he didn’t. But Sana said she doesn’t see a problem with that and decided to borrow him one of her veils and now he was walking around, wearing her dark green hijab. She saw with the corner of her eye that Even and Isak were talking with her mother and Jamilla, while eating chebakia. Only Sara and Ingrid didn't seem to have fun, they were standing in the corner of the backyard silently judging everyone and everything, but Sana couldn't care less about them. She didn't know why the other Pepsi-Max girls didn't come, but she certainly didn't miss them. She only missed one person. And she is going to miss him for the next six weeks until he finally comes back to Oslo. She took her phone and sent him a message: "I wish you were here ❤" After a minute she got a reply and smiled. "I wish I was there too". She wanted to video call him and show him the party, she was talking to him about it all week and he gave her some ideas how to decorate the place, but he wrote to her yesterday that one of his co-workers got sick and now he has to work today as well even though Saturday was supposed to be his day off.

But still she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She was still looking at her phone, reading all the messages they sent to each other during this week, when she heard Noora and Vilde were calling her name. Abruptly woken up from this daydream, she saw Noora, Vilde, Chris, Eva, Isak and Even standing in front of everyone.

"Dear Sana" Noora started "first of all we would like to thank you for inviting us to your Eid party."

"It really means a lot to us and I think I'm speaking for all of us now." Eva continued and everyone nodded

"We should have probably said it more often, but we cannot go back in time, so here we are now and we just wanted to tell you how much we all love you." Vilde said and Sana could see that she was already barely holding back her tears.

"And what an amazing friend you are." Chris added

"What an amazing BEST BUD you are." Isak corrected her and smiled at Sana

"That's why we wanted to honour you, our friend, today." Noora said "I'm not a science person myself, and you know it, but today I would like to tell you a few things about the butterfly effect. For those of you who don't know what it is, the butterfly effect is a concept which says that small causes have large effects. And that's why I don't think it's the right name for it. Because for me it should be called ‘the Sana effect’." Sana couldn't believe in what was happening. Is this really happening? Are they really doing this? She looked at Jamilla and Elias, and at her parents, holding each other and smiling, happy that Sana finally has friends like that.

"Because if you think about it" Noora continued "none of us would be here today if not you, Sana."

"And Chris" Vilde added silently and the girls laughed

"And Chris." Noora agreed "Without you we wouldn't be Russ, Los Losers wouldn’t exist, we wouldn’t even be friends! Who knows if we would know each other at all? So I wanted to thank you for this. Thank you, Sana, for joining the bus, thank you for always supporting me and thank you for speaking to my senses when I was losing my mind."

"Thank you for fighting the battles with us and for always standing by our side" Eva added

"Thanks for being such a cool friend, Sana" Chris said smiling at

"Sana" Vilde said, wiping the tears from her face "I wanted to thank you for joining the bus. I know that the beginning of our friendship wasn't the easiest one and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for being ignorant and disrespectful so many times. I have no idea how you managed to put up with me, but I will be forever grateful to you for sticking up with my, for forgiving me and for being my friend. You're the most amazing human being I have ever met and I love you from the bottom of my heart."

Sana knew that there’s no point in holding back her tears anymore she wouldn't be able to contain her tears anymore. She walked towards Vilde and hugged her. She whispered in her ear “I love you too, Vilde” and tried to wipe the tears off her face. Then she hugged Chris and Eva, and when she was about to hug Noora, she said:

“Uh uh, not now! Go back on your place, we haven’t finished.”

Sana laughed and went back to the place where she was standing a moment ago. Now it was Isak’s turn.

"I want to thank you for being my biology buddy. You’re the best biology partner ever, even though you don’t realize the hard truth that I’m so much better in it than you." he said, making Sana laugh again "Thank you for teaching me so many things and for sharing with me your points of view and your understanding of the world. I'm sorry if I was ignorant some times, but I never intended to hurt you, I hope you know that. And most importantly thank you for forcing me to go to that Kosegruppa meeting because if not for you I would never meet Even." while he was saying the last sentence, he squeezed Even's hand even tighter and the boys smiled at each other.

"Thank you, Sana, for inviting boys to the SYNG party and to Eva's birthday party. I don't know how much time we would go without talking to each other if we didn't meet." Even said and the balloon boys started cheering.

"Okay!" Noora said excitingly and clapped her hands "But that's not all the surprises for tonight, Sanasol! We love you so much and we know the true you. We know how you always wanted to be the real 'Norwegian party girl'..." Wait what? Sana couldn't believe in what she was hearing. Did Noora really say that or did Sana mishear it? No, she did, she really did. And while she was saying this, she and all the girls gave Sara and Ingrid the evil eye. Sana never realized that they heard Sara’s words then, but apparently they did.

"... and because of that" Noora continued "we have one more gift for you!"

Just as she finished saying this, William and Penetrator Chris started pulling out of Sana's house a huge, pink pop out cake. Sana couldn't believe her own eyes. She looked at girls flabbergasted, almost asking them with her eyes "what is it?? Guys, you know my parents are right there??"

"Come on, Sana! Open your present!" Vilde encouraged her. Sana looked at everyone and slowly approached the cake. She really really really hoped that nothing inappropriate would be inside. But girls wouldn't do anything like that... they wouldn’t, right?

Just as Sana was almost touching the cake with her fingers, suddenly it exploded and everyone started to shout: “SURPRISE”. As inside the cake was no one other than...

"Yousef!!!" Sana couldn't believe her own eyes. Is it him? Is it really him?

"Happy Eid party, Sana!" he said and smiled at her.

"But what are you doing here??? You're supposed to be in Turkey, the camp, the ill co-worker, the..." Sana started mumbling, she couldn't really express herself, she was so surprised that this is happening.

"Well, it turned out that I can have the weekend off after all" Yousef said and smiled at her. Sana couldn't think straight when he was looking at her like this, she couldn't do or say anything, the only thing she could do was to just smile back at him. She turned back to look at Elias, but he was just standing there shaking his head, smiling, and looking at her as he was almost saying "It’s not me, sis. It’s all them." She looked back at Yousef, who was still standing inside that giant cake, still smiling at her.

"So are you going to help me get out of it or what?" he asked but she didn't want to give him satisfaction.

"Naaah, I think it suits you. You can stay there." he started laughing and finally managed to get outside on his own. They were standing in front of each other, just looking into each other's eyes in complete silence. They were standing like this for a minute, although for them it seemed like eternity. Out of the sudden, Yousef broke the silence.

"Fy faen, it's so hot today! I'd better take this off"

Sana was staring at him as though she wanted to kill him with her look. Her eyes seemed to be screaming "stop, what are you doing??? My parents are right there!" But as soon as he took off his black jacket she understood what it was all about and started laughing as he was wearing a blue, Stephen Curry Warriors t-shirt.

"Aaaah, better." he said and smiled at her with one of these smiles that could almost melt her heart.

"So Stephen Curry, huh?" she asked pointing to his t-shirt.

"Yeah. I thought I’ll give him a chance. You know what they’re saying: keep your friends close and your enemies closer." he said and Sana laughed again.

Soon the sun went down and they broke the fast one last time during this ramadan. The feast has really began, her mother was serving everyone harira and chebakia, while her dad was making more skewers on the grill.

Sana was standing next to Yousef, Noora, Eva, Elias and Eskild. Yousef was about to tell them about Turkey, but Eskild thought it’s a good moment to tell them about his summer fling from two years ago and was just telling them how he and Mesut went skinny dipping and later it turned out they were sunbathing on the private property of one of the Turkish ministers.

Sana looked around once again. She noticed that Emma, Ingrid and Sara disappeared, they must have left the party when Yousef came in. Vilde and Chris were taking selfies with Jamilla on the swing set. The boy squad and the balloon boys were playing the basketball together with William and Penetrator Chris. Her parents were cleaning the dishes, she reminded herself to remember to thank them for that later. Her mom noticed that she is looking at them. She looked at Sana’s friends, at Yousef, and finally she looked back at Sana. She smiled and said something and although Sana was standing too far away from her and couldn’t hear her she knew that she was saying “I love you, habibi”. Sana smiled back at her and looked at her friends again. She couldn’t believe that they really brought Yousef back for her party and that he was really here now with her. She knew that he has to leave again in a few hours but she wanted to cherish every single moment they have in the next couple of hours. She remembered the words Noora told her last week and realized that she was right. Everything is falling into place now. Now life is smiling.

                                                         ***

First of all: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING, it means a lot to me <3 It’s my first real fanfic, I really hope you enjoyed reading it <3

I guess that the first part is from Vilde’s POV, the second is from Noora’s, and the first one is from Sana’s - I haven’t planned it, it just happened like this when I was writing it.

I really hope that I didn’t make any cultural/religious mistakes, I did my research before writing so if I wrote anything that seems to be incorrect then I just want you to know I didn’t do it on purpose and please let me know asap so I can change it.

* I was trying to make it realistic so I searched some possible flights; the ticket both ways would cost around 4295kr which is around $580/€520 so they would have to pay around $32/$29 per person (I counted 18 people: the girl squad + the boy squad + the balloon squad + William + P-chris + Linn & Eskild)

[insession-io]

Is an Indian Holiday the Cure for Sibling Rivalry?

I want my children to value Raksha Bandhan, the celebration of the bond between brothers and sisters, as much as I do.

Although you’d never know it if you’re counting on Bollywood to mirror real life, Indians don’t only celebrate weddings. Holi, the festival of colors, photographs well. My family has a sparkler party with the neighbors every Diwali, the festival of lights. Depending on our backgrounds, Indians might celebrate Eid, Christmas, Hanukkah, or any number of Sikh, Buddhist, Jain or Zoroastrian holidays. But my personal favorite holiday is Raksha Bandhan — a Hindu celebration of the special relationship between brothers and sisters.

Every August for 34 years, I’ve tied a Rakhi, a symbolic red thread, around my younger brother’s wrist, and he gives me money or a present. I’m not sure how other families do it — maybe they include sweets or prayers — but like many Hindu holidays, each region and even each home celebrates it differently. For us, it’s always been the thread and the gift, little bribes stipulated by my parents. It’s a small ritual meant to symbolize the bond of protection between brother and sister, and even though I’ve never seen a cinematic musical extravaganza built around it, nothing in our family of four is more sacred.

My brother and I have always been unreasonably close, especially for kids born almost six years apart. We’ve had exactly one fight. I was 13; he was 8. He wrestled the remote control out of my hand; I punched him in the leg. He screamed, developed a bruise and moved on, while I cried about it for two days. I can’t recall an argument since. As adults we live in the same city, have figured out boundaries and quality time and catch up over weekly family dinners and snatched phone calls. We know, it’s unusual. But now I look to my own small children, a boy and a girl almost five years apart, and am desperate to recreate the alchemy of it all.

Is our sibling bond just circumstance? Or did our parents, a pediatrician and educator, make a deliberate series of choices to force us together? Pediatricians and educators are rarely chill about child-rearing, and my experience tells me it was a combination of both.

The age difference certainly helped. By the time my brother was born, I was 5, a fully formed, fully bored person who wanted a baby in the house. But my campaign for a younger sibling had begun at 2 years old, when my nursery school peers in England started bringing baby sisters and brothers around. I was a bookish child whose only friends were my teachers, but a baby seemed like the best sort of companion — a pet, an acolyte and an outlet for my desire to be in charge of things, all in one. My mother claims not to remember the details of this, but my recollection is that the baby was my idea, that my parents had him for me, and that when he was born I gratefully took him off their hands, keeping him company, packing his lunch and making his afternoon snack, until I went to college.

My brother and I never fought for resources (except that TV remote) because we never needed the same thing. We both felt the full glow of our parents’ attention: me for five years solo, and my brother for much of his early life as I grew into my own. During our shared childhood, we lived in 20-odd places on three continents, often finding ourselves in new neighborhoods and schools, where we didn’t know any other kids. Raksha Bandhan was our yearly reminder that we’d never be alone, as long as we had each other.

I can’t speak for every Indian, but a survey of my extended family points to the potential of a larger cultural norm: that a sibling was a gift — a relationship to be celebrated rather than navigated. I asked my cousins’ WhatsApp group (you all do this, right?) whether they felt any sibling rivalry growing up. Of the 10 of us, now living in five different countries, I got the same response from eight: nope. “Only American kids fight,” joked one Toronto cousin.

The only two who reported any conflict growing up were also the only pair of the same gender (boys). They were born only two years apart, whereas the others had four to eight years between them. Maybe they fought because they didn’t celebrate Raksha Bandhan? After all, there doesn’t seem to be any sort of celebration for siblings of the same gender. My cousins all laughed at me. O.K., maybe the holiday was only big in my family.

After I had my son five years ago, I was immediately anxious about having another child. Apart from the whole gestation, childbirth and postpartum worries — what if they fought? If all American kids fight, and these kids were definitely going to be American, was my stressful fate sealed?

His dad and I were in no rush to decide, but history repeated itself when my son’s biological clock kicked in at 2. Just like the baby boom I lived through at Snowsfield Primary School, the minute baby brothers and sisters started showing up in his preschool’s Yellow Room, he wanted one, too. If he heard the word “baby,” he’d shout, even to strangers and empty rooms, ��I’d like to have a baby!” For almost two years straight, he told his entire school, “We’re going to have a baby soon, because Mama and Dada are working on it.” We were not.

Eventually, though, his lobbying for a sibling somehow worked on us. By the time he was about 3½, we felt sort of ready to try it all again. Ten weeks into the new pregnancy, my husband and I found out it was a girl, and the next time our son brought up the Baby Issue, we were ready to lay some groundwork.

“We’ll see what we can do,” we said, as did my pregnant mother before me. “But if we decide to have a baby, do you think you want a brother or a sister?” We were prepared to nudge him in the right direction if necessary, but he was immediately set on having a sister. “Like Baby Margaret,” on his favorite cartoon, “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.” PHEW.

After I started showing, we told him we had, indeed, procured him a baby sister, and he couldn’t believe his good luck. “Like I’ve always wanted!” he said. After her birth, I was nervous about how this was actually going to go down, but other than some impatience at my inability to do everything at the same time, and hiccups resolved by the book “Siblings Without Rivalry,” he’s besotted with his sister, whom he refers to as “my baby,” “my little sissy” or “the little missy.”

“Can you believe this wondrous baby was in your belly?” he said last week, watching her pull herself up on a toybox. (Yes, he said “wondrous”; it’s possible we read too much.) She roared like a bodybuilder as he cheered her on. “She was just a tiny little thing, and now she’s cooler than I ever imagined!” It sounds like I’m making this up. I’m not — that’s how he talks. His dad and I know, it’s unusual. We also know that this could be a brief window of peace, and that the kids might spend the rest of their lives trying to punch each other in the face. Who knows? But Raksha Bandhan is coming, and I have solid plans to overdo it. Snacks, desserts, special toys, a new piggy bank.

After all, bribing us to like each other worked for my parents, and who am I to abandon our cultural heritage?

By Priyanka Mattoo

Kin Leung is a Marriage & Family Therapist, MFT practicing in the San Francisco Bay area. Kin specializes in helping couples overcome struggles related to infidelity, intimacy, miscommunication, mistrust, and parenting. Kin's kind, thoughtful and compassionate approach to marriage counseling San Francisco helps guide couples to a calmer and safer space to explore issues and move forward in a more productive manner.

[njawaidofficial]

Gigi And Zayn Were The Power Couple I Needed To See When I Was Growing Up

https://styleveryday.com/2018/03/15/gigi-and-zayn-were-the-power-couple-i-needed-to-see-when-i-was-growing-up/

Gigi And Zayn Were The Power Couple I Needed To See When I Was Growing Up

Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid attend the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2016, in New York City.

Mike Coppola / Getty Images

I was a little too excited when Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid first began dating, way, way back in 2015. That was the year Gigi’s modeling career exploded, as she showed up in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video. Zayn was in the process of launching his solo career after a dramatic break with One Direction. A romance between two beautiful, successful celebrities isn’t exactly earth-shaking news, and Zayn and Gigi didn’t do anything especially interesting together: They posed in fashion shoots, walked the red carpet together, wore a couples costume for Halloween, and, of course, documented all of it on Instagram.

But what did matter to me is what also fascinated me about them separately: They both have Muslim heritage and are outspoken about how their backgrounds have shaped them. And seeing this desi-Arab-Muslim power couple together, in the pages of the same magazines I had flipped through as a celebrity-obsessed, boy band–loving, Palestinian, Muslim, American teen — looking for Muslim and Arab faces, and finding none — felt like something I had been waiting a long time for.

This week, the couple announced their split after more than two years together, and the breakup was as relatively drama-free as their relationship appeared to be. Zayn described Gigi as an “incredible soul”; in her own statement, Gigi said she was “forever grateful for the love, time, and life lessons.” There was some minor drama over Zayn unfollowing Gigi and her mother, Yolanda Hadid, on Instagram — and the matter of a months-old tattoo of Gigi’s eyes across Zayn’s chest — but as far as celebrity breakups go, this seemed, at least publicly, to be pretty unremarkable.

I wasn’t really heartbroken over the breakup of Gigi and Zayn, the actual people, as much as I was at the end of the idea of their relationship.

I had been so wrapped up in Tuesday morning news that I was genuinely stunned when another editor at work asked if we’d be covering the story, which I’d heard nothing about. And then I was suddenly sad, and then I was mostly embarrassed about being a 31-year-old woman who was this sad about the end of a relationship I wasn’t even in. But I wasn’t really heartbroken over the breakup of Gigi and Zayn, the actual people, as much as I was at the end of the idea of their relationship, and what it had represented to me. They had been so unusual as a fantasy canvas to project the real Muslim romances I’d grown up watching onto: Zayn and Gigi were the couple that sat too close at Muslim Student Association meetings; they were the desi and Arab pair kept apart by cultural differences; the teenagers ducking into cars together when they’ve told their parents they’ve gone to the mosque. Their celebrity realities were miles away from any of ours, but they had backgrounds that made them blank slates for our versions of sweet, unremarkable, all-American stories.

Coverage of Gigi and Zayn, together or separately, meant seeing things like Eid al-Adha — a major Muslim holiday — casually mentioned in publications like People and E! Online after they marked it by taking a selfie with their mothers. Eid al-Adha was a regular part of the United States I grew up in, a day when my family spent time together, exchanged presents, bought new clothes, and ate way too much, and now, it’s also when we post smiling selfies to social media. To see these celebrities doing the same, and to see a note about the holiday in the media coverage of them — free of any offensive, hand-wringing debate over whether or not there are too many Muslims in the US — still feels remarkable.

Instagram: @yolanda

As a child and throughout my teens, I struggled to find myself reflected in the pop culture around me. Even though I was in elementary school, my dad would turn off my cartoons and watch coverage of the Gulf War with me, and the news seemed to be the only place where I would see Arabs and Muslims. Most of my favorite TV shows, like Full House, Rugrats, and later Dawson’s Creek and Friends, featured mainly white characters — which helped form the idea that uncomplicated lives were not written for people like me. I was so hungry for representation that when Aladdin came out in 1992, the movie — even as a racist mashup of generally Eastern cultures — was revolutionary for me. It was my first time seeing fun, popular characters even remotely representative of my family’s culture; I became so obsessed that I tried to convince my parents to rename me Yasmine.

But after Aladdin, it was a long, empty road for Muslim representation in the mainstream, especially after 9/11. And I just accepted that I would never fully relate to the white heroines in my favorite books — Little Women, the Sweet Valley High series, the Baby-Sitters Club series, The Princess Diaries. A few years ago, I spoke to one of my high school’s librarians and asked him why we never had many books by Arab or Muslim authors. He told me that we never asked for them. It was strange to think that the weight would have been placed on me — a child — to ask for stories that would speak to me. After all, how many white, Christian teenagers have to actually ask librarians for books written about characters who look like them? But everything around me taught me that stories about girls like me simply did not exist. An awkward, opinionated Muslim girl would not roam Bayside High’s halls, nor would she ever serve as Dawson Leary’s out-of-reach love interest.

Me dressed up for Eid, with my Jasmine doll on the table.

courtesy of Sara Yasin

That applied to the heartthrobs I fantasized about, too: I was obsessed with boy bands as a teen. While I was mostly loyal to NSYNC, I was easily wooed by any group of young men with coordinated outfits and dance moves. These young men I dreamed about were carefully constructed to cater to my desires as a teenage girl — and most of them were white. I fantasized about the Justin Timberlakes and Brian Littrells of the world, and would always attempt to stamp out the tiny voice that wondered how they might feel about a fan who was Muslim.

By the time One Direction had become the biggest boy band in the world, I felt too old to be obsessed with them in the same way. But I still found joy in listening to their songs, and it had a lot to do with Zayn. He wasn’t necessarily vocal about his Muslim and Pakistani roots while he was in One Direction, but I didn’t love the real Zayn so much as I loved what he could have been to me, back when I was a teenager: the halal crush that I could dream of introducing to my parents, that would have made me feel like my heritage and my world were as commonplace as anyone else’s. There was something incredible about seeing a Muslim man not only become famous but become a sex symbol — seeing a Muslim name like “Zayn Malik” on a thirsty, hot-pink poster sold to teenage girls, rather than on a terror alert.

While Gigi also has a Muslim father, what drew me to her is the fact that she’s Palestinian — and vocal about how proud she is of her background. I first came across her in 2014, when I noticed a photo shoot she did paying tribute to Anna Wintour’s first Vogue cover as editor-in-chief, in 1988, which featured Israeli model Michaela Bercu. Some wondered if Vogue was making a (quiet) political statement about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by featuring Gigi years later, especially since the photos came soon after the last deadly war in Gaza.

Vogue breezily referenced Gigi’s heritage, and in many ways, that’s Gigi’s approach too: She doesn’t explain or justify the fact that she’s Palestinian; it’s just a part of who she is. When she won Glamour’s “Woman of the Year” award last year, she referred to her father as a “refugee from Palestine” in her acceptance speech. Mohamed Hadid is vocal about the conflict, as well as his heritage. Both Gigi and her sister, Bella, also a model, have spoken about how their father’s background has shaped them, and last year, the sisters joined a protest against Trump’s controversial travel ban.

Gigi Hadid wears a keffiyeh-patterned jacket at a 2014 Chanel event in New York City.

Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images

You could argue that Gigi’s outspokenness is made much easier by the fact that, for the most part, she gets to decide when she wants to remind you that she’s a Palestinian — a luxury that her ex does not have. Zayn faced racism even in the days when he wasn’t as vocal about being Muslim or Pakistani, whether that was from anti-Muslim pundits like Debbie Schlussel warning that he was “pimping” Islam to young girls, or Bill Maher making a joke comparing him to one of the Boston marathon bombers.

Hadid has slammed anti-Muslim bigotry, but she has also made some big stumbles herself, like a video from 2017 showing her mocking Asians on her sister’s Instagram story. But even that is part of what’s so familiar about her to me; missteps like this were commonplace in my own Muslim community, where people had blinders on when it came to addressing inequalities that weren’t their own.

Of course, Gigi and Zayn’s ability to move with an ease that isn’t afforded to others with similar heritage is mostly a testament to the privilege that comes with fame, beauty, and wealth, rather than any huge symbol of progress. Desi-Arab-Muslim power couples aren’t going to unravel the prejudices that these groups have faced in the US — that will probably have a lot more to do with accepting that what it means to be an American is a diverse, ever-changing thing. Not long ago, I was waxing poetic about the Hadids while visiting a relative, and the significance of their visibility as Palestinian-Americans, and she sighed and asked when she would be accepted as an American as she is: a devout, hijab-wearing Muslim immigrant.

Gigi Hadid (center) with, from left, her sister Bella, mother Yolanda, father Mohamed, and his fiancé, Shiva Safai, at a party in Paris in 2016.

Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images

I always say that I grew up in Disneyland Palestine: a suburban, North Carolina street dotted with relatives and other Palestinian immigrant families who came together to re-create a version of their homeland for their American children. Being Palestinian was about having way too many cousins, an infuriating surveillance network of nosy aunties, dancing to corny music videos that came on our Arabic satellite television stations, and, of course, eating typically Palestinian meals like musakhan — huge, soft wheels of bread doused in olive oil, topped with sumac, roasted pine nuts, fried onions, and chicken. For me, particularly as a child, my parents’ Palestinian heritage was about all of these things, just as much as it was about knowing our histories and, of course, understanding the conflict with Israel.

But in the US, being Palestinian is rarely viewed outside of the lense of that conflict. And while it is deeply intertwined with being a Palestinian, particularly in a situation that is ongoing and ever-deteriorating, viewing us through that alone has helped dehumanize us entirely. We can never just live, and that’s what the Hadids do: They’re public, Palestinian figures who lead splashy, “ordinary” Hollywood lives. And seeing a family with roots similar to my own become the fodder for ordinary, superficial celebrity gossip coverage — seeing their daughter, who just happens to be a supermodel, date a British and Pakistani boy, who just happens to be a pop star — was remarkable in its own completely unremarkable way. In a country where it’s a reasonable thing for a politician to suggest that Palestinians don’t even exist, that visibility matters.

While Gigi and Zayn’s split doesn’t make them less meaningful, in terms of what they represent, it does mean an end to a Hollywood romance that seemed to be written just for me. More than two years is a long time for celebrities, and of course, Just Like Us: They Grow Apart! I am still a little sad, but I’m realizing that there was a kind of joy in watching a romance — that just happened to involve two Muslim celebrities — blossom, and then fade out, like any other. ●