Love from a to Z

MARVEL:
REVELATIONS
Exhibit A: Emma Phillips and Adam.
I guess this marvel is about God.
Because He’s the one who lets you know the things you didn’t know
before. Who allows circumstances to come into your life that make you see.
I’m so grateful my crush on Adam lasted exactly five days. Six if you
count the airport first sighting.
Wow, Emma Phillips’s crush on him lasted six years. And was only now
coming to fruition.
She’s zen. He’s zen. I’m not.

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That’s what’s important.

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ADAM
TUESDAY, MARCH 12
MARVEL AND ODDITY:
FRIENDS
S
HE WAS SITTING AT THE
next table over, on her phone, fries untouched in front of her.
Emma Domingo was across from her, Emma Zhang next to her. They were
both talking, but she wasn’t.
I was at the end of a longer table parallel to hers. Connor directly in front
of me, going on about Nancy, his TA, with Tsetso and Isaac beside us, then
Emma Phillips and Jacob across from Madison. There was another table
with a few other guys from DIS behind us.
But all I could see was her.
She wouldn’t look up.
She hadn’t even said salaam back after I’d salaamed her when she and
the other girls had first shown up.
Maybe she hadn’t heard?
“Adam, you in for the dunes this weekend?” Emma Phillips asked loudly.
“Everyone else, except Tsetso, who, ahem, decided to ditch Doha early, is
coming.”
“I’ll have to check. I don’t know if my dad has stuff planned.” I took
another bite of my chicken shawarma sandwich.
“Okay, let me know by tomorrow then? Maybe you could hitch a ride
with my dad and me.” She smiled. “You’re practically next door!”
I nodded back at her and then busied myself picking up the lettuce that
had fallen out of my shawarma.
Oh boy. Was it true then what Connor had told me? That Emma Phillips
still had a thing for me?
Hope it’s just my imagination. The way Madison looked at Emma Phillips
just now, raising her eyebrows.

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I’d tried for a long time to stay distant but polite with Emma Phillips.
Zayneb stood up suddenly. She bent over and whispered something to
Emma Domingo and Emma Zhang. And then turned and left.
I continued eating my shawarma.
• • •
She didn’t come back.
I should ask Emma Domingo or Emma Zhang if she actually left.
No, it was better this way.

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