𝗚𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲

𝗚𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲:
Greatness

❅𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗲❅

"You're all dismissed," I said, backing away from the podium as all the students stood and gathered their belongings.

And as expected, Omara waited back, slowly packing up her things as she waited for the classroom to slowly clear out.

It had officially been two days since my talk with Mazin on Sunday.

If that was even considered a talk.

Now it's Tuesday, and it's still somehow on a loop in my head.

Remember what she did.

Remember how it felt.

That's what I try to constantly remind myself every time she pops into my head.

"Professor," Omara said as she approached me at my desk, smiling as usual.

"Omara," I mocked back to her, reciprocating her smile as she stopped in front of me.

"I'm here to remind you of your plans tomorrow," she told me, her smile widening when I tilted my head.

"Plans?" I emphasized, unaware I had agreed to anything, "What plans?"

"The cookie decorating contest," Omara said as if I were supposed to recall such plans, "It's downtown at the rented-out bakery."

I raised a brow, "I'm pretty sure I would remember agreeing to these plans," I pointed out, knowing Omara was trying to use some sort of weird psychology on me.

"Oh, you did..." Omara trailed off, briefly pursing her lips, "At the uh ice bar event."

I shook my head, even if a smile grew on my lips, "Right..." I trailed off skeptically.

Which earned a dramatic eye roll from Omara, "Just say you'll be there—it always feels complete when you're at the events," she said, lightly nudging my arm.

I pursed my lips, feeling my smile grow at her genuine words.

It wouldn't hurt to go—if anything it sounds like fun.

And I can bring Dani.

Two birds, one stone. 

Simple.

"I'll be there," I suddenly said, laughing slightly when Omara hugged me.

"Perfect," she said, pulling away from me as she smiled happily to herself, "I'll see you tomorrow night—I'm sure Nelli has the address from last year."

I nodded a few times, knowing my best friend was definitely already going.

And probably planned to convince me to come over our lunch break today.

"I'll see you Omara," I said, earning a few nods from her as she walked out of the lecture hall—leaving me alone.

But not for long—given I had another class to teach.

Which flew right past me.

Thank god.

I seriously couldn't wait for lunch with Nelli, who brought us salads from a nearby bistro.

Not only was I hungry, but I also missed Nelli.

I haven't seen her since Sunday when she came over to discuss the elevator talk I had with Mazin.

Yesterday I was too busy handling shipments and overlooking revenue to hang out with anyone.

"So you're going through with this Dani thing?" Nelli suddenly asked, chewing the bite she had previously taken as she opened her water.

I leaned back in my cushioned swivel chair, "I am," I said, poking my fork into my chef salad for another bite, "I meant what I said—there's no going back now."

Nelli raised a skeptical brow, "But you can go back," she argued my previous words, "You don't have to fuck with Dani just to prove a point to Mazin."

I shrugged, "I want to hurt her," I bluntly stated, knowing it was only fair, "And she seemed bothered by this idea, so it works."

Nelli sighed, dropping her fork in her bowl.

And as I watched her chew a few more times, I knew she was preparing some kind of speech for me.

Oh no. 

This could either be really good or really bad. 

"I truly don't give a fuck about leading Dani on or hurting her feelings in the process—not after how she did you years ago," Nelli said, picking up her water for a sip, "I'm more worried about you," she explained, taking a brief sip from her water bottle layered with condensation droplets, "In your attempt to hurt Mazin, you could end up hurting yourself as well."

I remained silent for a moment, hating that her words held weight.

But Nelli's advice has never disappointed me.

And a part of me feels like I should take her advice—or even my own advice, telling me to just let this all go.

But I don't want to.

The other part of me doesn't want to.

I want to get her back tenfold.

I want to balance the scales.

Maybe then I can finally move on from this and let go of the past.

"You're going through with it, aren't you?" Nelli said, reading the expression on my face almost too well.

I awkwardly pursed my lips together, "Yeah..." I trailed off, poking my fork into my salad again, "But I'm sure I'll regret not taking your advice."

Nelli waved me off, "Probably, but get your revenge honestly," she said, still finding a way to support my decision.

It's what she always has done.

She never pressured me to agree with her opinion.

She only offered it and let me make my own decisions for myself.

"I'm going to ask Dani to do the cookie decorating contest with me," I told Nelli as I took the bite I prepared on my fork.

Nelli nodded a few times, "I'll team with Ronan then since he's short a partner," she determined, stabbing her fork into her salad, "But he better not make us lose."

I laughed slightly, recalling how seriously Nelli takes competitions.

Ronan is better off letting Nelli do her thing compared to actually participating.

"I'll be praying for him," I joked, knowing this could go one of two ways.

Even if Ronan lets Nelli do her thing and they manage to lose—she's still going to blame him.

Good luck to him honestly.

"You should be praying for me," Nelli mumbled as she continued eating her salad, suddenly focused on the cookie decorating topic.

Our conversation quickly shifted to which theme she should do for decorating her cookies.

She even had a Pinterest board made.

Classic Nelli.

Lunch with her was exactly what I needed to feel refreshed and ready to teach my last class of the day, which also seemed to go by really fast. 

I still ended up staying a few hours after class to grade assignments on my laptop.

I figured I would go ahead and knock it out so I could relax when I got home later, having nothing to do but watch Christmas movies and drink wine. 

I just had to make a quick stop at Cuban Heat before I went home. 

A restaurant that was as busy as usual.

Of course, Roxi was already at her normal spot behind the counter when I walked in—greeting me with a big hug and a wide smile.

"You're here for food mija?" Roxi asked, already backing away from the counter to go put my order in with the chef.

I quickly shook my head, "No actually—I'm uh," I started, suddenly feeling awkward for coming here to ask a simple question, "I'm here for Dani," I finally said.

Which nearly made Roxi's entire face light up, visibly excited by the news.

"Dani!" Roxi suddenly called out, startling me entirely.

Especially when she called her name three more times, walking over to the doorway that led to the back.

"I'm here-I'm here," I heard Dani say—before she suddenly rushed through the doorway.

She was dressed casually in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, wearing her dark hair back in a ponytail.

"Vee?" Dani said, immediately noticing my presence as she walked with her mom.

Who headed to the back of the restaurant, purposely giving us some privacy as Dani approached me.

"Hey," I awkwardly said, blinking a few times as she stopped in front of me.

"Is everything good?" Dani asked, clearly confused about why I was here.

And why her mom called her up here to talk to me.

"Yes–yes, I just..." I trailed off, briefly pursing my lips as I attempted to figure out how I would ask her, "There's this cookie decorating competition tomorrow night."

I furrowed my brows at my words, realizing I worded it as a statement.

And I failed to ask her if she wanted to be my partner.

Which is single-handedly the most important detail. 

"Okay..." Dani trailed off, tilting her head slightly as she analyzed my face for a moment, "Did you want me to come or something?"

I immediately nodded, feeling relieved by her suggestion, "I was hoping you would be my partner actually," I said, adjusting my posture.

Dani's lips tilted up into a smile at my words, "I'm down," she said, briefly glancing past me.

Which naturally made me turn my head.

An action that I immediately regretted, drawing in a deep breath when my eyes landed on them.

It was Tahir, who was dressed more casually in a tan crewneck and dark jeans—then Ronan who walked beside him wearing a grey zip-up jacket and sweatpants.

And lastly, Mazin.

Who wore a coal grey Essential's hoodie and baggy black jeans with her usual chains and Rolex watch.

Her blonde hair was down in a middle part, precisely straightened with some of it tucked away from her bare face.

"You came to eat too?" Tahir said to me as they all approached us.

Of course.

Of fucking course.

Then again, a part of me isn't even that surprised given how much Tahir loves to eat here.

The food really is just that good.

"I actually came to ask Dani about the cookie competition," I decided to say, almost purposefully, "I'm short a partner," I added, smiling slightly at Tahir as I actively avoided her dark eyes.

"Wow, I thought I would get to be partners with John Wick," Ronan joked, which naturally confused Mazin and Dani, who were unaware of the inside joke.

"Nelli's going to be your partner," I clarified, glancing over to Ronan, "Besides you couldn't handle all of this greatness."

"Not sure Dani can either," Mazin suddenly said, which immediately made my eyes snap to her.

Because of course, she had to slide a remark in.

"I've handled it before," Dani said before any of us could say anything, shrugging her directed statement off.

Mazin raised a brow, "Have you?" she asked, her tone lowered and her stare pinpointed on Dani, "Properly I mean," she added with insinuation.

Because clearly, we're not talking about a fucking cookie competition anymore.

Dani immediately nodded, "Yeah," she said, and I could see her subtly correct her posture, even if she was already shorter than Mazin, "At least until someone tried to take it from me," she emphasized.

Here we go. 

"You can't take what's yours," Mazin bluntly said, naturally making both Tahir and Ronan's brows visibly raise.

My brows even fucking raised.

"Okay, so we should... Is that our car?" Tahir suddenly asked, awkwardly glancing around, "I think our car alarm is going off."

I shook my head—but not at the nonexistent car alarm that Tahir just made up.

But at Mazin's petty fucking actions.

"We gotta go for sure," Ronan said, nudging Tahir almost too fucking obviously.

Especially with Dani's jaw visibly clenched as she stared at Mazin.

But I quickly realized Mazin was staring at me, her dark eyes openly trailing my face.

Probably for my reaction—which I refuse to give her.

"For sure," Tahir suddenly said, glancing over to his sister, "Let's leave."

Dani nodded, "That's a good idea—we'll go finish our conversation over here," she said as she gently grabbed my arm. 

Which made me flinch slightly at the sudden contact, feeling caught off guard by her sudden actions. 

It also seemed to catch Mazin off guard too, given her dark eyes visibly glanced down to my arm that Dani's hand wrapped around.

"Maz," Tahir said, gently grabbing her shoulder, "We're leaving."

Mazin's sharp jawline somehow grew visibly tighter, remaining silent for a moment.

A long moment actually.

I was unsure of what her next move would be.

But finally, she seemed to snap out of it—blinking a few times as she glanced away from my arm.

And silently walked past Tahir and Ronan.

"We'll catch you tomorrow, Vee," Tahir said, not bothering to spare Dani a response.

If anything he eyed us together for one short moment.

Until he finally walked away with Ronan, leaving me with Dani—and also Roxi who had suddenly walked out from the back.

I swear each fucking altercation with Mazin collectively gets worse.

But aside from that, I seemed to get under her skin.

Or Dani did at least.

So I'll consider it a half-win.

"Okay so let's figure out the details of tomorrow night," I said, turning to Dani as I snapped away from my thoughts regarding Mazin.

"We need to go over a theme and maybe what cookies we're baking," Dani said as she guided us both off to the side of the counter, letting go of my arm, "We also need to go over what time it starts."

I immediately nodded, "We need some kind of inspiration too," I said, recalling Nelli's Pinterest board idea.

Dani nodded in agreement—and just like that we had moved past what just occurred, focusing on tomorrow night instead.

Which I hope will go better than today.

Or even the last few times I had run into Mazin.