Betrayal, Love, and Langano (ZOMA Mag article 2)

Damn!

Dawit quickly shook Blen’s arm off of his. He saw the look on his girlfriend, Hanna’s face and it didn’t look too good. He hopped off of the minibus to greet her.

“Hey baby!” He softly kissed her on the cheek.

“Hey…you.” She tried her best to sound enthusiastic but failed.

“What’s wrong?” Knowing what’s bothering her, he just thought he should ask anyway. It wasn’t difficult to tell when Hanna was upset; for one thing, her facial expression says it all, and of course her voice.

“Nothing.” She said bluntly. “I just didn’t get enough sleep, I guess.” She got on the bus and started greeting the two boys that she knew and took an empty seat.

Dawit took a deep breath before he followed into the seat next to her.

“For those of you who don’t know, this is my girlfriend, Hanna,” She better be happy that I’m calling her my girlfriend in front of everyone, no confusions. “Hanny, that’s Blen and Aman, Hiwot, and our driver, Samson. I’m sure you know Adam and Teddy, so no need to introduce you guys.”

She said “hi” to everyone and just sat shyly.

“What’s up, Hanny?!” Teddy yelled out from the back. “Ready for the trip of your life?”

“Oh yea!” She said in her possible excited voice. “I’m sure it’s going to be interesting.” She looked over at her boyfriend.

Dawit knew that look. He saw that she was upset about Blen holding his hands and she wasn’t going to let it go. “Baby, are you sure there’s nothing wrong?” Of course, she’s going to say no.

“Nope.” She answered too quickly. “Nothing.”

Hanna knew that Dawit wasn’t going to ask her again, she also knew that they would still have a fight about this when they got to the Langano hotel room.

Did he really think that I shouldn’t be upset about the other girl on his arms? I already dislike someone on this trip; not good. 

To seem calm and collected, she lifted his arm and put it around her shoulders. She slowly looked up at him, kissed him on the cheek and stayed there.

As they drove through the long, narrow, empty roads, she thought about the fight in Langano.

Well, he’s holding me now, and I kissed him, so he probably thinks I’m ok; so I shouldn’t pick a fight.

No, he deserves to know what I really thought!

But, he didn’t really do anything… Blen was the one holding him.

I should say something to her; make it clear that he is mine.

No; he told everyone that I’m his girlfriend so I shouldn’t stir anymore things.

“What are you thinking about?” Dawit’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Nothing.” She lied again. “Hey, is anyone hungry? I brought a lot of Ambasha; mom insisted.” She changed the subject.

“Oh yea. I don’t think anyone ate.” And he was convinced. “Anyone want some Ambasha?”

Everyone hollered all at once and dug into the bag, finishing everything till the last piece.

With everyone’s stomach full, they were all energetic enough to sing along with every song that played from the iPod. They played games like, “guess the song”, which they had to name the song and the artist of songs in the first 10 seconds.

After driving non-stop for 4 hours, they arrived at their hotel in Langano. Hanna and her boyfriend got a room together while the 2 other girls shared a room and the boys as well. She put her bag and herself on the bed and exhaled loudly.

“I’m so exhausted from all the driving!” She sat up and looked Dave. “Aren’t you?”

The look on her face told him that she wasn’t mad or even thinking about what happened earlier. He just smiled and lay down on the bed next to her. “Yes! I think we should rest a little before hitting the water, right?”

“Yes. We are seriously going to have the best vacation, OK?” She looked directly into his eyes and smiled. “This time, I promise.”

He returned the smile.

After a couple of hours of just sitting around in bed, talking about life, they were finally ready to get out of the room. They joined the rest of the crew out by the Langano restaurant to eat lunch. They had a group meal of Tibs Firfir, Quanta Firfir and Doro Wot. Samson and Aman kept Blen and Hiwot close; as they fed them small gursha’s and made cute jokes. Teddy and Adam sat on the opposite side, looking at eachother and laughing whenever Aman and Samson made a fool out of themselves trying to impress the girls. After an hour of laughter and many conversations, Hanna felt like she was actually part of the group. Teddy kept her company whenever Dawit was caught up in a conversation with someone. Finally, everyone was ready to hit the beach.