I greatly apologize for disappearing on everyone like I did, I had a major hard drive failure with my desktop and eventually just had to buy a laptop. I'm still working on fixing my desktop, but it is taking time.

If you are computer savvy, I will tell you that I managed to delete my partition table and am now trying to recover some of the data on my hard drive before formatting.

Look for updated to both Freefalling and Iced Renaissance this week! I have those both in the work, this is just a little something that I started to work on to get me back into the swing of writing after being gone for a bit.

Ramadan Kareem to those of you observing Ramadan.

Please enjoy!

The timer on the microwave wailed it's alarm as the numbers clicked down to zero, alerting whoever was around to hear that the contents inside were ready. Anna hummed around the kitchen, hips shaking to music as she pressed the button to pop the door open and remove the bag of popcorn sitting inside. She spun around, the hot freshly popped corn in her hand and sang aloud to the chorus of the popular song as she sashayed over to the dining table, pulling the bag open and upturning the contents into a large empty bowl.

Half of the table was covered in food, waiting to be consumed. There were breakfast offerings alongside fast food, sandwiches and cookies, Chipotle and Baskin Robbins.

Anna set the bag aside on the table, fishing her phone out of her jean pocket and sliding her finger across the screen to answer the call.

"'Lo?" she said, picking up the empty popcorn bag in her free hand as she turned back into the kitchen.

"Hi Anna," a female voice said on the other end. "Sorry I'm running a little late."

"Hey Myriam! You are fine, I'm just getting everything set up."

"Oh, PLEASE tell me you made it to Chipotle earlier."

"Yep! Burrito bowls are here and waiting. I've got those chocolate chip cookies you like so much too."

"Have I mentioned how awesome you are?"

"Well, not LATELY."

They both laughed.

"Anyways, I'll be there in a few minutes," Myriam continued, the sound of a car starting in the background. "Iftar here I come."

"I'll be waiting!"

Anna pulled her phone away from her head, hitting the screen again to end the call and set the device down on the counter before starting to hum along to the song on the radio again.

The two friends had a Friday night tradition, dinner and a movie; it had been that way since they were roommates together in college. Sometimes dinner was dressing up and going out somewhere nice before going to the theater, and other times it had been microwaved ramen noodles and whatever was on the University's movie channel.

Anna pulled a pitcher of water from the refrigerator, setting it beside the spread of food and stepping back to examine everything.

This routine was slightly different that their normal Friday night movie dates, it was one month of the year for Ramadan. Myriam would text her throughout the day if there was something that she was craving or wanted for dinner that evening, something she wanted to break her fast.

It was called Iftar, the act of breaking fast for Ramadan. And fasting for Ramadan was no laughing matter, Anna had tried doing it alongside Myriam one year; she'd managed to handle not eating from sun up to sun down but the inability to not drink anything, not even water, had been near torture.

Anna flopped down onto the couch to flip through the channels while she waited for her friend to arrive; she might not be fasting herself this time around but she wouldn't be rude and start without Myriam, despite how tempting the cookies looked. When the doorbell finally rang, Anna lept off the couch and bounded over to the door, a wide grin on her face.

She pulled the door open to reveal Myriam standing on the other side, smiling brightly.

"HI!" Anna said, stepping forward to wrap her arms around her friend. "Come in, come in."

Myriam laughed, walking through the entryway with Anna.

"I love that top you're wearing today," Anna continued, pulling away to look at her again. "You look really cute."

Myriam grinned. "I think it's a dress actually, but I agree, very cute."

She was wearing a black and white geometric top with bright splashes of color throughout and fell to mid thigh. Underneath the top was a white long sleeved shirt that covered her forearms, and a colored headscarf that covered her neck and hair. Her legs were encased in dark colored jeans. Her makeup was impeccably done, the colored eyeshadow contrasting well with her darker skin and berry colored lipstick stained her lips.

"Come on, lets eat," Anna said excitedly.

"No Elsa?" Myriam asked as Anna pulled her over to the spread of food on the table.

"She's out with you know who," Anna said conspiratorially, a wide grin on her face.

"Oooh, are things getting serious?"

Anna shrugged, picking up a foil bowl and showing it to Myriam with a big smile. "Maybe? She seems really happy, which is all I really care about. I like him a lot."

"Excellent," Myriam said, taking the foil dish and holding it up to her face to smell it. "Let's eat?"

"You don't have to tell me twice, plus you have to be more than ready to eat."

Anna handed her a large empty plate, taking one for herself.

"I made some breakfast to go along with everything; scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and turkey bacon. Then we have the burrito bowls, obviously, and some dessert. And *I* was craving some fried bologna, so I made a couple of sandwiches of those too."

Anna began to measure out the food to both of them as Myriam picked up the water pitcher and filled their glasses before both sitting down, their eclectic dinner selections before them. Anna gave her a small gesture, folding her hands in her lap to let her friend say her prayer before than began to have their small feast.

"Allaahumma laka s'umtu wa a'laa rizqika aft'artu aft'artu wa a'layka tawawkkaltu, fa-taqabbal minnaa innaka antas samee-u'l a'leem," she said, bowing her head as she spoke the words reverently. Anna bowed her head along with her, smiling as Myriam glanced up.

"So," Anna started, taking a large bite of bacon. "There is NOTHING good on HBO tonight. I'm rather disappointed in them to be honest. Therefore, I'm thinking it is a good night to break out 'The Princess Bride' DVD."

"I'm fine with that," was the response, Myriam working to take the lid off the foil bowl encasing the deconstructed burrito. "I can't ever get tired of that movie, you know that."

Anna grinned. "How are things with you? Work going okay?"

She waited for several minutes as Myriam forked a large amount of the food into her mouth, moaning slightly as she chewed and held up a finger to indicate she needed a moment. Anna chuckled, stabbing her own fork at her potatoes.

"Gosh this is good," Myriam said, moving her fork around her bowl to scoop up another bite. "Some coworkers went there for lunch today and it sounded so good. Thank you for helping me out."

Anna waved a hand. "It's no big deal, you know I'll get whatever you want."

Myriam smiled. "Work is going good, I still like it a lot. It's challenging, and I get to work with people like I wanted. Changing lives and all of that. How are your classes?"

Anna shrugged. "They are going well enough, graduate school is keeping me out of trouble. I'm ready to be done with it all though."

"I can imagine."

They continued their meal, both happily chatting about their week and any life updates that had happened since they had last seen each other. They chatted about celebrity gossip and new movies that were coming to the theater that they wanted to see while also updated each other on the latest family drama that was ever present in both of their lives.

After they were finished, they stacked all the empty plates in the sink and moved into the living room area, both sitting down hard on the couch with groans.

"Ah, that was a good meal," Anna said, patting her stomach. "My belly is happy."

Myriam laughed. "Mine too."

Anna picked up the remote for the entertainment systems and began to turn them on, the devices clicking on as she pressed the buttons.

"Don't you need the disc?" Myriam asked, moving to tuck her feet under her thighs and pull a blanket over her lap; it was cool in the air conditioned house.

"It's already in the player," Anna answered. "I watched it earlier this week. It's a classic, I watch it like once a week."

She turned and gave a wide, cheeky grin to her friend as the title sequence began on the television screen.

"You good?" Anna asked.

Myriam adjusted a small couch pillow to sit behind her back before giving a thumbs up. "I'm good. Let's do this."

They sat together on the sofa as they movie played, sometimes reciting the lines from their favorite scenes in an overly dramatic fashion. They laughed, they got teary eyed, they aww'ed along with the proper parts, and they enjoyed the film as they had the first time they had watched it together.

It had been one of the first weekends of college of their freshmen year, the residence hall was relatively quiet with the majority of the students fleeing home to home cooking and free laundry services. They had both stayed on campus that weekend, wanting to finish getting settled in and get homework done. Anna had worked hard to break the proverbial ice, asking Myriam about favorite foods, bands, colors and movies.

When Anna had found out that her new roommate had never seen "The Princess Bride," she'd set to finding her copy in the mess of their room and set it to playing on her laptop, begging the confused girl to sit next to her on her bed. They had been fast friends ever since; Anna claimed that Cary Elwes could do no wrong.

As they sat next to each other now, Anna gave a drawn out sigh.

"This is such a good love story," she said, leaning her head back on the couch as Wesley verbally taunted Prince Humperdink on the screen ahead of them. "I mean, after Wesley realizes that Buttercup didn't betray him of course."

"Of course," Myriam said. "And I love Miracle Max too."

"Who doesn't? Who can NOT love this movie? I don't know who couldn't love this movie. It has everything. Love, romance, action, mystery. adventure."

Myriam laughed, tossing a few kernels of the popcorn towards Anna; she had gotten up to get the bowl towards the beginning of the movie. "You're such a dork."

Anna gave her a huge grin, picking up the pieces of popped corn and eating them with relish.

As the characters rode off on horses on the screen, and the movie ended. Myriam sighed, moving the blanket off of her lap and looked over at her friend.

"Almost eleven," she said, stretching her arms out in front of her. "I need to get going, my family will be at masjid, as you know, for night prayer."

Anna nodded. "I suppose it is that time," she said, giving her a smile. "Same time next week?"

Myriam nodded. "Unless you get a hot date between now and then."

Anna snorted.

"Yeah, okay. From who, the pizza delivery boy?"

"Never know," came the sing song reply as Myriam stood up off the couch and adjusted her jeans and top before reaching up to make sure that her Hijab was in place as well. "Prince Charming could be wearing a Domino's uniform."

They both laughed, stepping close to embrace each other in a hug.

"Be careful driving," Anna said, walking her to the door. "It's dark out."

Myriam smiled back. "I will. Thanks Anna, for doing this. It means a lot."

"It's fun!" Anna said, giving her another big smile and a wink. "Anything for you babe."

She watched as Myriam walk down the front path to her car and get in, waving as she drove away before closing and locking up the door. She turned, smile stuck on her face and wove her way into the kitchen, filling the sink with soap and hot water as she began to wash the dishes from their late dinner.

The best way to spend a Friday Night was with a friend and Myriam was the best friend anyone could ask for. So if that meant they stayed in for a month a year for Ramadan, then it was takeaway and DVDs for a month. What were friends for after all?

Anna smiled, thinking of her friend as she scrubbed the dishes.

"Okay Cary Elwes," she said, washing the soapy water off her hands as all the clean dishes sat in the dish drainer. "I'm not done with you yet."

She pulled a DVD case from the shelving unit and popped open the case for "Robin Hood: Men In Tights". She thumbed open the DVD player, switched the discs and picked up the remote to start the movie. She smiled as she settled back on the couch, snapping a picture of the title screen on her phone to send to Myriam with a line of the movie as the caption.

"Well, before the night is done, we will have a wedding or a hanging," she said to the screen as she hit play movie. "Either way we're gonna have a lot of fun."

She chuckled as she settled back into the couch. Friday night movie nights, nothing better.

I hope you enjoyed this! This is dedicated to all of my Muslim friends and readers that are observing Ramadan right now.

Updates to Freefalling and Iced Renaissance this week, keep an eye out for them!

-Love, Aria