A.N: Happy Sunday! So...I promised that this chapter would be 3.2k but...I was talking about the wrong chapter. I sort of miss-counted. Very sorry about that! BUT this chapter is longer than most and it is the next chapter that's 3.2k I promise. It'll be up next week and it'll be a lot of fun or so I'm told by my Beta :D

Enjoy!

TEN

a hunger

It was the weekend. The first weekend Eve had off for ages - ok, that was a bit of an exaggeration - but it was the first weekend she hadn't had to study stupid Maths or help her dad with something or paint one of the walls. Colin and Brady were 'mysteriously' off sick this weekend as well, so she was all by her lonesome. But Eve was going to enjoy her weekend off.

She was going to sit on her bed all day and just watch movies on some suspicious streaming site that would probably give her crappy laptop a virus, but it needed to be replaced soon anyways. And when she got hungry, she'd eat beans on toast and then get right back into bed.

Except there were no films that she wanted to watch and there wasn't any shopping because she had conveniently forgotten to get some. So, she was twiddling her thumbs - metaphorically speaking - until Naima walked into her room and asked her if she wanted to go with her to pick up the last bits she'd ordered for their rooms.

Not the ideal way to spend her time but there was always Sunday. And if she went with Naima now, she would be able to convince her sister to help with the shopping as well. Those bags got heavy sometimes.

So, she got out of her bed, changed into something that was arguably still pyjama-like and walked downstairs and in the car.

They hadn't been driving for very long when Naima began a conversation. It was mundane and sort of boring, but Eve felt a little bit better after speaking to her. Something about the routine boringness of the questions coupled with the fact that someone was taking an interest in her life made her feel comforted.

Eventually, the conversation turned to her newfound friends. "How's school actually going? Is the maths tutor helping?" Naima asked.

Eve shrugged. Maths was definitely not her strong suit and she went to the tutoring sessions but it was always difficult to concentrate. She had to relearn a whole way of doing mental maths and more often than not, her brain just checked out. But otherwise, everything was going far more smoothly than she'd anticipated.

"Far more bearable now that I have some friends," Eve responded.

"The twins?"

Eve hummed. "They're complete idiots but it's nice to be around people who don't take what I say to heart. They dish out as much as I give them."

Naima smiled. "They get your humour then."

"Yep. It's weird though," Eve tapped at the door handle in thought. "They're off a lot. Keep saying they're getting sick but...I don't know."

"Hold on," Naima ordered. Eve watched as she turned the car into the parking lot and tried to park. It wasn't the best but who was she to judge? She couldn't even drive yet.

They managed to get into a spot without damaging any of the other cars - which was a testament to her sister's ability to think about a hundred things at once - and got out of the car. Once they were out, Naima told her to carry on.

"It's just weird. How many times a month are you sick?" Eve wondered.

"Maybe they just have a sickly disposition."

Eve looked at Naima in a way that - if Naima were paying attention to her sister - she would clearly see the WTF gleam in her eyes and on her face. Who even was her sister? People don't even use that combination of words anymore.

"Stop with the book words! Normal boys don't get sick that often. Especially when they look like they do!"

"I don't really know what to say. Maybe they're part of a secret government organisation that turns Native Americans into the next super soldiers. La Push certainly has enough of them," she muttered under her breath so low that Eve almost didn't hear her.

But she did.

And Naima was right.

There were brutes around La Push - and she meant that in the nicest way possible. They didn't seem odd until you watched them lift sofas way too easily for just two people, or when they lugged five large cans of paint up stairs without breaking a sweat, or any sort of heavy breathing. Or until they guzzled down ridiculously large portions of food and were still hungry. Or if you asked them how old they were and they responded with "sixteen - almost seventeen" but looked about twenty-four.

So yeah. They were odd. And she still thought that it might be worthwhile to follow Colin and Brady incognito until she figured out what was going on with them because there was no way that they were always that sick.

"You should write that. Turn it into a YA book and make a fortune," Eve responded.

"Nah, thanks. Harish is already grumbling about how long this one's taking."

"Chop chop, sis."

"Shut up and take the trolley!" They had gotten inside the Home Depot - an underwhelming B&Q - man she missed B&Q. And oyster cards. And busses.

They walked into the store and Eve looked around. This place was almost a second home with the number of times they'd been there. And yet somehow, she always found the light section so cool to look at. "What are we getting?" she asked.

"My floating bookshelves came yesterday so we need to get that. And your vanity arrived today."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Awesome!" She had always wanted a vanity but it had been too expensive and she'd shared a room with Naima so there wasn't much space.

Actually, it had been the amount of space the house had that had gotten Eve excited to live there more than anything; the first time she'd seen it had her jaw dropping and her brain unable to comprehend the fact that a whole four-bedroom house was theirs to use. There weren't even enough people to fill the spaces!

London had been fun and exciting; the museums and the art galleries held enough of her attention that it didn't matter that she didn't party. She had fun in other ways. And it was also the hub of theatre; when their mum had been alive they'd tried to go to at least one West End show a year. Somewhere along the way Eve and Naima had fallen in love with musicals.

So she hadn't really wanted to leave London, leave her mum and the things she'd loved behind, but the amount of space had been a big selling point in favour of America. There was no way they could have afforded a house like the one they lived in now in London. Not on her dad's salary.

Now, with her own room, she'd been able to decorate it however she had wanted - within budget - and she'd gone with a retro-rustic feel.

The vanity had been the final touch. And something she'd never told anyone was that it made her feel slightly more girly when she thought of having that little space to get ready.

They went to the collection post and Naima gave their names. Eve all but deflated when the man told them they'd have to wait ten minutes for the order to come from the back.

"I'm gonna go to the light section then. I'll see you in 10."

"Ok."

Eve walked the now familiar path to the lights when she got there she felt stupid for a moment - feeling so happy and awed at the carefully placed selection of chandeliers and lamps was silly - but they were entrancing and the glow they gave off was warm and calming.

Maybe something about it reminded her of looking out of the balcony window in their old flat and seeing the ever constant and too bright lights of central London in the distance.

Maybe they were just pretty.

Either way, Eve spent a little bit more than ten minutes just browsing through the section, lost in thought. But when she rushed back, she caught her sister and the hulking figure of Sam hugging and it threw off the ease she'd had a moment before.

That evening when they were all home and eating dinner together, the hug was still weighing on Eve's mind. She honestly wasn't sure why; she was trying very hard to not be a judgy bitch - well at least not around her family. Anyone else was fair game - but it was really really bugging her. It was just a hug. It wasn't like they'd kissed or were having sex! And Eve knew that they'd become friends. Somehow it had happened under her nose, but she wasn't mad. Naima spent so much of her time cooped up in the house decorating it, or fixing it, or writing. She needed someone to talk to and as much as she wished that she could be that person for her sister, Eve knew that Naima saw her as too young to deal with things outside of her own life.

"Hey, Dad?" Naima broke Eve out of her thoughts. "I was thinking - now that the house is done - we should invite the neighbours around as a way to get to know them."

Their dad thought for a moment. Eve could see it ticking over in his mind and she wondered how the conversation would weigh up. Was it better to stay reclusive and possibly alienate themselves within the community, or would he buck up and host something for the first time since...

"Maybe that's a good idea," he finally said.

Eve looked at Naima expecting her to be happy but instead, she was biting her lip, looking nervous about something else.

"I was also thinking we should invite the guys that helped me - us - move things around and decorate."

"Why?"

"A lot of them did it just to help out. Some of them were from Sam Uley's company but he rarely took money, and if he did, it was way less than you would usually have to pay." It was all said in a rush - possibly in one breath - but Eve hadn't been counting. But Naima still didn't look like she had finished talking. "I just wanted to thank them for helping."

Their dad hummed. "Can't they come with the neighbours?"

"They eat a lot. Like uncle Noah but more."

Her dad choked on the food in his mouth. "Why do they need to eat so much?"

It was the first time Eve had heard their dad shocked in a while. And if she hadn't seen the boys eat then she would have thought Naima was just playing him for a loop.

"I don't know. Maybe because they have such physical jobs?" Was that a tinge of sarcasm Eve heard in that answer? She couldn't be sure because Naima seemed like she was being very polite.

"I guess we can. If they were being so kind…"

Eve sat back looking at the two of them. Naima was smiling now and their dad looked a little put out. Like he really didn't want to have to host two separate dinners but he couldn't not acknowledge people who had made the house look so good.

"Great!"

"When will this happen?" Eve finally asked.

"Maybe in a couple of weeks?"

"Sure. Let me know when. Keep it to a Friday or weekends," their dad said.

They finished their meal - talking to each other when they felt the need to but never anything substantial. Eve noticed that Naima was happier now; there was a little smile on the corner of her face as she stared off into the distance.

Something about the smile had made Eve feel uncomfortable and she used the moments of silence to try and figure it out. But by the time they had washed up, she still couldn't pinpoint it.

She figured it had something to do with what she'd seen earlier.

The hug had been brief, it couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds at most, but it had rattled her.

As far as Eve knew, Naima hadn't had any boyfriends, and ok one hug didn't mean she was dating Sam. But still ! It was a step closer to something she didn't know what to do with. And she hated not knowing things!

Eve waited until they were both upstairs away from the ears of their dad. She followed Naima into her room waiting on the threshold of it and trying to prepare herself for the conversation.

"Everything alright?" Naima asked, getting her laptop out and moving to her bed.

Eve stayed awkwardly standing next to the door, still unsure about how to broach the subject. Well, Naima hated lying didn't she? So maybe honesty was the best policy. And Eve had never been very good at subtlety.

"Is there something going on with you and Sam?"

She didn't even look up when she answered Eve - which honestly made her feel a bit stupid. "Not really."

"But you two were hugging at the store. And what does 'not really' mean? Aren't you either one or the other?"

Naima looked up from her laptop. She tilted her head and frowned. "We're friends. And so what if I hugged him?"

So what? Well...it wasn't just a casual thing that she'd hugged the man. And there was such a big age gap between the two of them. Wasn't it odd that Sam was hanging around Naima?

"I think he's weird. Why would he hang out with a twenty-year old all the time?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"

She had. He hadn't told her anything substantial and it had made her even more uneasy about whatever was going on. "I'm being serious," she said.

"So am I."

"Naima!"

"What?"

"I just don't think it's a good idea to get involved with anyone."

"Why?"

Eve frowned.

"I'm not saying I am," Naima continued. "But why are you so upset about it?"

She racked her brain for what to say to explain what she was feeling but she couldn't. Instead what came out of her mouth was stupid and not where she wanted to take the conversation at all . "It's haram."

Naima narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "I'm a big girl - mukallaf even. If I wanted to date then I would. Knowing the consequences." She shut her laptop cover down and got off the bed. "Frankly I'm insulted. And you're starting to sound like dad. I get enough of that so I think you should leave now."

Shit. She hadn't wanted it to go that way. "That's not what I meant."

"Maybe, but you said it. And I'm tired now."

Oh man. Why had she said that? Eve bit her lip and left the room feeling so, so, stupid. Seriously. She needed to figure out what was going on with her.

When she got to her room she hopped on the bed and sighed, slapping her forehead hard.

Way to go Evie. Way to go.

Possible new words of the day:

Mukallaf - someone who is accountable for their actions (their actions are being judged) and therefore, in Islam, they are considered to be 'adults' the same way in the law, at 18 you become 'an adult' and can be trialled as one. A man becomes mukallaf either: a) after he has had his first wet dream or, b) turns 15. A woman becomes mukallaf either: a) has her first period, b) turns 15, or c) sees sperm (has sex). You must have received the message of Islam in some way, and be free and sound of mind to be mukallaf.

Haram - opposite of halal, i.e it is forbidden by God unless under very specific circumstances.

A.N: That was a long one. What did you think about this chapter? I confess writing these bits always makes me nervous because there's so much Islamaphobia in the news that people hate it without knowing anything about it. And this was a big part of why I wrote HI; it's easier to take something in in a fictional way. But for this chapter, I would especially like to hear your thoughts. If you don't understand Eve's thoughts or reasonings for acting that way please review and ask.